The Effect of Career Optimism on Physical Education Teachers’ Work Engagement and Thriving at Work in Urmia City

The purpose of this research is to study the effect of career optimism on physical education teachers’ work engagement and thriving at work in the city of Urmia. The adopted research approach was descriptive and the correlational design was based on structural equation modeling. The statistical population included all physical education teachers in urmia (N=232), out of whom 144 subjects were selected by using random sampling method. The data collection instruments were three standard questionnaires: Rottinghaus et al.’s (2005) Optimism of Career Path, Porath, et al.’s (2011) Thriving at Work and Schaufeli et al.’s (2006) Work engagement. The data was analyzed by employing SPSS 19 and Smart PLS 2. The results demonstrated that career optimism has positive effect on employee engagement and its dimensions (dedication and absorption) and on thriving at work and its dimensions (vitality and learning) (P< 0.01). Therefore, it can be said that the career optimism on work path can increase the physical education teachers’ work engagement and thriving at work, accordingly resulting in their efficiency and performance.