Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T05:21:56.868Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Meaning of Employee Engagement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2015

William H. Macey  and
Benjamin Schneider
William H. Macey*
Affiliation:
Valtera Corporation
Benjamin Schneider
Affiliation:
Valtera Corporation and University of Maryland
*
E-mail: wmacey@valtera.com, Address: Valtera Corporation, 1701 Golf Road, Suite 2-1100 Rolling Meadows, IL 60008
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The meaning of employee engagement is ambiguous among both academic researchers and among practitioners who use it in conversations with clients. We show that the term is used at different times to refer to psychological states, traits, and behaviors as well as their antecedents and outcomes. Drawing on diverse relevant literatures, we offer a series of propositions about (a) psychological state engagement; (b) behavioral engagement; and (c) trait engagement. In addition, we offer propositions regarding the effects of job attributes and leadership as main effects on state and behavioral engagement and as moderators of the relationships among the 3 facets of engagement. We conclude with thoughts about the measurement of the 3 facets of engagement and potential antecedents, especially measurement via employee surveys.

Type
Focal Article
Information
Industrial and Organizational Psychology , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , March 2008 , pp. 3 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology 2008 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

We appreciate the thoughtful comments of our colleagues Karen Barbera and Scott Young as well as constructive feedback from Paul Sackett and Allen Kraut.

References

Bass, B. M. (1999). Two decades of research and development in transformational leadership. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 8, 9–32.10.1080/135943299398410Google Scholar
Bass, B. M., & Avolio, B. (1990). Transformational leadership development: Manual for the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologist Press.Google Scholar
Bateman, T. S., & Crant, J. M. (1993). The proactive component of organizational behavior: A measure and correlates. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 14, 103–118.Google Scholar
Bernthal, P. (2004). Measuring employee engagement. Retrieved May 4, 2005, from www.ddiworld.com/pdf/ddi_MeasuringEmployeeEngagement_wp.pdf Google Scholar
Bono, J. E., & Judge, T. A. (2003). Self-concordance at work: Toward understanding the motivational effects of transformational leaders. Academy of Management Journal, 46, 554–571.Google Scholar
Borman, W. C. (2004). The concept of organizational citizenship. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13, 238–241.10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.00316.xGoogle Scholar
Brayfield, A. H., & Rothe, H. F. (1951). An index of job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 35, 307–311.10.1037/h0055617Google Scholar
Brief, A. P., & Weiss, H. M. (2002). Organizational behavior: Affect in the workplace. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 279–307.10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135156Google Scholar
Brown, S. P. (1996). A meta-analysis and review of organizational research on job involvement. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 235–255.Google Scholar
Brown, S. P., & Leigh, T. W. (1996). A new look at psychological climate and its relationship to job involvement, effort, and performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 358–368.10.1037/0021-9010.81.4.358Google Scholar
Buckingham, M., & Coffman, C. (1999). First, break all the rules. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Burke, . (2005). Employee engagement. Retrieved May 4, 2005, from www.burke.com/EOS/prac_EmployeeEngagement.htm Google Scholar
Campbell, J. P. (1990). Modeling the performance prediction problem in industrial and organizational psychology. In Dunnette, M. D. & Hough, L. M. (Eds.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology (2nd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 687–732). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, J. P., & Pritchard, R. D. (1976). Motivation theory in industrial and organizational psychology. In Dunnette, M. D. (Ed.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology (pp. 63–130). Chicago: Rand-McNally.Google Scholar
Colbert, A. E., Mount, M. K., Harter, J. K., Witt, L., & Barrick, M. R. (2004). Interactive effects of personality and perceptions of the work situation on workplace deviance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 599–609.Google Scholar
Conte, J. M., Dean, M. A., Ringenbach, K. L., Moran, S. K., & Landy, F. J. (2005). The relationship between work attitudes and job analysis ratings: Do rating scale type and task discretion matter? Human Performance, 18, 1–21.Google Scholar
Cooper-Hakim, A., & Viswesvaran, C. (2005). The construct of work commitment: Testing an integrative framework. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 241–259.10.1037/0033-2909.131.2.241Google Scholar
Corporate Executive Board. (2004). Driving performance and retention through employee engagement. Retrieved September 13, 2005, from www.corporateleadershipcouncil.com/Images/CLC/PDF/CLC12KADBP.pdf Google Scholar
Coyle-Shapiro, J. A. M., & Conway, N. (2005). Exchange relationships: Examining psychological contracts and perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 774–781.10.1037/0021-9010.90.4.774Google Scholar
Coyle-Shapiro, J. A. M., Kessler, I., & Purcell, J. (2004). Exploring organizationally directed citizenship behavior: Reciprocity or “It’s my job?” Journal of Management Studies, 41, 85–106.10.1111/j.1467-6486.2004.00422.xGoogle Scholar
Crant, J. M. (1995). The proactive personality scale and objective job performance among real estate agents. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80, 532–537.10.1037/0021-9010.80.4.532Google Scholar
Crant, J. M. (2000). Proactive behavior in organizations. Journal of Management, 26, 435–462.10.1177/014920630002600304Google Scholar
Dvir, T., Eden, D., Avolio, B. J., & Shamir, B. (2002). Impact of transformational leadership on follower development and performance: A field experiment. Academy of Management Journal, 45, 735–744.Google Scholar
Erickson, T. J. (2005). Testimony submitted before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, May 26.Google Scholar
Fleming, J. H., Coffman, C., & Harter, J. K. (2005). Manage your human sigma. Harvard Business Review, 83, 106–115.Google Scholar
Frese, M., & Fay, D. (2001). Personal initiative (PI): An active performance concept for work in the 21st century. In Staw, B. M. & Sutton, R. M. (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 23, pp. 133–187). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science.Google Scholar
Frese, M., Kring, W., Soose, A., & Zempel, J. (1996). Personal initiative at work: Differences between East and West Germany. Academy of Management Journal, 39, 37–63.Google Scholar
Gagne, M., & Deci, E. L. (2005). Self-determination theory and work motivation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26, 331–362.Google Scholar
George, J. M. (1991). State or trait: Effects of positive mood on prosocial behaviors at work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 76, 299–307.10.1037/0021-9010.76.2.299Google Scholar
Gonzalez-Roma, V., Schaufeli, W. B., Bakker, A. B., & Lloret, S. (2006). Burnout and work engagement: Independent factors or opposite poles? Journal of Vocational Behavior, 68, 165–174.10.1016/j.jvb.2005.01.003Google Scholar
Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. (1980). Work redesign. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Hall, D. T., & Schneider, B. (1973). Correlates of organizational identification as a function of career pattern and organizational type. Administrative Science Quarterly, 17, 340–350.Google Scholar
Harter, J. K., & Schmidt, F. L. (2006). Connecting employee satisfaction to business unit performance. In Kraut, A. I. (Ed.), Getting action from organizational surveys (pp. 33–52). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Harter, J. K., Schmidt, F. L., & Hayes, T. L. (2002). Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 268–279.Google Scholar
Harter, J. K., Schmidt, F. L., & Keyes, C. L. (2003). Well-being in the workplace and its relationship to business outcomes: A review of the Gallup studies. In Keyes, C. L. & Haidt, J. (Eds.), Flourishing: The positive person and the good life (pp. 205–224). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Hewitt Associates LLC. (2005). Employee engagement. Retrieved April 29, 2005, from http://was4.hewitt.com/hewitt/services/talent/subtalent/ee_engagement.htm Google Scholar
Holland, J. L. (1997). Making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.Google Scholar
Huelsman, T. J., Furr, R. M., & Nemanick, R. C. (2003). Measurement of dispositional affect: Construct validity and convergence with a circumplex model of affect. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 63, 655–673.Google Scholar
Hui, C., Lee, C., & Rousseau, D. M. (2004). Psychological contract and organizational citizenship behavior in China: Investigating generalizability and instrumentality. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 311–321.Google Scholar
Ilgen, D. R., & Pulakos, E. D. (1999). Employee performance in today’s organizations. In Ilgen, D. R. & Pulakos, E. D. (Eds.), The changing nature of work performance: Implications for staffing, motivation, and development (pp. 1–20). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Kahn, W. A. (1990). Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal, 33, 692–724.Google Scholar
Kahn, W. A. (1992). To be fully there: Psychological presence at work. Human Relations, 45, 321–349.Google Scholar
Kanfer, R. (1990). Motivation theory and industrial/organizational psychology. In Dunnette, M. D. & Hough, L. M. (Eds.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology (2nd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 75–170). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.Google Scholar
Kanungo, R. N. (1982). Measurement of job and work involvement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 67, 341–349.Google Scholar
Kelley, T. L. (1927). Interpretation of educational measurements. New York: World Book.Google Scholar
Kraut, A. I. (Ed.). (2006). Getting action from organizational surveys. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Larsen, R. J., & Diener, E. (1992). Problems and promises with the circumplex model of emotion. Review of Personality and Social Psychology, 13, 25–59.Google Scholar
Larsen, R. J., Diener, E., & Lucas, R. E. (2002). Emotion models, measures, and individual differences. In Lord, R. G., Klimoski, R. J., & Kanfer, R. (Eds.), Emotions in the workplace (pp. 64–106). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Law, K. S., Wong, C. S., & Mobley, W. H. (1998). Toward a taxonomy of multidimensional constructs. Academy of Management Review, 23, 741–755.Google Scholar
LePine, J. A., Erez, A., & Johnson, D. E. (2002). The nature and dimensionality of organizational citizenship behavior: A critical review and meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 52–65.10.1037/0021-9010.87.1.52Google Scholar
LePine, J. A., & Van Dyne, L. (2001). Voice and cooperative behavior as contrasting forms of contextual performance: Evidence of differential relationships with Big Five personality characteristics and cognitive ability. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 326–336.Google Scholar
Lobel, S. A. (1991). Allocation of investment in work and family roles: Alternative theories and implications for research. Academy of Management Review, 16, 507–521.Google Scholar
Locke, E. A. (1976). The nature and causes of job satisfaction. In Dunnette, M. D. (Ed.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology (pp. 1297–1349). Chicago: Rand-McNally.Google Scholar
Lodahl, T. M., & Kejner, M. (1965). The definition and measurement of job involvement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 49, 24–33.Google Scholar
Lubinski, D. (2004). Introduction to the special section on cognitive abilities: 100 years after Spearman’s (1904) “‘general intelligence,’ objectively determined and measured.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 96–111.10.1037/0022-3514.86.1.96Google Scholar
Macey, W. H., & Schneider, B. (2006). Employee experiences and customer satisfaction: Toward a framework for survey design with a focus on service climate. In Kraut, A. I. (Ed.), Getting action from organizational surveys (pp. 53–75). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W. B., & Leiter, M. P. (2001). Job burnout. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 397–422.Google Scholar
Mathieu, J. E., Gilson, L. L., & Ruddy, T. M. (2006). Empowerment and team effectiveness: An empirical test of an integrated model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91, 97–108.10.1037/0021-9010.91.1.97Google Scholar
Mathieu, J. E., & Zajac, D. M. (1990). A review and meta-analysis of the antecedents, correlates and consequences of organizational commitment. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 171–194.10.1037/0033-2909.108.2.171Google Scholar
May, D. R., Gilson, R. L., & Harter, L. M. (2004). The psychological conditions of meaningfulness, safety and availability and the engagement of the human spirit at work. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 77, 11–37.Google Scholar
McGregor, D. M. (1960). The human side of enterprise. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Meyer, J. P., & Allen, N. J. (1997). Commitment in the workplace: Theory, research and application. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Meyer, J. P., Becker, T. E., & Vandenberghe, C. (2004). Employee commitment and motivation: A conceptual analysis and integrative model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 991–1007.Google Scholar
Miller, H. E., & Rosse, J. G. (2002). Emotional reserve and adaptation to job dissatisfaction. In Brett, J. M. & Drasgow, F. (Eds.), The psychology of work: Theoretically based empirical research (pp. 205–231). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Moorman, R. H., & Byrne, Z. S. (2005). How does organizational justice affect organizational citizenship behavior? In Greenberg, J. & Colquitt, J. A. (Eds.), Handbook of organizational justice (pp. 355–380). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Morgeson, F. P., Delaney-Klinger, K., & Hemingway, M. A. (2005). The importance of job autonomy, cognitive ability, and job-related skill for predicting role breadth and job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 399–406.10.1037/0021-9010.90.2.399Google Scholar
Morrison, E. W., & Phelps, C. C. (1999). Taking charge at work: Extra-role efforts to initiate workplace change. Academy of Management Journal, 42, 403–419.Google Scholar
Motowidlo, S. J. (2000). Some basic issues related to contextual performance and organizational citizenship behavior in human resource management. Human Resource Management Review, 10, 115–126.10.1016/S1053-4822(99)00042-XGoogle Scholar
Mowday, R. T., Porter, L. W., & Steers, R. M. (1982). Employee-organization linkages: The psychology of commitment, absenteeism, and turnover. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Nakamura, J., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2002). The concept of flow. In Snyder, C. R. & Lopez, S. J. (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 89–105). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
O’Reilly, C. A., & Chatman, J. A. (1986). Organizational commitment and psychological attachment: The effects of compliance, identification, and internalization of prosocial behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 492–499.Google Scholar
Organ, D. W. (1997). Organizational citizenship behavior: It’s construct cleanup time. Human Performance, 10, 85–97.Google Scholar
Organ, D. W., Podsakoff, P. M., & MacKenzie, S. B. (2006). Organizational citizenship behavior: Its nature, antecedents, and consequences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Organ, D. W., & Ryan, K. (1995). A meta-analytic review of attitudinal and dispositional predictors of organizational citizenship behavior. Personnel Psychology, 48, 775–802.Google Scholar
Parker, S. K. (1998). Enhancing role breadth self-efficacy: The roles of job enrichment and other organizational interventions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 835–852.Google Scholar
Parker, S. K. (2003). Longitudinal effects of lean production on employee outcomes and the mediating role of work characteristics. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 620–634.Google Scholar
Parks, J. M., & Kidder, K. L. (1994). “Till death do us part…”: Changing work relationships in the 1990s. In Cooper, C. L. & Rousseau, D. M. (Eds.), Trends in organizational behavior (Vol. 1, pp. 111–136). Chichester, UK: Wiley.Google Scholar
Pulakos, E. D., Arad, S., Donovan, M. A., & Plamondon, K. E. (2000). Adaptability in the workplace: Development of a taxonomy of adaptive performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 612–624.10.1037/0021-9010.85.4.612Google Scholar
Rhoades, L., & Eisenberger, R. (2002). Perceived organizational support: A review of the literature. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 698–714.Google Scholar
Roberts, B. W., Chernyshenko, O. S., Stark, S., & Goldberg, L. R. (2005). The structure of conscientiousness: An empirical investigation based on seven major personality questionnaires. Personnel Psychology, 58, 103–139.Google Scholar
Rothbard, N. P. (2001). Enriching or depleting? The dynamics of engagement in work and family roles. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46, 655–684.Google Scholar
Rothbard, N. P., & Edwards, J. R. (2003). Investment in work and family roles: A test of identity and utilitarian motives. Personnel Psychology, 56, 699–730.Google Scholar
Russell, J. A., & Carroll, J. M. (1999). On the bipolarity of positive and negative affect. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 3–30.10.1037/0033-2909.125.1.3Google Scholar
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68–78.10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68Google Scholar
Salanova, M., Agut, S., & Peiro, J. M. (2005). Linking organizational resources and work engagement to employee performance and customer loyalty: The mediation of service climate. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 1217–1227.10.1037/0021-9010.90.6.1217Google Scholar
Schaufeli, W. B., Bakker, A., & Salanova, M. (2006). The measurement of work engagement with a short questionnaire: A cross-national study. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 66, 701–716.Google Scholar
Schaufeli, W. B., Salanova, M., Gonzalez-Roma, V., & Bakker, A. B. (2002). The measurement of engagement and burnout: A two sample confirmatory factor analytic approach. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3, 71–92.Google Scholar
Schiemann, W. A., & Morgan, B. S. (2006). Strategic surveys: Linking people to business strategy. In Kraut, A. I. (Ed.), Getting action from organizational surveys (pp. 76–101). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Schneider, B. (1987). The people make the place. Personnel Psychology, 40, 437–453.Google Scholar
Schneider, B., Goldstein, H. A., & Smith, D. B. (1995). The ASA framework: An update. Personnel Psychology, 48, 747–773.Google Scholar
Schneider, B., White, S. S., & Paul, M. C. (1998). Linking service climate and customer perceptions of service quality: Test of a causal model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 150–163.Google Scholar
Seibert, S. E., Kramer, M. L., & Crant, J. M. (2001). What do proactive people do? A longitudinal model linking proactive personality and career success. Personnel Psychology, 54, 845–874.10.1111/j.1744-6570.2001.tb00234.xGoogle Scholar
Shamir, B., House, R. J., & Arthur, M. B. (1993). The motivational effects of charismatic leadership: A self-concept based theory. Organization Science, 4, 577–594.Google Scholar
Sheldon, K. M., & Elliot, A. J. (1999). Goal striving, need satisfaction and longitudinal well-being: The self-concordance model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 482–497.Google Scholar
Shirom, A. (2003). Feeling vigorous at work? The construct of vigor and the study of positive affect in organizations. In Ganster, D. & Perrewe, P. L. (Eds.), Research in organizational stress and well-being (Vol. 3, pp. 135–165). Greenwich, CN: JAI Press.Google Scholar
Sonnentag, S. (2003). Recovery, work engagement, and proactive behavior: A new look at the interface between nonwork and work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 518–528.Google Scholar
Spreitzer, G. M. (1995). Psychological empowerment in the workplace: Dimensions, measurement, and validation. Academy of Management Journal, 38, 1442–1465.Google Scholar
Staw, B. M. (2004). The dispositional approach to job attitudes: An empirical and conceptual review. In Schneider, B. & Smith, D. B. (Eds.), Personality and organizations (pp. 163–192). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Thoresen, C. J., Kaplan, S. A., Barsky, A. P., Warren, C. R., & De Chermont, K. (2003). The affective underpinnings of job perceptions and attitudes: A meta-analytic review and integration. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 914–945.Google Scholar
Towers-Perrin. (2003). Working today: Understanding what drives employee engagement. Stamford, CT: Author.Google Scholar
Van Dyne, L., & Ellis, J. B. (2004). Job creep: A reactance theory perspective on organizational citizenship behavior as over-fulfillment of obligations. In Coyle-Shapiro, J. A. M., Shore, L. M., Taylor, M. S., & Tetrick, L. E. (Eds.), The employment relationship: Examining psychological and contextual perspectives (pp. 181–205). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Van Dyne, L., Graham, J. W., & Dienesch, R. M. (1994). Organizational citizenship behavior: Construct redefinition, measurement, and validation. Academy of Management Journal, 37, 765–802.Google Scholar
Van Scotter, J. R., & Motowidlo, S. J. (1996). Interpersonal facilitation and job dedication as separate facets of contextual performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 525–531.Google Scholar
Vey, M. A., & Campbell, J. P. (2004). In-role or extra-role organizational citizenship behavior: Which are we measuring? Human Performance, 17, 199–135.10.1207/S15327043HUP1701_6Google Scholar
Warr, P. (1999). Well-being and the workplace. In Kahneman, D., Diener, E., & Schwarz, N. (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 392–412). New York: Russell-Sage.Google Scholar
Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063–1070.10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063Google Scholar
Watson, D., & Tellegen, A. (1999). Issues in the dimensional structure of affect—Effects of descriptors, measurement error, and response formats: Comment on Russell and Carroll (1999). Psychological Bulletin, 125, 601–610.Google Scholar
Weiss, H. M. (2002). Deconstructing job satisfaction: Separating evaluations, beliefs and affective experiences. Human Resource Management Review, 12, 173–194.Google Scholar
Weiss, H. M., & Kurek, K. E. (2003). Dispositional influences on affective experiences at work. In Barrick, M. R. & Ryan, A. M. (Eds.), Personality at work (pp. 121–149). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Wellins, R., & Concelman, J. (2005a). Creating a culture for engagement. Workforce Performance Solutions (www.wpsmag.com). Retrieved July 19, 2005, from www.ddiworld.com/pdf/wps_engagement_ar.pdf Google Scholar
Wellins, R., & Concelman, J. (2005b). Personal engagement: Driving growth at the see-level. Retrieved April 29, 2005, from www.ddiworld.com/pdf/ddi_personalengagement_ar.pdf Google Scholar