JOB DEMANDS, PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT: THE POSITIVE EFFECT OF RESTORATIVE QUALITY OF THE WORK ENVIRONMENT ON PEOPLE’S WORKING LIFE, AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH WORK ENGAGEMENT, ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT, ORGANIZATIONAL CYNICISM AND JOB SATISFACTION. RICHIESTE LAVORATIVE, AMBIENTE FISICO E SOCIALE: L’EFFETTO POSITIVO DELLE QUALITA’ RIGENERATIVE DELL’AMBIENTE DI LAVORO SULLA VITA LAVORATIVA DELLE PERSONE, E LA SUA RELAZIONE CON IL WORK ENGAGEMENT, IL SUPPORTO ORGANIZZATIVO, IL CINISMO ORGANIZZATIVO E LA SODDISFAZIONE LAVORATIVA.

The main aim of this doctoral thesis is to investigate, within the Job Demand Resource model (JD-R; Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner e Schaufeli, 2001) the possibility that the restorative quality of work environment can exert significant positive effects on people's working life. For this purpouse, three studies within the workplace were carried out. - The first study addressed a positive relationship between restorativeness (restorative quality of work environment) and job satisfaction (estrinsic and intrinsic) via perceived organizational support and work engagement. An anonymous self-report questionnaire was completed by 123 office employees in the municipality of an Italian town. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analyses showed a multivariate positive relationship between restorativeness, social support, work engagement, and job satisfaction. Further, both a full mediation effect of work engagement between restorativeness and intrinsic job satisfaction, and a partial mediating effect of work engagement between restorativeness and extrinsic job satisfaction were found. - The second study explored the effect of restorativeness on organizational cynicism (it is defined as negative attitude developed by a person to his organization) and work engagement. An anonymous self-report questionnaire was filled out by 247 employees. Results supported a positive effect of restorativeness in reducing the organizational cynicism and, in the same direction, on work engagement within the organization. - Finally, the third study addressed the possibility that the company canteen, (or its restorative quality, measured by using restorativeness construct), buffers the relationship between work demands, it is defined as cognitive demands and workoverload and fatigue or depletion of own resource during work, to the extent that workers perceive it to hold restorative quality. Further, we considered how the restorative quality of the canteen positively correlated with organizational support and signals the provision of organizational support, another job resource thought to buffer the demands-fatigue relationship. An anonymous self-report questionnaire was completed by 141 blue collar workers during their lunch break in the factory canteen of an Italian industrial organization. Multivariate regression analyses indicated that the relationship between job demands and fatigue was indeed weaker when the canteen was perceived as “restorative” setting. Restorative quality was positively associated with organizational support in a bivariate analysis, and multivariate analyses indicated that the buffering effect of organizational support on the demands-fatigue relationship could be taken into account for the buffering effect of the restorative quality of the canteen. In conclusion, the present results, inside a positive psychological approach at work, underline the importance of the physical environment and the social relations to improve well-being and reduce stress within workplace. Furthermore the restorative quality of rest settings in the workplace may function as a job resource serving the immediate needs of workers for recovery from work demands.