The Impact of Collective Psychological Ownership on Social Workers’ Work Engagement in the Job Demands-Resources Model

Using a sample of questionnaires completed by social workers (n = 276) working in 104 non-governmental organizations in Macao and the Social Welfare Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government, this study examined the role of collective psychological ownership (CPO) in the job demands-resources (JD-R) model in explaining social workers’ work engagement. The results of a bootstrap test showed that CPO partially mediated the influence of job resources and job demands on work engagement when controlling for sociodemographic factors (i.e., gender, age, and educational attainment) and monthly income. The results of structural equation modeling suggested that CPO did not play a mediating role in the relationship between job demands and work engagement; the effect of job demands on work engagement was instead inhibited when controlling for job resources and CPO. The study sheds new light on the development of the JD-R model and on initiatives to enhance work engagement.