Job Demands and Resources As Antecedents of Work Engagement: A Diagnostic Survey of Nursing Practitioners

The global scarcity of nursing staff is a challenge to healthcare systems worldwide and creative solutions are needed to address this shortage. Work engagement of nursing practitioners is one essential factor in ensuring a sustainable nursing workforce and sustainable healthcare systems. The purpose of this study was twofold. Firstly, we diagnose the work engagement of nursing practitioners to identify the antecedents of work engagement of nursing practitioners of different nursing and age categories (using the Job Demands and Resources model). Secondly, we propose feasible remedial actions to healthcare management. A quantitative, ex post facto design was followed and data analysis included item analysis, correlation analysis, hierarchical multiple regression analysis, Partial Least Square (PLS) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Findings confirmed work engagement deficiencies. As antecedents, the job resources remuneration, participation, career possibilities, variety at work, independence at work, opportunities to learn, and information require intervention. The job demands of pace and amount of work, mental load, emotional load, ambiguities of work, and uncertainty about the future were also deficient. Feasible, practical recommendations were proposed for each work engagement antecedent that was found to be at an unfavourable level and therefore require intervention. A distinction was made between interventions for nursing staff of different ages and nursing categories where relevant. Significant contributions of this paper include the identification of work engagement deficiencies among nursing staff and mores, specifically the job demands and resources that will increase the work engagement of nursing practitioners in support of a sustainable South African healthcare system.