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Introduction
The need for an inspired and motivated workforce able to go "the extra mile" is an issue of increasing importance in contemporary organizations (Bakker and Demerouti, 2008). For this reason, the study of work engagement (and its antecedents) has become extremely relevant, among both researchers and practitioners. Work engagement refers to a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind characterizing employees who work hard and persist despite difficulties, are strongly involved in what they do and feel happily absorbed in their work (Schaufeli and Bakker, 2010).
In the present study, we investigate the factors that contribute to work engagement, by adopting a conceptual framework that stresses the proactive and intentional role of the individual over the work environment, namely, Social Cognitive Theory (SCT; Bandura, 1986, 1997). In line with this view, self-efficacy may represent the key personal resource able to promote both work engagement and a positive (resourceful) social work environment.
According to SCT, the most pervasive mechanism of human agency is perceived self-efficacy, which reflects the perceived control people hold over themselves and over environmental events (Bandura, 1997, 2001). On the basis of self-efficacy beliefs, people choose which activities to undertake or avoid, how much effort to invest and how long to persevere when facing obstacles and failures (Bandura, 2001, 2012). Empirical studies have recognized that because self-efficacy leads to investing more effort and persistence in pursuing goals, it is associated to a positive motivational state toward work, i.e. work engagement (Llorens et al. , 2007; Salanova et al. , 2011).
However, self-efficacy also influences how the situational environment is perceived, particularly the social work context. Perceptions of the social context (PoSC, Borgogni et al. , 2010b) is a new concept that refers to individual's perceptions of the behaviors related to role expectancies enacted by the main structurally defined social components in the organizational social system, namely, one's immediate supervisor, colleagues and top management. PoSC that have been identified across several different organizational contexts (Borgogni et al. , 2015), regard both task-related (such as facilitating development and goal attainment) and relational aspects (such as providing support, promoting collaboration and integration) of interactions (Bales, 1950). Different from the notion of social support, which is specifically focussed on the availability and adequacy of reliable others...