136 Chapter 6 ABSTRACT Employees with a chronic disease are confronted with health problems, pain, and a limited energy reserve, which may hinder their day-to-day functioning at work. In the current study, we use job demands-resources (JD-R) and proactive motivation theories to hypothesize that chronically ill individuals may optimize their own wellbeing and work performance by using proactive vitality management (PVM). Employees with chronic liver disease were followed over the course of 2.5 years and filled out surveys at three points in time. Consistent with JD-R theory’s health impairment hypothesis, results showed that exhaustion mediated the relationship between PVM and (a) absenteeism and (b) functional capacity. Consistent with the motivational hypothesis, work engagement mediated the relationship between PVM and creative work performance. In addition, results of moderated mediation analyses indicated that these indirect effects were stronger for employees with more (vs. less) self-insight – i.e., a developed understanding of one’s own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. These findings contribute to JD-R and proactive motivation theories and suggest that PVM is an important behavioral strategy that may protect chronically ill employees’ occupational health and promote their performance, especially when combined with self-insight.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw