Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This study examined an integrated model encompassing supervisor undermining, experienced compassion, state optimism, regulatory emotional self-efficacy, and job engagement using the affective event theory. We tested the propensity toward supervisor undermining as an environmental factor to trigger a compassionate response in the workplace, viewing the resulting effects of compassion as a form of job engagement. We also examined the mediating role of state optimism in the relationship between experienced compassion and job engagement, and the moderating role of regulatory emotional self-efficacy between experienced compassion and state optimism. We collected data in four-time lags from 406 nurses in public sector hospitals in Pakistan. The findings indicate that supervisor undermining triggers compassionate responses in the workplace. Furthermore, the results show that experienced compassion in the workplace increases job engagement, which is mediated through state optimism. Regulatory emotional self-efficacy moderated the relationship between experienced compassion and state optimism. Implications and future directions are highlighted.

Keywords

experienced compassion job engagement regulatory emotional self-efficacy state optimism supervisor undermining

“Supervisor undermining” refers to a “supervisor’s behavior intended to hinder the subordinate’s ability to maintain positive interpersonal relationships, achieve work-related success, and maintain favorable reputation” (Duffy et al., 2002, p. 332). A study on the US workforce concerning the prevalence of workplace aggression found that about 13% of the workforce experience nonphysical hostility from their supervisors (Schat et al., 2006). Such behavior may cause depression, stress, a lower level of trust in the supervisor, decreased job involvement, and poor performance—ultimately translating into losses of billions of dollars for the organizations (Eissa et al., 2017; Greenbaum & Mawritz, 2015).

Researchers have demonstrated that victims of supervisor undermining engage in negative workplace attitudes and behaviors (Eissa et al., 2017; Fatima et al., 2020; Frazier & Bowler, 2015; Greenbaum & Mawritz, 2015; Ng & Yim, 2015), but they may not engage in retaliatory and counterproductive behaviors consistently. Instead, under certain situations, they may engage in positive work attitudes and behaviors (Miner et al., 2012). Unfortunately, relatively little research attention has been devoted to studying how the adverse effects of supervisor undermining can be mitigated in the workplace (Ng & Yim, 2015). Furthermore, the role of compassion to trigger positive work attitudes in the victims of supervisor undermining, the underlying mediating mechanisms through which this may occur, and the critical moderators that can arrest or bolster this relationship, are rarely investigated. To address these significant gaps in the existing literature, we examined the role of experienced compassion in the workplace in mitigating the adverse effects of supervisor undermining and increase the state optimism and job engagement of the victims of undermining.

We invoked affective event theory (AET; Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996) as a theoretical lens for our integrated model. AET stresses the role of different events in the workplace as proximal causes of employees’ reactions. The thesis of AET is that employees react emotionally to the various occurrences in the workplace, and their emotional reactions affect their job satisfaction and performance. Environmental factors and workplace events in the form of daily hassles and uplifts trigger various positive or negative emotions in employees, which in turn affect their attitudes and behaviors. The theory further highlights the importance of personal disposition in strengthening or weakening emotional reactions to workplace events. Hence, using this theory’s lens, we tested whether nurses’ undermining by supervisors (head nurses) triggers compassion in the workplace toward them by their colleagues, a reaction termed “experienced compassion.” This is likely to happen, as compassion is considered a specific form of responsiveness to the suffering and pain of others (Dutton et al., 2014; Lilius et al., 2008). In addition, using the lens of AET, experienced compassion as a workplace event is expected to trigger state optimism in nurses who are victims of supervisor undermining. This is likely because state optimism is predicted by situational and contextual factors (Kluemper et al., 2009; Ragsdale & Beehr, 2016). We argue that the state optimism of nurses will translate into higher levels of job engagement. Kluemper et al. (2009) posited that the state optimism of individuals helps reduce their emotional exhaustion and withdrawal, as they become more positive a consequence of their job-related efforts (Millstein et al., 2019; Urzúa et al., 2017). In summation, state optimism’s cognitive, affective, and motivational properties tend to increase nurses’ job engagement (Ragsdale & Beehr, 2016). Job engagement among nurses is critical for the effective functioning of healthcare institutions (Park & Lee, 2018). It is essential as hospitals strive to increase the job engagement of their nursing staff because it is linked with innovation and other desired positive outcomes (Sheehan et al., 2019; Zhong et al., 2016).

Finally, we theorize that the relationship between experienced compassion and state optimism will be stronger for nurses with a higher level of regulatory emotional self-efficacy (RESE). RESE refers to an individual’s self-efficacy beliefs in managing negative emotions and expressing positive emotions (Caprara et al., 2008). Nurses with a higher level of RESE will manage their negative emotions and express positive emotions, such as state optimism, when they experience a positive event such as compassion in the workplace. To find evidence, we tested an integrated model through the lens of affective event theory (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996). The research model is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Theoretical framework.

Our research context—public sector hospitals in Pakistan—is quite suitable for the study of supervisor undermining. Characterized as a high power distance culture, Pakistan is frequently represented as supporting high disparities in wealth and power (Hofstede, 2011). Due to high deference to authority in a culture like this, subordinates are expected to be more submissive to authority and thus less likely to report their supervisors’ undermining behaviors. Furthermore, a high rate of unemployment, coupled with fewer alternative job opportunities (Arain et al., 2020), make the nursing staff more vulnerable to supervisor undermining. Hence, our research extends to a new and relatively under-researched Pakistani cultural context (Aycan et al., 2000), enriching the existing literature with new insights regarding how the adverse effects of supervisor undermining can be mitigated in the workplace and the effects of compassion in the form of improved state optimism and job engagement.

Literature Review

Supervisor Undermining and Experienced Compassion

Compassion was initially defined as “the heart’s response to sorrow” (Kornfield, 1993). It is a multidimensional process encompassing three elements: noticing the suffering of another person; empathically feeling the pain of that person; and acting or behaving in a manner that may ease the suffering (Dutton et al., 2006). Specifically, compassion is expressed by being sympathetic to individuals who are depressed and experiencing difficulties. Employees demonstrate compassion in the workplace through communication and exhibiting appropriate behaviors (Roeser et al., 2018; Simpson et al., 2020). In addition, experienced compassion is found to be particularly noticeable and rewarding in workplaces where employees are engaged in caregiving jobs, such as nursing, where they regularly encounter emotionally exhausting situations such as supervisor undermining (Rhee et al., 2017; Straughair et al., 2019).

Experienced compassion in the workplace is still in its infancy as a topic of research (Eldor, 2018). Only recently researchers in organizational behavior and psychology have begun to study the antecedents and consequences of experienced compassion in the workplace (Chu, 2016; Eldor, 2018; Lilius et al., 2008; Roeser et al., 2018; Runyan et al., 2019). Existing research on compassion has identified various factors that trigger compassionate responses in the workplace (Eldor, 2018; Kanov et al., 2004). Specifically, the organizational environments in which members regularly experience painful experiences are found to consistently evoke compassionate responses in the workplace (Eldor, 2018; Worline & Dutton, 2017). From this perspective, van der Cingel (2009) concluded that suffering is a trigger that ignites compassion. Hence, suffering occurs first, before compassion is received from the observers.

Similarly, AET also suggests that features of the work environment initiate affective workplace episodes or events. Hence, it is logical to infer that a hospital’s work environment, characterized by nurses being undermined by their supervisors may evoke workplace events in the form of compassion shown toward them by their colleagues. Accordingly, we propose that nurses who are victims of supervisor undermining may experience compassionate responses from their colleagues in the workplace. Accordingly, we hypothesize the following:

Hypothesis 1: Supervisor undermining is significantly and positively related to experienced compassion.

Experienced Compassion and State Optimism

Existing studies have found that when employees receive a compassionate response in the workplace, they produce a variety of positive emotions (Dutton & Ragins, 2007; Dutton et al., 2014; Lilius et al., 2008; Plante, 2020; Runyan et al., 2019; Subba & Rao, 2017). Furthermore, AET (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996) also proposes that affective workplace events trigger corresponding affective reactions in the targets, ultimately influencing their work attitudes and behaviors. This theory has been widely tested in different laboratory and field studies, and the findings remain consistent (Hu et al., 2017; Lam & Chen, 2012; Lewis et al., 2017).

Positive organizational behavior researchers (e.g., Luthans, 2002a, 2002b; Luthans & Youssef, 2007; Nelson & Cooper, 2007) have suggested studying the positive states of employees concerning work outcomes. They posit that these states are measurable, changeable, and may have important implications for managers and administrators. This recent stream of research calls attention to a rarely explored area in the existing literature on optimism, that is, examining the effects of optimism as a flexible, adaptable construct (i.e., state optimism) on work-related attitudes and behavioral outcomes (Kluemper et al., 2009; Millstein et al., 2019; Urzúa et al., 2017). Since state optimism is predicted by situational and contextual factors (Kluemper et al., 2009), we argue that experienced compassion in the workplace will trigger state optimism in nurses. In Pakistani hospitals, compassion from nurses’ colleagues may be in the form of gestures of emotional support, sympathy, kindness, and offering work-related help. These gestures of compassion from colleagues may trigger positive affective states, such as state optimism, in nurses who are the victims of supervisor undermining. In support of this argument (Miller, 2007) maintained that experienced compassion in the workplace increases feelings of connectedness among employees, which helps produce various positive affective states. Considering the above discussion and following the leads of AET, it is expected that experienced compassion in the workplace will cultivate state optimism in nurses who are the victims of supervisor undermining. Consequently, we hypothesize the following:

Hypothesis 2: Experienced compassion in the workplace is significantly and positively related to state optimism among nurses.

State Optimism and Job Engagement

The attachment of a person’s “self” to “role” has been examined from various perspectives by researchers since 1990. However, researchers are divided on the issues of definition and measurement of engagement. From this perspective, a recent study showed that personal engagement, work engagement, and job engagement differ significantly from each other (Gupta & Shukla, 2018). Personal engagement is defined as the “harnessing of organization members’ selves to their work roles; in engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances” (Kahn, 1990, p. 694). Job engagement is defined as a person’s enthusiasm and involvement in their job (Roberts & Davenport, 2002). Employees who are engaged in their jobs tend to perform their jobs better. Such employees personally identify with the job and are motivated by the work itself. They tend to work hard, show high productivity compared to others, and produce results for their organizations.

Organizations are striving to increase job engagement in their employees because it is linked with innovation, increased productivity, and other desired positive outcomes (Gupta et al., 2016; Mone et al., 2011; Reijseger et al., 2017; Van Rooy et al., 2011). Accordingly, research studies on job engagement have increased tremendously in the last few years (Agarwal, 2014; Bakker & Albrecht, 2018; Gao et al., 2018; Gupta et al., 2015; Kwon & Yoon, 2015; Rai & Agarwal, 2017; Yang et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2017).

Prior research has demonstrated that personal resources such as optimism (Xanthopoulou et al., 2007), self-efficacy, and resilience (Bakker, 2009) are significant predictors of job engagement. These resources help engaged employees manage and influence their work positively (Alessandri et al., 2018; Luthans, 2002a). Likewise, Kluemper et al. (2009) suggested that state optimism in individuals assists in reducing their emotional exhaustion and withdrawal as they become more positive concerning their future and the consequences of their job-related efforts. Overall, the cognitive, affective, and motivational properties of state optimism tend to increase nurses’ job engagement (Ragsdale & Beehr, 2016). Accordingly, this study argues that nurses’ state optimism may translate into high job engagement. Consequently, we hypothesize the following:

Hypothesis 3: State optimism is significantly and positively associated with nurses’ job engagement.

The Mediating Role of State Optimism

Employees who are receiving compassion from their colleagues in the workplace experience feelings of connectedness among themselves, which helps to produce a variety of positive emotions (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2000; Miller, 2007). Several studies have found a significant positive relationship between experienced compassion and positive emotions (Dutton, 2003; Folkman & Moskowitz, 2000; Hallowell, 1999; Lilius et al., 2008). This is because compassionate acts may be considered affective events in the workplace, which trigger positive emotions (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996). On the other hand, an increase in positive emotions is found to predict good relationships among employees (Sprecher & Fehr, 2005), to increase happiness and self-esteem (Mongrain et al., 2011), positive mood (Chu, 2016), affective organizational commitment (Lilius et al., 2008), identification with employing organization (Subba & Rao, 2017), and work engagement (Gloria & Steinhardt, 2016; Junça-Silva et al., 2017; Kwon & Yoon, 2015).

However, positive organizational behavior researchers have focused on examining the influence of state measures of optimism on critical organizational outcomes (Cameron & Caza, 2004; Millstein et al., 2019; Urzúa et al., 2017; Wright, 2007; Wright et al., 2003). If state optimism is more strongly associated with work-related outcomes, as we propose in this study, administrators should cultivate work environments that allow their employees to feel more optimistic about their job. Accordingly, it is essential to understand the role of state optimism in predicting work attitudes such as job engagement (Kluemper et al., 2009; Urzúa et al., 2017).

Since state optimism is influenced by contextual factors (Kluemper et al., 2009; Luthans, 2002a; Ragsdale & Beehr, 2016), and in turn influences positive attitudes and behaviors (Kluemper et al., 2009; Urzúa et al., 2017), this study argues that state optimism will mediate the relationship between experienced compassion and job engagement. Furthermore, AET (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996) also maintains that positive emotions mediate the relationship between affective workplace events and work attitudes. Therefore, following the above discussion, the current study proposes state optimism as a mediator in the relationship between experienced compassion and job engagement. Consequently, we hypothesize the following:

Hypothesis 4: State optimism mediates the relationship between nurses’ experienced compassion and job engagement.

The Moderating Role of Regulatory Emotional Self-efficacy (RESE)

RESE is defined as “the self-efficacy beliefs of an individual in managing his/her negative emotions and expressing positive emotions” (Caprara et al., 2008, p. 228). Managing negative emotions refers to self-belief in one’s emotional competence in suppressing negative emotions (e.g., sadness and anger) that may arise in response to the suffering experienced. In contrast, managing positive emotions represents self-belief in one’s ability to express positive emotions (e.g., happiness and optimism) while experiencing pleasant events in one’s life (Caprara et al., 2008). Existing research has also documented the pervasive impact of RESE on the course of individuals’ personal and organizational life and their affective functioning (Mesurado et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2018).

An individual’s actual emotions are based on their beliefs about their ability to regulate their emotions (Zahniser, 2016). Thus, individuals’ perceptions about their RESE may impact the type and level of emotions they experience (Alessandri et al., 2009; Galicia-Moyeda et al., 2013). Hence, nurses who believe that they can manage their negative emotions and express positive emotions are more likely to experience a higher level of state optimism in response to a positive workplace event such as compassion. Consequently, RESE as a personal disposition can influence nurses’ level of state optimism. Therefore, this study argues that nurses with a higher level of RESE will experience a higher level of state optimism in response to a pleasant workplace event in the form of compassion in the workplace.

Furthermore, AET (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996) also suggests that personal dispositions moderate the relationship between workplace events and affective reactions (positive/negative emotions). Accordingly, we argue that nurses’ levels of RESE might moderate the relationship between experienced compassion and state optimism. Hence, we hypothesize the following:

Hypothesis 5: RESE moderates the relationship between experienced compassion and state optimism.

Methods

Research Context

The consequences of supervisor undermining have been explored primarily in the context of business organizations. However, it is pertinent to mention that because they are on the front lines dealing with patients, nurses experiencing supervisor undermining may have severe implications, as they might compromise patient safety (Younas & Sundus, 2018). Therefore, this study was conducted in the healthcare sector, and data were collected from nurses working in public sector hospitals in Pakistan. The healthcare system in Pakistan consists of both private and public-sector hospitals. Public sector healthcare facilities are provided through a coordinated network of district headquarter hospitals, rural health centers, dispensaries, basic health units, and allied medical professionals. Despite having an extensive healthcare infrastructure, Pakistan’s delivery of health services faces some key issues and challenges. These issues stem from the inadequate health budget, rapid population growth, political orientations, environmental factors, and lower doctor-to-patient and nurses-to-patient ratios (World Health Organization, 2017). Furthermore, fear of job loss and of physical assault make nurses more vulnerable to face supervisor undermining instead of reporting such behavior to higher authorities.

Population, Sample, and Procedure

Data were collected using a questionnaire survey of nurses working in various public sector hospitals in Pakistan. A convenient sampling technique is employed to gather data because of the wide dispersion of public sector hospitals across Pakistan. We followed the Krejcie and Morgan (1970) sample size criteria, which suggested that if the study population exceeds 75,000 but does not exceed 1,000,000, a sample of 384 respondents was sufficient. Because of the same, since 99,228 registered nurses are working in public sector hospitals of Pakistan (Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, 2017), a sample of 384 was considered sufficient for this study. For data collection, we contacted the medical superintendents (MS) of different public-sector hospitals and briefed them on the purpose of our research and the scope of data collection. Before collecting data, we sought prior consent from nurses who volunteered to participate in the study. Next, we approached head nurses to invite nurses who were employed in their respective wards for data collection. A cover letter was appended to the questionnaire. It included a statement of confidentiality, and assurance that the individual responses will be kept anonymous and that data will be reported only in the aggregate.

The time-lag data collection technique was adopted to avoid the problem of common method bias. We collected data from four time lags with an interval of 1 month. At Time 1, we asked respondents to create a key comprising the first letters of their first and last names, followed by the name of the month of their birth. We did so to match the responses at different time lags, in addition to maintaining confidentiality. The respondents were asked to enter the same key that they created at Time 1, while filling the questionnaire at Times 2, 3, and 4. This technique made it easier for us to match the responses at different time lags. This matching response technique has also been employed in existing studies (e.g., Fatima et al., 2018).

Initially, 650 questionnaires were distributed among the nurses to collect data on supervisor undermining. We received 574 completed questionnaires at Time 1. After 1 month (at Time 2), these 574 respondents were contacted to fill out the experienced compassion and RESE questionnaires, though only 541 completed them at Time 2. After 1 month (Time 3), these 541 respondents were contacted to fill out the questionnaire on state optimism; 512 were returned at Time 3. One month later (Time 4), these 512 respondents were contacted to fill out the questionnaire on job engagement. A total of 466 respondents completed and returned the questionnaires at Time 4. After removing missing values and unengaged responses, 406 questionnaires were left for final data analysis, with a response rate of 62%. Prior studies conducted in Asian contexts also observed similar high response rates (Abbas et al., 2014; Raja et al., 2004).

For subcategories, most respondents were female (91.4%), and only 8.6% were male. Of the respondents, 71.7% were married, while 28.3% were single. In the age category, 22.9% of respondents were 24 years or younger, while 45.3% were 25 to 31, 20.4% were 32 to 38, and 11.3% were 39 or older. Hence, most nurses were 25 to 31 years of age. As for work tenure, 37.2% of respondents had 1 to 5 years of experience, while 42.5% had 6 to 10 years, 15.3% had 11 to 15 years, and only 5.4% of respondents had more than 15 years of experience.

Measures

The questionnaire comprised 58 statements. The first part was designed to collect demographic information on the respondents, including their sex, marital status, age, and working experience. The second part of the questionnaire included various measures used in this study. Supervisor undermining was measured using the 13-item scale by Duffy et al. (2002). A sample item was, “How often has your supervisor intentionally hurt your feelings?” Experienced compassion was measured using the three-item scale developed by Lilius et al. (2008). A sample item was, “In the last month, how frequently have you experienced compassion from your co-workers?” State optimism was measured using an eight-item scale developed by Scheier and Carver (1985). A sample item was, “Currently, while at work, I usually expect the best.” To measure the level of nurses’ RESE, the 12-item scale devised by Caprara et al. (2008) was used. A sample item was, “How well can you keep from getting discouraged in the face of difficulties?” Job engagement was measured using the 18-item scale developed by Rich et al. (2010). A sample item included, “I devote a lot of energy to my job.” The Cronbach’s alpha reliabilities of the scales reported in this study were .87, .73, .75, .92, and .96, respectively. The scales used in this study are shown in appendix 1.

Control Variables

Sex, marital status, age, and tenure were used as the possible control variables. Prior research on nursing surveys also suggested controlling for the effects of these variables (Collins & Henderson, 1991; Malik et al., 2020). However, the results of ANOVA revealed that none of these variables had any significant effect on the criterion variables of the study: sex (F = 1.354, p > .05), marital status (F = 0.413, p > .05), age (F = 0.297, p > .05), or working experience (F = 1.203, p > .05).

Data Analysis and Results

We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to estimate and test the relationships among the study variables. First, we explored the pattern of factor loadings on their respective latent constructs. The results of the factor loading are shown in Table 1. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was then performed to determine the validity of the scales used. Subsequently, the proposed model is compared with different competing models. Furthermore, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and path analysis were performed to examine the associations and relationships among the study variables. The results of the data analysis are appended below.

Table 1.

Factor Loading of Latent Constructs.

	Component
	1	2	3	4	5
Rotated component matrix
SU1			0.667
SU2			0.685
SU3			0.641
SU4			0.648
SU5			0.675
SU6			0.681
SU7			0.619
SU8			0.631
SU9			0.655
SU10			0.626
SU12			0.637
SU13			0.597
EC1					0.758
EC2					0.766
EC3					0.721
RES1		0.737
RES2		0.706
RES3		0.721
RES4		0.685
RES5		0.732
RES6		0.691
RES7		0.716
RES8		0.703
RES9		0.697
RES10		0.698
RES11		0.712
RES12		0.713
SO1				0.578
SO3				0.579
SO4				0.554
SO5				0.657
SO6				0.618
SO7				0.620
SO8				0.650
JE1	0.759
JE2	0.715
JE3	0.731
JE4	0.745
JE5	0.710
JE6	0.756
JE7	0.729
JE8	0.738
JE9	0.722
JE10	0.756
JE11	0.784
JE12	0.729
JE13	0.774
JE14	0.698
JE15	0.744
JE16	0.776
JE17	0.743
JE18	0.752

Note. Extraction method: principal component analysis. Rotation method: varimax with Kaiser normalization.

Convergent Validity

The perfect fitness of the measurement model must meet the threshold levels of reliability, validity, and model fitness indices. Composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE) are typically calculated to assess convergent validity (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). According to Bagozzi and Yi (1988), if AVE is more significant than 0.5, and CR is greater than 0.6, it establishes convergent validity. For our data, the value of AVE ranged from 0.515 to 0.738, and the value of CR ranges from 0.73 to 0.95. Hence, the convergent validity is proved. The results are shown in Table 2.

Table 2.

Validity Upshots.

Constructs	CR	AVE
Supervisor undermining	0.880	0.570
Experienced compassion	0.731	0.665
State optimism	0.771	0.515
Job engagement	0.956	0.738
RESE	0.918	0.672

Note. CR = composite reliability; AVE = average variance extracted.

Descriptive Statistics and Correlations Analysis

Table 3 highlights the correlations and associated significance levels among all the study variables. Significant positive correlations were observed among all variables. We did not include demographic variables in this analysis because they were found to have insignificant associations with the criterion variables of the study, as depicted by the results of the ANOVA above. We also calculated the Cronbach’s alpha reliabilities of all the measures used in this study. The results demonstrated that all the measures meet the minimum threshold level of 0.70 (Andrew et al., 1976), providing evidence of their reliabilities.

Table 3.

Descriptive Statistics, Correlations, and Alpha Reliabilities (in Parentheses).

Variables	Mean	SD	1	2	3	4	5
SU	3.24	0.72	(.87)
EC	3.35	0.89	.290**	(.73)
SO	3.39	0.74	.321**	.353**	(.75)
JE	3.12	0.91	.144**	.278**	.446**	(.96)
RESE	3.22	0.82	.203**	.151**	.303**	.299**	(.92)

Note. n = 406. SD = standard deviation; SU = supervisor undermining; EC = experienced compassion; SO = state optimism; JE = job engagement; RESE = regulatory emotional self-efficacy. Entries in bold are values of Alpha Reliabilities.

p ˂ .05. **p < .01.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)

Before testing the hypotheses using SEM, we performed a CFA. The IBM SPSS Amos software package was used to conduct the CFA, and multiple measures were used to assess model fitness. These measurements included chi-square, RMSEA, IFI, TLI, and CFI. The chi-square value is sensitive to the sample size and is supplemented with a degree of freedom to provide a robust measurement. Hence, model fitness is indicated by the ratio of chi-square divided by degrees of freedom with a value less than 3 and ideally less than 2 (Hair et al., 2010). The RMSEA value should be closer to 0.05. However, IFI, TLI, and CFI values should be close to 0.95 or more for a good model fit (Hair et al., 2010; Hu & Bentler, 1999; Kline, 2005). Our measurement model consisted of five latent variables. However, while performing CFA, one item from supervisor undermining and one item from state optimism were suppressed due to lower factor loadings. As shown in Table 4, the CFA of the five-factor model indicated a good fit compared to other models. All the values met the standard criteria of good fit (χ² = 1,558.757, df = 1,261, χ²/df = 1.236, p < .000, RMSEA = 0.024, IFI = 0.97, TLI = 0.96, and CFI = 0.97). Moreover, all the indicators loaded on the relevant latent constructs with factor loadings greater than 0.50. The results of the factor loading are shown in Table 1.

Table 4.

CFA of the Measurement Models.

Measurement models	χ²	df	χ²/df	RMSEA	IFI	TLI	CFI
Initial five factor model	2,174.201	1,264	1.720	0.042	0.91	0.90	0.91
Final five factor model	1,558.757	1,261	1.236	0.024	0.97	0.96	0.97
Four factor (combined SU, SO)	2,651.320	1,268	2.091	0.052	0.86	0.85	0.86
Three factor (SU, SO, RESE)	4,018.631	1,271	3.162	0.073	0.73	0.71	0.73
Two factor (SU, EC, RESE, SO)	4,259.518	1,273	3.346	0.076	0.71	0.69	0.71
One factor (all items combined)	6,109.913	1,274	4.796	0.096	0.53	0.51	0.53

Note. χ² = chi square; df = degrees of freedom; RMSEA = root mean square error of approximation; IFI = incremental fit index; TLI = Tucker–Lewis fit index; CFI = comparative fit index. Enteries in bold are the values of final five factor model.

Consequently, the results of the CFA show that our five-factor model has adequate discriminant validity. Finally, since the data were collected from a single source, this study may still be affected by common method biases. To check this statistically, we used Harman’s single-factor test. According to the results, the single factor extracted 23.055% of the variance. Since it is far less than the threshold level of 50% (Podsakoff et al., 2003), we conclude that there is no threat of common method bias.

Tests of Hypotheses

With good model fitness achieved and convergent and discriminant validities established, we tested the proposed model using SEM in the Amos software package. Figure 2 shows the path diagram of the measurement model. Table 5 presents the results of the hypothesis testing. Hypothesis 1 stated that supervisor undermining is significantly positively related to experienced compassion in the workplace. The results supported this relationship (β = .29, p < .000). Hypothesis 2 stated that experienced compassion in the workplace is significantly positively related to state optimism. The results also support this relationship (β = .31, p < .000). Our third hypothesis states that state optimism is significantly and positively related to job engagement. We also found empirical support for this relationship (β = .39, p < .000).

Table 5.

Standardized Coefficients for Structural Paths.

Structural path	Estimate	SE	CR
SU → EC	0.290***	0.059	6.098
EC → SO	0.315***	0.037	7.081
SO → JE	0.395***	0.057	8.443

Note. N = 406. SU = supervisor undermining; EC = experienced compassion; SO = state optimism; JE = job engagement; SE = standard error; CR = critical ratio.

***

p < .000.

Figure 2.

The path diagram of the measurement model.

Hypothesis 4 stated that state optimism mediates the relationship between experienced compassion and job engagement. We performed mediation analysis using the bootstrapping method in Amos and requested 5,000 samples. A 95% bias-corrected bootstrap confidence interval of (0.78–0.183) with p < .000 provided empirical evidence of mediation in the model, since zero does not lie between the lower and upper bounds. Consequently, Hypothesis 4 was supported. The results of the mediation analysis are presented in Table 6.

Table 6.

Standardized Indirect Path Coefficients for Mediation Analysis.

Indirect path	Indirect effect	SE	BC 95% CI (LL)	BC 95% CI (UL)
EC → SO → JE	0.125***	0.026	0.078	0.183

Note. N = 406, bootstrap sample size = 5,000. EC = experienced compassion; SO = state optimism; JE = job engagement; BC 95% CI = bootstrap confidence intervals.

***

p < .000.

We performed a moderation analysis using simple slope analysis. Hypothesis 5 stated that RESE moderates the relationship between experienced compassion and state optimism. To test this hypothesis, we centered on the independent and moderating variables and then created an interaction term for them. The results of the moderation analysis supported the proposed moderation of RESE, since the interaction term was significant (β = .153, p < .000). The moderation effect is also evident from the upward slope of the simple slope analysis (Figure 3), which depicts a positive relationship between experienced compassion and state optimism at high values of the moderator (RESE). Furthermore, we tested the association between experienced compassion and state optimism at low and high values of the moderator (RESE). The results showed that the positive association between experienced compassion and state optimism was more potent at a higher level of RESE (β = .408, p < .000), and when RESE was low, the association between experienced compassion and state optimism became weaker and even became non-significant (β = .111, p > .05). Consequently, it can be inferred that an increase in RESE tends to strengthen the positive association between experienced compassion and state optimism. Hence, Hypothesis 5 is supported. The results of the moderation analyses are presented in Table 7.

Table 7.

Moderation Analysis.

Structural path	Estimate	SE	CR
EC → SO	0.315***	0.037	7.081
RESE → SO	0.263***	0.040	5.890
INT (RESE × EC) → SO	0.153***	0.043	3.432

Note. EC = experienced compassion; SO = state optimism; RESE = regulatory emotional self-efficacy; SE = standard error; CR = critical ratio.

***

p < .000.

Figure 3.

Simple slope analysis.

Discussion

A survey of 406 nurses at public sector hospitals in Pakistan supported this study’s hypotheses. The results showed that supervisor undermining triggers compassion in the workplace. In addition, there was a significant association between experience compassion and state optimism and job engagement. Furthermore, the mediating role of state optimism between experienced compassion and job engagement was substantiated. Finally, the role of regulatory emotional self-efficacy as a moderator between experienced compassion and state optimism was confirmed.

The results depicted that supervisor undermining triggers compassion in the workplace. This finding is consistent with the theoretical reasoning that negative social interactions and suffering in the workplace trigger compassionate responses (Dutton et al., 2014; Eldor, 2018; Simpson et al., 2020). Moreover, our findings are also consistent with the results of other studies, which found a positive association between workplace stressors and experienced compassion (Chu, 2016; Eldor, 2018; Madden et al., 2012; Rhee et al., 2017).

The results of our study also demonstrated a significant association between experienced compassion and state optimism. This finding is consistent with earlier studies that found that workplace events trigger corresponding emotional reactions in employees (Dutton & Ragins, 2007; Dutton et al., 2014; Lilius et al., 2008; Plante, 2020; Runyan et al., 2019; Subba & Rao, 2017). Similarly, AET (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996) also suggested a positive association between workplace events and affective reactions in employees. This implies that when something good happens in the workplace, employees are able to cultivate positive emotions from it.

The findings of our study also depicted a significant association between state optimism and job engagement. This finding is also consistent with earlier research highlighting the significance of positive emotions in influencing desired workplace attitudes and behaviors (Gloria & Steinhardt, 2016; Junça-Silva et al., 2017). This implies that personal resources help employees positively influence their jobs by increasing their job engagement.

The results also confirmed the mediation of state optimism in the relationship between experienced compassion and job engagement. This finding is also consistent with the AET framework (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996), which maintains that affective reactions mediate the relationship between workplace events and employees’ attitudes. This is because state optimism is predicted by situational or contextual factors that trigger positive attitudes and behaviors (Kluemper et al., 2009; Urzúa et al., 2017). When nurses who are the victims of supervisor undermining experience compassion from their colleagues or group members, they reduce their emotional exhaustion and cultivate state optimism as they become more positive about their future and their job-related efforts. In contrast, state optimism helps nurses increase their level of absorption and dedication with the job as they become less depressed from supervisor undermining. In all, state optimism’s cognitive, affective, and motivational properties help nurses increase their job engagement (Ragsdale & Beehr, 2016).

Finally, our study established the moderating role of RESE in the relationship between experienced compassion and state optimism. This finding is consistent with those of other studies (Extremera & Rey, 2015; Too & Butterworth, 2018; Zahniser, 2016). Individuals differ in their ability to manage their emotions. Those who can handle negative emotions and who generally show positive emotions tend to have more personal resources. These resources help them deal with negative situations and exhibit positive attitudes and behaviors (Caprara et al., 2010). Since compassion occurs in the face of suffering and pain in employees’ lives (Dutton et al., 2014; Hur et al., 2016), nurses with a higher level of RESE can better manage their negative emotions and express positive emotions such as state optimism when they experience compassion in the workplace.

Conclusion and Implications

Overall, this study suggests that supervisor undermining triggers compassion in the workplace. Furthermore, this study also highlighted the role of compassion in cultivating state optimism in nurses who are the victims of supervisor undermining, which ultimately increases their job engagement. Hence, state optimism is identified as a salient discrete emotion that mediates the relationship between experienced compassion and job engagement. Finally, this study established the moderating role of RESE in the relationship between experienced compassion and state optimism. We hope this study will stimulate new avenues for research on the role of compassion in alleviating workplace suffering and influencing positive attitudes and behaviors, and as it supports Frost’s (2003) assertion that compassion does, indeed, matter.

This study has important theoretical and practical implications. First, it enriches our understanding of the effects of compassion on nurses’ job engagement. Although studies have confirmed that compassion increases employees’ job engagement, the mechanism of state optimism between experienced compassion and job engagement is this study’s unique contribution. Similarly, the moderating role of RESE in the relationship between experienced compassion and state optimism is a novel contribution to the existing literature. This study has various implications for managerial practices. First, it suggests that the administrators of public sector hospitals in Pakistan can mitigate the negative consequences of workplace stressors, such as supervisor undermining, by promoting compassionate acts in the workplace.

Furthermore, by encouraging compassion in the workplace, they can also increase the job engagement of their nursing staff and can ultimately improve the functioning of their healthcare institutions by implementing practices that encourage compassion in the workplace. This can be achieved by using careful selection, socialization, and training practices, nurturing high-quality relations among employees, employee support practices, and similar practices that encourage and foster compassion in the workplace.

Similarly, since nurses with higher levels of emotional regulation can effectively cope with job stressors such as supervisor undermining, the importance of nurturing regulatory emotional self-efficacy becomes paramount for administrators of healthcare institutions. Likewise, managerial interventions should also focus on fostering positive states in nurses, such as state optimism, by encouraging and promoting positive social interactions in the workplace. In doing so, they can increase the job engagement of their nursing staff, which can result in less expensive, more convenient, and more effective treatments for patients.

Limitations and Future Research

Although our study has some persuasive findings and adopted a robust methodological approach (e.g., data from four time lags), some limitations deserve attention. First, we conducted this study in Pakistan’s public healthcare sector. A detailed comparative investigation of the public and private sectors is needed to obtain more robust findings. Second, convenience sampling was used to approach the respondents. The results might have been more robust if a more sophisticated sampling technique had been utilized. Third, we examined the mediating role of state optimism between experienced compassion and job engagement. However, other mediating variables may also be considered in future studies. For instance, future researchers may explore the role of other distinct positive emotions such as hopefulness and gratitude (Erreygers et al., 2019; Zeelenberg, 2019). Fourth, we conducted this study in a Pakistani cultural context. Future researchers may replicate this study in a different cultural context to increase its external validity and generalizability. Finally, a wide range of workplace stressors may be explored by future researchers for their potential to trigger compassion in the workplace, such as organizational injustice, abusive supervision, incivility, and harassment, which are highly pervasive and firmly embedded in the public sector organizations of Pakistan.

Footnotes

Appendix 1 Acknowledgements

We thank all study participants for their precious time. We would also like to thank Editage () for English language editing.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The funding for this research paper is made by the authors.

ORCID iD

Muhammad Nadim

References

Abbas

Raja

Darr

Bouckenooghe

(2014). Combined effects of perceived politics and psychological capital on job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and performance. Journal of Management, 40(7), 1813–1830. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206312455243

Agarwal

A. U.

(2014). Linking justice, trust, and innovative work behaviour to work engagement. Personnel Review, 43(1), 41–73.

Alessandri

Caprara

G. V.

Eisenberg

Steca

(2009). Reciprocal relations among self-efficacy beliefs and prosociality across time. Journal of Personality, 77(4), 1229–1259. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2009.00580.x

Alessandri

Consiglio

Luthans

Borgogni

(2018). Testing a dynamic model of the impact of psychological capital on work engagement and job performance. Career Development International, 23(1), 33–47.

Andrew

D. P.

Pederson

McEvoy

(1976). Research methods and design in sport management. Human Kinetics.

Arain

G. A.

Bukhari

Khan

A. K.

Hameed

(2020). The impact of abusive supervision on employees’ feedback avoidance and subsequent help-seeking behaviour: A moderated mediation model. Journal of Management & Organization, 26(5), 850–865. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2018.44

Aycan

Kanungo

Mendonca

Deller

Stahl

Kurshid

(2000). Impact of culture on human resource management practices: A 10-country comparison. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 49(1), 192–221.

Bagozzi

R. P.

(1988). On the evaluation of structural equation models. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 16(1), 74–94.

Bakker

A. B.

(2009). Building engagement in the workplace. In Burke

R. J.

Cooper

C. L.

(Eds.), The peak performing organization (pp. 96–118). Routledge.

10.

Bakker

A. B.

Albrecht

(2018). Work engagement: Current trends. Career Development International, 23(1), 4–11. https://doi.org/10.1108/cdi-11-2017-0207

11.

Cameron

Caza

(2004). Contributions to the discipline of positive organizational scholarship. American Behavioral Scientist, 47(6), 731–739.

12.

Caprara

G. V.

Di Giunta

Eisenberg

Gerbino

Pastorelli

Tramontano

(2008). Assessing regulatory emotional self-efficacy in three countries. Psychological Assessment, 20(3), 227–237.

13.

Caprara

G. V.

Gerbino

Paciello

Di Giunta

Pastorelli

(2010). Counteracting depression and delinquency in late adolescence: The role of regulatory emotional and interpersonal self-efficacy belief. European Psychologist, 15(1), 34–48.

14.

Chu

L. C.

(2016). Mediating positive moods: The impact of experiencing compassion at work. Journal of Nursing Management, 24(1), 59–69. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12272

15.

Collins

S. S.

Henderson

M. C.

(1991). Autonomy: Part of the nursing role? Nursing Forum, 26(2), 23–29.

16.

Duffy

M. K.

Ganster

D. C.

Pagon

(2002). Social undermining in the workplace. Academy of Management Journal, 45(2), 331–351.

17.

Dutton

J. E.

(2003). Energize your workplace: How to build and sustain high-quality connections at work. Jossey-Bass.

18.

Dutton

J. E.

Ragins

B. R.

(2007). Exploring positive relationships at work: Building a theoretical and research foundation. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers. http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2006-22591-000

19.

Dutton

J. E.

Workman

K. M.

Hardin

A. E.

(2014). Compassion at work. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1(1), 277–304.

20.

Dutton

J. E.

Worline

M. C.

Frost

P. J.

Lilius

(2006). Explaining compassion organizing. Administrative Science Quarterly, 51(1), 59–96.

21.

Eissa

Chinchanachokchai

Wyland

(2017). The influence of supervisor undermining on self-esteem, creativity, and overall job performance: A multiple mediation model. Organization Management Journal, 14(4), 185–197.

22.

Eldor

(2018). Public service sector: The compassionate workplace—the effect of compassion and stress on employee engagement, burnout, and performance. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 28(1), 86–103. https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/mux028

23.

Erreygers

Vandebosch

Vranjes

Baillien

De Witte

(2019). Feel good, do good online? Spillover and crossover effects of happiness on adolescents’ online prosocial behavior. Journal of Happiness Studies, 20(4), 1241–1258. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-018-0003-2

24.

Extremera

Rey

(2015). The moderator role of emotion regulation ability in the link between stress and well-being. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1632–1639. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01632

25.

Fatima

Majeed

Jahanzeb

(2020). Supervisor undermining and submissive behavior: Shame resilience theory perspective. European Management Journal, 38(1), 191–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2019.07.003

26.

Fatima

Majeed

Shah

S. Z. A.

(2018). Jeopardies of aversive leadership: A conservation of resources theory approach. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1935. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01935

27.

Folkman

Moskowitz

J. T.

(2000). Positive affect and the other side of coping. American Psychologist, 55(6), 647–654. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066x.55.6.647

28.

Fornell

Larcker

D. F.

(1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50.

29.

Frazier

M. L.

Bowler

W. M.

(2015). Voice climate, supervisor undermining, and work outcomes. Journal of Management, 41(3), 841–863. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206311434533

30.

Frost

P. J.

(2003). Toxic emotions at work: How compassionate managers handle pain and conflict. Harvard Business School Press.

31.

Galicia-Moyeda

I. X.

Sánchez-Velasco

Robles-Ojeda

(2013). Autoeficacia en escolares adolescentes: Su relación con la depresión, el rendimiento académico y las relaciones familiares. Anales de Psicología, 29(2), 491–500.

32.

Gao

Zhang

Huo

(2018). Corporate social responsibility and work engagement: Testing a moderated mediation model. Journal of Business and Psychology, 33(5), 661–673. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-017-9517-6

33.

Gloria

C. T.

Steinhardt

M. A.

(2017). The direct and mediating roles of positive emotions on work engagement among postdoctoral fellows. Studies in Higher Education, 42(12), 2216–2228.

34.

Greenbaum

R. L.

Mawritz

M. B.

(2015). When leaders fail to “walk the talk”: Supervisor undermining and perceptions of leader hypocrisy. Journal of Management, 41(3), 929–956. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206312442386

35.

Gupta

Ganguli

Ponnam

(2015). Factors affecting employee engagement in India: A study on offshoring of financial services. Qualitative Report, 20(4), 498–515.

36.

Gupta

Shukla

(2018). An empirical clarification on the assessment of engagement at work. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 20(1), 44–57.

37.

Gupta

Agarwal

U. A.

Khatri

(2016). The relationships between perceived organizational support, affective commitment, psychological contract breach, organizational citizenship behaviour, and work engagement. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 72(11), 2806–2817. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.13043

38.

Hair

J. F.

Black

W. C.

Babin

B. J.

Anderson

R. E.

(2010). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed.). Pearson Prentice Hall.

39.

Hallowell

E. M.

(1999). The human moment at work. Harvard Business Review, 77(1), 58–64, 66.

40.

Hofstede

(2011). Insights on Hofstede’s research into national and organizational culture. Retrieved December 15, 2018, from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/pakistan/

41.

Bentler

P. M.

(1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55.

42.

Hur

W. M.

Moon

Rhee

S. Y.

(2016). Exploring the relationships between compassion at work, the evaluative perspective of positive work-related identity, service employee creativity, and job performance. Journal of Services Marketing, 30(1), 103–114.

43.

Zhan

Yao

Garden

(2017). Picture this: A field experiment of the influence of subtle affective stimuli on employee well-being and performance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38(6), 895–916.

44.

Junça-Silva

Caetano

Lopes

R. R.

(2017). Daily uplifts, well-being and performance in organizational settings: The differential mediating roles of affect and work engagement. Journal of Happiness Studies, 18(2), 591–606.

45.

Kahn

W. A.

(1990). Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal, 33(4), 692–724.

46.

Kanov

J. M.

Maitlis

Worline

M. C.

Dutton

J. E.

Frost

P. J.

Lilius

J. M.

(2004). Compassion in organizational life. American Behavioral Scientist, 47(6), 808–827.

47.

Kline

R. B.

(2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (2nd ed.). The Guilford Press.

48.

Kluemper

D. H.

Little

L. M.

DeGroot

(2009). State or trait: Effects of state optimism on job-related outcomes. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30(2), 209–231.

49.

Kornfield

(1993). A path with heart. Bantam Books.

50.

Krejcie

R. V.

Morgan

D. W.

(1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30, 607–610.

51.

Kwon

Y. G.

Yoon

H. H.

(2015). Antecedents and consequence of job engagement. Culinary Science & Hospitality Research, 21(3), 212–231.

52.

Lam

Chen

(2012). When I put on my service mask: Determinants and outcomes of emotional labor among hotel service providers according to affective event theory. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(1), 3–11.

53.

Lewis

G. M.

Neville

Ashkanasy

N. M.

(2017). Emotional intelligence and affective events in nurse education: A narrative review. Nurse Education Today, 53, 34–40.

54.

Lilius

J. M.

Worline

M. C.

Maitlis

Kanov

Dutton

J. E.

Frost

(2008). The contours and consequences of compassion at work. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29(2), 193–218.

55.

Luthans

(2002a). Positive organizational behavior: Developing and managing psychological strengths. Academy of Management Executive, 16(1), 57–72. https://doi.org/10.5465/ame.2002.6640181

56.

Luthans

(2002b). The need for and meaning of positive organizational behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23(6), 695–706. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.165

57.

Luthans

Youssef

C. M.

(2007). Emerging positive organizational behavior. Journal of Management, 33(3), 321–349. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206307300814

58.

Madden

L. T.

Duchon

Madden

T. M.

Plowman

D. A.

(2012). Emergent organizational capacity for compassion. Academy of Management Review, 37(4), 689–708.

59.

Malik

O. F.

Sattar

Shahzad

Faiz

(2020). Personal bullying and nurses’ turnover intentions in Pakistan: A mixed methods study. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 35(23–24), 5448–5468. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260517719903

60.

Mesurado

Vidal

E. M.

Mestre

A. L.

(2018). Negative emotions and behaviour: The role of regulatory emotional self-efficacy. Journal of Adolescence, 64, 62–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2018.01.007

61.

Miller

K. I.

(2007). Compassionate communication in the workplace: Exploring processes of noticing, connecting, and responding. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 35(3), 223–245.

62.

Millstein

R. A.

Chung

W. J.

Hoeppner

B. B.

Boehm

J. K.

Legler

S. R.

Mastromauro

C. A.

Huffman

J. C.

(2019). Development of the state optimism measure. General Hospital Psychiatry, 58, 83–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2019.04.002

63.

Miner

K. N.

Settles

I. H.

Pratt-Hyatt

J. S.

Brady

C. C.

(2012). Experiencing incivility in organizations: The buffering effects of emotional and organizational support1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 42(2), 340–372. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2011.00891.x

64.

Mone

Eisinger

Guggenheim

Price

Stine

(2011). Performance management at the wheel: Driving employee engagement in organizations. Journal of Business and Psychology, 26(2), 205–212. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-011-9222-9

65.

Mongrain

Chin

J. M.

Shapira

L. B.

(2011). Practicing compassion increases happiness and self-esteem. Journal of Happiness Studies, 12(6), 963–981. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-010-9239-1

66.

Nelson

Cooper

(2007). Positive organizational behavior: Accentuating the positive at work. SAGE.

67.

T. W. H.

Yim

F. H. K.

(2015). The direct and indirect effects of supervisor undermining on career dissatisfaction. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2015(1), 10244.

68.

Park

S. Y.

Lee

E. K.

(2018). Work environment and work engagement in Korean nurses. International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics, 118(19), 2155–2168.

69.

Plante

T. G.

(2020). Compassion. Encyclopedia of Personality and individual differences, 789–791.

70.

Podsakoff

P. M.

MacKenzie

S. B.

Lee

J. Y.

Podsakoff

N. P.

(2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879–903.

71.

Ragsdale

J. M.

Beehr

T. A.

(2016). A rigorous test of a model of employees’ resource recovery mechanisms during a weekend. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 37(6), 911–932. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2086

72.

Rai

Agarwal

U. A.

(2017). Linking workplace bullying and work engagement: The mediating role of psychological contract violation. South Asian Journal of Human Resources Management, 4(1), 42–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/2322093717704732

73.

Raja

Johns

Ntalianis

(2004). The impact of personality on psychological contracts. Academy of Management Journal, 47(3), 350–367.

74.

Reijseger

Peeters

M. C. W.

Taris

T. W.

Schaufeli

W. B.

(2017). From motivation to activation: Why engaged workers are better performers. Journal of Business and Psychology, 32(2), 117–130. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-016-9435-z

75.

Rhee

S. Y.

Hur

W. M.

Kim

(2017). The relationship of coworker incivility to job performance and the moderating role of self-efficacy and compassion at work: The job demands-resources (JD-R) approach. Journal of Business and Psychology, 32(6), 711–726. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-016-9469-2

76.

Rich

B. L.

Lepine

J. A.

Crawford

E. R.

(2010). Job engagement: Antecedents and effects on job performance. Academy of Management Journal, 53(3), 617–635.

77.

Roberts

D. R.

Davenport

T. O.

(2002). Job engagement: Why It’s important and how to improve it. Employment Relations Today, 29(3), 21–29.

78.

Roeser

R. W.

Colaianne

B. A.

Greenberg

M. A.

(2018). Compassion and human development: Current approaches and future directions. Research in Human Development, 15(3–4), 238–251.

79.

Runyan

J. D.

Fry

B. N.

Steenbergh

T. A.

Arbuckle

N. L.

Dunbar

Devers

E. E.

(2019). Using experience sampling to examine links between compassion, eudaimonia, and pro-social behavior. Journal of Personality, 87(3), 690–701.

80.

Schat

A. C. H.

Frone

M. R.

Kelloway

E. K.

(2006). Prevalence of workplace aggression in the US workforce: Findings from a national study. In Kelloway

E. K.

Barling

Hurrell

J. J.

(Eds.), Handbook of workplace violence (pp. 47–89). SAGE.

81.

Scheier

M. F.

Carver

C. S.

(1985). Optimism, coping, and health: Assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies. Health Psychology, 4(3), 219–247.

82.

Sheehan

Tham

T. L.

Holland

Cooper

(2019). Psychological contract fulfilment, engagement and nurse professional turnover intention. International Journal of Manpower, 40(1), 2–16.

83.

Simpson

A. V.

Farr-Wharton

Reddy

(2020). Cultivating organizational compassion in healthcare. Journal of Management & Organization, 26(3), 340–354. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2019.54

84.

Sprecher

Fehr

(2005). Compassionate love for close others and humanity. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 22(5), 629–651. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407505056439

85.

Statistics

P. B. O

. (2017). Pakistan bureau of statistics. Ministry of Population. Islamabad.

86.

Straughair

Clarke

Machin

(2019). A constructivist grounded theory study to explore compassion through the perceptions of individuals who have experienced nursing care. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 75(7), 1527–1538.

87.

Subba

Rao

M. K.

(2017). The impact of compassion on organisational identification: Mediating role of positive emotion. International Journal of Business Excellence, 13(4), 428–440.

88.

Too

L. S.

Butterworth

(2018). Psychosocial job stressors and mental health: The potential moderating role of emotion regulation. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 60(10), e518–e524. https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0000000000001416

89.

Urzúa

Caqueo-Urízar

Araya

Díaz

Rocha

Valdivia

(2017). Is there a relationship between trait and state optimism and the assessment of quality of life? Universitas Psychologica, 15(2), 231. https://doi.org/10.11144/javeriana.upsy15-2.rtso

90.

van der Cingel

(2009). Compassion and professional care: Exploring the domain. Nursing Philosophy, 10(2), 124–136. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-769x.2009.00397.x

91.

Van Rooy

D. L.

Whitman

D. S.

Hart

Caleo

(2011). Measuring employee engagement during a financial downturn: Business imperative or nuisance? Journal of Business and Psychology, 26(2), 147–152. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-011-9225-6

92.

Wang

Zhang

Hui

Bai

Terry

P. D.

Cheng

Wang

(2018). The mediating effect of regulatory emotional self-efficacy on the association between self-esteem and school bullying in middle school students: A cross-sectional study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(5), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15050991

93.

Weiss

H. M.

Cropanzano

(1996). Affective event theory: A theoretical discussion of the structure, causes, and consequences of affective experiences at work. Research in Organizational Behavior, 18(1), 1–74.

94.

World Health Organization. (2017). World statistics 2017. World Health Organization.

95.

Worline

Dutton

J. E.

(2017). Awakening compassion at work: The quiet power that elevates people and organizations. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

96.

Wright

T. A.

(2007). A look at two methodological challenges for scholars interested in positive organizational behavior. Positive organizational behavior: Accentuating the postive at work, 177–190.

97.

Wright

T. A.

Cropanzano

Meyer

D. G.

(2003). State and trait correlates of job performance: A tale of two perspectives. Journal of Business and Psychology, 18(3), 365–383.

98.

Xanthopoulou

Bakker

A. B.

Demerouti

Schaufeli

W. B.

(2007). The role of personal resources in the job demands-resources model. International Journal of Stress Management, 14(2), 121–141. https://doi.org/10.1037/1072-5245.14.2.121

99.

Yang

Sliter

Cheung

J. H.

Sinclair

R. R.

Mohr

Sinclair

R. R.

Mohr

(2017). The dark side of helping: Does returning the favor from coworkers hurt employee work engagement?. Journal of Business and Psychology, 33(6), 741–760.

100.

Younas

Sundus

(2018). Patients’ experiences and satisfaction about care provided by male nurses in medical surgical units in Islamabad, Pakistan: A pilot study. Nursing Forum, 53(1), 12–19. https://doi.org/10.1111/nuf.12212

101.

Zahniser

(2016). The moderating role of emotion regulation on longitudinal associations between stress and mental health in college students (Doctoral dissertation, Loyola University Chicago).

102.

Zeelenberg

(2019). Emotional experience and prosocial behavior in observers of unjust situations. Applied Psychology in Criminal Justice, 15(1), 41–59.

103.

Zhang

Jex

S. M.

Peng

Wang

(2017). Exploring the effects of job autonomy on engagement and creativity: The moderating role of performance pressure and learning goal orientation. Journal of Business and Psychology, 32(3), 235–251. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-016-9453-x

104.

Zhong

Wayne

S. J.

Liden

R. C.

(2016). Job engagement, perceived organizational support, high-performance human resource practices, and cultural value orientations: A cross-level investigation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 37(6), 823–844. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2076

Evaluation of Nurses’ Job Engagement as an Outcome of Experienced Compassion in the Workplace,Using the Lens of Affective Event Theory

Abstract

Keywords

Literature Review

Supervisor Undermining and Experienced Compassion

Experienced Compassion and State Optimism

State Optimism and Job Engagement

The Mediating Role of State Optimism

The Moderating Role of Regulatory Emotional Self-efficacy (RESE)

Methods

Research Context

Population, Sample, and Procedure

Measures

Control Variables

Data Analysis and Results

Convergent Validity

Descriptive Statistics and Correlations Analysis

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)

Tests of Hypotheses

Discussion

Conclusion and Implications

Limitations and Future Research

Footnotes

Appendix 1

Acknowledgements

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

Funding

ORCID iD

References