The relationship between occupational future time perspective and thriving at work in nurses: A chain mediating role of job crafting and work engagement

Background: Thriving at work positively impacts nurses’ work performance, and it reduces their burnout and turnover intention. However, the relationship between occupational future time perspective (OFTP) and thriving at work has not been examined among nurses. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between occupational future time perspective and thriving at work, and to examine the chain mediating role of job crafting and work engagement in this relationship. Methods: This cross-sectional study involving 233 nurses was conducted via an online survey in a tertiary teaching hospital in China. Thriving at work, OFTP, job crafting, and work engagement were measured by the Thriving at Work Scale, the Occupational Future Time Perspective Scale, the Job Crafting Questionnaire, and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-9, respectively. The Process (version 3.5) plug-in of SPSS was used to analyze the mediation effects. Results: The results showed that OFTP was positively associated with thriving at work ( β =0.654, p <0.001) among nurses. Job crafting(effect value = 0.258, Bootstrap 95% CI: 0.116, 0.427) and work engagement (effect value = 0.117, Bootstrap 95% CI: 0.044, 0.208) medicated the relationship between OFTP and thriving at work, respectively. Job crafting and work engagement played a chain mediating role in the correlation between OFTP and thriving at work (effect value = 0.180, Bootstrap 95% CI: 0.099, 0.275). Conclusion: This study found that OFTP directly and indirectly affects thriving at work through job crafting and work engagement. Organizations should provide nurses with more opportunities for career development to develop their OFTP in order to motivate job crafting and work engagement, ultimately fostering thriving at work.