The Relationship between Job Motivation Dimensions and Nurses' Subjective Well-being through the Mediating Role of Energy at Workplace

Nurses are the largest group of professionals among health care workers who play a significant role in the community health system. Nurses work in environments where the life and death of patients are the most important issues, so their health and well-being become important and having a happy and positive spirit can help them improve their health and that of their patients. Organizations are also increasingly aware of the importance of their employees' well-being in striving to gain sustainable competitive advantages. Over the past decade, the concept of subjective well-being (SWB) has become a popular research topic, and many researchers have examined its implications at the organizational, group, and individual levels in the workplace. Subjective well-being helps organizations to effectively engage their employees at work in an attempt to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Sustaining employees' subjective well-being is a difficult task. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the relationship between intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation with nurses' subjective well-being through the mediating role of energy in the workplace.

 This correlational study was conducted in 2020 following structural equation modeling (SEM). The statistical population of this study included all nurses at Baqai Hospital in Ahvaz. The total number of nurses in this hospital was about 200. According to the population size, all nurses were selected as the sample through census method. Among the collected questionnaires, 193 questionnaires were analyzed. The instruments used in this study were: Multidimensional Work Motivation Scale (MWMS) developed by Gagné et al., Energy Scale (ES) developed by Atwater and Carmeli, and Subjective Well-Being Scale (SWBS) developed by Diener et al. The theoretical research model and indirect effects were evaluated using structural equation modeling with partial least squares (PLS-SEM) approach in Smart-PLS3 software.

 According to the results, the scales used in the present study were reliable, and their reliability indices were estimated as follows: (Cronbach’s alpha: intrinsic motivation=0.91, extrinsic motivation=0.83, amotivation=0.77, energy=0.90, subjective well-being=0.89; composite reliability: intrinsic motivation=0.93, extrinsic motivation=0.89, amotivation=0.87, energy=0.92, subjective well-being=0.92) and convergent validity (AVE: intrinsic motivation=0.68, extrinsic motivation=0.65, amotivation=0.69, energy=0.59, subjective well-being=0.69). The discriminant validity was acceptable as well. Also, the general model of the present study had a strong and very good fit according to the goodness of fit index (GoF = 0.53). The results showed that intrinsic motivation (β = 0.43, p <0.001) and amotivation (β = -0.19, p <0.037) had significant positive and negative relationships with energy, respectively. The relationship between extrinsic motivation and energy was not significant (p > 0.05). Also, the relationship between energy and subjective well-being was positive and significant (β = 0.68, p <0.0001). Overall, intrinsic motivation and amotivation predicted 39% of energy variance, and energy predicted 46% of mental well-being. Regarding the mediating role of energy, the results showed that energy mediated the relationship between intrinsic motivation and subjective well-being (β =0.29, p <0.001) and the relationship between amotivation and subjective well-being (β =-0.13, p <0.042).

 According to the results, intrinsic motivation and amotivation affect nurses' energy in the workplace. Therefore, the researchers of the present study have several practical suggestions for managers to conserve and nurture the energy and subjective well-being of their workforce. In this regard, it is suggested that managers increase the internal motivation of employees and reduce their amotivation by increasing participation, increasing the level of authority, the possibility of career advancement, as well as determining more benefits. Creating opportunities for the growth and development of individual skills through empowerment programs, as well as facilitating success by minimizing barriers and reducing pressures and requirements, can also provide the basis for increasing employees' intrinsic motivation. Also, our findings demonstrate that energy is closely related to subjective well-being. Therefore, we recommend that HR practitioners carefully recruit resilient and enthusiastic individuals with high energy levels and an overall positive approach even in adverse and stressful conditions. Moreover, firms should make sincere efforts to promote optimal employee energy levels by formal and informal ways such as: (1) encouraging them to behave enthusiastically, (2) showing persistence even when they encounter negative situations, (3) providing a flexible work environment by allowing short breaks so that employees can relax with co-workers, and (4) holding training and energy management workshops. Here, the real challenge for management is not only to reach an optimal level of employee energy but also to maintain that level. Our study contributes to the subjective well-being literature by bringing attention to the direct and indirect mechanisms that influence the relationship between employee motivation and subjective well-being. We believe that further research in this area will better allow managers to understand how to promote employee happiness and overall well-being. There are few limitations that are needed to be considered while interpreting our research findings. The first limitation of this study is common method variance and mono-method since we utilized self-reported measures for all the study variables, which may inflate or deflate the association between study variables. Future researchers may utilize alternative data sources to reduce mono-method bias, such as manager’s appraisals for assessing employee energy level and peer/colleague rating of work motivation in order to verify our proposed model. The second potential limitation is that causality among the study variables cannot be drawn because this study is correlational. Therefore, future studies may try to examine the causation among the study variables by utilizing longitudinal and experimental study designs.