Relational job characteristics and nurses' affective organizational commitment: The mediating role of work engagement

Aim: To study work engagement as a mediator of the associations between relational job characteristics and nurses' affective commitment to the hospital. Background: Earlier research has shown that work engagement mediates the relationship between job resources and affective organizational commitment. However, relational job characteristics, which may be job resources, have not been studied or examined in relation to work engagement and affective organizational commitment in the nursing profession. Design: This study uses a correlational survey design and an online survey for data collection. Method: Data for this correlational study were collected by survey over months (2013) from a sample of 335 hospital nurses. Measures included Portuguese translations of the Relational Job Characteristics' Psychological Effects Scale, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and the Affective Organizational Commitment Scale. Results: Data analysis supports a full mediation model where relational job characteristics explained affective commitment to the hospital through nurses' work engagement. Conclusions: Relational job characteristics contribute to nurses' work engagement, which in turn contributes to affective organizational commitment.