Exploring the moderating effect of coworker support and supervisor support on the relationship between self-efficacy and subjective well-being of academic faculty in Pakistan.

In recent years academic faculty jobs have undergone significant changes from being low demanding and highly satisfying to stressful and challenging. The ongoing challenge of COVID-19 has intensified the teaching and research challenge of placing academicians' well-being at stake. The current study explores a personality antecedent (self-efficacy) and a contextual antecedent (job social support) of academic faculty subjective well-being measured as job satisfaction and overall satisfaction with life. Data collected from 326 public and private sector faculty was subjected to measurement and structural model analysis using SMART-PLS 3. Hypothesis testing for direct effect revealed that self-efficacy and supervisor social support are significantly related to life satisfaction. Coworker support and supervisor social support are significantly associated with job satisfaction. The moderation analysis revealed that supervisor support positively moderates the relationship between self-efficacy and subjective evaluation of well-being. In contrast, coworker support negatively moderates the relationship between self-efficacy and subjective well-being. The results revealed that although supervisor support is an important determinant of how self-efficacy leads to higher well-being among academicians, a high level of coworker support may negatively affect individuals with high self-efficacy.  The study highlights the importance of matching personality with the job's situational factors to improve faculty's well-being.