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364safety significantly affected work engagement. The variable with the strongest relationship with work engagement was job satisfaction (β=0.314, p<0.001), followed by rewarding job (β=0.279, p<0.001) and job aptitude (β=0.160, p<0.001). Psychological safety had the fourth strongest relationship (β=0.115, p<0.01).DiscussionParticipant characteristicsThis study examined the employees, most of whom were instructors, of two fitness clubs in Japan. They were characterised by their very young age, and less than three years’ experience in practice and as instructors. They had high work engagement scores compared to the Japanese subjects considered in previous studies21-23). A study conducted by Bernabé et al.24) found that fitness instructors had moderate to high levels of job satisfaction due to their favourable workplace relationships the recognition of their occupation by peers and clients, their high levels of autonomy, and the job itself. Our survey revealed that job satisfaction, rewarding job, and job aptitude were associated with work engagement, which supports the findings of Bernabé et al.24)Relationships of job resources and psychological safety with work engagementAmong job resources, job satisfaction and rewarding job were shown to be associated with work engagement. Locke26) defines job satisfaction as ‘a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences’ and work engagement as ‘a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterised by vigour, dedication, and absorption’. Whereas work engagement refers to employees’ emotions and perceptions while working, job satisfaction refers to their overall emotions and perceptions regarding the job itself. Therefore, work engagement refers to a more active state than that referred to by job satisfaction. Although they are different in this respect, they both denote a positive psychological state, which is why job satisfaction showed a stronger association with work engagement than the other items. Further, according to Renard and Snelgar27), the provision of psychologically rewarding work increases employees’ intrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation, in turn, increases work engage-ment, which supports the analysis results of this study. In addition, Schaufeli and Dijkstra25) suggest that job resources such as ‘social support from colleagues’ and ‘good relationship with superiors’ increase employees’ work engagement. In the current study, correlational analysis revealed that support from colleagues and superiors was related to work engagement, whereas multiple regression analysis did not show that support from colleagues and superiors was associated with work engage-ment. This implies that support from colleagues and superiors is not directly related to work engagement and is mediated by psychological safety. A study by Carmeli and Gittell28) found that high-quality relationships are correlated with psychological safety, which confirms the current study’s finding.Psychological safety of fitness club employeesA study by Chang et al.29) revealed that employees’ emotional exhaustion and burnout are highly correlated with workplace incivility and service climate. Similarly, according to a study conducted on hotel employees30), who, similar to fitness club employees, work in the hospitality industry, psycho-logical safety positively influences engagement in creative work tasks and the engagement in creative tasks, in turn, influences the innovative culture of the services provided by these employees.The current study found that psychological safety enhanced work engagement, which prevents the occurrence of employee burnout. This result, coupled with the finding of the aforementioned study30) that psychological safety enhances work creativity, suggests that improving the psycholog-ical safety of fitness club employees has a positive impact on their work environment and the quality of the services provided by them.This study found that the psychological safety and job resources of fitness club employees are positively related to their work engagement. There-fore, to ensure the provision of high-quality services at fitness clubs, companies should enhance their employees’ psychological safety and job resources.Conclusions