Resource-Depleting and Resource-Enabling Pathways to Organizational Performance: Extending the SOR Framework in Vocational Education

Abstract

Based on and extending the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theory, this study conceptualizes workload as a resource-depleting stimulus and person-job fit as a resource-enabling stimulus. In addition, the study develops a dual-pathway model to examine how work-related stimuli are associated with influences organizational performance through instructors' internal states. This study used a sample of 457 instructors from vocational colleges in Guizhou Province, China, and employed structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the proposed hypotheses. The results indicated that workload significantly reduces job satisfaction and increases turnover intention. Person-job fit showed the opposite correlation pattern. . Job satisfaction has a significant inhibitory effect on turnover intention, indicating that instructors' positive and negative internal states are dynamically correlated rather than operating independently. Job satisfaction and turnover intention are significant predictors of organizational performance, together constituting a dual pathway that affects organizational outcomes. The mediation analysis showed that job satisfaction and turnover intention play the main roles in mediating the relationship between the work-related stimuli and organizational performance, and the positive pathway driven by person-job fit and the negative stress-driven pathway demonstrated asymmetrical effects. The findings reveal the asymmetric ways in which work-related stimuli are associated with organizational performance under the "Double High Plan." They also highlight the importance of managing workload, strengthening person-job fit, and enhancing instructors’ job satisfaction to improve organizational performance and support the sustainable development of vocational colleges.