Professional self-efficacy as a mediator and moderator between workaholism and work-related quality of life in intensive care unit nurses: A multicentre cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND

Workaholism, professional self-efficacy (PSE), and work-related quality of life (WRQoL) are well studied individually, yet their inter-relationships remain underexplored in intensive care unit (ICU) nurses.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to examine the mediating and moderating roles of PSE between workaholism and WRQoL among ICU nurses.

METHODS

A cross-sectional, correlational study was conducted among ICU nurses (n = 319) across five hospitals in the three provinces of Saudi Arabia. Participants were recruited via consecutive and snowball sampling. Three self-report scales were used to collect data between February and July 2025. Structural equation modelling was conducted to test the study hypotheses and display the inter-relationships of the study variables.

RESULTS

Workaholism was found to be negatively associated with WRQoL (βD = -0.33, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.62 to -0.10, p = 0.004) and PSE (βD = -0.68, 95% CI = -0.85 to -0.51, p = 0.008). PSE positively correlated with WRQoL (βD = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.14 to 0.67, p = 0.008). Additionally, workaholism predicted 46.50% of the total variance of PSE, while both workaholism and PSE explained 50.20% of the total variance of WRQoL. PSE partially mediated the association between workaholism and WRQoL (βI = -0.30, 95% CI = -0.49 to -0.10, p = 0.008). The PSE, as moderator, had a statistically significant association with WRQoL (βD = 0.15, 95% CI = 0.04 to 0.242, p = 0.006).

CONCLUSIONS

Workaholism was associated with lower PSE and poorer WRQoL among ICU nurses. PSE partially mediated and moderated the relationship between workaholism and WRQoL, suggesting that it may be an important psychological factor in this association.