The role of emotional stability in employees' job competence, job stress, and mental health: a moderated mediation model

This study focused on the role of emotional stability in employees' job competence, job stress, and mental health. The research utilized surveys conducted online and on-site, with 839 valid questionnaires collected by police officers in China. The findings revealed that job stressors had a full mediating effect on the relationship between job competence and mental health. Emotional stability not only moderates competence and stressors but also moderates stressors and mental health. However, the results of the multigroup structural equation model revealed that job competence was positively correlated with job stressors in civilian police officers but not in auxiliary police officers. Our study aids in predicting for whom will most likely be related to increased or decreased job stressors and mental health (i.e., individual low emotional stability); these findings have important theoretical and managerial implications.