A Causal Model of Employee Engagement and Subjective Well-being of Employees in Thai Community Hospitals

Employee engagement among multidisciplinary employees in community hospitals is very important for effective teamwork and a happy work life. This study aimed at investigating the causal relationships among self-efficacy, self-esteem, participation in the organization, organization support perception, and the four virtues which are based on Buddhist teachings, upon employee engagement and subjective well-being of employees in Thai community hospitals. The study framework was grounded in interactionism. The sample consisted of 444 employees in two hospitals. Data was collected using questionnaires. The instruments used were Likert type scales. All scales showed adequate reliability with alpha coefficients between .80-.96. The path model was analyzed using Mplus. The results of the path analysis showed that the model fitted the data with Chi-square = 14.71, df = 6, p = .02, RMSEA= .30, p < .01). The most important variable that explained employee engagement was the four virtues for group integration (total effect = .41, p < .01). From the results, it is recommended that a behavioral science program based on the four virtues for group integration could be used to promote employee engagement and subjective well-being in the community hospitals Thai context.