Personality and job creativity in relation to engagement in nursing

Abstract: Personality is made up of a set of individual attributes, which in interaction with both endogenous and exogenous factors, characterize how one thinks, feels and acts. From this perspective, in the work context, personality can be related with the perception of creativity and with engagement acquired on the job. The purpose of this study was to analyze the involvement of personality and perception of creativity on the job in engagement of nursing professionals. The sample evaluated was made up of 1268 nurses aged 22 to 63, of whom 85.3% were women and 14.7% men, with a mean age of 32.24 years (SD = 6.68) and 32.79 years (SD=6.27), respectively. The instruments used to collect the data were the Big Five Inventory (BFI-10), the Creative Environment Perceptions Scale (CEP) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES). The mediation model confirmed that perception of creativity in the work context exerted a mediating role in the relationship between personality and engagement. In particular, the data confirmed that having a personality profile with high scores in all the personality dimensions except neuroticism, in addition to providing adequate characteristics for the job, favors creativity, which in turn, has a positive repercussion on engagement. This study presents important implications for professional practice, emphasizing the strong relationship between engagement and perception of creativity, a relationship which points toward improved engagement of nurses with their work, improving emotional stability and reinforcing the enthusiasm and inspiration for being more creative and competent with the institutional organization they are part of.