ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Organizational Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicEmotional Health and Organizational Performance in the Healthcare IndustryView all 3 articles
Work Engagement and Occupational Future Time Perspective among Chinese New Nurses:The Mediating Role of Career Adaptability
Provisionally accepted
- Air Force Medical University Tangdu Hospital, Xi'an, China
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Introduction. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between work engagement, occupational future time perspective (OFTP), and career adaptability among newly graduated nurses (NGNs) in China. Methods. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 316 newly graduated nurses from 20 hospitals across various provinces in China. The survey included measures of work engagement, OFTP, and career adaptability. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data and test the mediating role of career adaptability. Results. In this study, the mean scores of work engagement, occupational future time perspective and career adaptability among 316 newly graduated were (34.55±10.61), (28.56±8.16) and (68.31±15.77), respectively.The findings indicate that a positive OFTP significantly contributes to higher levels of work engagement among NGNs. Career adaptability was found to mediate the relationship between OFTP and work engagement. Married nurses, those with formal employment contracts, and those with more experience or fewer night shifts reported higher levels of work engagement. Conclusion. This study underscores the importance of a positive OFTP in enhancing work engagement among NGNs. Career adaptability plays a crucial mediating role, suggesting that interventions aimed at improving adaptability could amplify the positive effects of a positive OFTP on work engagement.
Keywords: work engagement, Occupational future time perspective, careeradaptability, new nurses, Nursing workforce
Received: 31 Jul 2025; Accepted: 05 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shen, Song, Lv, Su, Lu and Song. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yan Song
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