Background: This study has been inspired by the JD-R model. It evaluates the role that job resources play in
moderating the impact that job demands have on work engagement in a community of nurses.
Methods: A total of 481 nurses in 109 health care centers participated in this study. Three job demands: work
overload, emotional demands, and home-work imbalance; and three specific job resources: social support, autonomy,
and self-development opportunities were used to test the interaction hypotheses of this research.
Results: Results show that 33 out of 36 of the possible interaction effects were significant, thus showing that
job resources create a buffer between job demands and work engagement and its three dimensions in nurses.
Conclusion: By and large, hypotheses were confirmed. The findings clearly shows the utility of the expanded JD
-R model to the nursing community and suggest that the right job resources can help buffer the impact of demanding
working condition on work engagement. Research and practical implications are discussed.