Linking red tape originating from digital tools to affective commitment: the mediating roles of role ambiguity and work engagement

Teachers are confronted with high levels of red tape in their jobs. By building on the Job Demands-Resources model, this article investigates how red tape originating from digital tools is related to teachers’ affective commitment. By exploring the mediating roles of role ambiguity and work engagement, we aim to advance the understanding of the underlying mechanisms explaining why employees react in a certain way to red tape. Time-lagged data (three waves) provides evidence for a negative indirect relationship between red tape originating from digital tools and affective commitment, serially mediated by role ambiguity and work engagement.