The Mediating Role of Collective Bargaining on Labor Relations and Employee Performance for Well-Being at Work: A Study of Government Department Officers, Central Province, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Employee well-being is a crucial aspect of a thriving and productive workplace. It encompasses physical, mental, and emotional health, creating an environment where employees can flourish both personally and professionally. Organizations that prioritize employee well-being often experience higher levels of engagement, satisfaction, and overall performance. Collective bargaining constructs an effective labor relation which enhance the employee performance due to the industry harmony. There were lacking part of signifying the mediating role of collective bargaining on labor relations and employee performance in remaining literature which niching a necessity for scientific investigation about the mediating role of collective bargaining on labor relations and employee performance. The main purpose of this study is to assess the mediating role of collective bargaining in between the labor relations and employee performance by selecting a specific sample group in the government sector. A deductive type of quantitative study was designed to assess the mediating role of collective bargaining. Survey method implement as the research strategy and construct a cross-sectional study to achieve the research objectives. There were 127 officers in the selected government department in central province as the population. The sample become 95 officers as per the Krejcie and Morgan table. Standard questionnaire was implemented to collect the primary data. Thus, secondary data was gathered by referring the journal articles, books, reports etc. Further, data analysis was performed by using SPSS 23. Validity measures, reliability measures and inferential statistics were used to signify the results. The research framework consisted of three types of variables. Employee performance become the dependent variable. Independent variable is the Labor relations. Collective bargaining act as a mediating variable. H1: Labor relations has a relationship with Employee performance, H2: Labor relations has a relationship with Collective bargaining, H3: Collective bargaining has a relationship with Employee performance and H4: Collective bargaining has a mediating role in between labor relations and Employee performance were the hypotheses of the study. The Correlation analysis signified labor relations and collective bargaining had a positive correlation with employee performance. Also, labor relations had a positive correlation with collective bargaining. The Sobel test confirmed that collective bargaining has a mediating role in between labor relations and employee performance. As per the results researcher accepted all the alternative hypotheses. In conclusion, collective bargaining has a mediating role in between labor relations and employee performance. Management should develop a positive attitude towards the union, create a mutual agreement after bargaining and teamwork on collective bargaining were some recommendations after the study. Moreover, it is recommended conducting this study on national level in future.