Sustainable Work and Comparing the Impact of Organizational Trust on Work Engagement Among Office and Production Workers in the Korean Food Manufacturing Industry

Organizational performance can be enhanced by adopting sustainable work policies. This study examined the relationship between psychological factors such as organizational trust, job satisfaction, well-being, and work engagement among workers in the Korean food industry. This study utilized the Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS) data, and a total of 472 workers were selected as subjects for the research, comprising 185 office workers and 287 production workers. Regression analysis was conducted by comparing office and production workers to test the relationship between psychological factors and to identify causal relationships through a mediation model. The results of hypothesis testing via regression analysis indicated that organizational trust is proportionally related to job satisfaction (p < 0.001), well-being (p < 0.001), and engagement (p < 0.001), while work engagement is proportionally related to job satisfaction (p < 0.001) and well-being (p < 0.001). In particular, in the regression equation analyzing organizational trust (T) and job satisfaction (y), as organizational trust increases, the rate of increase in job satisfaction of office workers (y = 1.131 + 0.610T) is greater than that of production workers (y = 1.131 + 0.557T). On the other hand, the initial level of work engagement (y) of office workers is higher than that of production workers in the regression equations concerning organizational trust (T) and work engagement (y = 1.753 + 0.516T vs. y = 1.634 + 0.516T), as well as well-being (W) and work engagement (y = 2.648 + 0.345W vs. y = 2.512 + 0.345W). According to mediation models, work engagement was directly affected by organizational trust and indirectly affected by job satisfaction or well-being, and office workers exhibited higher work engagement than production workers. The findings of this study emphasize the need for customized enhancements to working hours, work organization, and the work environment for production workers to ensure sustainable employment.