This study aims to investigate the relationship between work engagement (WE) and solving problems creatively (SPC) among middle managers. It conceptualizes training and learning effort (TLE) as a proactive behavioral mediator and examines the moderating role of gender as a culturally embedded contextual filter.
A quantitative survey was conducted with 197 middle managers in the Tunisian private-banking sector. Hypotheses were tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling via WarpPLS (version 8.0), combining global moderated mediation modeling with multigroup analysis (MGA) to compare structural pathways across genders.
WE directly and indirectly boosts SPC via the partial mediation of TLE. The global interaction model confirmed that gender significantly moderated the direct WE–SPC relationship. Although the MGA lacks the statistical power to detect significant differences between subgroup slopes on this direct path, it reveals that the WE–TLE link is significantly stronger for male managers. These results highlight differentiated pathways: engaged female managers rely on direct creative agency to navigate organizational boundaries, whereas engaged male managers channel their motivation into structured learning to enhance their creativity.
By integrating global moderation with MGA in a transitional Arab context, this study challenges the universalist and gender-neutral assumptions of the job demands-resources framework. This positions the Tunisian banking sector as a unique theoretical laboratory, demonstrating how cultural boundaries and gendered expectations actively redirect the behavioral translation of motivational resources into adaptive outcomes in this sector.
