1. Introduction
In today’s rapidly changing and unpredictable business environment, companies are pursuing multifaceted efforts to ensure their survival and prosperity. In this pursuit, various strategies are being explored to secure a company’s competitive advantage, with growing interest in factors related to organizational commitment. Organizational commitment refers to employees’ affection for the organization, their sense of responsibility to perform to the best of their abilities, and their intention to remain in the company (
Meyer and Allen 1984;
Loan 2020). The reason for this increased attention is that organizational commitment is considered an essential factor which not only affects individual performance but also has implications for turnover intention, employee participation, and organizational silence (
Schaufeli and Bakker 2004;
Guzeller and Celiker 2020;
Panahi et al. 2012;
Lam and Xu 2019).
Organizational commitment is considered a crucial factor that affects not only individual performance but also turnover intention, employee participation, and organizational silence and is therefore viewed as a key element in the survival and prosperity of organizations. As a result, companies are making extensive efforts to improve the affection, responsibility, and sustainability of their employee’s organizational commitment. Numerous studies have identified factors that influence organizational commitment, such as personality characteristics, job satisfaction, and psychological well-being (
Poulus et al. 2020;
Mulki et al. 2008;
Fitria and Linda 2020). Recently, mental toughness has emerged as a critical factor that enhances the members’ work performance at organizations. Mental toughness is a personality trait that affects an individual’s behavior in stress, pressure, opportunities, and challenges and has been found to improve the work performance of employees (
Jackman et al. 2020). Although mental toughness was previously studied primarily in sports and psychology, its significance in managing the mental factors associated with psychological stress and work challenges of organizational members has gained attention (
Mojtahedi et al. 2021;
Godlewski and Kline 2012).
According to
Clough et al. (
2002), mental toughness is composed of challenge, control, commitment, and confidence. Notably, confidence is a factor that was not present in previous studies.
Beck et al. (
2017) have defined mental toughness as a trait that becomes stronger with a higher tendency towards task goals. Previous studies have shown that individuals with high mental toughness, particularly with task–goal orientation, experience improved task performance (
Kuan and Roy 2007;
Álvarez et al. 2018). High mental toughness is also linked to achieving task and achievement goals, which in turn enables individuals to achieve a state of mind that allows for full immersion in work and optimal performance (
Lin et al. 2017a,
2017b).
Personality traits, such as openness, emotional stability, resilience, consistency, receptivity, grit, hardness, and mental toughness, have been linked to job satisfaction and organizational commitment (
Barrick and Mount 1991;
Judge and Bono 2001;
Tett et al. 1991). Moreover, mental toughness has been identified as a critical constituent concept for quantifying performance and is associated with higher levels of immersion and performance among employees (
Gucciardi et al. 2015b). Individuals with high mental toughness are better equipped to handle new challenges or job demands by utilizing their mental toughness as a resource to respond to stress at work (
Gucciardi et al. 2015a).
However, research on mental toughness in human resource management targeting business executives or organizational members is still lacking. Additionally, the importance of employee well-being, emotional labor, and stress management is becoming increasingly prominent in response to changes in the societal environment. Furthermore, as the need for innovation and challenges in the fast-changing business environment and global competition intensifies, business activities based on strong mental toughness, such as goal-oriented and dedicated organizational members, are becoming an important factor in human resource management. However, studies on the effects of mental toughness on personnel factors such as organizational commitment and job satisfaction among organizational members within a company are limited.
In addition, various studies have been conducted on job satisfaction and organizational commitment within the context of HRM in Korean companies. Many researchers have revealed that employees’ perceptions of work–life balance, burnout, emotional labor, job security, career development, and learning organizational culture are important predictors of job satisfaction and organizational commitment (
Park et al. 2011;
Joo and Park 2010;
Lim 2010;
Joung and Kim 2006). Korean companies place considerable emphasis on employee dedication and loyalty to the organization and expect employees to prioritize the organization’s goals over their own individual goals (
Lee and Peterson 2000). In particular, factors such as hierarchical organizational culture, long working hours, high labor intensity, and rigid job ranks can amplify this culture, and issues such as work–life imbalance can lead to high levels of stress and burnout (
Hong et al. 2016;
Jung and Kim 2012).
From these perspectives, HRM practices that prioritize employee happiness, well-being, and welfare are becoming increasingly important.
Liu et al. (
2019) and
Wang et al. (
2021) reported that changes in HRM practices have an impact on employees’ attitudes and behaviors. HRM practices such as education and development programs, performance evaluations, and compensation packages have an impact on employees’ perceptions of job satisfaction and organizational commitment (
Lim 2010). Recently, there has been a growing interest in the emotional and psychological aspects that influence job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intention to leave (
Yoon and Thye 2002), and Korean companies recognize the value of employees’ resilience, mental health, patience, and psychological well-being (
Lee et al. 2001)Such recognition is leading to the development of new HRM practices that prioritize employees’ mental health and well-being, and strategic HRM and employee well-being programs such as flexible work arrangements, mental health support, and career development opportunities can help improve employee organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and psychological well-being (
Liu et al. 2019;
Wang et al. 2021).
Therefore, this study defined the concept and constituent factors of mental toughness for members of the Korean company and empirically analyzed the relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction through psychological well-being. Finally, this article emphasizes the importance of the mental toughness of the members of the business organization and specifically presents how important it is to manage the emotional and psychological factors of members along with general talent management processes, such as evaluation, compensation, education, and training.
5. Discussion
This study investigates the impact of mental strength on organizational commitment and job satisfaction of organizational members and the impact through psychological well-being. As a result of the analysis, it was found that mental personality has a positive effect on psychological well-being, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. The study concludes that the increased mental toughness of organizational members, including control, commitment, challenge, and confidence, enhances psychological well-being, which in turn improves the effectiveness of organizational commitment. In addition, it has been observed that improving mental toughness can increase job satisfaction and improve job performance. There are three important results in this study.
First, this study confirms that a high level of mental toughness as a personality trait is related to organizational commitment and job satisfaction among members (
Gucciardi et al. 2015b). These results are consistent with previous studies that demonstrated the importance of individual personality traits in influencing members’ job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Therefore, mental toughness has been studied in terms of life and individual behavioral characteristics as an individual characteristic factor, and there is a limitation that the relationship with organizational activities has not been highlighted. However, this study suggests that it is a factor that should be considered to strengthen the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of members in the personnel management process within the organization.
Second, this study found that mental strength has a significant impact on members’ psychological well-being, which has a positive effect on organizational commitment and job satisfaction (
Meyer and Herscovitch 2001;
Kahn 1990;
Wright and Bonett 2007). In the end, it can be a factor that improves the psychological well-being of members, reducing the stress of members, and affecting mental strength in strengthening their stable job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Previously, most studies were conducted on psychological well-being, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment (
Ilies et al. 2010;
Loon et al. 2019;
Robertson and Cooper 2010), but this study newly presents a relationship in which mental strength affects job satisfaction and organizational commitment through psychological well-being.
Finally, this study found that mental toughness has a higher importance on organizational commitment than job satisfaction through psychological well-being (
Wright and Cropanzano 2000). Development and acquisition of mental toughness also affect the nature of job satisfaction linked to work performance or reward, but it can be seen as a more effective factor in driving organizational commitment by enhancing individual behavior and awareness. In the end, as
Gilbreath and Benson (
2004) argued, mental strength is a factor that stimulates members’ intrinsic motivation for psychological well-being, as previous studies have shown that intrinsic motivation has a greater impact on job satisfaction.
6. Conclusions
6.1. Research Implications
The current research emphasizes the importance of improving the mental toughness of individuals in business organizations and conducts an empirical analysis to investigate the significance of organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Therefore, this study has academic significance in conceptualizing the individual characteristic factor of mental toughness, which was previously addressed in domains, such as sports, art, and psychology, for members of business administration and empirically revealing the influential relationship between these factors. In today’s environment, managing the mental aspects of business organization members, including emotional labor, mental stress, and work–life balance, is becoming increasingly important. Therefore, it is necessary to consider both tangible and intangible factors, such as compensation and promotion, as well as emotion, personal characteristics, and psychological factors in performance evaluations.
This study also suggests the importance of an emotional management system for corporate members through factors such as mental toughness and psychological well-being. Based on the results of the research, several practical implications can be presented. First, identifying the characteristics and level of mental toughness of individual members of the organization can be used as a major decision-making criterion for selecting, moving, promoting, and training members. The personality characteristic factor items can be added to the job aptitude test when hiring employees to select suitable personnel for the job or organizational characteristics. This approach can contribute to the productivity of the organization and reduce the turnover rate by improving job satisfaction and organizational commitment.
Second, measures should be prepared to increase the mental toughness and psychological well-being of existing employees. Many companies are facing a difficult situation in terms of human resource management due to the increasing turnover rate of employees. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare educational training and institutional involvement devices that can increase mental toughness and psychological well-being for incumbent people. By analyzing individual mental toughness, the coaching effect on existing employees can be increased and applied to job rearrangement. Variables, such as mental toughness, psychological well-being, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment, can be considered as qualitative measurement tools for long-term plans, such as organizational performance improvement or organizational culture development.
In particular, workers in Korean companies experience high levels of stress and burnout due to factors, such as long working hours, high work performance pressure, and vertical organizational culture. As individual mental toughness and psychological well-being levels can lead to higher levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, managing members’ mental and emotional well-being at the organizational level is crucial. HRM practices that prioritize employee happiness and well-being can help alleviate these issues.
6.2. Research Limitations and Future Plans
The study discussed in this paper has important implications and significance; however, there are several research limitations that should be considered. The first limitation is that the study exclusively focused on members of Korean companies, which limits the generalizability of the research findings across different regions. Future studies should expand the scope of research to include members of various countries on different continents and conduct comparative analyses by industry, region, and country to reveal the subdivision and specificity of mental toughness research in business administration. Additionally, future studies should explore mental toughness between sexes, industries, jobs, and ages.
The second limitation is related to the design of the variable definitions and questionnaires, which were based on previous studies related to mental toughness in various occupations. However, mental toughness within a business organization may have different characteristics from other general organizations. To overcome this limitation, future research should consider mental factors characterized in personnel organizational research through qualitative research on the concept and constituent factors of mental toughness reflecting the occupational characteristics of corporate members.
Lastly, this study did not fully consider the detailed characteristics of control, commitment, challenge, and confidence, which are constituent factors of the independent variable, mental toughness. As mental toughness is evaluated as an individual characteristic factor, the composition system of detailed factors will differ for each individual, and strengths will also vary. Therefore, future studies should expand the influence relationship of mental toughness through the diversification of detailed constituent factors of mental toughness and mediating and dependent variables. This will provide more specific and detailed research results on mental toughness factors, which will be useful for mental toughness management or coaching.