Curiosity, proactive personality, organizational culture and work engagement in the aviation industry in the UAE during Covid-19: A non-probabilistic moderated-mediation model

Abstract

The crisis created by the pandemic severely disrupted the working patterns of employees, especially in the aviation industry. It is insufficient for workers to be satisfied – they have to be engaged in their work to deal with crises and situations never encountered before. Thus, investigating the antecedents of work engagement and their interactive effects is crucial to organizational survival. The paper examines the impact of the trait of curiosity on proactive personality, which ultimately leads to work engagement. The moderated-mediation model looks at the mediating effect of proactive personality on the relationship between curiosity and work engagement. It also examines the moderating effect of organizational culture perceptions on the relationship between curiosity and proactive personality. A sample of 327 respondents was collected from 32 organizations in the aviation industry in the United Arab Emirates through purposive sampling. The hypothesized associations were analyzed via structural equation modelling. As predicted, proactive personality is a mediator, and organizational culture moderates the said relationships. Managers desirous of improving employees’ work engagement will now understand how employees’ curiosity can enhance work engagement through proactive personality. Managers can also ensure that organizational culture can further strengthen the relationship between curiosity and proactive personality.