A contribution to the Italian validation of the occupational hardiness scale and its role in work engagement and emotional exhaustion

Workplace stress is a global issue across different occupations. Hardiness, a resource characterized by higher levels of challenge, commitment, and control, acts as a protective factor against stress, particularly in the work environment. The aim of this study was twofold: (1) to validate the Italian version of the Occupational Hardiness Scale (OHS), by also considering its invariance across gender (Study 1); (2) to analyze its relationship with work engagement and emotional exhaustion (Study 2). Study 1 included a sample of workers from different sectors (N = 1152). Study 2 included all participants of Study 1 that had also completed the scales measuring work engagement and emotional exhaustion (N = 845). The results confirmed the original structure of the scale, by identifying a three-factor model (i.e., challenge, commitment, control) with one general, second-order, latent factor (i.e., occupational hardiness). In addition, multi-group confirmatory factor analysis results indicated that the measurement of occupational hardiness, as captured by OHS, was comparable and meaningful for males and females. Finally, occupational hardiness was positively related to engagement, and negatively related to emotional exhaustion. Thus, the Italian version of the OHS is a psychometrically sound measure for assessing occupational hardiness in the Italian working population.