Spiritual resources and work engagement among religious workers: A three-wave longitudinal study.

This study explores relationships between spiritual resources, job resources, and work engagement among 496 Australian religious workers at three time points over a period of 18 months. Drawing on the Conservation of Resources theory and Job Demands-Resources model, spiritual resources are conceptualized as a distinct category of personal resources significant for this occupational cohort. Results of structural equation modelling analysis did not support the hypothesis of reciprocal relationships between spiritual and job resources and work engagement. Instead, spiritual resources had a positive cross-lagged effect on work engagement, and work engagement had a positive cross-lagged effect on job resources. When the high stability of spiritual resources over time was accounted for, work engagement had a negative indirect effect on spiritual resources over time mediated by a negative effect of job resources on spiritual resources (suppression effect). Spiritual resources emerge as an important category of antecedent resources for work engagement among religious workers. However, it appears that motivated religious workers may prioritize energy investments into increasing job resources at the expense of maintaining and developing spiritual resources. Practically, this research provides evidence for the promotion of initiatives to foster spiritual resources that enhance resilience and well-being among religious workers. Practitioner points Spiritual resources are an under-researched category of personal resources that positively predict work engagement among religious workers., Religious organizations and individual religious workers need to invest energy in the ongoing development of spiritual resources to maintain motivation for this unique type of work., Managers need to be aware that a focus on enhancing job resources and work engagement can have deleterious effects on religious workers' spiritual resources and so threaten their ongoing work engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]