The present study seeks to achieve a dynamic understanding of employees' job engagement trajectories, and of their time‐structured associations with leader–member exchange (LMX) and outcomes related to psychological adaptation (turnover intentions, emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction and life satisfaction). A sample of 285 employees was surveyed three times (6 months apart) over a 1‐year period. Results revealed that employees' global job engagement followed high and stable trajectories, their specific cognitive and emotional job engagement followed slightly decreasing trajectories, and their specific physical engagement displayed non‐linear trajectories characterized by an initial decrease followed by a slight increase. Specific LMX contribution and LMX professional respect were associated with positive fluctuations in global job engagement, whereas global LMX was associated with positive fluctuations in specific emotional engagement. Specific LMX loyalty and LMX affect (at Time 1 only) were associated with positive fluctuations in specific physical engagement, whereas global LMX was negatively associated with these fluctuations. Higher global job engagement and specific emotional engagement were associated with negative fluctuations in turnover intentions and emotional exhaustion and with positive fluctuations in job satisfaction. Higher specific physical engagement was associated with negative fluctuations in job satisfaction, whereas higher specific cognitive engagement was associated with lower life satisfaction.

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LAY SUMMARY Moral injury (MI) refers to the psycho-spiritual consequences of events that deeply transgress a person’s core moral beliefs and values. Such events are reportedly common in the military context, and strong associations have been demonstrated between exposure to potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs) and suicidality. This study explored differences in negative cognitions between treatment-seeking Canadian Armed Forces members and Veterans with and without current suicidal thoughts and behaviours (STBs), all of whom reported current distress in response to a PMIE. Those exhibiting STBs reported stronger negative beliefs about the self. Scores for event-related guilt cognitions and self-blame were similar across individuals with and without STBs. Individuals reporting STBs also displayed higher depression and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. The results suggest that severity of mental health symptoms and negative self-evaluations may be most pertinent in their association with suicidality in the MI context. Results remain preliminary, however, and additional research is needed to properly examine how event and self-related evaluations affect suicidality after PMIEs.

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