Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted
digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Academy of Management is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The
Academy of Management Journal
This content downloaded from 14.139.245.68 on Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:27:35 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
JEFFREY A. LEPINE
EEAN R. CRAWFORD
University of Florida
We theorize that engagement, conceptualized as the investment of an individual's
complete self into a role, provides a more comprehensive explanation of relationships
with performance than do well-known concepts that reflect narrower aspects of the
individual's self. Results of a study of 245 firefighters and their supervisors supported
mance outcomes.
1990, 1992).
_617_
Copyright of the Academy of Management, all rights reserved. Contents may not be copied, emailed, posted to a listserv, or otherwise transmitted without the copyright holder's express
written permission. Users may print, download or email articles for individual use only.
This content downloaded from 14.139.245.68 on Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:27:35 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
Kahn's Engagement
In an article reporting results of theory-generat
ing ethnographic research, Kahn formally defined
engagement as "the simultaneous employment and
expression of a person's 'preferred self in task be
haviors that promote connections to work and to
others, personal presence (physical, cognitive, and
This content downloaded from 14.139.245.68 on Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:27:35 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
This content downloaded from 14.139.245.68 on Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:27:35 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
decreased.
This content downloaded from 14.139.245.68 on Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:27:35 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
This content downloaded from 14.139.245.68 on Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:27:35 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
relationships.
As we noted earlier, scholars have offered expla
nations of job performance rooted in theories that
define human agency more narrowly than does en
gagement, and these narrower explanations could
also account for relationships between our anteced
task performance.
and OCB.
This content downloaded from 14.139.245.68 on Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:27:35 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
METHODS
years old (s.d. = 8.71) and had 11.5 years tenure scale to promote greater conceptual correspon
Measures
Participants rated their own job engagement, job
involvement, job satisfaction, intrinsic motivation,
Engagement Scale (UWES; Schaufeli & Bakker, wrote items that refer to emotions that reflect both
2003); however, it includes items that confound high pleasantness and high activation (enthusiasm,
although the UWES has gained in popularity as ciated with a particular target, which in the context
Kahn's conceptualization.
To this end, we followed practices described by organizational behavior and applied psychological
scholars who have discussed the process of devel
literatures. For example, Bono, Foldes, Vinson, and
oping and validating measures of constructs (e.g., Muros (2007) measured positive workplace emo
Schwab, 1980). We first searched the literature for tions using a measure that combined scores on
scales and items that fit the definitions of the three
items that referred to the degree of enthusiasm,
engagement dimensions as described by Kahn happiness, and optimism experienced at work.
(1990). Our goal was to measure the three dimen
Finally, for the cognitive aspect of engagement,
sions of engagement in such a way that the com we drew from Rothbard's (2001) measure of engage
monality of those dimensions would adequately ment, which includes both attention (level or
reflect job engagement. Although we did not locate
This content downloaded from 14.139.245.68 on Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:27:35 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
sample in size.
Other self-report measures. We measured value
This content downloaded from 14.139.245.68 on Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:27:35 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
Measurement Model
Following convention, we assessed the fit of our
RESULTS
Table 1 reports descriptive statistics and correla
tions among all study variables. As shown in the
table, the study variables all possess an acceptable
degree of internal consistency reliability. Of more
substantive interest, job engagement is associated
with the conceptual antecedents and consequences
in the manner that we hypothesized. That is, indi
viduals reported they were more engaged in their
jobs when they also reported higher levels of value
congruence, perceived organizational support, and
core self-evaluations. Also, individuals reporting
TABLE 1
Descriptive Statistics and Correlations for Key Study Variables11
6. Perceived organizational support 3.30 0.90 .45* .48* .64* .34* .52* (.92)
7. Core self-evaluations 3.88 0.39 .34* .19* .24* .14* .21* .21* (.72)
8. Task performance 4.27 0.55 .35* .26* .29* .21* .21* .23* .12 (.90)
9. Organizational citizenship 4.04 0.53 .35* .23* .30* .18* .29* .32* .14* .63* (.93)
a n - 245. Coefficient alpha reliabilities are on the diagonal in parentheses.
* p < .05
This content downloaded from 14.139.245.68 on Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:27:35 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
Model
Model
Model
Model
Model
Model
Model
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
Eight
Eight
Eight
Eight
Eight
Eight
Eight
factors,
factors,
factors,
factors,
factors,
factors,
factors,
JE
JE
JE
JE
JE
JE
TP
&
&
&
&
&
&
&
a n = 245. JE, job engagement; JI, job involvement; JS, job satisfaction; IM, intrinsic moti
organizational support; CSE, core self-evaluations; TP, task performance; OCB, organization
index; SRMR, standardized root-mean-square residual; RMSEA, root-mean-square error o
dence interval. All x2 and A*2 values are p < .001.
b A*2 tests relative to model 1.
relationships.
FIGURE 1
Structural Model with Engagement and Other Affective-Motivational States*
v\ // \ Task 1
^- \V^)x / \ ^^/^j^^^^^
\A / y^fk Involvement X \ / /
CPerceived ^X/iaA/ V V V
Organizational Jk" a A A A
""*~~^~^^
Ay \ j^v. Satisfaction / \\
l/.llX \ I ^Nl/^^ Organizational
^_36*i/
/ \\\
\ I/ /Citizenship
J
"""^vl
uXi5*
Behavior
^/
Core ^i' \\ / / ^?-"""^
Self-Evaluations \l -/ /
^_^^""^Slf Intrinsic
Motivation J s$2
a Standardized paths. Only relationships among the highest-order latent variables shown.
* p < .05
TABLE 3
Tests of Indirect Relationships through Engagement and Other Affective-Motivational States*
Indirect Effect Through
DISCUSSION
Theoretical Contributions
This content downloaded from 14.139.245.68 on Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:27:35 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
Limitations
This content downloaded from 14.139.245.68 on Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:27:35 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
Practical Contributions
Although our research was primarily intended to
test theoretically derived hypotheses, our findings do
Conclusion
Kahn's perspective on engagement has been cited
as providing a sound conceptual basis for research
on engagement (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1995; May
et al., 2004; Rothbard, 2001; Salanova et al, 2005;
REFERENCES
Ashforth, B. E., Harrison, S. H., & Corley, K. G. 2008.
Identification in organizations: An examination of
four fundamental questions. Journal of Manage
Baard, P., Deci, E., & Ryan, R. 2004. Intrinsic need satis
faction: A motivational basis of performance and
well-being in two work settings. Journal of Applied
This content downloaded from 14.139.245.68 on Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:27:35 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
October 5.
Wiley.
Plenum.
This content downloaded from 14.139.245.68 on Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:27:35 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
Press.
131-142.
This content downloaded from 14.139.245.68 on Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:27:35 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
Schaufeli, W. B. 2003. Perceived collective efficacy, Sobel, M. E. 1982. Asymptotic intervals for indirect ef
subjective well-being and task performance among
fects in structural equations models. In S. Leinhart
electronic work groups: An experimental study.
(Ed.), Sociological methodology: 290-312. San
Small Groups Research, 34: 43-73.
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Schaufeli, W. B., & Bakker, A. B. 2003. UWES?Utrecht Vroom, V. H. 1964. Work and motivation. Oxford, U.K.:
Work Engagement Scale: Test manual. Department
Wiley.
of Psychology, Utrecht University. http://www. Weick, K. E., & Roberts, K. H. 1993. Collective mind in
schaufeli.com/. Retrieved August 8.
organizations: Heedful interrelating on flight decks.
APPENDIX
TABLE Al
Job Engagement Items and Factor Loadings'1
Skilled Care Nursing
I
I
I
I
Emotional engagement
I am enthusiastic in my job .85 .87
I feel energetic at my job .89 .90
I am interested in my job .81 .82
b n = 180.
cn = 245.
This content downloaded from 14.139.245.68 on Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:27:35 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
-fL
&
This content downloaded from 14.139.245.68 on Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:27:35 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
B
f
S
o
m
e
t
d
r