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What is the key to researchers’ job satisfaction? One response is professional

identification mediated by work engagement

Article in Current Psychology · April 2020

DOI: 10.1007/s12144-017-9778-2

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Sophie Jeanson Estelle Michinov

French National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE) Université de Rennes 2
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Current Psychology
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-017-9778-2

What is the key to researchers’ job satisfaction? One response

is professional identification mediated by work engagement
Sophie Jeanson 1,2 & Estelle Michinov 3

# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018

Abstract
The job satisfaction of academics and researchers has been investigated recently, but the influence of different levels of social
identification (organizational, workgroup and professional identification) has never been examined. The aim of the present study
is to examine the relationship between different levels of social identification, work engagement and job satisfaction. Our study
involved researchers from a French public institute who responded to an online survey (N = 383). The results show that different
levels of social identification are positively correlated with researchers’ job satisfaction, and that workgroup explains the most
variance, followed by professional and finally organizational identification. This study is also the first to show the mediating role
of the dedication dimension of work engagement on the relationships between professional identification and job satisfaction.
The implications of the findings for future studies in research institutes and universities are discussed.

Keywords Work engagement . Job satisfaction . Social identity . Professional identification . Science teams

Introduction staff is seen as a resource to serve efficiency and performance,

both in teaching and in research.
Job satisfaction is a central construct in organizational psycholo- Job satisfaction among academics and university teachers has
gy, and work-related satisfaction is the most frequently studied been investigated in relation to several of its antecedents, such as
outcome in organizational research (Hofmans et al. 2013). It has pay level or promotion (Oshagbemi and Hickson 2003), organi-
been shown to be positively correlated with overall subjective zational climate (Schulz 2013), and perceived organizational pol-
well-being and life satisfaction (Bowling et al. 2010). Job satis- icies (Ishaq and Khalid 2014). It has particularly been demon-
faction has for a long time been investigated in care services strated that job satisfaction is negatively correlated to leaving
(Feather 2015; Gillet et al. 2013) and in the school teacher pop- intention, and positively correlated to organizational commitment
ulation (Duffy and Lent 2009; Ghavifekr and Pillai 2016), but it (Kinman and Jones 2008; Vigoda 2000). However, social iden-
is only since the 2000s that it has been examined among aca- tity has never been thoroughly investigated as a predictor of job
demics and university teachers (Oshagbemi and Hickson 2003). satisfaction among researchers or academics, even though orga-
At the very end of the 1990s, the job satisfaction of university nizational identification has been found to be a strong predictor
staff became an emerging research topic due to changes in higher of job satisfaction in other populations (Bjerregaard et al. 2015;
education and research. This development has been described in Karanika-Murray et al. 2015; van Dick et al. 2008).
several studies (Kinman and Jones 2008; Schulz 2013) as a shift The aim of the present study was to examine the rela-
from collegial to more bureaucratic management, in which the tionships between different levels of identification (i.e.,
organizational, workgroup and professional), work en-
gagement and job satisfaction among employees of a
* Estelle Michinov French public research institute.
[email protected]

1
INRA, UMR1253, Science and Technology of Milk and Eggs,
F-35000 Rennes, France Social Identification and Job Satisfaction
2
AGROCAMPUS OUEST, UMR1253, F-35000 Rennes, France
3
Univ Rennes, LP3C (Laboratoire de Psychologie: Cognition,
In organizational contexts, different levels of identification
Comportement, Communication) - EA 1285, have been examined, notably organizational, workgroup,
F-35000 Rennes, France and professional (e.g., Ashforth and Johnson 2001;
 Curr Psychol

Johnson et al. 2006; Liao et al. 2015). Organizational iden- Several studies have demonstrated positive correlations be-
tification has been defined as the employee’s perception of tween social identification and job satisfaction (Riketta, 2005;
oneness with and belongingness to the organization, and Riketta and van Dick 2005; van Knippenberg and van Schie
has been found to be an antecedent to many organizational 2000). However, when examining the different levels of social
outcomes, including job satisfaction and intention to quit. identification, job satisfaction has unanimously been found to
Research has also shown that social identities in organiza- correlate more with workgroup identification than with orga-
tions could be related to lower order identities, for exam- nizational identification as a whole, because of the shared day-
ple at the level of the unit or workgroup. Workgroup iden- to-day work activities (Ashforth and Johnson 2001; Riketta
tification has been found to be more important to em- and Nienaber 2007; van Knippenberg and van Schie 2000).
ployees than higher-level identities (i.e. organizational); Furthermore, the superiority of the correlation with
that is, people tend to identify more with proximal than workgroup identification compared to organizational identifi-
with distal teams (van Knippenberg and van Schie 2000). cation is dependent on the professional context (van Dick et al.
Studies of multidisciplinary teams have also examined a 2008). In a multidisciplinary context, job satisfaction can also
level of identification related to professional groups. be more strongly correlated with professional identification
Professional identification appears when team members than with organizational identification. In one of the very rare
define themselves in terms of their professional occupa- studies to investigate all three levels of social identification
tional group related to specific roles and expertise (organizational, workgroup and professional), Johnson and
(Ashforth and Johnson 2001; Liao et al. 2015). Thus, the- his collaborators found that when veterinarians were in non-
ory and empirical research have suggested that employees veterinarian organizations, surrounded by multidisciplinary
could identity with multiple targets (i.e., organization, colleagues, their professional identification was as strong as
workgroup, profession), and that these different levels of workgroup identification and was highly correlated with job
identification have different effects on organizational out- satisfaction (Johnson et al. 2006). Based on these studies, we
comes (Johnson et al. 2006; Liao et al. 2015). posit the following hypothesis:
We studied the different levels of social identification in a
research institute. Research teams are a good example of mul- H1: Workgroup, professional, and organizational iden-
tidisciplinary work, with team members working together in tification would be positively correlated with re-
the same team, although they come from distinct professional searchers’ job satisfaction, with workgroup explaining
backgrounds (e.g., researchers, engineers, managers, technical the most variance, followed by professional and final-
or administrative staff). Research institutes are multi-level or- ly organizational identification.
ganizations, with divisions, department units and workgroups
for example. One of the challenges of team-based science is
how to manage interdisciplinary research programs, as re- Social Identification and Work Engagement
search teams are composed of cross-disciplinary scientists
with different levels of expertise and roles, from technical When employees identify with their organization, they are
science to management of projects and strategy. In this multi- likely to be keen to invest time and energy in reaching the
disciplinary context, research institute employees can identify common goals of their workgroup. Engaged employees have
at different levels, which could impact their work engagement a sense of self-investment, performing their tasks conscien-
and job satisfaction. tiously and with passion (Schaufeli et al. 2006). This attitude
Specifically, the present study explored job satisfaction is particularly relevant in research, because it is a never-ending
among employees of the French National Institute for state-of-the-art activity with high intellectual stimulation.
Agricultural Research (INRA), which is organized as a matrix Work engagement is a recent construct in the work contexts
structure with scientific departments in regional centers across of scientists and practitioners (Christian et al. 2011). For Kahn
the whole country. INRA teams are composed of both multi- (1990), personal engagement is "a state in which employees
disciplinary experts and different professional groups of em- "bring in" their personal selves during work role perfor-
ployees (i.e. researchers, research assistants, engineers, and mances, investing personal energy and experiencing an emo-
technicians). In this way, INRA employees can relate to dif- tional connection with their work" (Christian et al. 2011, p.
ferent levels of social identification: INRA as a research insti- 91). Work engagement is a motivational concept referring to
tute compared to other French research institutes (organiza- an active allocation of personal resources towards the tasks
tional identification), the teams or workgroups in different associated with the work role. The Utrecht Work Engagement
departments of INRA (workgroup identification), and the pro- Scale (UWES) focuses more on individuals’ experiences
fession of team members such as technicians, engineers, re- when performing their work tasks (Christian et al. 2011).
search assistants and researchers from different disciplines Because work engagement can be conceptualized more as a
(professional identification). state than as a trait, it may face day-to-day and intra-individual
Curr Psychol

variations. However, little difference has been found between constructs at different times. Common method bias was pri-
work engagement in general and work engagement at the marily addressed using procedural remedies (Podsakoff et al.
moment, arguing in favor of its stability in time (Christian 2003). First, in order to reduce any ambiguity of items, we
et al. 2011). Work engagement is a persistent and positive constructed the questionnaire with the Research Institute’s hu-
affective-emotional-cognitive state of work-related well-being man resources department and carried out a pre-test in a re-
that is totally different from burn-out (Schaufeli et al. 2006). search unit. Next, we embedded the scales with other unrelat-
Engaged employees are enthusiastic and full of personal re- ed scales in the questionnaire. Finally, we guaranteed the re-
sources (Bakker et al. 2008). Work engagement has three di- spondents’ anonymity by assuring the confidentiality of their
mensions: Bvigor^, Bdedication^ and Babsorption^. "Vigor is response in the cover letter at the beginning of the online
characterized by high levels of energy and mental resilience questionnaire. Statistical analyses assessing common method
while working, the willingness to invest effort in one's work, variance are presented in the data analysis section.
and persistence even in the face of difficulties"; "Dedication Respondents were 69% females and 31% males; 82% were
refers to being strongly involved in one's work, and experienc- permanent workers (non-fixed term contracts) in the organi-
ing a sense of significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, pride and zation. They belonged to four professional groups: 28% tech-
challenge"; and "Absorption is characterized by being fully nicians, 11% research assistants, 28% research engineers, and
concentrated and happily engrossed in one's work, whereby 33% researchers. They were members of research depart-
time passes quickly and one has difficulties with detaching ments, 42% with over 150 permanent employees and 10%
oneself from work" (Bakker et al. 2008, p. 188). with fewer than 20. Finally, 48% of the respondents had been
Work engagement has been shown to be related to job working for more than 15 years at the research institute, 20%
satisfaction on the UWES scale (Christian et al. 2011). for 1 to 5 years, and 24% for 5 to 15 years.
Recently, some studies have examined the interrelationships
between professional identification, work engagement and job
satisfaction (Karanika-Murray et al. 2015). Individuals who Measures
identify strongly with their organization are more likely to
be involved in its goals and activities, and tend to be more The questionnaire was in French, made up of previously pub-
motivated to engage in their work, and to be satisfied with lished instruments known to have adequate psychometric
their job. Of the three dimensions of work engagement, the properties (organizational identification, professional identifi-
dedication component appears to be the best predictor of job cation, workgroup identification, job satisfaction, and work
satisfaction (Karanika-Murray et al. 2015). Based on these engagement). Socio- demographic questions included the par-
recent findings, we posit the following hypothesis: ticipants’ sex, contract status (fixed-term versus permanent
contract), profession, tenure in job, and size of the department.
H2: The positive effect of different levels of social iden- Organizational identification was measured via 3 items
tification on job satisfaction would be mediated by re- from a revised version of Meyer, Allen, and Smith’s
searchers’ work engagement, and particularly by the ded- Organizational Commitment Scale (1993), which has shown
ication component. good reliability in previous studies conducted in French-
speaking environments (Vandenberghe et al. 2004). The items
are the following: BI am proud to be part of the INRA
Method institute^, BI consider the INRA institute successes as mine^,
and BI really feel that I belong to the INRA institute^. All the
Sample and Data Collection items were measured using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from
1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (totally agree). Exploratory factor
We contacted employees from two of the thirteen scientific analysis confirmed the one-factor structure of this scale, and
divisions of the French National Institute for Agricultural the internal reliability is good (Cronbach’s α.86). Higher
Research (INRA) by email and invited them to complete an scores are indicative of stronger organizational identification.
online survey. Access to this questionnaire was restricted to Workgroup identification was measured via 3 items already
employees of the research institute via their specific password validated by Liao et al. (2015): BI have strong ties to other
and confidentiality was guaranteed. The survey was adminis- team members^, BI really fit in with other team members^,
tered between February and March 2016. The return rate was and BI really feel that I belong to my team^. Responses were
approximately 1/3, with 384 returned questionnaires of which given on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly
252 were fully completed. Because of constraints imposed by disagree) to 7 (totally agree). Exploratory factor analysis con-
the research institute, we were unable to collect data for the firmed the one-factor structure of this scale, and the internal
predictor and criterion variables from different sources (e.g. reliability is good (Cronbach’s α.88). Higher scores are indic-
secondary data from the unit directors) or to measure the ative of stronger workgroup identification.
 Curr Psychol

Professional identification was measured using 3 items two dimensions of work engagement, multiple regression
from Liao et al.’s (2015) scale: "My profession is important analyses were computed. One of the advantages of this
to my self-image", "I am proud to be in my profession", and "I type of analysis is that the impact of one variable can be
strongly identify with my profession". Items were rated on a 7- studied while controlling for the effect of other factors in
point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 the equation (Cohen and Cohen 1983).
(totally agree). Exploratory factor analysis confirmed the Finally, to test the mediating effect of different facets of
one-factor structure of this scale, and the internal reliability work engagement in the relationship between social identifi-
is satisfactory (Cronbach’s α was .78). Higher scores are in- cation and job satisfaction, we calculated the parallel multiple
dicative of stronger professional identification. mediator model (Model 4) following the guidelines of
Job satisfaction was assessed with the BWork Life Preacher and Hayes (2008), and the PROCESS macro script,
Satisfaction^ scale (Fouquereau and Rioux 2002) adapted to version 2.15. Hayes (2013) demonstrated that results obtained
work contexts from the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener with PROCESS are similar to the data obtained from structur-
et al. 1985) and validated in French. This scale comprised 6 al equation modelling. This method has advantages over more
items measuring the participants’ satisfaction with their career traditional mediation analyses in that it is non-parametric and
(e.g. "So far, I have obtained all the important things I wanted uses bootstrapping to calculate confidence intervals, which are
in my professional life") and satisfaction with the work con- preferred over the normal Sobel test. Furthermore, it makes it
text (e.g. "My work conditions have always been excellent" or possible to calculate multiple mediators simultaneously. For a
"Overall, my professional life matches my personal ideals"). mediation effect, the test was based on 10,000 bootstrapped
Items were rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 samples with a confidence level of 95%. All statistical analy-
(strongly disagree) to 7 (totally agree). Exploratory factor ses were performed using SPSS (IBM SPSS, Version 21).
analysis confirmed the one-factor structure of this scale, and To check the potential problem of common method bias,
the internal reliability is good (Cronbach’s α .87). Higher we also performed some of the statistical remedies suggested
scores are indicative of greater job satisfaction. by Podsakoff et al. (2003). First, we used Harman’s one-factor
Work engagement was measured using the short version of test (Fuller et al. 2016). We loaded all items of all measures
the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9; Schaufeli et used in the study into an exploratory factor analysis and ex-
al. 2006). This scale initially comprised three dimensions: amined the solution. No single factor accounting for the ma-
dedication, absorption and vigor. Dedication was measured jority of the covariance among measures emerged. We obtain-
by 3 items (e.g. "I am enthusiastic about my job"), absorption ed a factor solution with the first factor explaining 42.35% of
by 3 items (e.g. "I am immersed in my work"), and vigor by 3 variance. As the first factor accounted for less than 50–60% of
items (e.g. "I can work a long time without any break"). Items the variance among variables (Fuller et al. 2016), we can as-
were evaluated on 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) sume that there was no common method variance problem.
to 7 (always). The results of the exploratory factor analysis Next, we compared this one-factor solution to alternative
(Oblimin) did not reveal a 3-factor structure as in the original models (from 2-factor to 6-factor measurement models), and
scale, but instead a 2-factor structure with the dimensions of we obtained the best solution and adequate fit indexes with the
dedication and absorption. We had to delete the items 6-factor model (N = 252, χ2 (99) = 187.93, p < .001,
concerning vigor because they did not cross-load significantly TLI = .95, and RMSEA = .06, BIC = −359.49). Finally, we
on a factor (<. 45). Results show that the 2-factor measure- used the partial correlation procedure to control for the effect
ment model provided adequate fit indexes: N = 252, χ2 (4) = of common method variance (Lindell and Whitney 2001). The
10.34, TLI = .98, and RMSEA = .07, and good reliability for authors recommend partialling out the smallest of all the re-
the scale as a whole (α = .92) and for the two dimensions maining correlations in order to remove the effect of common
(α = .91 for dedication, α = .91 for absorption). method variance. The results of this analysis showed that all
unadjusted correlation coefficients remained statistically sig-
Data Analysis nificant. Taken together, these results suggest that common
method bias was not a serious problem in this study.
Data were first analyzed by means of descriptive and correla-
tion analyses to verify the relationships between the different
variables of our model and socio-demographic variables. We Results
used ANOVA to test the associations between the variables of
our model and the categorical variable of professional group Descriptive Statistics and Correlation Analysis
(i.e., researchers, engineers, research assistants, technicians).
Next, in order to examine the relative contributions of Table 1 presents the descriptive statistics and correlations be-
each level of social identification (i.e. organizational, tween measures of our model and socio-demographic
workgroup and professional) on job satisfaction and the variables.
Curr Psychol

Table 1 Means, standard deviations and correlations for the studied variables

M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1- Workgroup identification 5.51 1.45 1

2- Organizational identification 4.89 1.45 .38** 1
3- Professional identification 5.88 1.06 .41** .52** 1
4- Job Satisfaction 4.69 1.38 .60** .46** .56** 1
5- Dedication 5.66 1.12 .38** .47** .70** .59** 1
6- Absorption 5.14 1.28 .30** .34** .57** .46** .68** 1
7- Gendera – – −.04 −.12 −.04 −.00 −.03 .00 1
8- Statusb – – .08 −.06 .04 .02 .16* .03 −.08 1
9- Tenurec 3.12 0.98 .01 .10 .04 .02 −.07 .02 .07 −.73** 1
10- Department size 3.05 1.00 .00 −.07 .07 .03 .02 .01 .15* −.19** .16* 1

N = 252
a
Gender: female = 1 and male = 2
b
Status: non-permanent worker (fixed-term contract) = 1 and permanent worker = 2
c
Tenure: <1 year = 1, 1 to 5 years = 2, 5 to 15 years = 3, >15 years = 4. * p < .05, ** p < .0001

The analyses revealed positive correlations between the p < .0001), and technicians and research engineers (SE = .17,
three levels of identification - organizational, workgroup and CI = [−1.11, −.23], p = .001). For the other levels of identifi-
professional. The three levels of identification were positively cation (workgroup and organizational), the results did not re-
related to job satisfaction, and to the two dimensions of work veal any effect of professional group.
engagement. The highest correlation coefficients for work en- For the level of work engagement, the results showed a
gagement and the three facets of identification were observed main effect of professional group on dedication, F(3,
with professional identification. Finally, the two dimensions 251) = 3.35, p < .02, η 2 = .04. The post-hoc tests
of work engagement correlated with job satisfaction. (Bonferroni correction) showed that this effect was due
Therefore, we avoided the problem of multicollinearity be- only to the difference in dedication between technicians
cause no correlation coefficient values of our model were and researchers (SE = .17, CI = [−.95, −.007], p = .056), in-
above 0.70 (Hair et al. 2010). dicating that the level of dedication is slightly higher
Among the socio-demographic variables, only the contract among researchers. For the level of absorption, the results
status (permanent versus non-permanent worker) correlated indicated a main effect of professional group, F(3, 251) =
slightly with dedication, indicating that the level of dedication 6.04, p = .001, η2 = .07. The post-hoc tests (Bonferroni cor-
was higher among permanent than among non-permanent em- rection) showed that this effect was due to differences be-
ployees. No other socio-demographic variable correlated with tween technicians and researchers (SE = .20, CI = [−1.27,
the variables of our model. −.20], p = .002), and between research assistants and re-
Moreover, tenure and contract status were negatively searchers (SE = .28, CI = [−1.61, −.12], p = .013).
correlated. This was to be expected, because non- Researchers showed the highest level of absorption.
permanent workers cannot have a long tenure in a re- Finally, the results did not show a main effect of profes-
search institute; under French law, fixed-term contracts sional group on the job satisfaction measure, F < 1.
cannot exceed 5 years. Department size correlated with
gender and tenure, and more significantly, with the con- Hypothesis Testing
tract status, but this result could have been biased in our
sample, as the percentage of women and permanent The Effect of Social Identification on Job Satisfaction
workers is consistently higher in large departments. and Work Engagement
To test the potential effect of professional group on the
different variables of our model, we carried out an ANOVA. In order to examine the relative contributions of social identi-
For the levels of social identification, the results showed a fication on job satisfaction and work engagement, multiple
main effect of professional group, F(3, 251) = 9.61, regression analyses were computed. Because of the relation-
p < .0001, η 2 = .10 (see Table 2). The post-hoc tests ships between the contract status and work engagement, and
(Bonferroni correction) indicated that this main effect was the effect of professional group on social identification and
due to differences in the professional identification of techni- work engagement, we entered these variables as covariates.
cians and researchers (SE = .16, CI = [−1.25, −.38], We tested for multi-collinearity among the variables (variance
 Curr Psychol

Table 2 Mean and Standard Deviations (SD) of social identifications, work engagement and job satisfaction for each professional group

Researchers (n = Research engineers Research assistants Technicians (n = ANOVA

83) (n = 72) (n = 26) 71)

Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD F(3, 248) p-value η2

Social identifications Workgroup 5.64 1.53 5.65 1.24 5.38 1.59 5.27 1.47 1.20 .31 .014
INRA 5.06 1.43 4.96 1.46 4.78 1.42 4.67 1.48 1.03 .38 .012
Profession 6.21a 0.66 6.06ab 0.78 5.68abc 1.27 5.39c 1.38 9.61 .001** .104
Work engagement
Dedication 5.84b 0.83 5.82ab 0.90 5.39ab 1.44 5.37a 1.40 3.35 .02* .039
Absorption 5.52a 1.03 5.25 ab 1.14 4.65b 1.65 4.78b 1.39 6.04 .001** .068
Job satisfaction 4.89 1.29 4.73 1.28 4.33 1.54 4.55 1.49 1.44 .23 .017

N = 252. * p < .05, **p < .001. Means in the same line that do not have the same subscript differ at the .05 significance level (Bonferroni Adjustment)

inflation factor and tolerance value), and the results supported major contribution of professional identification (β = .62),
the independence of variables. The results of these analyses and to a lesser extent, organizational identification (β = .13).
are summarized in Table 3. The effect of the covariate concerning contract status was
For the job satisfaction measure, the results yielded an small but significant (β = .14).
overall significant effect of level of social identification, In our sample, professional identification appears to be
F(3, 251) = 77.76, p < .0001, R2 = .48, with a significant the form of social identification most closely related to
contribution of workgroup identification (β = .41), pro- work engagement.
fessional identification (β = .32), and finally organization-
al identification (β = .14).
For the measure of absorption, the results showed an over- The Mediating Role of Work Engagement in the Relationship
all significant effect of level of social identification, F(5, Between Social Identification and Job Satisfaction
251) = 25.40, p < .0001, R2 = .34, due only to professional
identification (β = .50). No effect of the covariates (contract Because multiple regression analyses showed that profession-
status and professional group) was found. For the measure of al identification was the most significant predictor of work
dedication, the results showed a significant effect of social engagement (dedication and absorption), further mediation
identification, F(5, 251) = 57.21, p < .0001, R2 = .54, with a analyses were made with professional identification only.

Table 3 Multiple regression

analyses to test the contribution of β SE t p R2 F(3,251) p
different levels of social
identification on job satisfaction 1- Criterion: Job satisfaction .48 77.76 .0001
and work engagement Workgroup identification .41 .05 8.03 .0001
dimensions (with z standardized Organizational identification .14 .06 2.51 .013
scores)
Professional identification .32 .06 5.70 .0001
β SE t p R2 F(5,251) p
2- Criterion: Work Absorption .34 25.40 .0001
Workgroup identification .06 .08 1.09 .28
Organizational identification .05 .08 0.77 .44
Professional identification .50 .08 7.53 .0001
Professional Group .08 .06 1.36 .17
Status .00 .17 −.0.00 .99
3- Criterion: Work Dedication .54 57.21 .0001
Workgroup identification .07 .05 1.39 .165
Organizational identification .13 .05 2.42 .016
Professional identification .62 .06 11.20 .0001
Professional Group −.05 .04 −1.0 .317
Status .14 .11 3.23 .001
Curr Psychol

Professional group and contract status were entered as covar- p < .00001), and absorption (β = .55, SE = .05, t = 10.09,
iates in our model. p < .00001). Finally, only dedication had a significant direct
The first mediation analysis explored the mediating role of effect on job satisfaction (β = .37, SE = .08, t = 4.48,
work engagement as a whole on the relationship between p < .00001): individuals with a high level of dedication were
professional identification and job satisfaction (Fig. 1). more satisfied with their job. The absorption dimension of
work engagement had no direct effect on job satisfaction.
Direct Effects First, the analysis revealed a direct effect of
professional identification on job satisfaction (β = .58, Indirect Effects We continued to observe a direct effect of
SE = .06, t = 10.54, p < .00001) and on work engagement (β professional identification on job satisfaction (β = .28,
= .70, SE = .05, t = 14.59, p < .00001). Workers with stronger SE = .07, t = 3.81, BCa CI [0.14, 0.43], p < .0002) when
professional identification were more satisfied with their job dedication was controlled for. In addition, the mean for
and more engaged in their work. Finally, work engagement the bootstrapping estimation of the indirect effect of pro-
was found to have a direct effect on job satisfaction (β = .39, fessional identification on job satisfaction was mediated
SE = .07, t = 5.59, p < .00001). Individuals with a high level of by the dedication dimension of work engagement, β =
work engagement were more satisfied with their job. The con- .25, bootSE = .07, BCa CI [0.12, 0.40]. This is a relatively
trol variable related to contract status also had a direct effect large effect (Preacher and Kelley 2011), k2 = .26, Z = 4.30,
on work engagement (β = .23, SE = .12, t = 1.96, p = .05), but p < .00001. This result indicates a partial mediation effect
no effect on job satisfaction. of dedication on the relationship between professional
identification and job satisfaction.
Indirect Effects We continued to observe a direct effect of
professional identification on job satisfaction (β = .31,
SE = .07, t = 4.39, BCa CI [0.17, 0.45], p < .00001) when Discussion
work engagement was controlled for. In addition, the mean
for the bootstrapping estimation of the indirect effect of pro- The job satisfaction of academics and researchers has re-
fessional identification on job satisfaction was mediated by cently been investigated (Ishaq and Khalid 2014; Schulz
work engagement, β = .26, bootSE = .05, BCa CI [0.17, 2013). However, social identity has never been thorough-
0.36]. This is a relatively large effect (Preacher and Kelley ly investigated as a predictor of researchers’ job satisfac-
2011), k2 = .27, Z = 5.21, p < .00001. This result indicates a tion, even though organizational identification has often
partial mediation effect of work engagement in the relation- been linked to job satisfaction in other populations (e.g.,
ship between professional identification and job satisfaction. Karanika-Murray et al. 2015; van Dick et al. 2008). The
The second mediation analysis explored the mediating role aim of the present study was to examine the relationships
of the two dimensions of work engagement (Fig. 2). between different levels of social identification (i.e., orga-
nizational, workgroup and professional), work engage-
Direct Effects First, the analysis revealed a direct effect of ment and job satisfaction among employees of a French
professional identification on job satisfaction (β = .58, public research institute. The main results indicate that a
SE = .05, t = 10.54, p < .00001) and on each dimension of specific type of social identification, namely professional
work engagement: dedication (β = .72, SE = .05, t = 15.48, identification, contributes to job satisfaction and work

Fig. 1 Standardized regression coefficients for the relationship between professional identification and job satisfaction as mediated by work engagement
 Curr Psychol

Fig. 2 Standardized regression coefficients for the relationship between professional identification and job satisfaction as mediated by the dedication
component of work engagement

engagement. Moreover, this study is the first to show the contribution of other team members. The importance of pro-
mediating role of the dedication dimension of work en- fessional identification is relevant in our research context,
gagement on the relationship between professional identi- where work teams are intrinsically interdisciplinary. High pro-
fication and job satisfaction in research teams. fessional identification has also been shown to compensate for
The results confirm our first hypothesis, showing that the low workgroup identification (Liao et al. 2015). Interestingly,
different levels of social identification are positively correlated professional identification was significantly the highest iden-
with researchers’ job satisfaction, and that workgroup identi- tification score for all the INRA professional groups. In the
fication explains the most variance, followed by professional present study, professional identification was also the only
and finally organizational identification. In accordance with level of identification that differed significantly between pro-
the literature (Ashforth and Johnson 2001; Riketta and van fessional groups, researchers having the highest scores. One
Dick 2005; van Knippenberg and van Schie 2000), workgroup could have thought that researchers, who are involved at more
identification was a significantly stronger predictor of job sat- strategic levels of the organization than technicians, would
isfaction than higher order identities such as organizational have evaluated their organizational identification higher than
identification. Workgroup identity gives individuals a feeling other types of identification. Nevertheless, the effect size is
of uniqueness and distinctiveness that they cannot obtain in small, and we must interpret this effect with caution.
the organization as a whole (Ashforth and Johnson 2001). The Professional identification appears to be the most predic-
higher scores for workgroup identification can also be ex- tive of job satisfaction, with both a direct effect and an indirect
plained by the proximal interactions between colleagues in effect via work engagement. The results thus confirm our
the same workgroup who share the same concrete goals second hypothesis that work engagement is a mediator be-
(Ashforth and Johnson 2001). From these studies, it is clear tween social identification and job satisfaction. In a study of
that teamwork and co-workers’ relationships are of prime im- individuals with different occupations in the UK, the three
portance in research teams, explaining why workgroup iden- components of work engagement (dedication, vigor and ab-
tification is strongly correlated with job satisfaction. sorption) were found to fully mediate the relationship between
Professional identification in our sample also emerged as organizational identification as a whole and job satisfaction
an important predictor of researchers’ job satisfaction and (Karanika-Murray et al. 2015). The present study, with multi-
work engagement. This result confirms previous studies con- disciplinary research teams, extends those findings and dem-
ducted in multidisciplinary organizational contexts, where onstrates the mediating role of one component of work en-
professional identification gives individuals a feeling of gagement, namely dedication. In contrast to the study of
uniqueness in a multidisciplinary group, motivating them to Karanika-Murray et al. (2015), we did not observe any medi-
participate in the workgroup (Johnson et al. 2006; Liao et al. ating role of absorption and vigor. Indeed, we did not find any
2015). Professional identity defines how individuals perceive significant effect of absorption on job satisfaction. Moreover,
their unique contribution to teamwork and the specific the vigor dimension (to be energized in work and mentally
Curr Psychol

resilient) did not appear as a reliable construct in our sample. teams show the importance of team management. Trust in
The factorial analysis showed that a two-factor structure of team management has an effect on work engagement, medi-
work engagement (absorption and dedication) was better than ated by organizational identification (Chughtai and Buckley
the original three-factor structure. The present findings con- 2013), and has an effect on team performance, mediated by an
firm that the dedication component of work engagement is the effect of team climate (Pirola-Merlo et al. 2002). Both those
most predictive of job satisfaction (Christian et al. 2011). studies insist on the importance of emotional and affective
Individuals who identify strongly and positively with their events within the research teams. Although our results are
profession are also likely to be more involved in their work far from definitive, they are a first step toward understanding
activities, and therefore to be motivated to work hard and to how different facets of social identification and job satisfac-
achieve their goals, gaining job satisfaction as a consequence. tion are related, and how work engagement is an essential
The literature concerning job satisfaction among academics psychological mechanism for job satisfaction. We hope our
and university teachers stresses the importance of the situational results will inspire researchers to examine in greater depth
characteristics of work, such as autonomy, training, and promo- the effects of social identification in the context of multidisci-
tion (Oshagbemi 1999), but also shows the major importance of plinary research teams.
relational features such as organizational climate (Schulz 2013),
co-workers’ behavior (Oshagbemi 1999), affective events and Acknowledgements The authors are particularly grateful to Mary
McLoughlin and Elisabeth Yates who improved the English of the present
leadership style (Pirola-Merlo et al. 2002). We now know that
manuscript. The authors would like to thank Thierry Marivain and Pascal
social identification, and especially professional identification, Pachot for their support with statistical analysis.
is predictive of job satisfaction, mediated by dedication. Faced
with organizational changes in international research, which is Compliance with Ethical Standards
becoming more competitive and more performance-focused,
research institutes and universities need to enhance not only Conflict of Interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of
interest.
the quality of relations between co-workers and between
workers and their leaders, but also the way workers identify
with both their workgroup and their profession.
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