Longitudinal Associations Among Workplace Social Capital, Career Calling and Work Engagement Among Nurses: A Three-Wave Cross-Lagged Panel Study

Background/Objectives: Nurses experience substantial occupational challenges that may affect occupational well-being. Understanding longitudinal factors associated with occupational well-being is essential. This study examined the longitudinal associations among workplace social capital, career calling, and work engagement in nurses. Methods: A three-wave survey was conducted among 470 nurses recruited through convenience sampling from a single tertiary general hospital in China between March 2024 and March 2025. Workplace social capital, career calling, and work engagement were measured at six-month intervals using established self-report scales. Cross-lagged panel models were used to examine time-ordered associations and longitudinal indirect associations among the three variables, adjusting for covariates. Results: Workplace social capital, career calling, and work engagement showed temporal stability. Workplace social capital was prospectively associated with subsequent career calling and work engagement from T1 to T2 but not from T2 to T3. Career calling and work engagement showed significant longitudinal associations in both directions. Work engagement also showed longitudinal associations with later workplace social capital and career calling. Exploratory analyses identified several model-implied longitudinal indirect associations among workplace social capital, career calling, and work engagement over time. Conclusions: This study identified time-ordered longitudinal associations among workplace social capital, career calling and work engagement in nurses. Career calling and work engagement showed longitudinal associations in both directions, whereas workplace social capital was prospectively associated with subsequent career calling and work engagement mainly during the earlier interval. Because the traditional cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) does not distinguish within-person from between-person effects, these findings should be interpreted as longitudinal associations rather than evidence of causal or within-person reciprocal processes.