The mediating role of job satisfaction between psychological capital and work engagement among Chinese nurses during COVID-19 outbreak: A comparative study between nurse specialists and general nurses

Abstract

BackgroundThe outbreak of COVID-19 has become a global public health emergency, causing great psychological distress to nurses. It is unknown whether the pandemic will affect the work engagement of nurses, the relationship between psychological capital, job satisfaction, and work engagement among nurses, and whether there are differences between nurse specialists and general nurses during the pandemic.ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to compare psychological capital, job satisfaction, and work engagement among nurse specialists and general nurses during the pandemic, as well as to test the role of job satisfaction as a mediator in the association between psychological capital and work engagement among nurses, and to examine whether the underlying mechanism of the relationship between psychological capital and job satisfaction differs between nurse specialists and general nurses.Materials and methodsA convenience sampling was used to assess a sample of 372 nurse specialists and 318 general nurses from nine provincial general hospitals in China to participate in the online survey. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires, including the following tools: self-designed socio-demographic questionnaire, psychological capital scale, job satisfaction scale, and work engagement scale.ResultsCompared with general nurses, the nurse specialists had higher psychological capital, job satisfaction, and work engagement. Job satisfaction partially mediated the positive association between psychological capital and work engagement and the indirect effect was stronger in nurse specialists in comparison to general nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.ConclusionThe findings provide important practical implications for future intervention programs aimed at enhancing nurses’ work engagement, which may be realized through strengthening psychological capital and job satisfaction during the pandemic. Moreover, considering the cost-effectiveness of limited health care spending, nursing managers should pay more attention to the continuing professional development of young general nurses.

Relationships Between Perceived Organizational Support, Psychological Capital and Work Engagement Among Chinese Infection Control Nurses

“…21 Individuals with higher PsyCap have higher work engagement as they are better equipped to deal with adverse factors and have a positive attitude towards work. 22,23 The JD-R model suggests that both job resources and personal resources have important effects on work engagement. The conservation of resources (COR) theory claims that resources, or resource shortages, tend to exist in clusters, rather than in isolation.…”

Registered nurses' psychological capital: A scoping review

“…RNs reporting higher PsyCap scores have also reported higher work engagement in 11 studies (Bonner, 2016; Flinkman et al, 2023; Grover et al, 2018; Jin et al, 2022; Lu et al, 2023; Pan et al, 2017; Shaheen et al, 2019; Tian et al, 2023; Wang et al, 2017; Wu & Lee, 2020; Zhang et al, 2023). Furthermore, RNs indicating higher PsyCap, have reported higher organizational commitment (Huo et al, 2020; Peng et al, 2013; Zhou, Yang, et al, 2018), affective commitment (Brunetto, Rodwell, et al, 2016) and a higher intention to remain in the organization (Luthans & Jensen, 2005).…”

The influence of job burnout on quiet quitting among nurses: the mediating effect of job satisfaction

“…Hu et al revealed that the indirect effect of satisfaction was signi cant in that nurses' career identity in uenced turnover intention [23]. Other studies also proved the mediating effect of job satisfaction on outcomes such as work engagement and quality of nursing care [24,27]. Job satisfaction is a determinant of nurses' productivity and therefore quality of healthcare since it is the state of favorable feelings and well-being of workers in their workspace [42].…”

“…Moreover, it is well known that job burnout has a negative association with job satisfaction [20][21][22]. Several studies including nurses con rm the mediating role of job satisfaction between work-related variables, such as career identity, turnover intention, workload, quality of care, job performance, and professional identity [23][24][25][26][27]. Since the mediating role of nurses' job satisfaction in the relationship between job burnout and quiet quitting is unknown, we hypothesized the following: Hypothesis 2 Nurses' job satisfaction would mediate the relationship between job burnout and their quiet quitting.…”