Individual Resilience at the Heart of Work Design: Public Servants’ Job Satisfaction and Emotional Exhaustion in a Context of Adversity

• Published date: 01 September 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X231162045
• Author: Max Wursthorn,Iris Saliterer,Sanja Korac
• Date: 01 September 2024

https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X231162045

Review of Public Personnel Administration

2024, Vol. 44(3) 591 –624

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/0734371X231162045

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Article

Individual Resilience at the

Heart of Work Design: Public

Servants’ Job Satisfaction

and Emotional Exhaustion

in a Context of Adversity

Max Wursthorn1, Iris Saliterer1,

and Sanja Korac2

Abstract

This study examines individual resilience as a central mechanism between work

design and work-related outcomes in a context characterized by high demands and

acute or prolonged adversity: child and youth welfare during an ongoing pandemic.

Expanding on a survey of 602 German professionals, structural equation modeling is

applied to analyze (1) the relationship between work design and individual resilience,

(2) the relationship between individual resilience and work-related outcomes,

and (3) the role of individual resilience as a mediator. The results reveal positive

relationships between two work design factors (social impact and feedback) and

individual resilience. Other work design factors that have been much debated in

the context of the pandemic (i.e., working from home and client contact) were not

related to individual resilience. In turn, individual resilience is favorably related to job

satisfaction and emotional exhaustion. The results also confirm the mediating role of

individual resilience.

Keywords

individual resilience, work design, job satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, child and

youth welfare

1University of Freiburg, Germany

2University of Speyer, Germany

Corresponding Author:

Max Wursthorn, Department of Public and Nonprofit Management, University of Freiburg, Belfortstraße

20, Freiburg im Breisgau D-79098, Germany.

Email: max.wursthorn@vwl.uni-freiburg.de

1162045ROPXXX10.1177/0734371X231162045Review of Public Personnel AdministrationWursthorn et al.

research-article2023

592 Review of Public Personnel Administration 44(3)

Introduction

There are public services where the boundaries between working and coping become

convoluted (Lipsky, 2010; Tummers et al., 2015). This may be especially true for the

case of child and youth welfare. Jobs in these fields involve constant adversities, such

as work overload, traumatizing events, and emotional demands under unfavorable

working conditions (Frost et al., 2018; Russ et al., 2009; Vincent-Höper et al., 2020).

In addition, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the demands of these

jobs and placed additional pressure on the personnel (Calvano et al., 2021; Jentsch &

Schnock, 2020; Liu et al., 2020). Therefore, the question arises regarding how these

public servants cope with such adversities, continue working effectively, and even feel

satisfied with their job. Answers to these questions may lie in the concept of individual

resilience (Masten, 2001; McFadden et al., 2015; Seery et al., 2010; Truter et al.,

2016).

Individual resilience can be briefly described as process of bouncing back from

adversity (American Psychological Association, 2020). It represents a developable

human strength of great relevance, especially in the workplace (Hartmann et al., 2020;

Luthans, 2002). Nevertheless, there is still limited understanding of the concept and

scholars from work psychology (Britt et al., 2016; Fisher et al., 2019), child and youth

welfare (Molakeng et al., 2021; Truter et al., 2016), and, more recently, public admin-

istration (Franken et al., 2020; Plimmer et al., 2022) are calling for further research.

This study aims to contribute to the knowledge of individual resilience in the con-

text of a demanding public service (i.e., child and youth welfare) during turbulent

times (i.e., COVID-19 pandemic). Given the vast evidence of how work design affects

a diverse set of outcomes, including individual health and job satisfaction (Humphrey

et al., 2007; Parker et al., 2017), we examine the relationships between work design,

individual resilience, and work-related outcomes, and explore individual resilience as

a possible mediator. To do this, we follow Parker et al. (2017) in using an integrated

and modern framework of work design theory. The analysis is guided by the following

research questions: (1) Are core work design factors (social impact and feedback) and

interpersonal work design factors (working from home (WFH) and client contact)

related to individual resilience? (2) Is individual resilience related to the work-related

outcomes of job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion? (3) Does individual resilience

act as a mediator in the relationship between work design factors and work-related

outcomes?

By addressing these questions, the study makes several contributions. First, our

model increases understanding of the role of street-level public servants’ individual

resilience in a context, where coping with adversity seems to be daily business (Jentsch

& Schnock, 2020; Møller, 2021; Tummers et al., 2015). Second, we contribute to the

growing literature in HRM research that moves away from individual deficits toward

contextual and strengths-based approaches (Brunetto et al., 2020; Plimmer et al.,

2022; Russ et al., 2020; van Woerkom et al., 2016). Third, our model offers viable

paths in Parker et al.'s (2017) roadmap for further developing work design theory by

considering a novel mechanism and apposite factors in a specific context. Fourth, our

Wursthorn et al. 593

framework offers possibilities to integrate other work design factors (e.g., red tape or

public values) or outcomes (e.g., PSM or extra-role behaviors).

Background

Work Context of Adversity—Public Service in Child and Youth Welfare

Child and youth welfare is a common public service example of street-level bureau-

cracy (Lipsky, 2010), where coping with high demands, conflicting goals, and non-

voluntary clients under scarce resources generally prevail (Baviskar & Winter, 2017;

Tummers et al., 2015). Child and youth welfare systems and thus the involved jobs

vary by country, but three converging functions can be identified (Gilbert, 2012): child

protection, family service, and child development. As a result, legalistic and investiga-

tive, therapeutic and need-based, as well as preventive and regulatory actions are

required from the workers. A fundamental basis and central working tool of all these

actions is the interaction and dialog with clients (Jentsch & Schnock, 2020). This

involves collecting work-relevant information and in particular ensuring the crucial

establishment of trusting and candid relationships.

Child and youth welfare research reveals that these jobs are related to (risks of)

multiple health impairments (Griffiths et al., 2018), helplessness and PTSD (Steinlin

et al., 2017), compassion fatigue (Molnar et al., 2020), and burnout (Leake et al.,

2017). Additionally, personnel is likely to be victimized by psychological and physical

violence (Kind et al., 2018; Lamothe et al., 2018). Nevertheless, public servants in this

occupation draw on multiple resources (e.g., positive emotions, social support, social

impact) that point to resilience and enable coping within this adverse work environ-

ment (McFadden et al., 2015; Stalker et al., 2007; Truter et al., 2016; Vincent-Höper

et al., 2020).

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has elevated pressure on child and youth wel-

fare workers to another level. Two mutually reinforcing reasons are involved here.

First, evidence indicates that the pandemic and related measures are likely to have

severe consequences for children and families (Chiesa et al., 2021; Liu et al., 2020;

Million, 2022; Prime et al., 2020). For example, children have expressed lower health-

related quality of life and mental health (Ravens-Sieberer et al., 2022). They are

increasingly subjected to domestic violence or neglect (Calvano et al., 2021; Rodriguez

et al., 2021) while access to help might be discontinued (Usher et al., 2020). In addi-

tion, novel tasks such as care or participation support were needed (Witte & Kindler,

2022). Second, occupational networks and established work processes were signifi-

cantly disrupted by contact restrictions and lockdowns, which required radical changes

to maintain services (Jentsch & Gerber, 2022; Jentsch & Schnock, 2020; Mairhofer

et al., 2020). For example, evidence from Germany shows that the transition to digital

work and contact options created application and information deficits (Jentsch &

Schnock, 2020). Varying abilities at the client’s end further intensified and customized

such issues. Hence, for (German) child and youth welfare workers the pandemic has

led to further demands, more improvisation and tailoring of services as well as a