From Resilience to Performance: A Serial Mediation Analysis of Stress and Loneliness Among Marine Engineers

Previous research examining the relationship between psychological resilience and job performance has provided important insights; however, the psychosocial pathways underlying this relationship remain insufficiently understood in maritime settings. This study aimed to examine the relationship between psychological resilience and job performance, as well as the indirect pathways linking these variables through the serial mediation of perceived stress and loneliness among marine engineers. A sample of 400 marine engineers employed on Turkish-flagged commercial vessels participated in the study. Participants completed validated self-report measures of psychological resilience, perceived stress, loneliness, and job performance. The hypothesized relationships were tested using a serial mediation model with bias-corrected bootstrapping. The results indicated that psychological resilience was positively associated with job performance and negatively associated with perceived stress. Lower perceived stress, in turn, was associated with lower loneliness. Perceived stress independently mediated the relationship between psychological resilience and job performance, whereas loneliness did not emerge as a significant independent mediator. The serial mediation analysis supported an indirect pathway linking psychological resilience to job performance through perceived stress and loneliness. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the psychosocial pathways through which psychological resilience is associated with job performance in isolated and safety-critical maritime work environments. Given the cross-sectional and self-report nature of the study, the findings should be interpreted as associations consistent with the proposed theoretical model rather than evidence of causal or temporal relationships.