The influence of job content and autonomy on psychological well-being through work identity and job crafting among pharmacists in Pakistan

BACKGROUND: Psychological well-being of pharmacists is necessary for safe and effective healthcare delivery, particularly in high-stress environments. The present study was aimed to investigate the influence of job content on psychological well-being among the registered pharmacists in Pakistan along with the mediating roles of work identity and job crafting. METHODS: Data were collected from 564 licensed pharmacists on standardized instruments for psychological well-being (Ryff's PWB Scale), job content (Karasek's JCQ), work identity, and job crafting behaviors. Structural equation modeling using RStudio tested the direct, indirect, and serial mediation effects, with bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis indicated acceptable model reliability (e.g., Job Crafting α = 0.94, CR = 0.96; PWB α = 0.66, CR = 0.85). Bivariate correlations showed that psychological well-being was moderately associated with job crafting (r = 0.49, p < 0.01) and strongly with work identity (r = 0.57, p < 0.01). SEM analysis showed that Job content had no significant direct effect on well-being (β = -0.0362, p = 0.56), two significant indirect effects were observed: via work identity (β = 0.1397, p < 0.05) and job crafting (β = 0.1295, p < 0.05). The sequential pathway; Job content → work identity → job crafting → psychological well-being also yielded a smaller but significant effect (β = 0.0278, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that work identity and job crafting may mediate the relationship between job content and psychological well-being; however, these results should be interpreted cautiously given the model fit limitations.