Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Role of Work Engagement on the Relationship Between Personality and Job Satisfaction in Chinese Nurses

  • Published:
Current Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Both personality and work engagement are related to well-being. The current study examined the role of work engagement in the associations between personality (core self-evaluations (CSE), proactive personality) and well-being. Participants who are all nurses completed measures of CSE, proactive personality, work engagement and job satisfaction as an indicator of well-being. Higher levels of CSE and proactive personality were related to greater work engagement and job satisfaction. Higher level of work engagement was associated with more job satisfaction. Work engagement fully mediated the relationship CSE and job satisfaction and partially mediated the association between proactive personality and job satisfaction. Theoretical and future research of these findings are discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Airila, A., Hakanen, J. J., Schaufeli, W. B., Luukkonen, R., Punakallio, A., & Lusa, S. (2014). Are job and personal resources associated with work ability 10 years later? The mediating role of work engagement. Work and Stress, 28(1), 87–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alessandri, G., Borgogni, L., Schaufeli, W. B., Caprara, G. V., & Consiglio, C. (2015). From positive orientation to job performance: the role of work engagement and self-efficacy beliefs. Journal of Happiness Studies, 16(3), 767–788.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, J.C., & Gerbing, D.W. (1988). Structural equation modeling in practice : a review and recommended two-step approach. Psychological Bulletin, 103(3), 411-423.

  • Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2008). Towards a model of work engagement. Career Development International, 13(3), 209–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bakker, A. B., Schaufeli, W. B., Leiter, M. P., & Taris, T. W. (2008). Work engagement: an emerging concept in occupational health psychology. Work and Stress, 22, 187–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bakker, A. B., Tims, M., & Derks, D. (2012). Proactive personality and job performance: the role of job crafting and work engagement. Human Relations, 65(10), 1359–1378.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bateman, T.S., & Crant, J.M. (1993). The proactive component of organizational behavior: a measure and correlates. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 14(2), 103-118.

  • Bergeron, D. M., Schroeder, T. D., & Martinez, H. A. (2014). Proactive personality at work: seeing more to do and doing more? Journal of Business and Psychology, 29(1), 71–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breevaart, K., Bakker, A. B., Demerouti, E., & Van den Heuvel, M. (2015). Leader-member exchange, work engagement, and job performance. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 30(7), 754–770.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crant, J. M. (2000). Proactive behavior in organizations. Journal of Management, 26(3), 435–462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Demerout, E., Bakker, A. B., & Gevers, J. M. P. (2015). Job crating and extra-role behavior: the role of work engagement and flourishing. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 91, 87–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gorgievski, M. J., Moriano, J. A., & Bakker, A. B. (2014). Relating work engagement and workaholism to entrepreneurial performance. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 2(29), 106–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halbesleben, J., Harvey, J., & Bolino, M. (2009). Too engaged? A conservation of resources view of the relationship between work engagement and work interference with family. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(6), 1452–1465.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hathcoat, J. D., & Barnes, L.L.B. (2010). Explaining the relationship among fundamentalism and authoritarianism: an epistemic connection. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 20(2), 73-84.

  • Hirshi, A. (2011). Vocational identity as a mediator of the relationship between CSE and life and job satisfaction. Applied Psychology, 60(4), 622–644.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobfoll, S. E. (1989). Conservation of resources: a new attempt at conceptualizing stress. American Psychologist, 44, 513–524.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hu, L.T., & Bentler, P.M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1–55.

  • Jiang, W., & Gu, Q. X. (2015). A moderated mediation examination of proactive personality on employee creativity. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 28(3), 393–410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T. A., Erez, A., Bono, J. E., & Thoresen, C. J. (2002). Are measures of self-esteem, neuroticism, locus of control, and generalized self-efficacy indicators of a common core construct? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(3), 693–710.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T. A., Erez, A., Bono, J. E., & Thoresen, C. J. (2003). The core self-evaluations scale: development of a measure. Personnel Psychology, 56, 303–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karatepe, O. M., & Demir, E. (2014). Linking core self-evaluations and work engagement to work–family facilitation. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 26, 307–323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, J., & Ok, C. (2015). Drivers of work engagement: an examination of core self-evaluations and psychological climate among hotel employees. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 44, 84–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leiter, M. P., & Bakker, A. B. (2010). Work engagement: Introduction. In A. B. Bakker & M. P. Leiter (Eds.), Work engagement: A handbook of essential theory and research (pp. 1–9). New York: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, N., Liang, J., & Crant, J. M. (2010). The role of proactive personality in job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior: a relational perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(2), 395–404.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lim, S., & Tai, K. (2014). Family incivility and job performance: a moderated mediation model of psychological distress and core self-evaluations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 99(2), 351–359.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Luthans, F. (2002). The need for and meaning of positive organizational behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23, 695–706.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neves, P., & Champion. (2015). Core self-evaluations and workplace deviance: the role of resources and self-regulation. European Management Journal, 33(5), 381–391.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Priyadarshi, P., & Raina, R. (2014). The mediating effects of work engagement: testing causality between personal resource, job resource and work related outcomes. International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 5(6), 644–666.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quintana, S.M., & Maxwell, S.E. (1999). Implications of recent developments in structural equation modeling for counseling psychology. Counseling Psychologist, 27(4), 485-527.

  • Rich, B. L., LePine, J. A., & Crawford, E. R. (2010). Job engagement: antecedents and effects on job performance. Academy of Management Journal, 53(3), 617–635.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schaufeli, W. B., & Bakker, A. B. (2004). Job demands, job resources, and their relationship with burnout and engagement: a multi-sample study. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25, 293–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schaufeli, W., & Salanova, M. (2007). Work engagement: An emerging psychological concept and its implications for organizations. In S. W. Gilliland, D. D. Steiner, & D. P. Skarlicki (Eds.), Research in social issues in management (volume 5): Managing social and ethical issues in organizations (pp. 135–177). Greenwich: Information Age Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seibert, S.E., Crant, J.M., & Kraimer, M.L. (1999). Proactive personality and career success. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84(3), 416.

  • Seligman, M. E. P. (2003). Positive psychology: fundamental assumptions. The Psychologist, 16, 126–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: an introduction. American Psychologist, 55, 5–14.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seppälä, P., Mauno, S., Feldt, T., Hakanen, J., Kinnunen, U., & Tolvanen, A., et al. (2009). The construct validity of the utrecht work engagement scale: multisample and longitudinal evidence. Journal of Happiness Studies, 10(4), 459-481.

  • Shahpouri, S., Namdari, K., & Abedi, A. (2016). Mediating role of work engagement in the relationship between job resources and personal resources with turnover intention among female nurses. Applied Nursing Research, 30, 216–221.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shi, M., Yan, X., You, X., & Li, J. (2014). Core self-evaluations, emotional intelligence and job satisfaction in chinese soldiers. Social Indicators Research, 124(1), 221-229.

  • Vegt, G. V. D., Emans, B., & Vliert, E. V. D. (2000). Team members’ affective responses to patterns of intragroup interdependence and job complexity. Journal of Management, 26(4), 633–655.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu, C. H., & Griffin, M. A. (2012). Longitudinal relationship between CSE and job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(2), 331–342.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yan, X. F., & Su, J. K. (2013). CSE mediators of the influence of social support on job involvement in hospital nurses. Social Indicators Research, 113(1), 299–306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This study was funded by Natural Science Foundation of China (71272145)

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Aerospace Medicine, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaofei Yan, Jingkuan Su, Zhihong Wen & Zhengxue Luo

Authors
  1. Xiaofei Yan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jingkuan Su
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Zhihong Wen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Zhengxue Luo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhengxue Luo.

Ethics declarations

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Conflict of Interest

Author Xiaofei Yan declares that he/she has no conflict of interest.

Author Jingkuan Su declares that he/she has no conflict of interest.

Author Zhihong Wen declares that he/she has no conflict of interest.

Author Zhengxue Luo declares that he/she has no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yan, X., Su, J., Wen, Z. et al. The Role of Work Engagement on the Relationship Between Personality and Job Satisfaction in Chinese Nurses. Curr Psychol 38, 873–878 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-017-9667-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-017-9667-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation