Micromanagement and Employee Mental Well-being in the Banking Sector: The Mediating Role of Job Insecurity and the Moderating Role of Negative Affect

Abstract

Drawing on Affective Events Theory (AET), this two-wave study investigates how micromanagement (MM) undermines employees’ mental well-being (MWB) in the Pakistani banking sector, directly and indirectly through job insecurity (JI), and whether negative affect (NA) intensifies these effects. Data were collected from 300 banking employees across two time points, three weeks apart. Established scales were used to measure MM, JI, NA, and MWB. Regression-based analyses in SPSS showed that MM negatively predicted MWB and positively predicted JI. In turn, JI was negatively associated with MWB, partially mediating the MM–MWB relationship. Moreover, NA strengthened the positive link between MM and JI, indicating that employees high in dispositional negativity were particularly vulnerable to micromanagement pressures. The findings highlight MM as a destructive workplace event that depletes psychological resources, heightens insecurity, and erodes well-being in the banking sector. Practically, banks should limit excessive oversight, foster autonomy, and provide emotional resilience training to protect employees’ psychological health.