228 Organizacija, V olume 55 Issue 3, August 2022 Research Papers 1 Received: 15th September 2021; revised: 13th April 2022; accepted: 23th July 2022 Core Job Characteristics and Personal Work Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Critical Psychological States: Empirical Evidence from Northern Cyprus Hotel Sector Mohammad SLEIMI 1 , Malek Bakheet ELAYAN 2 , Lamar ABU HAJLEH 3 1 Business and Economic Faculty, Palestine Technical University – Kadoorie, Tulkarm, Palestine, mohammad.sleimi@ptuk.edu.ps 2 Institute of Public Administration - IPA, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, elayanm@ipa.edu.sa 3 Higher Education Faculty, Near East University, Girne, Northern Cyprus, lamar.a.hijleh@gmail.com Background and purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between core job character- istics (CJC) and personal work outcomes (OUT), as well as the roles of experienced meaningfulness of work (EMW) and experienced responsibility for outcomes of work (EROW) in mediating the CJC–OUT relationship. Specifically, this study attempts to examine the effectiveness of CJC in improving EMW and EROW and to shed light on the roles of EMW and EROW in enhancing the OUT of employees in the Northern Cyprus hotel sector. Methods: This study adopted a quantitative approach to collect and analyze the data from 420 tourism stakeholders in Northern Cyprus hotel sector. A partial least squares (PLS) technique using Smart-PLS was applied to test the direct relationships within the research model and determine any mediating effects. Results: The analysis revealed strong support for meaningfulness of work and experienced responsibility for out- comes of work acting as partial mediators in the relationship between core job characteristics and personal work out- comes. Moreover, core job characteristics was found to have a reasonable direct effect on personal work outcomes, experienced meaningfulness of work, and experienced responsibility for outcomes of work. Conclusion: The current study points to the importance of including experienced meaningfulness of work and experienced responsibility for outcomes of work as mediating variables to understand better the relationship between core job characteristics and Personal work outcomes. Several theoretical and practical implications are included before pinpointing the directions of potential future studies that makeup on the evidence-based argument regarding the results of this study. Lastly, top management in hotel sector would benefit from job redesign because the results demonstrated that the core job characteristics have a positive effect on their work outcomes. Keywords: Core job characteristic, Experienced meaningfulness, work outcome DOI: 10.2478/orga-2022-0015 1 Introduction The role of human resource management is to organise and handle individuals within the workplace environment (Huang and Su, 2016). Within a real work environment, each person’s work consists of several tasks or duties/roles and is dependent on specific circumstances that give a lev- el of speciality to this work. On the other hand, individual personalities and preferences, by their very nature, vary from one person to another, and these differences usually 229 Organizacija, V olume 55 Issue 3, August 2022 Research Papers lead to several attitudes and behaviours being expressed within the workplace environment. Under these complex conditions, the aim of management is to achieve optimal employee performance and business output (Grant, 2007). Thus, job design can be an invisible guiding hand that leads to making a vital connection between individuals’ needs and management goals is not saturated (Baig and Zaid, 2020; Luz et al., 2018). Nowadays, the determination and distribution of tasks for every job within an organization play a vital role in attaining organizational goals by in- creasing employee performance (Tang et al., 2017). How- ever, identifying and allocating such tasks is not easy and is considered a major organizational challenge (Siengthai and Pila-Ngarm, 2016). Moreover, when these tasks and duties are not distributed well, this can lead to negative effects instead of positive ones, and ultimately to failure in human resource management practices (Grant, 2007). In this context, individual performance cannot be con- sidered a luxury in any sector or organization. Instead, it is an essential issue for all modern, forward-thinking organi- zations and cannot be ignored. Abuhjeeleh et al. (2019) in- dicated that the five-star hotel workplace in particular suf- fers from several negative elements such as: low employee motivation, high work stress, conflicts of tasks among team members, instances of poor productivity, all of which are a result of not getting the appropriate job design for their tasks and because of some shortcomings in their man- agers’ motivational practices. Consequently, Al-Hawary and Al-Smeran (2017) asserted that the shortcomings in job designs and motivational systems can negatively affect individual performance. Therefore, the following question arises: How can management give employees tasks and duties to meet organizational goals that will also improve employee satisfaction and achieve the optimal individual performance level? The workers in a five-star hotel can have a positive ef- fect on the overall image of the hotel. However, that is not all, their importance goes beyond the scope of their own job and can have several positive impacts within the wider tourism industry environment, such as increasing custom- er satisfaction with a destination maximising occupancy rate opportunities (Amin, 2016). The current study seems to be one of only a few empirical studies in the hotel sector in order to highlight job design as a useful non-material motivational tool. Why? Because, when hotel employees are internally motivated, they should offer a better service to their customers. In addition, how this aspect can be uti- lized to improve the sector. Lastly, evidence from the liter- ature shows a clear shortage of empirical studies that focus on the role of job design and its relationship with motiva- tion, especially in the context of Northern Cyprus and the hotel sector in particular (Krambia-Kapardis et al., 2016). 2 Literature Review 2.1 Core job characteristics Hackman and Oldham first developed the CJC concept in their job characteristics model which they proposed in 1974 (Astrauskaite et al., 2015). According to Park’s (2017) definition, CJC involves the factors that able to motivating employees internally. This means that under appropriate workplace conditions, employees are inter- nally motivated to perform their roles effectively. The job characteristics model describes five job dimensions that are linked to positive personal- and work-linked results. The dimensions are job autonomy, feedback, task identity, task significance, and variety. A lack of these dimensions of CJC has been identified by Kim et al. (2020) as contrib- uting to lower motivation, lower job satisfaction, reduced work quality, and higher absenteeism and staff turnover. It has also been reported by (Grant, 2007), that CJC has an ultimate impact on OUT, with psychological states acting as a mediator between job characteristics and OUT. Ac- cordingly, the CJC concept has attracted immense interest among researchers who have sought to understand how CJC influence personal work outcomes and satisfaction in assigned functions (Wegman et al., 2018). As this study focus on the linkage between CJC, three of the five dimensions of CJC have been chosen in the re- search model (i.e., skills variety, task identity, and task sig- nificance), because these three dimensions are considered to be closely associated with experienced meaningfulness comparing to autonomy and feedback dimensions which are linked with responsibility of outcomes and knowledge of results respectively (Hackman and Oldham, 1974). In this context, CJC has been defined in the work context as the condition where employees consciously think and feel certain things about their jobs, and it is these conscious thoughts and feelings that ultimately lead to personal work outcomes (Hackman and Oldham, 1974). The current study proposes that the possession of these CJC dimen- sions will largely influence the personal work outcomes (OUT). According to Matilu and K’Obonyo (2018), CJC lead to success in outcomes of work when job satisfaction con- structs, employee well-being, and employee competence are at play. However, there is limited research on the in- fluences that job characteristics may have on the outcomes of the work of employees. Recently, Jasko et al. (2020) stressed that CJC are distinct, and their influence on the outcomes of work varies. Jasko et al. (2020) also point- ed out that irrespective of the possession of similar CJC by a number of individuals, the job outcomes and success attributes will be distinct and unique to each of those in- dividuals. Also, Matilu and K’Obonyo (2018) proposed 230 Organizacija, V olume 55 Issue 3, August 2022 Research Papers that the link between CJC and job outcomes is only evi- dent when satisfaction and motivation lead to lower staff turnover and absenteeism. These considerations led to the development of the following hypotheses: H1: Core job characteristics positively affect personal work outcomes. Work outcomes have been defined by Rudolph et al. (2017) as the process in which individual feedback or knowledge on the extent to which an individual has been successful in their work roles is evident. This can be iden- tified from the information obtained from production rates or even customer satisfaction scores. Likewise, Černe et al. (2017) pointed out that the obtained feedback contrib- utes to a high level of knowledge among employees about the results of their work. Where the employee is offered appropriate feedback regarding their results, the level of motivation would be improved. Johari et al. (2018) introduced the idea that job char- acteristics’ behavioural and attitudinal constructs are ap- plicable in measuring OUT. This later affirmed this is be- cause a job design consists of the CJC that significantly influences the outcomes of employees’ job performed at work. The revised model of job design affirmed this prop- osition by Garg and Rastogi (2006), who noted that job characteristics are a significant implication for employee performance. Kataria et al. (2013) also argued that out- comes could be enhanced or improved when specific job roles offer improved autonomy and challenges to employ- ees. It is nevertheless worth noting that because the CJC of employees vary significantly, they are critical antecedents for determining the final outcomes of work. On the other hand, experienced meaningfulness of work in organizations is substantially a recent concept and, as yet, minimal research has been carried out with reference to this construct. Stein et al. (2019) defined this construct as work experienced as mainly being significant. Bailey et al. (2019) noted that all jobs could be experi- enced as more and less meaningful roles in terms of prin- ciple. The foundation of work meaningfulness stems from a distinct source and it includes developing and becoming an individualised authentic self, being of service to oth- er people, and expressing full individual potential (Sleimi and Davut, 2015). Importantly, lack of EMW is identified by Martela and Pessi (2018) as the inexistence of control over and the inability to see individual work value. Summing up the definitions proposed in other studies, Stein et al. (2019) identified EMW as inclusive of mean- ingfulness in work and OUT. EMW is used to focus on the quality of the work, focusing on how the work roles are implemented. From the above definitions of EMW, it is evident that there is a significant appreciation that the construct is identified by the feeling that the work is sig- nificant, leading to increased autonomy. The reasons for a lack of EMW have not been evaluated in depth. However, Bailey et al. (2019). found that a lack thereof is mainly the result of the existence of feelings of self-estrangement, powerlessness, and lowered intrinsic fulfilment. These forms of experiences are equally inclusive of feelings of being used for a purpose other than one’s own, being giv- en tasks/roles that are seen as ‘pointless’, unfair treatment, failure to be recognised, feelings of being isolated and there being an absence of a supportive relationship. Ac- cording to Lepisto and Pratt (2016), the of a lack of EMW identified characteristics may often manifest as alienation (i.e., the sense of being separated from oneself and per- sonalised control) or having a sense of anonymity (i.e., the presence of uncertainties and ambiguities pertaining to the basic value of an individual’s role at work). The existing gap in past studies on EMW is primarily related to the fact that they focused on the concept of EMW and its lack as an equivalent aspect despite the two concepts being concep- tually and significantly distinct Lips-Wiersma and Morris (2009). In introducing the concept of EMW, Aguinis and Gla- vas (2019) noted that EMW can act as a mediating variable of job characteristics and the extent to which it plays this role leads to positive outcomes for employees, for their organizations, and for external stakeholders. Similarly, Pierce et al. (2009) found that EMW could influence CJC and OUT, but not primarily in terms of providing jobs with more meaningfulness, but rather in terms of allowing in- dependent operations in complex and rich jobs. This sup- ports Astrauskaite et al. (2015), who described the autono- my factor of the Hackman and Oldham job characteristics model as the freedom and discretion of employees in de- ciding on how to carry out their own work. Therefore, the following hypothesis were formulated as follows: H2: Core job characteristics positively affect experi- enced meaningfulness of work. H3: Internal experienced meaningfulness of work me- diates between core job characteristics and personal work outcomes. Barrick et al. (2013), reviewed the literature on CJC and EMW and found evidence that EMW triggers the task-specific motivation process that then influences the attainment of a variety of OUT. Therefore, the following hypotheses was constructed: H4: Experienced meaningfulness of work positively af- fects personal work outcomes. Hackman and Oldham (1974) defined EROW as the individual’s ability to feel personally accountable for the outcomes or results of their work or assigned tasks. This means that, for EROW to be present, the employee needs to be offered some degree of freedom in the performance of their role/tasks. They must be allowed to utilise this freedom to make appropriate decisions on how best to per- form their job in terms of making changes to processes and scheduling decisions. Van Yperen et al. (2016) described EROW as the extent to which a job offers substantial free- dom, independence, and discretion to people to undertake 231 Organizacija, V olume 55 Issue 3, August 2022 Research Papers their work activities and determine the procedures they ap- ply in the implementation of their assigned tasks. Indeed, it has been noted that EROW is critical for establishing a successful sense of responsibility in employees (Daileyl and Kirk, 1992). However, it is also essential to point out that EROW cannot exist in isolation as a single indicator; rather, it is also inclusive of latent constructs, such as resources. As affirmed by Johari et al. (2018), despite the majority of employees having the will to work within the broad con- straints of an entity, they also require appropriate resources so that they can work with a certain amount of freedom. Furthermore, as evidenced by Gordon et al. (2018), job and personal resources are interlinked, with personal re- sources acting as an independent predictor of EROW. However, organizational resources are applied in the pro- cess of developing personal resources. This is more spe- cifically identified in Batchelor et al. (2014) to include the critical psychological states detailing on EMW, gaining a professional responsibility for OUT. Therefore, the follow- ing hypothesis were constructed: H5: Core job characteristics positively affect experi- enced responsibility for outcomes of work. H6: Experienced responsibility for outcomes of work positively affects personal work outcomes. Lastly, in testing the mediating roles of EMW and EROW on OUT, Aguinis and Glavas (2019) convincingly demonstrated that these two factors have moderating ef- fects on OUT and CJC. In fact, when there is no direct link between CJC and OUT, this is an indication that there is no EMW or EROW. Based on the above, the following hypotheses was developed: H7: Internal experienced responsibility for outcomes of work mediates between core job characteristics and personal work outcomes. Based on the above discussion of the findings in the literature, a conceptual model was developed to attempt to reveal the relationship between CJC and OUT and wheth- er EMW and EROW act as mediating variables between CJC and OUT. Figure 1 illustrates the conceptual model that guided this study and how the study hypotheses were related to the model. Figure 1: Conceptual research model 232 Organizacija, V olume 55 Issue 3, August 2022 Research Papers 3 Methodology This research aims to investigate the direct relation- ship between CJC and OUT and the indirect relationship through EMW and EROW in the context of Northern Cyprus. Regarding this aim, the positivism research tech- nique was chosen as it is the best approach for causal\ impact relationships of a set of variables (Malhotra et al., 2017). Thus, deductive and quantitative mechanisms were chosen to collect research data; this indicates that the ques- tionnaire represents the main tool for gathering the need- ed data due to its ability to make it easier for measuring variables relationships and to test the research hypothesis (Malhotra et al., 2017). A simple random sampling tech- nique was used to determine the needed sample size. The population was 5930 potential respondents. According to Sekaran (2003, 2006), and relying on 95% confidence lev- el and 5% margin error, 365 is the minimum sample size needed for this population size. For this research, SMART PLS software has been se- lected due to its ability to deal with structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis (Hair et al., 2013). Lee et al. (2011) asserted that structural equation modelling (SEM) represents one of the best techniques to analyse business studies especially studies that contain a wide range of di- rect and indirect variables. 3.1 Questionnaire design A survey questionnaire was employed to test the com- prehensive model developed for this study. As this study relied on the job characteristics model by Hackman and Oldhman and for more measurement accuracy, all ques- tionnaire items were adapted from Hackman and Oldham (1974) study and modified to be applicable for research scope and population nature. This process in fact can prove the reliability and validity of the research instrument (Se- karan, 2006). Before administering the questionnaire, sev- eral steps were undertaken to check its validity and consist- ency. First, a group of five academics experts reviewed the survey and proposed sides modifications. After that, a pilot test was conducted in which 30 completed surveys were analysed using SPSS v23 software to test the reliability of the instrument. In the pilot testing phase, the reliability test and the if-item-deleted test were used. The reliability test clarifies how closely questionnaire paragraphs are related to each other as a group. The if-item-deleted test allows the researcher to exclude any questions which harm instru- ment reliability. In addition, a Cronbach’s alpha test was performed for each group of variables and the instrument as a whole, and it was found that all of the Cronbach’s al- pha values were higher than the lowest level of acceptance of 0.70 (Collis and Hussey, 2013; Sleimi, 2020). Thus, the internal consistency was acceptable for the instrument and for each group of questions related to one variable. The final version of the survey contained 29 sentences (items) for assessing the research variables. Survey organ- ization has four main variables namely: core job charac- teristics (CJC) 12-items, experienced meaningfulness of work (EMW) 4-items, and experienced responsibility for outcomes of work (EROW) 5-items, and personal work outcomes (OUT) 8 items. Respondents were requested to evaluate their opinion for each item using a 5-point Likert scale 1-strongly disagree and 5-strongly agree. The survey was written in the English language. It was not converted into Turkish language “Country Language” because it was judged that the potential respondents would mostly likely be fluent in the English language and would have sufficient experience in the tourism sector. 3.2 Data collection Data was collected in Northern Cyprus in 2020. The survey was targeted at some of the Northern Cyprus tour- ism stakeholders as the study community because they are the main players in shaping the marketing efforts for Northern Cyprus as a tourist destination. Accordingly, the study population consisted of managers of 3- to 5-star ho- tels in Northern Cyprus, sales and marketing directors of 3- and 5-star hotels in Northern Cyprus, and first-line em- ployees of 3- to 5-star hotels in Northern Cyprus. This type of population was chosen because it consists of the most qualified people who can provide accurate information re- garding the destination of Northern Cyprus. A total of 700 sets of questionnaires were sent via email to hotel managers from the beginning of September 2020 until the end of December 2020. A total of 580 ques- tionnaires were returned. Among the 580 retrieved ques- tionnaires, only 420 were complete and were thus usable; this represents a response rate of 60%. The result showed that there was no substantial variance at p < 0.05, which indicated that non-response bias was not present. 4 Data Analysis and Results 4.1 Demographic data Realizing the basic demographic statistics of the pop- ulation is essential for carried by similar studies (Bouzari, 2012). Research data and regarding nationality composi- tion showed that most of them come from the Republic of Turkey, then Africa and Asia (37.5%; 25.9%; 22.3) re- spectively. The findings indicating that a majority of the sampled expatriates are male 61.7% and 38.3 are female. About 41.6% of participants are less than 30 years old, 33% are between 31 and 39 years old, 18.3% are between 233 Organizacija, V olume 55 Issue 3, August 2022 Research Papers 40 and 39 years and the residuals are 50 years old or more. Moreover, about 64.8% of the participants have bachelor’s degrees; 24.6% have higher education degrees, while the rest have secondary certificates only. In terms of length of stay, 54.7% remain for 1-2 years in Northern Cyprus, 31% stay for less than one year while the rest stay for more than three years. 4.2 Hypothesized model For this research work, SmartPLS3.2.7 software was employed to test H1 to H7. The structural equation model- ling (SEM) technique was chosen due to its ability to deal with large numbers of variables and relationships (Hair et al., 2014). Reflective Constructs Construct Items Code Item Loading CR AVE Core job characteristics The results of my efforts are clearly visible and identifiable. TI1 0.787 0.916 0.553 I make significant contributions to the final product or service. TI2 0.756 The job provides me with the chance to completely finish the pieces of work I began. TI3 0.812 The work is likely to significantly affect the lives and the well-being of other people. TS1 0.838 This job is one where a lot of other people can be affected by how well the work gets done. TS2 0.777 The job itself is very significant or important in the broader scheme of things. TS3 0.758 The job requires me to do many different things at work, using a variety of skills and talents. TV1 0.753 The job requires me to use a number of complex or high-level skills. TV2 0.707 The job is not too simple or repetitive. TV3 0.752 Experienced meaningful- ness of work The work I do in this job is very meaningful to me. EMW1 0.835 0.889 0.668 Most people in this job feel that the work is beneficial or vital. EMW2 0.880 Most people in this job feel there is a great deal of personal meaning in the work they do. EMW3 0.810 Most people in this job find the work very meaningful. EMW4 0.736 Experienced responsibility for outcomes of work It is vital in this job for me to care very much about whether or not the work gets done right. EROW1 0.836 0.911 0.673 I feel a very high degree of personal responsibility for the work I do in this job. EROW2 0.824 Most people doing this job feel that whether or not the job gets done right is clearly their own responsibility. EROW3 0.777 Most people doing this job feel a great deal of personal responsibility for the work they do. EROW4 0.814 Whether or not this job gets done right is clearly my responsibility. EROW5 0.848 Personal work outcomes I feel a great sense of personal satisfaction when I do this job well. HIWM1 0.832 0.918 0.588 I feel good and happy when I discover that I have performed poorly on this job. HIWM2 0.827 My own feelings generally are affected very much one way or the other by how well I do in this job. HIWM3 0.820 My opinion of myself goes up when I do this job well. HIWM4 0.766 The overall quality of the supervision I receive in my work. HQWP1 0.731 I feel I should personally take the credit or blame for the results of my work in doing this job. HQWP2 0.771 I often have trouble figuring out whether I’m doing well or poorly in this job. HQWP3 0.785 Most people doing this job feel good or happy when they find that they have per- formed the work well. HQWP4 0.758 Table 1: Results of the measurement model. Note: CJC: Core job characteristics; OUT: Personal work outcomes; EROW: Experienced responsibility for outcomes of work; EMW: Ex- perience meanengfullness of work; TI: Task identity; TS: Task significance; TV: Task variety; HIW: High internal work motivation; HQW: High-quality work performance. 234 Organizacija, V olume 55 Issue 3, August 2022 Research Papers Table 1 shows the results of the measurement model in terms of convergent validity (as shown by average vari- ance extracted (A VE)), composite reliability (CR) and item (factor) loadings. In this research, the measurement model included 29 reflective indicators. The initial test showed that three out of the 29 model indicators, namely, TS4, TI4 and TV4, recorded loading values that were less than the minimum acceptable level. Therefore, these indicators were eliminated to enhance model validity and the reliabil- ity results (see Figure 2). The CR value indicates the lev- el of internal consistency of the reflective constructs. The cut-off point for CR is 0.7. Hence, Table 1 shows that all of the constructs of the model recorded an appropriate level of internal consistency. As for convergent validity, which is indicated by the A VE value, this value ranges from 0 to 1. Statistically, it should be more than 0.5 to prove that every construct is correlated with its indicators more than the other constructs )Ramayah et al., 2016). Table 1 shows that all of the A VE values were more than 0.5. Therefore, every construct in the model was able to explain more than 0.5 of the variance of the related indicators. Hence, con- vergent validity was confirmed. Discriminant validity is another important test that was conducted because it is used to test whether the indica- tors of a construct are correlated together more than with other indicators that belong to another construct (Henseler and Sarstedt, 2013). The Fornell and Larcker test was used to check for discriminant validity. This test is based on cross-loading values. The results of this test showed that the A VE value for the correlation of every construct with itself was higher than the values of the correlation with the other constructs (see Table 2). Thus, discriminant validity was approved. Constructs Core job characteristics Experienced meaningfulness of work Experienced responsibility for outcomes of work Personal work outcomes Core job char- acteristics 0.779 Experienced meaningful- ness of work 0.748 0.856 Experienced responsibility for outcomes of work 0.743 0.824 0.890 Personal work outcomes 0.734 0.793 0.814 0.767 Table 2: Fornell–Larcker criterion In addition, the heterotrait-monotrait ratio (HTMT) test was utilised to discriminant validity. According (Henseler et al., 2015; Sleimi et al., 2020), every construct the HTMT table must have a value of less than 0.85. The results of the test showed that this was the case. Further- more, the Stone–Geisser Q² coefficient, the coefficient of determination (R2) and the relative effect size (f 2) for each construct were determined, and all the results were found to be satisfactory. The final step in evaluating the structural model is to examine the research hypotheses by assessing the path co- efficients. The results of testing of the hypothesised direct effects are displayed in Figure 2. It was observed that the proposed model predicted 74.7% of the variance for OUT, 56.2% of the variance for EROW, and 56% the variance for EMW, through the analysis of Smart-PLS 30. This indicated that all of the standardised path coefficients were significant. The results supported all the direct relationship hypotheses (H1, H2, H3, H4 and H5). Table 5 summarises the results of hypoth- esis testing for the direct effect of CJC on the dependent variables. The results in Table 3 show that the relationships between CJC and EMW, EROW and OUT are positive, supporting H1, H1 and H3, respectively. The results also show that the relationships between EMW and OUT and EROW and OUT are also positive, supporting H4 and H5, respectively. Regarding the mediation test, the results in Table 4 show that EMW mediates the nexus between CJC and OUT, thus supporting H6. Similarly, EROW mediates the nexus between CJC and OUT; hence H7 is also supported. 235 Organizacija, V olume 55 Issue 3, August 2022 Research Papers Figure 2: Measurement model Path (β) Std. error T-value P-value Result Core job characteristics  Experienced meaningful- ness of work 0.743 0.027 27.960 0.000 Supported Core job characteristics  Experienced responsibility for outcomes of work 0.743 0.029 25.511 0.000 Supported Core job characteristics  Personal work outcomes 0.325 0.051 6.394 0.000 Supported Experienced meaningful- ness of work  Personal work outcomes 0.241 0.058 4.128 0.000 Supported Experienced responsibility for outcomes of work  Personal work outcomes 0.370 0.062 5.987 0.000 Supported Table 3: Results of hypothesis testing of direct relationships 236 Organizacija, V olume 55 Issue 3, August 2022 Research Papers Table 4: Results of mediation test (specific indirect effect) Path (β) Std. Error T- value P-value Result Core job characteristics  Experienced meaningfulness of work  Personal work outcomes 0.157 0.051 6.394 0.000 Supported Core job characteristics  Experienced responsibility for outcomes of work  Personal work outcomes 0.398 0.039 11.794 0.000 Supported 5 Discussion This research examined the nexus between CJC and OUT by investigating whether EMW and EROW play mediating roles in the CJC–OUT relationship. Based on the analysis, the results showed that there was a positive relationship between CJC and EMW (supporting H1). This finding supports Kim et al. (2020), which identified that CJC has a positive impact on motivation, job satisfaction, work quality, and lowers absenteeism and staff turnover. In a positive manner, Iqbal et al. (2018) identified that CJC directly influences employees’ thinking and having specif- ic aspects on their job roles eventually contributing to per- sonal work outcomes such as job satisfaction and personal performance. The results also indicated that there was a significant relationship between CJC and EROW (support- ing H2). This is in line with Gordon et al. (2018), who not- ed that job and personal resources are interlinked with per- sonal resources being an independent predictor of EROW. It is these resources that are developed by integrating CJC in organizational operations. In addition, a positive relationship was found between CJC and OUT (supporting H3). This finding supports Alkhateri et al. (2018), who found that CJC significantly impacts employee performance. Also, Garg and Rastogi (2006) noted that OUT is promoted through prioritising specific job functions because improving an event-specific job role generates improved autonomy and challenges for employees. A positive relationship was also found to exist between EMW and OUT (supporting H4). Indeed, in the context of the Northern Cyprus hotel sector, this study asserted that EMW is a variable that can be identified as signifi- cantly affecting OUT, especially when direct and indirect effects are integrated (Abuhjeeleh et al., 2019). As noted by Martela and Pessi (2018), the significance of this re- lationship is particularly apparent where there is a lack of EMW, which occurs as a result of employees having a lack of control over their work and an inability to identify the value of their own work. Research results also supported Allan et al. (2018), who showed that EMW contributes to OUT through assisting others to contribute directly to the broader good of all stakeholders. This is done by creating a sense of meaning for an individual work function. In addition, the current study also found a positive re- lationship between EROW and OUT (supporting H5). This finding is as expected because, as noted by Van Yperen et al. (2016), EROW influences the scope of existing free- dom, independence and discretion of people in scheduling their job functions and in establishing relevant procedures to follow in implementing the allocated roles. Finally, as regards the mediating roles of EMW and EROW in the CJC–OUT relationship, the results showed that both of these variables acted as mediators thus sup- porting H6 and H7, respectively. This finding is in line with Wegman et al. (2018), who noted that the psycho- logical states of CJC lead to EROW and EMW that can increase internal work motivation, work quality and per- formance, and work satisfaction, and reduce absenteeism and staff turnover levels. 6 Concluding Remarks 6.1 Theoretical and practical implications The current study has many implications for theo- ry and practice. From the theoretical perspective, a wide range of studies have tested the direct relationship between CJC and OUT, but there is a comparative lack of research on the indirect relationship between these two variables. Therefore, the current study makes an important contribu- tion to the literature by offering evidence to show that two mediating variables (ERW and EROW) have a productive impact on this relationship. Thus, this finding makes it more convenient for researchers to introduce other medi- ators to examine similar relationships and to build models to test those relationships in the future. A second theoret- ical contribution in this study is that the model proposed 237 Organizacija, V olume 55 Issue 3, August 2022 Research Papers was proved statistically. So, it would be a helpful tool for researchers who may investigate and predict such relation- ships within different sectors to gain knowledge on some vital theoretical and practical implications that could en- hance organizational outcomes. In short, such work could provide more evidence about the positive impact of CJC, EROW, and EMW on OUT. Furthermore, this research ex- amined the mediating role of EROW and EMW between CJC and OUT. The result showed that CJC has a reason- able positive direct and indirect impact on OUT, as indi- cated by remarkable positive relationships within the re- search model. Therefore, these findings underline the need for more exploration of these issues in this under-exploited research area. From a practical perspective, this study’s findings are relevant to human resource managers, line managers, and administrators in organizations in the Northern Cy- prus hotel sector. The varying mediation of EROW and EMW in the attainment of CJC implies a need to adopt distinct human resource management systems to capitalise on the different knowledge and capabilities possessed by employees, which could lead to the attainment of differ- ent outcomes of work. By adopting this approach, human resource managers and other administrators of the North- ern Cyprus hotel sector would be able to identify the stra- tegic contributions of each of their various departments; this would then guide them in the implementation of CJC for the appropriate personal work outcomes. Also, as the direct and indirect impact of CJC was found to have a substantial influence on OUT, the market environment in which the Northern Cyprus hotel sector operates should be given priority. Hence, it is recommended that the Northern Cyprus hotel sector organizations review their policies re- garding the role of CJC in OUT. Part of this would include the job design strategies that appreciate and increase a job role’s motivational potential. This is done by prioritizing job rotation, job enlargement, enrichment, and simplifica- tion. Through this, the employees would be more motivat- ed to adopt a set of skills in their job positions instead of doing a single thing repeatedly. The findings of this study behove the top management of these organizations to de- velop new job designs that consider EROW and EMW. These two variables can play a vital role in gaining superi- or employee and business performance benefits. However, as it is not easy to make and implement such design in a developing economy, building a national strategy within Northern Cyprus could encourage the hotel sector to alter their tourism curriculum to smooth this process. For the line managers, the outcome of this report is applicable in ensuring that they can successfully evaluate the job and provide better engagement to preferable link the different departments by integrating their core job characteristics with an organization’s objectives. In particular, this is done by working collaboratively with employees to create an appropriate phenomenon and situation for all stakehold- ers and eventually increase engagement and productivity. Hence, the line managers would approach their job func- tions by facilitating and recognizing today’s working and equally developing future-based jobs. 6.2 Research limitations When considering the above findings, it is also im- portant to evaluate the limitations of this study. The first limitation involved the utilization of direct and indirect effect measurements based on specific calculations for the variables. Secondly, a questionnaire survey was used to ac- quire data to evaluate the impacts of the different variables on each other. The questionnaire was used as a subjective measurement. Different scholars make an assumption that the different measures are appropriate in regard to social science studies. Hence, as a best practice in the future, re- searchers should focus on using different measurements to assess the relationships among the different variables. Nevertheless, the best practice would have been to adopt this questionnaire form in conjunction with objec- tive measurements. This would have then led to more ro- bust outcomes in line with the convergent and discriminate validity (Rojas and Widiger, 2014). Finally, based on the literature reviewed for this study, it is evident that a limit- ed number of sources have examined the effect of CJC on EMW and that they have done so in from the perspective of the senior administration of organizations. Hence, as a future best practice, researchers could opt to explore dif- ferent concepts of CJC. Moreover, this study was cross-sectional. By focusing on the Northern Cyprus Hotel Sector, this research in- volved sourcing data from the population at one specific point on time. In this cross-sectional study, multiple var- iables at a particular point of time. Hence, this limitation is that the analysis was not causal or relational but only used to evaluate the relationship of CJC and OUT. Still, there is a comparative lack of research on the indirect re- lationship between these two variables. Hence, it is not possible to understand what would happen in the future in the Northern Cyprus hotel sector in the areas of ELW, CJC, and OUT. 6.3 Originality/value The research model developed for this study provides some valuable insights for job design because it shows that the utilisation of suitable mediators can help in the attainment of successful outcomes of work in the North- ern Cyprus hotel sector. Thus, the results of the study are valuable not only for researchers, but also human resource managers and executives in tourism who wish to develop job design practices to stay ahead of the competition in 238 Organizacija, V olume 55 Issue 3, August 2022 Research Papers a hyper-competitive business environment. This research data was gathered from 3- to 5-stars hotels operating in Northern Cyprus. There is a possibility that data collected from such sectors or countries may yield different findings. 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Workers’ intrinsic work motivation when job demands are high: The role of need for autonomy and perceived opportunity for blended working. Com- puters in Human Behavior, 60, 179–184. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.02.068. Wegman, L. A., Hoffman, B. J., Carter, N. T., Twenge, J. M., & Guenole, N. (2018). Placing job charac- teristics in context: Cross-temporal meta-analysis of changes in job characteristics since 1975. Jour- nal of Management, 44(1), 352–386. https://doi. org/10.1177/0149206316654545. Mohammad Tahseen Sleimi (Corresponding Author): Assistant Professor and head of Industrial Management Department at Palestine Technical University - Kadoorei, Business and Economics Faculty. His research focuses on business administration, HRM, strategic management, logistic management, and knowledge management. He is a reviewer for several refereed journals. He has participated in several conferences as session chair. lastly, he has supervised several master’s theses at Palestinian universities. Malek Bakheet Elayan: Assistant Professor and the Specialist of Human Resources Development at Business Administration Department, The Institute of Public Administration (IPA), The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. His work focuses on Human Resources Development and Management courses. He has participated as Session Chair & Presenter in “7th International Conference on Economics, Finance & Management Outlooks, Asian Research Development Wing, Research interests: HRM-Development Practices, E-HRM and Contemporary Business topics. Lamar Abu Hajleh: Graduated from Near East University- Northern Cyprus. Her work focuses on the management field in general especially; risk management, financial management, and monetary institutions research. Ključne značilnosti delovnega mesta in osebni delovni rezultati: posredniška vloga kritičnih psiholoških stanj: empirični dokazi iz hotelskega sektorja Severnega Cipra Ozadje in namen: Namen te študije je raziskati razmerje med ključnimi značilnostmi delovnega mesta (CJC) in osebnimi delovnimi rezultati (OUT), pa tudi vlogo izkustvenene smiselnosti dela (EMW) in izkustvene odgovornosti za rezultate dela ( EROW) pri posredovanju odnosa CJC–OUT. Natančneje, ta študija proučuje učinkovitost CJC pri izboljšanju EMW in EROW ter osvetli vlogi EMW in EROW pri povečanju OUT zaposlenih v hotelskem sektorju Severnega Cipra. Metodologija: Študija uporablja kvantitativni pristop za zbiranje in analizo podatkov 420 zaposlenih v hotelskem sektorju Severnega Cipra. Tehnika delnih najmanjših kvadratov (PLS) z uporabo Smart-PLS je bila uporabljena za testiranje neposrednih odnosov znotraj raziskovalnega modela in analizo posrednih učinkov. Rezultati: Analiza je razkrila močno podporo smiselnosti dela in izkustveno odgovornost za rezultate dela, ki deluje - jo kot delni posredniki v razmerju med temeljnimi značilnostmi dela in osebnimi delovnimi rezultati. Poleg tega je bilo ugotovljeno, da imajo ključne značilnosti dela razumno neposreden učinek na osebne delovne rezultate, izkustveno smiselnost dela in izkustveno odgovornost za rezultate dela. Zaključek: Študija kaže na pomen vključitve izkustvene smiselnosti dela in izkustvene odgovornosti za rezultate dela kot posredniških spremenljivk za boljše razumevanje razmerja med ključnimi značilnostmi dela in osebnimi de - lovnimi izidi. Vključenih je več teoretičnih in praktičnih implikacij, ki temeljijo na rezultatih te študije. Ugotavljamo, da bi najvišjemu vodstvu v hotelskem sektorju koristilo preoblikovanje delovnega mesta, ker imajo ključne značilnosti delovnega mesta pozitiven učinek na delovne rezultate. Ključne besede: Glavna značilnost delovnega mesta, Izkušena smiselnost, Delovni rezultat