Job characteristics and work engagement: the moderating role of tenure in non profit organizations

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between key job characteristics – supervisor support, autonomy and job demands – and work engagement among employees of Portuguese nonprofit organizations (NPOs) dedicated to elderly care. It further investigates whether tenure moderates these relationships. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional quantitative design was used with a convenience sample of 206 employees from NPOs providing elderly care services in Portugal. Participants completed validated scales measuring supervisor support, autonomy, job demands, and work engagement. Data were analyzed using the PROCESS macro for SPSS to test moderation effects. Findings Supervisor support and autonomy were positively related to work engagement, while job demands were negatively associated, confirming the predictions of the Job Demand–Control–Support model. However, tenure did not moderate the relationship between job characteristics and work engagement. These results suggest that engagement-enhancing mechanisms operate similarly across different career stages within this sector. Research limitations/implications The study’s cross-sectional design limits causal inference, and the convenience sample may constrain generalizability. Future research should adopt longitudinal and cross-cultural designs to confirm these findings and explore gender or skill-level differences. Practical implications Findings highlight the importance of strengthening supervisor support, promoting employee autonomy and managing workload to sustain engagement across tenure levels. Interventions such as leadership development and participatory job design are particularly relevant for improving well-being and retention in elderly care NPOs. Originality/value This research extends the Job Demand–Control–Support model to the underexplored context of NPOs focused on elderly care, contributing empirical evidence on how job characteristics influence engagement in resource-constrained environments. The nonsignificant moderating role of tenure adds a novel theoretical insight, challenging assumptions about experience-based variations in engagement dynamics.