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This study of 564 pharmacists in Pakistan examined how job content influences psychological well-being through work identity and job crafting behaviors. Results showed that job content had no direct effect on well-being, but significantly influenced it indirectly through work identity and job crafting as mediators. The sequential pathway from job content through work identity and job crafting to psychological well-being was also statistically significant, though the effect size was small.
Why it matters
The findings suggest that healthcare organizations can improve pharmacist well-being not by changing job content alone, but by supporting opportunities for pharmacists to develop professional identity and autonomously shape their work tasks. This has practical implications for workplace interventions targeting mental health in high-stress healthcare environments.
by Rana Muhammad Zahid Mushtaq, Naeem Rasool, Zaka Ur Rehman, Usama Bin Naeem, Muhammad Azeem, Tehreem Fayyaz, Mehmood Ahmad, Waqas Ahmad
Background
Psychological well-being of pharmacists is necessary for safe and effective healthcare delivery, particularly in high-stress environments. The present study was aimed to investigate the influence of job content on psychological well-being among the registered pharmacists in Pakistan along with the mediating roles of work identity and job crafting.
Methods
Data were collected from 564 licensed pharmacists on standardized instruments for psychological well-being (Ryff’s PWB Scale), job content (Karasek’s JCQ), work identity, and job crafting behaviors. Structural equation modeling using RStudio tested the direct, indirect, and serial mediation effects, with bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals.
Results
Confirmatory factor analysis indicated acceptable model reliability (e.g., Job Crafting α = 0.94, CR = 0.96; PWB α = 0.66, CR = 0.85). Bivariate correlations showed that psychological well-being was moderately associated with job crafting (r = 0.49, p < 0.01) and strongly with work identity (r = 0.57, p < 0.01). SEM analysis showed that Job content had no significant direct effect on well-being (β = −0.0362, p = 0.56), two significant indirect effects were observed: via work identity (β = 0.1397, p < 0.05) and job crafting (β = 0.1295, p < 0.05). The sequential pathway; Job content → work identity → job crafting → psychological well-being also yielded a smaller but significant effect (β = 0.0278, p < 0.05).
Conclusion
Our findings suggest that work identity and job crafting may mediate the relationship between job content and psychological well-being; however, these results should be interpreted cautiously given the model fit limitations.