Abstract
The aim of this study is to validate the employee job enthusiasm model of the Petrochemical Terminals and Tanks Company. The present study is applicable in terms of its purpose and is a survey in terms of its nature and method. The statistical population of the present study includes employees of the Petrochemical Terminals and Tanks Company in the city of Asaluyeh, whose sample size was 205 people using the Cochran formula and simple sampling method. The collection tool in the present study is a researcher-made questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis using SPSS and LISREL software was used to analyze the findings. The findings showed that the "cognitive enthusiasm" dimension includes four subscales of professional development path, cognitive understanding, foresight, and resilience. The “emotional passion” dimension includes intrinsic motivation, positivity, effective financial incentives, and effective non-financial incentives; and the physical-psychological passion dimension includes managing job pressures, overcoming physical challenges in the workplace, and physical and mental balance; and the social passion dimension includes social approval, social interactions, and a supportive workplace; and the moral-value passion dimension includes approval of a sense of responsibility, moral impact, and the desire to do meaningful work.
Introduction
Today, due to economic issues and problems, employees face multiple work pressures and role conflicts in the organization, which often put a lot of work pressure on them. Therefore, the emphasis on promoting employee passion and enthusiasm is constantly increasing in workplaces (Ismaili, 2025). In recent years, researchers in the field of public administration have tested various job design methods such as job enrichment and job development methods, which clearly aim to identify the attitudinal and behavioral consequences of employees. This issue has gained particular importance in public administration discussions. The result of job design methods on human resources is the fact that often individual outcomes are considered, which is partly due to the nature of job designs. On one hand, in today's competitive market, most organizations face great challenges in retaining their valuable employees. Therefore, these employees face pressure and efforts from managers to stay in this job or profession (Tabaszewska & Sokołowska, 2019). On the other hand, job satisfaction is one of the key factors of job success that causes employees to show the best job performance. A high level of employee job satisfaction can lead to the growth of the company's economic situation, as employees will work hard for themselves and their company. Job satisfaction is a phenomenon that results from the level of happiness and satisfaction of employees with their work and its environment and leads to a high level of job engagement (Olsen, 2025).
Although employee engagement has many benefits, there is evidence that many employees in organizations do not have the necessary and sufficient engagement. Studies show that a high percentage of employees in workplaces suffer from burnout. For example, the results of a study conducted by Parker et al. (2023) showed that more than 60% of employees in some industries regularly experience symptoms of burnout. Studies show that many employees are not satisfied with their jobs. The results of a survey conducted by Gallup (2021) showed that only 15% of employees globally feel engaged, enthusiastic, and satisfied with their work. Employees who are less engaged are likely to be more likely to be absent from work. The results of a study conducted by Halbesleben (2010) showed that employees with low engagement are 37% more likely to be absent than employees with high engagement. According to the above, the main question of the present study is: how can the model of employee job engagement in a petrochemical terminal and storage company be validated?
Theoretical foundations
Job engagement
The concept of job engagement was proposed by Kahn (1990) and Li (2016). The term job engagement means the participation of employees in their work. The term job engagement may mean the connection of individuals with the body in which they work (Ali et al., 2021). The level of enthusiasm, attachment, and desired involvement with the job is job engagement. Job engagement means that employees are physically engaged, cognitively alert, and empathetically communicate with other people in the organization (Decuypere & Schaufeli, 2020).
Cheng (2024) examined the role of chain mediation of innovative self-efficacy and coordinated enthusiasm between reciprocal leadership and employee innovative behavior. Ambidextrous leadership is positively related to employee innovation behavior, while innovative self-efficacy and harmonious work engagement play a mediating role. Further analysis confirms that innovative self-efficacy and harmonious work engagement play a dual mediating role in the chain between ambidextrous leadership and employee innovation behavior, while Zhong-Yung thinking plays a moderating role between ambidextrous leadership and innovative self-efficacy and between ambidextrous leadership and harmonious work engagement.
Gerami & Malekshahi (2023) investigated the relationship between servant leadership style and employee performance and job engagement (case study: Mobarakeh Steel Company, Isfahan). They showed that job engagement plays a mediating role between job motivation and innovative behavior, as well as between servant leadership style and job performance. 
Research Methodology
The present study is applicable in terms of purpose and is of survey type in terms of nature and method. The statistical population of the present study includes employees of Petrochemical Terminals and Tanks Company in Assaluyeh city, whose sample size was 205 people using the Cochran formula and simple sampling method. The collection tool in the present study is a researcher-made questionnaire.
Research findings
Confirmatory factor analysis was used to analyze the findings using SPSS and LISREL software. The findings showed that the "cognitive enthusiasm" dimension includes four subscales of professional development path, cognitive understanding, foresight, and resilience. The "emotional passion" dimension includes intrinsic motivation, positivity, effective financial incentives, and effective non-financial incentives; and the physical-psychological passion dimension includes managing job pressures, overcoming physical challenges in the workplace, and physical and mental balance; and the social passion dimension includes social approval, social interactions, and a supportive workplace; and the moral-value passion dimension includes approving a sense of responsibility, moral impact, and the desire to do meaningful work.
Conclusion
The present study was conducted with the aim of validating the job passion model of the employees of the Petrochemical Terminals and Tanks Company. The findings of the present study are consistent with the results of Shao (2023), Dehghanpour Farashah et al. (2021), Tang & Li (2021), Yaghoubi et al (2022), Gerami & Malekshahi (2024), Keshavarz & Sadeghi (2023) and Hosseinian et al. 2025).
Based on the results of the study, the following suggestions were made:
It is suggested that the organization provide employees with opportunities to participate in projects with a medium to high level of difficulty in line with their interests and skills.
It is suggested that the organization define a multi-stage reward system that provides financial rewards for achieving certain levels of individual or team goals. Employees who perform well or play a key role in a particular project should be allowed to work with flexible working hours on some days or do part of their work remotely. For example, a graphic designer could complete a project at home at night and only be physically present for the final presentation. This type of flexibility greatly increases non-monetary motivation. When new employees first arrive, or when implementing organizational changes, people may experience psychological stress.