Work engagement

Contents

Work engagement

Modern organizations need energetic and dedicated employees: people who are engaged with their work. These organizations expect proactivity, initiative and responsibility for personal development from their employees [1]. Overall, engaged employees are fully involved in, and enthusiastic about their work. Below, an overview is given of what exactly is meant by work engagement, different measurement instruments, the main drivers of work engagement and the main research findings with regard to engagement.

Work engagement defined

Kahn [2] was the first scholar to define “personal engagement” as the “…harnessing of organization member’s selves to their work roles: in engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, emotionally and mentally during role performances” (p. 694). Based on this definition a questionnaire was developed that assesses three dimensions: cognitive, emotional and physical engagement [3].

Nowadays, there are two different schools of thought with regard to the definition of work engagement. On the one hand Maslach and Leiter ([4]) assume that a continuum exists with burnout and engagement as two opposite poles. The second school of thought operationalizes engagement in its own right as the positive antithesis of burnout [5]. According to this approach, work engagement is defined as a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption [6]. Vigor is characterized by high levels of energy and mental resilience while working, the willingness to invest effort in one’s work, and persistence even in the face of difficulties; dedication by being strongly involved in one's work, and experiencing a sense of significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, pride, and challenge; and absorption by being fully concentrated and happily engrossed in one’s work, whereby time passes quickly and one has difficulties with detaching oneself from work [7].

Work engagement as a unique concept

Work engagement as measured by the UWES is positively related with, but can nevertheless be differentiated from, similar constructs such as job involvement and organizational commitment [8], in-role and extra-role behavior [9]; personal initiative [10], Type A [11], and workaholism [12]. Moreover, engaged workers are characterized by low levels of burnout [13], as well as by low levels of neuroticism and high levels of extraversion [14]. Also they enjoy good mental and physical health [12].

Trait versus state work engagement

Generally, work engagement is conceptualized as a relatively stable phenomenon. This can be explained by the presence of specific job and organizational characteristics [15]. However, engagement is not a fixed state: the level of engagement can even fluctuate on a weekly [16] or day-to-day basis [17][18][19]. Increasingly, attention is being paid to these short-term fluctuations by conducting experience sampling studies and diary studies [20].

Measurement

The three aspects of work engagement (vigor, dedication and absorption) are assessed by the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES [7]), which is currently available in 20 languages and can be used freely for non-commercial purposes. In addition a short form [21] and a student version [22] are available. The reliability and validity of the UWES is documented is various studies (for an overview see [23]).

The Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) [24][25] is an alternative instrument for the assessment of work engagement. It consists of two dimensions: exhaustion-vigor and cynicism-dedication.

Main drivers of work engagement

Research has identified two key sets of variables that drive work engagement:

• Job resources: Work engagement is found to be positively associated with job resources such as social support from co-workers and from one’s superior, performance feedback, coaching, job control, task variety, opportunities for learning and development, and training facilities. These resources are helpful in reducing the impact of job demands on strain, but they are also useful in the achievement of work goals, and they stimulate learning, personal growth and development. One consistent finding is that the motivational potential of job resources is particularly salient in the face of high job demands [26].

--> Example: In a longitudinal study among 2555 Finnish dentists, researchers found that job resources lead to work engagement, which in turn had an influence on the level of personal initiative and consequently on work-unit innovativeness [27].

• Personal resources: personal resources, such as optimism, self-efficacy and resilience are functional in controlling the environment and exerting impact on it in a successful way. Furthermore, engaged employees have several personal characteristics that differentiate them from less engaged employees. Examples are extraversion, conscientiousness and emotional stability. Psychological capital [1] also seems to be related to work engagement.

--> Example: Xanthopoulou, Bakker, Demerouti, and Schaufeli (2007) [28] studied Dutch technicians’ work engagement in relation to three personal resources (self-efficacy, organizational-based self-esteem, and optimism). Results indicated that these resources were related to work engagement.

For an overall model of work engagement, see Bakker & Demerouti (2008) [26].

Engagement and performance

Engagement is related to better performance. For instance, engaged contact workers from hotels and restaurants produce better service quality as perceived by their customers [29]; the more engaged university students feel the higher their next year’s Grade Point Average [30]; the higher the level of engagement of flight attendants, the better their in- and extra-role performance on the flight [31]; and the more engaged restaurant workers, the higher the financial turnover of the shift [32]. Another example comes from Bakker and Bal (in press), who found a positive relationship between weekly work engagement scores of teachers and supervisor-ratings of their performance. Salanova, Agut and Peiró (2005)[33] found a positive relationship between organization resources, work engagement and performance among employees, working in Spanish restaurants and hotels.

There are several possible reasons why engaged employees show higher performance than non-engaged employees [34]: 1) They often experience positive emotions; 2) They experience better health; 3) They create their own job and personal resources; 4) They transfer their engagement to others (cross-over).

The downside of work engagement

There is also a possibility of becoming ‘over-engaged’. For example, it can distort the work-life balance when employees take work home [35]. Over-engagement may also lead to workaholism [36].

References

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