Enrichment of the virtuous organizational practices inventory and preliminary evidence of synergistic effects of VOP on work engagement, emotional exhaustion, job stress and job satisfaction

Purpose The aims of this study were primarily to develop a revised version of the Virtuous Organizational Practices inventory (VOPi-R), by integrating inclusive and sustainable practices, and by assessing its invariance across gender and managerial functions. We also aimed to identify which synergistic approach out of virtuous overlaps or efficient complementarities was the most suitable to explain the VOP effects on work engagement, emotional exhaustion, job stress and job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from a sample of 800 French employees. Findings Results demonstrated that the two new sub-dimensions enrich the VOPi and confirmed the measurement invariance of our revised tool across gender and managerial functions. Analyses also revealed that the bifactor-ESEM fitted the data better than the hierarchical-ESEM to represent VOP and explained more of the variance of workers' work engagement, emotional exhaustion, job stress and job satisfaction. Originality/value The complementarities synergistic approach thus explains better the VOP effects on work engagement, emotional exhaustion, job stress and job satisfaction than the virtuous overlaps approach. These results represent a major advance in the study of the effects of VOP on employees' outcomes because they demonstrate the need to consider the specificities of each practice beyond their common variance.