The mediation role of psychological well-being at work on the relationship between shiftwork and work engagement among nurses in Zambia:

a case of selected hospitals in Kabwe district

Abstract

Work engagement is an important latent variable because of it being linked to the bottom line of the organisation. Engaged employees work hard by investing their physical energies towards accomplishing work tasks hence improved work performance that eventually leads to good financial performance. An empirical evaluation of the antecedents of work engagement is therefore required. A quantitative ex post facto survey design was used in this study. The research hypotheses were empirically evaluated using a sample of 200 respondents from two selected level one hospitals in Kabwe district with a mean age of 2.35 and standard deviation of .819. The sample was comprised of males (12%) and female (88.0%) with levels of qualification distributed as follows: Certificates (15%), Diploma (80%), others (5%). Non-probability technique specifically convenient sampling was used to select the sample. Hypothesized relationships in the proposed structural model was analysed through partial least squares structural equation modelling in Smart PLS 4.0. Good reliability coefficients as well as convergent and discriminant validity were established.  Reasonable fit for the measurement model was attained. The study established that psychological well-being mediated the relationship between shift work and job engagement with a t-value bigger than 1.96 and p < 0.05. Statistically significant path coefficients between shift work and psychological well-being, as well as psychological well-being and job engagement were established. This study has provided empirical evidence that psychological well-being acts as a mediator in the relationship between shift work and job engagement. Since shift work disrupts ones biological clock, human resource practitioners ought to mentally prepare employees on the negative effect of shift work on how well they can remain engaged. The study recommends that future studies with bigger and culturally diverse samples be carried out due to limited evident of convergent validity and with smaller r-squared values.