Quantitative Workload and Work Engagement Among Community Pharmacy Technicians: The Moderating Role of Perceived...

Background/Objectives: Research on community pharmacy technicians has rarely examined how workload and supervisor support jointly relate to work engagement. The aim of this study was to examine these relationships among community pharmacy technicians within the Job Demands-Resources framework and to test the moderating role of supervisor support in the workload-work engagement relationship. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 574 community pharmacy technicians recruited from pharmacies selected through stratified random sampling in four provinces of Türkiye. Quantitative workload, perceived supervisor support, and work engagement were measured using validated instruments. Moderation was tested with PROCESS Model 1. Results: When supervisor support was at its mean, higher quantitative workload was associated with lower work engagement (B = -0.290, 95% CI [-0.389, -0.191], p < 0.001). At the mean workload level, supervisor support was positively associated with engagement (B = 0.405, 95% CI [0.295, 0.516], p < 0.001). The interaction between workload and supervisor support was significant but modest in magnitude (B = 0.156, 95% CI [0.041, 0.271], p = 0.008; ΔR² = 0.010). Simple slopes showed a progressively weaker negative workload-engagement association as supervisor support increased. The interaction remained significant in the covariate-adjusted model (B = 0.148, 95% CI [0.030, 0.266], p = 0.014). Conclusions: Higher quantitative workload was associated with lower work engagement, whereas greater perceived supervisor support was associated with higher engagement. The negative workload-engagement association also weakened as perceived supervisor support increased.