Meaningful work, psychological well-being, thriving at work and patient aggression: testing a moderated-mediation model

Drawing on the socially embedded theory of thriving, our article investigates the mediating role of thriving at work between work meaningfulness and psychological well-being (PWB). It also examines patient aggression as a moderator of the effect of work meaningfulness on thriving at work. Data were collected from 103 employees working in private hospitals in Northern Cyprus and analyzed via structural equation modeling. The results indicated that work meaningfulness has a significant impact on PWB mediated via thriving at work. Moreover, the findings revealed the positive effect of work meaningfulness on thriving at work in low-aggression contexts. To our knowledge, this study is the first to assess thriving at work as a mediator linking work meaningfulness and PWB, highlighting the moderating role of patient aggression in a single study. Based on the paper’s findings, theoretical and managerial implications, as well as future research suggestions, were discussed.