Is Commitment to One’s Profession Always a Good Thing? Exploring the Moderating Role of Occupational Commitment in the Association Between Work Events and Occupational Health

Abstract

Using a 12-week experience sampling design, this study examined the interaction between negative and positive events in predicting work engagement and burnout in a sample of nurses. Additionally, this study explored the moderating effect of affective occupational commitment as a moderator of work events and work engagement/burnout relation. Results indicated that positive and negative events, as well as their interactive effects significantly predicted both work engagement and burnout. In addition, occupational commitment moderated the association between negative events and burnout. Specifically, the association between negative events and burnout was stronger for nurses who reported high occupational commitment. Positive events did not interact with occupational commitment to predict work engagement or burnout. Similarly, occupational commitment did not moderate the link between negative events and work engagement. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Keywords

positive events negative events occupational commitment work engagement burnout

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