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Gain cycles in healthcare workers: the role of job resources and hardy personality

Dina Guglielmi (Department of Education Studies, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy)
Lorenzo Gallì (Department of Education Studies, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy)
Silvia Simbula (Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy)
Greta Mazzetti (Department of Education Studies, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy)

International Journal of Workplace Health Management

ISSN: 1753-8351

Article publication date: 12 February 2019

197

Abstract

Purpose

The association between resources and work engagement has been well-established among different occupational groups. The purpose of this paper is to go one step further through the investigation of the relationship between personal (i.e. hardy personality) and job-related (i.e. opportunity for learning and development) resources and work engagement in the long run.

Design/methodology/approach

A two-wave longitudinal study was conducted on a sample of healthcare professionals working in a spinal cord and brain injury rehabilitation hospital located in northern Italy.

Findings

The results of cross-lagged structural equation modeling indicated the occurrence of reciprocal causal relationships between the study variables. In particular, personal and job-related resources were related to an increase in work engagement over the course of the study. The level of engagement displayed by participants, in turn, was positively related to their personal and job-related resources over time, thus revealing the occurrence of positive cycles in the workplace.

Originality/value

On the whole, these findings provide a deeper understanding of the role played by hardy personality as a personal resource able to promote employees’ motivation and, at the same time, they advance the scientific knowledge concerning the construct of positive cycle.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this paper.

Citation

Guglielmi, D., Gallì, L., Simbula, S. and Mazzetti, G. (2019), "Gain cycles in healthcare workers: the role of job resources and hardy personality", International Journal of Workplace Health Management, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 71-84. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWHM-10-2017-0086

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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