Job satisfaction as a mediator of the relationship between role stressors and organizational commitment

This paper investigates the potential mediating role of job satisfaction between role stressors, namely role conflict and role ambiguity as sources of stress, on the one hand, and various facets of organizational commitment, namely affective, continuance and normative, on the other. A sample of 361 employees in a number of organizations in the United Arab Emirates was used. Path analysis revealed that role ambiguity directly and negatively influences both affective and normative commitments. Results also revealed that job satisfaction directly and positively influences affective and normative commitments and negatively influences continuance commitment‐low perceived alternatives. Results further suggest that both role conflict and role ambiguity directly and negatively influence job satisfaction. It was also found that job satisfaction mediates the influences of role conflict and role ambiguity on various facets of organizational commitment, except continuance commitment‐high personal sacrifice. Implications, future lines of research and limitations are discussed.