Please Remove Uncertainties! Otherwise, I Will Not Be Able to Do …! Intolerance to Uncertainty as a Threat to Personal Accomplishment: The Role of Work Ability and Thriving at Work

Abstract

This study uses the Conservation of Resources Theory to understand whether intolerance of uncertainty leads to reduced personal accomplishment based on the work ability and thriving at work of employees. Besides intolerance of uncertainty directly affecting personal accomplishment, it also affects it through the mediating roles of employees’ work ability and thriving at work. The research model was tested using three-wave, time-lagged data from 278 employees. The findings confirm that intolerance of uncertainty leads to reduced personal accomplishment. Additionally, the results showed that work ability and thriving at work partially mediated this relationship. Further analysis suggests that both work ability and thriving at work act as parallel mediators in the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and reduced personal accomplishment, and that there is no statistically significant difference between them. Therefore, intolerance of uncertainty presents a challenge to important issues that drive employees, such as ability, development, and success.