Work engagement among polish nurses: the mediating effects of personal resources and job crafting

Background The global shortage of nurses and their decrease in workplace-related wellbeing is a major public health challenge. It was intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic and is further driven by high job demands, lacking resources and reduced work engagement. Understanding organizational and individual factors that support nurses' engagement is therefore crucial. Objective This study aims to examine how job resources - perceived organizational support and community support at work—relate to work engagement among nurses, and whether particular personal resources (self-efficacy and ego-resiliency) and job crafting mediate these relationships. Methods To check the assumed effects, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among 270 female-only nurses employed at a large polish university hospital with 38 units and approximately 150 000 hospitalizations/year. Validated instruments were used to assess the degree of work engagement, perceived organizational support, community support at work, self-efficacy, ego-resiliency, and job crafting. Mediation analyses were conducted, controlling for relevant sociodemographic and occupational variables. Results Perceived organizational support (POS) and community support at work were positively associated with work engagement when analyzed separately [for POS as the independent variable: B = 1.185, 95% CI = (0.872, 1.498), t = 7.457, p < 0.001; for community support as the independent variable: B = 1.108, 95% CI = (0.604, 1.612), t = 4.328, p < 0.001]; however, only POS remained a significant predictor when both resources were considered simultaneously [B = 1.074, 95% CI = (0.724, 1.423), t = 6.043, p < 0.001]. Mediation analyses indicated that self-efficacy, ego-resiliency, and job crafting partially mediated these relationships, with job crafting showing the strongest indirect effects, particularly for community support [B = 0.491, 95% CI = (0.262, 0.769)]. In more complex models including multiple mediators, indirect-only mediation patterns emerged, suggesting that job resources may influence work engagement primarily through personal and behavioral mechanisms rather than direct effects. Conclusion The findings highlight the importance of supportive organizational environments and proactive work behaviors in enhancing nurses' engagement, emphasizing the need of interventions which strengthen leadership support, foster personal resources, and enable job crafting.