In recent years, organizations have increasingly become aware of the importance of employee happiness as well as the role of HRM practices and personal resources in promoting well-being at work. Based on the Job Demand–Resources model, we investigated ways in which proactive personality may predict flow at work through sequential mediation via job crafting and work engagement. A total of 362 Italian employees completed an online questionnaire. The results showed a positive correlation between proactive personality, job crafting, and work engagement and flow at work. Additionally, proactive personality had a positive total effect on work engagement and flow at work. However, the significant effect on flow at work disappeared in favor of the sequential indirect effect. These results suggest that proactive employees experience flow at work through the mediating role of job crafting and work engagement. This paper contributes to scientific knowledge by filling a gap in the literature around the mechanisms which underly the relationship between proactivity and flow at work. Furthermore, it provides new evidence and new insights about the role of personal resources in promoting flow in the workplace. Our results here can provide practical implications for organizations.

In this article, we conceptualize a new construct named “ductility” and propose a measurement instrument. We examine psychometric properties—the factorial validity and reliability of the Ductility Scale in Italy. The results of exploratory factor analysis showed that the scale has a two-factor structure, namely, individual and organizational ductility. The scale reliability was excellent for both dimensions (individual ω = 0.82; organizational ω = 0.85). The participants were employees from private and public organizations (n = 466). We tested the construct validity of the Ductility Scale. The invariance of the measurement model tested via multigroup confirmative factor analysis showed that the Ductility Scale was invariant across gender. In addition, we found ductility to be positively related to proactive personality and work engagement. These preliminary results show that the Ductility Scale is a reliable and valid measure. In addition, our findings illustrate the potential usefulness of the ductility construct via the newly developed scale.

University students face sustained academic demands that can compromise engagement and positive mental health, underscoring the need to identify modifiable everyday strategies that support health promotion in higher education. Drawing on Study Demands–Resources theory and proactive motivational perspectives, this cross-sectional study examined the direct and indirect associations among playful study design (PSD)—students’ self-initiated efforts to make study activities more enjoyable (designing fun) and more challenging (designing competition)—student engagement, and emotional, social, and psychological well-being. A sample of 511 Italian university students completed validated measures of PSD, student engagement, and positive mental health. The hypothesized indirect-association model was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) with bootstrapped confidence intervals. PSD was positively associated with student engagement and with all three dimensions of well-being. Significant indirect associations between PSD and emotional, social, and psychological well-being through student engagement were observed. After accounting for student engagement, none of the direct associations between PSD and the three well-being dimensions were statistically significant in the primary ML analysis. The model showed a mixed pattern of fit: RMSEA and SRMR indicated acceptable fit, whereas CFI and TLI remained below conventional thresholds. These findings extend emerging PSD research by identifying student engagement as having an indirect role in the associations between the playful redesign of study activities and multidimensional positive mental health. Given the cross-sectional design, the results do not establish temporal precedence or causal mediation. The findings provide a preliminary rationale for further longitudinal and intervention research, but do not establish the effectiveness or practical feasibility of PSD-based initiatives.