Abstract
Executing both parental care responsibilities and individual work responsibilities has become both progressively demanding and increasingly difficult. The primary objective of the study was to establish within the South African context the relationship between core self-evaluations (through mental health) and emotional exhaustion from the fields of care and work. A cross-sectional research design was used by the researchers. For the selection of the research sample (n = 172) across South Africa, purposeful and snowball sampling methods were used. The sample consisted of more women (67%) than men (33%), with most of the participants being from the Generation Y cohort. The research findings indicated that core self-evaluations had a statistically significant negative direct effect on the emotional exhaustion resulting from work and care. Additionally, the results showed that mental health is linked to core self-evaluations, which contributed to the relief of emotional exhaustion. The overall findings showed that core self-evaluations and emotional exhaustion from work and caregiving domains had a statistically significant relationship. Moreover, the findings helped us to better understand how working parents can improve their personal resources to alleviate emotional exhaustion. In developing interventions and programmes to promote employee well-being, organisations should consider various resources to reduce the risk of emotional exhaustion. The research contributes to the ongoing base of information about working parents’ emotional exhaustion and facilitates the development of overall organisational initiatives and strategies to improve employee well-being within the workplace. Keywords: core self-evaluations; conservation of resources; emotional exhaustion; mental health; working parents.
M.Com. (Industrial Psychology)