Individual Resilience at the Heart of Work Design: Public Servants’ Job Satisfaction and Emotional Exhaustion in a Context of Adversity

Abstract

This study examines individual resilience as a central mechanism between work design and work-related outcomes in a context characterized by high demands and acute or prolonged adversity: child and youth welfare during an ongoing pandemic. Expanding on a survey of 602 German professionals, structural equation modeling is applied to analyze (1) the relationship between work design and individual resilience, (2) the relationship between individual resilience and work-related outcomes, and (3) the role of individual resilience as a mediator. The results reveal positive relationships between two work design factors (social impact and feedback) and individual resilience. Other work design factors that have been much debated in the context of the pandemic (i.e., working from home and client contact) were not related to individual resilience. In turn, individual resilience is favorably related to job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion. The results also confirm the mediating role of individual resilience.