Psychological resilience as a bridge between academic work stress and work engagement: evidence from Arab university faculty

Academic work in Arab higher education institutions is characterized by a compounding mix of teaching burdens, research expectations, and rigorous quality assurance demands. This study examines how these institutional pressures directly diminish work engagement and evaluate psychological resilience as a protective personal resource. Utilising a sample of 266 faculty members across Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Egypt, data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLSA-SEM). The results showed that psychological resilience partially mediated the relationship between academic work stress and work engagement, supporting its role as a core explanatory mechanism. Its moderating effect, however, did not reach statistical significance; this points to resilience functioning more as a stable personal trait that explains the stress-engagement link rather than one that changes depending on how strong or weak resilience is Gender differences in path coefficients were not statistically significant either, although the descriptive pattern showed a stronger negative link between academic work stress and both resilience and engagement among female faculty, and a stronger positive link between resilience and engagement among male faculty. This pattern fits with the added domestic and caregiving expectations placed on women within Arab collectivist family structures. Taken together, the findings broaden the Job Demands-Resources model and Social Cognitive Theory by framing resilience as an explanatory rather than a moderating mechanism in an Arab academic setting, while also supporting practical investment by institutions in resilience-building programs to help sustain faculty engagement under demanding work conditions.