“Face” and family preference of job matters: Association between Face need, lock-in job and burnout among high-tech company workers in Taiwan

Abstract

Background Studies on health impact of lock-in job are mainly conducted in western countries with theory based on the value of individualism. We argued that the social-oriented concern should be considered in workers’ lock-in status in Chinese society. Methods Anonymous survey were conducted on 1102 workers of high-tech companies in Taiwan from October 2015 to January 2016 to assess their face need, lock-in status of job and burnout. Except separate into 3 groups by lock-in score, participants were categorized by the conflict of preference of job between themselves and their family. Chi-square test, ANOVA test, Person correlation test and regression were applied. Results Among 1102 participants, 18% had job that they did not prefer but their family prefer. Participants with higher face need and higher lock-in status had significantly higher risk of developing personal and work-related burnout. But the analysis using “lock-in Job for conflict of preference between themselves and their family” status showed more coherent result. Participants with job which “self not prefer but family do” had 2 times risk of having personal and work-related burnout (OR = 2.03 and 2.34). Participants with job which both themselves and their family not prefer had 4 times risk of having personal and work-related burnout (OR = 4.10 and 4.17). Conclusions Our study result indicated the importance to consider social-oriented job preference in lock-in status evaluation in Chinese culture. Workers’ lock-in status as their preference conflicting with their family’s preference showed significantly negative impact on their health.