Health Psychology Research / HPR / Volume 14 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.14440/hpr.0387
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RESEARCH ARTICLE

The Relationship between Work Engagement and Change Readiness Under Pressure: Do Job Categories and Adoption Categories Provide Insights for Change?

Monique M. A. Penturij1 ,  Carolina J. P. W. Keijsers2* ,  Babette C. van der Zwaard3 ,  Fedde Scheele4,5
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1 Department of Quality and Safety, Jeroen Bosch Academy, Jeroen Bosch Hospital, ‘s-Hertogenbosch 5200ME, North Brabant, the Netherlands
2 Department of Geriatric Medicine, Jeroen Bosch Hospital, ‘s-Hertogenbosch 5200ME, North Brabant, the Netherlands
3 Research Department, Jeroen Bosch Hospital, ‘s-Hertogenbosch 5200ME, North Brabant, the Netherlands
4 Department of Athena Institute for Transdisciplinary Research, Faculty of Science, Free University, 1081 HV Amsterdam, North Holland, the Netherlands
5 Faculty of Academic Centre for Dentistry, Amsterdam 1081 HV, North Holland, the Netherlands
HPR 2026 , 14(1), e81240068; https://doi.org/10.14440/hpr.0387
Submitted: 19 November 2025 | Revised: 15 January 2026 | Accepted: 3 February 2026 | Published: 31 March 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). Licensee Health Psychology Research, USA. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Background

Hospital boards and management should support hospital workers in maintaining engagement under pressure and remaining prepared to adapt care delivery.

Objective

This study evaluates the relationship between work engagement (WE) and change readiness (CR) among hospital workers and examines differences across job and adoption categories using pandemic data.

Methods

We conducted an observational cross-sectional survey among all hospital workers at the Jeroen Bosch Hospital, the Netherlands. The employee satisfaction survey measured WE and CR. Participants were grouped by job category and Rogers’ adopter categories.

Results

The correlation between WE and CR across all hospital workers was moderate (r = 0.362, p< 0.001). No significant differences were observed in the WE–CR correlation or mean WE scores across job categories. However, mean CR differed significantly among job categories: physicians scored higher than other clinical roles (p = 0.011); nursing professionals higher than other clinical roles (p = 0.001); professionals in quality, education, HR, finance, and management higher than other clinical roles (p = 0.023); and nursing professionals higher than support staff not involved in clinical care (p = 0.029). Across adoption categories, the WE–CR relationship is strongest in laggards (r = 0.298, p = 0.005), the lowest adoption category, and significantly stronger than in innovators/early adopters, the highest adoption category (r = 0.185, p = 0.041).

Conclusion

The study demonstrates a correlation between CR and WE, with the strongest association observed in laggards among adoption categories.

Keywords
Work engagement
Change readiness
Pandemic
Change
Hospital workers
Funding
None.
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Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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