Positive environment in the workplace: The case of the mediating role of Work Engagement between Restorativeness and Job Satisfaction

This paper postulates that positive features of the work organizational environment can exert significant positive effects on people's working organizational life. The focus is on the relationship between the perceived restorative properties of the work environment and some social-psychological dimensions of the organization. A positive relationship between restorativeness (Korpela & Hartig, 1996) and job satisfaction (Weiss et al., 1967) was expected, via Perceived Organizational Support (SPOS; Eisenberger et al., 1986) and work engagement (Bakker & Leiter, 2010). A self-report questionnaire was filled in by 123 office workers employed in the municipality of an Italian town. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analyses showed a multivariate positive relationship between restorativeness, social support, work engagement, and job satisfaction. Moreover, both a full mediation effect of work engagement between restorativeness and intrinsic job satisfaction, and a partial mediating effect of work engagement between restorativeness and extrinsic job satisfaction were found. These results illustrate a positive psychological approach for improving employees’ satisfaction in the workplace.