Being engaged: The multiple interactions between job demands and job resources and its impact on nurses engagement

Background: This study has been inspired by the JD-R model. It evaluates the role that job resources play in moderating the impact that job demands have on work engagement in a community of nurses. Methods: A total of 481 nurses in 109 health care centers participated in this study. Three job demands: work overload, emotional demands, and home-work imbalance; and three specific job resources: social support, autonomy, and self-development opportunities were used to test the interaction hypotheses of this research. Results: Results show that 33 out of 36 of the possible interaction effects were significant, thus showing that job resources create a buffer between job demands and work engagement and its three dimensions in nurses. Conclusion: By and large, hypotheses were confirmed. The findings clearly shows the utility of the expanded JD -R model to the nursing community and suggest that the right job resources can help buffer the impact of demanding working condition on work engagement. Research and practical implications are discussed.