Int. J. Indian Culture and Business Management, Vol. 9, No. 4, 2014 487

Copyright © 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

The mediating effects of work engagement: testing causality between personal resource, job resource and work related outcomes

Pushpendra Priyadarshi* Indian Institute of Management, Prabandh Nagar, Off Sitapur Road, Lucknow-226013, Uttar Pradesh, India E-mail: pushpendra@iiml.ac.in *Corresponding author

Reeta Raina Fore School of Management, B-18, Qutub Institutional Area, New Delhi-16, India E-mail: rraina@fsm.ac.in

Abstract: In recent years, work engagement has attracted a lot of attention among practitioners and researchers in India. Against the backdrop of resource conservation, this study attempts to examine and understand the role of work engagement in mediating the relationship between job, personal resources and work related outcomes. This research is significant due to the growing importance of work engagement in the business world today and the lack of relevant literature in the Indian context. With a total sample of more than 200 middle and senior level executives, the findings of this study show a strong relationship between job, personal resources, job satisfaction, affective commitment and turnover. Work engagement was found to be a mediator between job and personal resources, which has an impact on employees’ work attitudes. The findings of this study, therefore, have profound implications for researchers as well as for the practicing managers who need to understand the importance of an enabling work environment to harness employees’ full potential.

Keywords: work engagement; personal resource; job resource; job satisfaction; affective commitment; turnover intention.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Priyadarshi, P. and Raina, R. (2014) ‘The mediating effects of work engagement: testing causality between personal resource, job resource and work related outcomes’, Int. J. Indian Culture and Business Management, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp.487–509.

Biographical notes: Pushpendra Priyadarshi is an Assistant Professor in the area of Human Resource Management at the IIM Lucknow. His work engagement, coaching and mentoring, positive psychology and work-life interface are his current research areas. Beside practice-based course on coaching and mentoring, he also teaches organisational structure and design, organisational behaviour and human resource management. He has been involved in executive education of senior and middle level executives of leading organisations where leadership, coaching and mentoring and

488 P. Priyadarshi and R. Raina

intervention for effective team work are his main interest areas. In a career spanning over 12 years he has been associated with MDI Gurgaon, IIM Rohtak, IIM Kashipur, besides IIM Lucknow.

Reeta Raina is an Associate Professor has over 25 years of both teaching and training experience. She has recently been awarded the Best Teacher in HRM by National Education Award (sponsored Headline Today). Her last assignment was with MDI, Gurgaon. She has presented research papers in various international and national conferences and has published in international and national journals. She has a research book to her credit titled The Constitutive Role of Communication in Building Effective Organizations which was published by an International Publishing Company, Germany. She is a prolific trainer and has been successfully consulting and training senior, middle level executives of major public and private sector undertakings in India. She has been a Visiting Faculty at IIFT, New Delhi and IIITM, Gwalior.

1 Introduction

In recent times, the engagement construct has evoked a lot of interest among the business consultants, management researchers, and in the popular media. The evidence from researchers and practitioners has shown engagement to predict employee outcomes, organisational success and financial performance (Bates, 2004; Baumruk, 2004; Harter et al., 2002; Richman, 2006). Engaged workers have been found to be more productive, perform better, motivate others and tend to stay with their organisations, and thus create a competitive advantage for their organisations. However, at the same time, it has been reported that employee engagement is on the decline and there is a deepening disengagement among employees today (Bates, 2004; Richman, 2006). On different occasions there have been reports of workers not fully engaged or they are disengaged, leading to what has been referred to as an ‘engagement gap’ that is costing US businesses $300 billion a year in lost productivity (Bates, 2004; Johnson, 2004; Kowalski, 2003). In a labour market such as India, where attrition rates are very high, ranging from 20% to 50% in industries such as information technology, banking and Insurance, there is a need to explore the questions about engagement.

However, because of the mixed results of its impact and differing assertions about it as a construct, engagement has struggled for conceptual clarity, nomological network and consensus on operationalisation of the terminology. Also, observations about lack of sufficient empirical evidence pertaining to the role played by engagement in creating the competitive advantage or dearth of academic research are common (Rich et al., 2010). While the debate over engagement as a construct and its linkages have started finding newer directions, much of the existing literature on work engagement has centred mainly in developed western countries such as Netherlands, Spain, Finland, USA, etc., and it has just begun to get the necessary attention from emerging economies such as India and China (Pati and Kumar, 2010, 2011; Bhatnagar, 2012; Bhatnagar and Biswas, 2012; Xiaobei et al., 2012).

In today’s competitive environment, when employees are expected to be engaged to their work, take initiative and be innovative, organisations must create an enabling environment where resources are provided to enthuse and energise them (Schaufeli and Salanova, 2006). A recent survey, Gallup (Bureau, E.T., 2012) found 60% Indian

The mediating effects of work engagement 489

employees to be ‘not engaged’ and 32% of the employees actively disengaged. Emphasising the role of a ‘good job’ for the well-being of the employee, Gallup highlighted the importance of engagement of the employee to transform and strengthen India’s economy.

Studies on work engagement in India are limited in their depth and breadth of coverage, however, surveys and media exposure have raised the awareness of its potential for businesses in India. While the emphasis has been on the need to understand the reciprocity and crossover of work engagement and other pertinent variables in representative business sectors, it needs to expand its nomological network, test existing research models and use qualitative research designs (Gupta, 2011; Pati and Kumar, 2011; Bhatnagar and Biswas, 2012). Pati and Kumar (2011) in their study on employees of Indian software firms found that high compensation and involvement in decision-making process are key HR practices that contribute towards engagement. Bhatnagar and Biswas (2012) showed the psychological contract mediating the relationship between procedural justice, perceived organisational support, person-organisation fit and work engagement. In another study by Gupta (2011), the perception of organisational politics was found to be a factor impacting work engagement among full-time Indian employees. The existing studies suggest that research on work engagement in India has been sporadic, needs direction and expansion, and the established research models require validation in the Indian context.

Against this backdrop, the intent of this research is to develop and test a research model to understand the causal relationship between personal resources, work resources, work engagement and work related outcomes. We also intend to explore the mechanism behind this relationship and the role of work engagement therein. Examining these relationships is relevant and significant. Firstly, empirical evidence in the research stream of work engagement is lacking, despite being highly desirable (Bhatnagar, 2012; Pati and Kumar, 2010). Secondly, empirical research in the extant literature pertaining to the antecedents of work engagement is developing in India. Therefore, building on and extending recent studies, this paper examines the effect of supervisory support, autonomy and skill discretion as job resources, and hope, optimism and resilience as personal resources of work related outcomes. Since job and personal resources are anticipated to be a predictor of work engagement and work engagement predicts work related outcomes, the possibility of work engagement playing a mediating role between the antecedent and consequent variables need to be explored in our study. This is based on an expectation that personal and work resources make individuals invest themselves in their work roles resulting in work related outcomes. This expectation is consistent with the findings of the previous studies (Maslach et al., 2001; Schaufeli and Bakker, 2004; Sonnentag, 2003; Salanova et al., 2005).

2 Theoretical framework

There has been steady progress in the way work engagement is increasingly being recognised as a construct by both researchers as well as practitioners. Over the last decade, a growing body of research has begun to converge towards a common conceptualisation of work engagement, indicating a high level of personal investment in tasks performed on the job. As a construct, work engagement has been treated differently by different researchers resulting in an inconsistent operationalisation. However, most of

490 P. Priyadarshi and R. Raina

the studies drew on Kahn’s (1990) understanding of work engagement resulting from the ethnographic research as personal engagement representing a state in which an employee engages his\her personal selves during work role performances, investing personal energy and experiencing an emotional connection with his\her work. Kahn’s conception of engagement is a motivational phenomenon that has two broad dimensions. First, work engagement should refer to a psychological connection with the performance of the task rather than an attitude towards a particular feature of the organisation or work (Maslach et al., 2001). Second, work engagement is concerned with a self-investment of personal resources in work. Some researchers have used this base to expand it further and defined work engagement as a “positive, fulfilling, work related state of mind characterized by vigor, dedication and absorption” (Schaufeli et al., 2002; Schaufeli and Bakker, 2004). In fact, Kahn’s research was the pivotal point around which engagement was being represented by two interrelated schools of thought. Schaufeli and Bakker (2004) treated work engagement as the positive antipode of workplace burnout, where burnout is characterised by mental or physical exhaustion, cynicism and reduced professional efficacy (Maslach et al., 1996). Maslach and Leiter (1997) confirmed that burnout and engagement are two opposite poles. Engagement is exemplified by energy, involvement and efficacy, which is opposite to the three dimensions of burnout. Schaufeli et al. (2002) on the other hand, argued that the earlier conceptualisation of work engagement prohibited an examination of the relationship between burnout and engagement, since both constructs are viewed as opposite poles of a continuum and are assessed with the same instrument (the MBI-GS). They posited that burnout and work engagement were two distinct, albeit negatively correlated states of mind, as opposed to being two opposite ends of a single continuum. As a result, they defined work engagement in its own right as a positive, fulfilling work related state of mind that is characterised by vigour, dedication and absorption. Vigour is characterised 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 is characterised by being strongly involved in one’s work, and experiencing a sense of significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, pride, and challenge. Absorption refers to high levels of concentration and being happily engrossed in one’s work, whereby time passes quickly and there is a difficulty to detach oneself from work.

The social exchange theory (SET) provided another perspective on engagement. While the earlier schools of thought explained the psychological conditions necessary for engagement, they could not fully explain why individuals responded to these conditions with varying degrees of engagement. According to the SET, obligations are generated through a series of interactions between parties who are in state of reciprocal interdependence. The varying level of engagement is a response by an employee to the resources they receive from the organisation under the rules of exchange involving reciprocity or repayment rules (Cropanzano and Mitchell, 2005). In a way, when an employee receives economic and socio-emotional exchange resources from the organisation, she feels obligated to repay it with a greater level of engagement and feels disengaged when the organisations cannot provide these resources (Saks, 2006).

The mediating effects of work engagement 491

Figure 1 The theoretical model

H 2a, 2b, 2c

H 1a, 1b, 1c

H 4a, 4b

H 3

H 3

H 3

Job resource

Personal resource

Work engagement

Job satisfaction

Affective commitment

Turnover intention

3 Job resource, personal resource and engagement

Work engagement is caused by environmental and personal factors, which have been explained by using the conservation of resources (COR) approach. The COR theory (Hobfoll, 1989) contends that individuals seek to acquire, retain and preserve resources they value and stress occurs when these resources are threatened, or when individuals fail to gain these resources after investing in them. Further, these resources generate more resources, thus forming a caravan of resources leading to positive outcomes such as work engagement (Hobfoll, 2001, 2002; Xanthopoulou et al., 2007). Hobfoll (2001) says that personal resources such as self-efficacy, optimism, hope and social support may be desired in their own right, since they contribute to the maintenance of resource caravans.

Further, the job demands-resources (JD-R) model (Bakker and Demerouti, 2007; Demerouti et al., 2001) examines the motivational and wellness-promoting potential of job-related resources. Categorising work into two general categories such as job demands and job resources, the JD-R model explains how various job demands (e.g., time pressure, emotional workload, problems in the physical work environment) may lead a loss of resources, such as health problems and the drainage of employee’s energy resources. On the other hand, the JD-R model also suggests that job resources (e.g., supervisor support, autonomy, etc.) are particularly important for resource gain, such as well-being and motivation at work. Demerouti et al. (2001) have defined job resources as physical, psychological, social, or organisational aspects of the job that not only potentially reduce the negative effects of job demands and help to achieve work goals, but may also stimulate personal growth, learning, development and positive state of work engagement. Hakanen et al. (2006) showed the positive impact of job resources on the organisational commitment through work engagement. While various job resources, such as job control and organisation-based self-esteem (Mauno et al., 2007; Llorens et al., 2007) were found to be a predictor of work engagement, Hakanen et al. (2006) in their research found that several job resources, such as job control, supervisor support, access to information and good organisational climate, were positively associated with work engagement. In a way, regarding the loss and gains of resources, the JD-R model can be viewed as a specific work-related application of the COR theory (Hakanen et al., 2008).

492 P. Priyadarshi and R. Raina

4 Drivers of work engagement

4.1 Supervisor support

Kahn’s view of engagement states that the supervisor is the one who encourages an employee’s work engagement, and this engagement gives the employee a sense of psychological safety. This sense of psychological safety for an employee stems from an enabling environment, created by the supervisor is characterised by trust, openness, and support. This leads to employees investing themselves in their work. Existing research supports the argument that supervisors can significantly influence employees’ work motivation and job performance (Gerstner and Day, 1997; Ilies et al., 2007; Liden et al., 1993). Li et al. (2012) in their study on Chinese luxury hotel employees found that the quality of interaction between a supervisor and an employee was positively related to the job performance mediated by work engagement. Tims et al. (2011) in their study on the role of supervisors in fostering employee work engagement found that transformational styles of supervision related positively to the employees’ daily engagement fully mediated by each day’s level optimism. Maslach et al. (2001) found that a lack of support from supervisors is an especially important factor linked to burnout. In addition, first-line supervisors were found to be especially important for building engagement as well as the root of employee disengagement (Bates, 2004; Frank et al., 2004; Saks, 2006; Pati and Kumar, 2010).

H1a Supervisor support will be positively related to work engagement.

4.2 Skill discretion and autonomy

Psychological meaningfulness induces the self-in-role performances (Kahn, 1992). According to Kahn (1990, 1992), psychological meaningfulness can be achieved from tasks that provide a challenge and variety, allow the use of different skills, personal discretion, and the opportunity to make important contributions. This is based on Hackman and Oldham’s (1980) job characteristics model and in particular, the five core job characteristics (i.e., skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback). In another view on the job-demand resource perspective, Karasek (1979) shows how various job resources at a workplace helps an individual to conserve resources and buffer strains. The freedom to use skills and make decisions gives employees a sense of responsibility and accountability resulting in intrinsic motivation. Jobs that are high on the core dimensions provide individuals with the room and incentive to bring more of themselves into their work or to be more engaged (Kahn, 1992). May et al. (2004) found that job enrichment was positively related to meaningfulness, and this meaningfulness mediates the relationship between job enrichment and engagement. The workload and control conditions from the Maslach et al. (2001) model also suggest the importance of job characteristics for engagement. In fact, job characteristics, especially feedback and autonomy, have been consistently related to burnout (Maslach et al., 2001). Therefore, the second hypotheses would be:

H1b Skill discretion will be positively related to work engagement.

H1c Decision authority will be positively related to work engagement.

The mediating effects of work engagement 493

4.3 Personal resource

Hobfoll et al. (2003) explained personal resources as positive self-evaluations linked to resiliency that leads to an individuals’ sense of ability to control and successfully influence their environment. In this study, three personal resources are examined, which are optimism, hope and resilience. Previous research studies show the significance of these resources for an individuals’ psychological and work related well-being (Hobfoll, 2002; Luthans et. al., 2005). The potency for changeability as well as the development of these resources makes it appropriate for them to be studied here.

An optimist has the tendency to believe that one will generally experience good outcomes in life and is related to a higher level of well-being (Scheier et al., 2001). According to Seligman (1998), an optimistic explanatory style is one that attributes positive events to personal, permanent, and pervasive causes, and negative events to external, temporary, and situation-specific ones. Optimists are better able to confront threatening situations because they adopt active coping strategies (Iwanaga et al., 2004). As a result, they adapt well at work (Luthans and Youssef, 2007).

Hope is defined as a “positive motivational state that is based on an interactively derived sense of successful (1) agency (goal-directed energy) and (2) pathways (planning to meet goals)” (Snyder et al., 1991). In a way, hope consists of both the will to achieve and generate options in the face of obstacles. Peterson and Luthans (2003) in their study found that managers with higher levels of hope had correspondingly higher rates of work unit performance as well as increased retention rates and more satisfied employees. Hope was also found to be related to job satisfaction and organisational commitment (Luthans and Jensen, 2002; Youssef and Luthans, 2007).

Resilience, according to Luthans (2002) is the developable capacity to rebound or bounce back from adversity, conflict, failure, or even positive events, progress, and increased responsibility. Research indicates that resilient individuals are better equipped to deal with the stressors in a constantly changing workplace environment, since they are open to new experiences, are flexible to changing demands, and are more emotional stable when faced with adversity (Tugade and Fredrickson, 2004). Research shows a positive link between resilience and employee performance, job satisfaction, organisational commitment, work happiness and the ability to deal with massive corporate downsizing (Luthans et al., 2007; Youssef and Luthans, 2007; Maddi, 1987). The availability of optimism, hope, resilience should result in an investment of self in the work role, resulting in work related outcomes. This has Hobfoll’s (2002) conceptual support. The above discussion, thus, helps us to posit the following hypothesis:

H2a Optimism will be positively related to work engagement.

H2b Hope will be positively related to work engagement.

H2c Resilience will be positively related to work engagement.

5 Work engagement and work related outcomes

There are strong reasons for work engagement to result in positive work related outcomes. When engaged individuals find their experiences fulfilling, they invest their physical, cognitive and emotional energies that contributes to superior performance.

494 P. Priyadarshi and R. Raina

Schaufeli and Bakker (2004) found that engaged employees with a greater attachment to their organisation have a low inclination to leave the organisation. The other explanation comes from the SET, in which engagement results from favourable reciprocal exchanges. Consequently, an engaged employee enjoys a trusting relationship with the employer, resulting in the likelihood of a positive attitude towards work. Macey and Schneider (2008) identified various drivers that should influence the extent to which an individual experiences a desire to self-invest their personal energies for performing their work at a high level. The motivational process links job resources and personal resources with job satisfaction, organisational commitment and intent to quit. As follows from above, job and personal resources may play either an intrinsic role, because they foster employees’ growth, learning, and development, or they may play an extrinsic motivational role, because they are instrumental in achieving work goals. In the former case, according to the self-determination theory (Deci et al., 1991), any social context that satisfies the basic human needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness enhances well-being and increases commitment (Hackman and Oldham, 1980). In the latter case, for instance, because of the availability of information or an innovative climate, it is likely that the task will be completed successfully and that the work goal will be attained. In either case, whether through the satisfaction of basic needs or through the achievement of work goals, the outcome for the employee is positive, and an engaged, fulfilled and positive work-related state of mind is likely to occur. Moreover, it is plausible that engaged employees are committed to an organisation because the organisation provides them with job resources that not only enables them to achieve their work goals, but also provides opportunities for learning, growth, and development (Houkes et al., 2001). The resulting work related outcome could also be explained through the SET, which states that favourable exchanges result in the continual engagement of an employee. The relationship between work engagement and intention to leave is based on the premise that an employee starts identifying with the job when he\she invests himself\herself in the role, which makes it difficult for him\her to leave the organisation. This argument finds support in other studies where they found work engagement impacts turnover intention (Halbesleben and Wheeler, 2008; Saks, 2006). This leads to our next hypothesis:

H3 Work engagement will be positively related to job satisfaction, affective commitment and negatively related to turnover intention.

6 Work engagement as a mediator

The conceptualisation of work engagement as a mediator between a job, personal resources and work related outcomes is based on the proposition that individual and organisational factors influence the psychological experience of work and this experience drives work behaviour (Kahn, 1990; Schaufeli and Bakker, 2004; Sonnentag, 2003). Work engagement encourages the willingness to dedicate physical, emotional and cognitive resources to the work role performed by a person. An engaged individual is expected to invest oneself to the task and approach it with energy and passion resulting in a greater level of task performance (Ashforth and Humphrey, 1995; Burke, 2008; Rich et al., 2010). In a way, a resource (job and personal) induced investment of self is reflected through engagement resulting in a superior role performance, thus work engagement assumes the mediating role (Rich et al., 2010). Earlier studies support work

The mediating effects of work engagement 495

engagement as a mediator between job and personal resources and work related outcomes (Schaufeli and Bakker, 2004; Saks, 2006; Richardsen et al., 2006; Salanova and Schaufeli, 2008). Laschinger et al. (2009) in their study showed how empowerment and access to supervisor-related resources by employees resulted in extra effort, organisational commitment and better performance. Xanthopoulou et al. (2008, 2009) in two different studies found that work engagement partially mediates the relationship between colleague support and in-role performance; and supervisory coaching and financial returns respectively. In research on the full-time frontline dyad, Karatepe (2013) found work engagement to be fully mediating between the perception of organisational politics and the affective organisational commitment, extra role performance, and turnover intentions. Work engagement was also found to mediate the relation between organisational resources and job performance or other positive work outcomes, such as proactive work behaviours and extra-role behaviours (Llorens et al., 2006). Additionally, work engagement was found to fully mediate the relation between organisational resources and service climate, which is influenced by the followers’ empathy and excellent job performance (Salanova et al., 2005). Maslach et al. (2001) in their study treated engagement as a mediating variable of the relationship between work conditions and various work outcomes, such as withdrawal, lower performance, job satisfaction and commitment. In the proposed model, Bakker and Demerouti (2008) argued that job and personal resources initiate the motivational process that leads to work engagement, and consequently to positive work related outcomes. Based on this model and earlier findings on the antecedents and consequences of work engagement, the present study investigates the mediating effect of work engagement on the relation between job and personal resources and work related outcomes. Our next hypothesis is:

H4a Work engagement will mediate the relationship between job resource and work related outcomes.

H4b Work engagement will mediate the relationship between personal resources and work related outcomes.

7 Method

7.1 Sample and procedure

Since this study aims at work engagement and its antecedent and consequent variables, respondents were drawn from IT/ITES, telecom and financial institutions. With the help of institutionally available resources, a list of National Capital Region (NCR)-based organisations was prepared. We contacted over 200 companies operating from the NCR, out of which 60 organisations agreed to participate with the survey. HR managers of these organisations were contacted telephonically, through e-mail and personal visits. After receiving formal approval, these organisations were requested to circulate the survey among employees with the request to return the responses directly to the researcher. The data for the study were collected by means of self-administered questionnaires delivered in person to all the respondents. Following the recommendation from Podsakoff et al. (2003), data collection was done in two phases to avoid common method variances. In the first phase, 311 self-administered questionnaires on personal resources, job resources and work engagement were administered, where 252 responses

496 P. Priyadarshi and R. Raina

were found usable. In the second phase, 213 complete responses on outcome variables such as job satisfaction, affective commitment and turnover intention were received from the respondents. The background characteristics of the respondents in the sample (n = 213) represent factors like, gender, age, education are given in the table below. Table 1 Demographic profile of the respondents

Male 86%1 Gender Female 14%

25 yrs or less 14.6% 26–30 yrs 38% 31–35 yrs 22.1%

2 Age

35 yrs and above 25.3% 3 yrs of college degree 9.4

4–5 yrs of college degree 53.6 3 Education

More than 5 yrs. of college degree 37

The mean age of the sample was 33 years and they were distributed in four age groups. The sample represented a wide age group (21–58 years of age).Nearly 53% of the respondents were below 30 years of age. There was higher participation from male respondents who constituted 86%. While all the respondents were at least graduates, 9.4% had 3 year college degrees, 54% had four to five-year college graduate degrees and 37% had post-graduate degrees. Participants had been in their current job for an average of four years, and in their organisation for an average of five years.

7.2 Measures

Multiple-item scales from different sources in the extant literature were used to operationalise the study construct. A pilot study was conducted using a sample of 20 respondents to check whether respondents understood the questions without any difficulty. Their responses were positive and they recommended that the questionnaire remain unchanged.

7.2.1 Work engagement

The present study used the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) developed by Schaufeli et al. (2002) to measure work engagement. UWES has been one of the most widely used scales and its psychometric properties have been satisfactorily reported in studies from other countries (Schaufeli et al., 2002; Hakanen et al., 2006; Bhatnagar, 2012). The scale further consists of three subscales; absorption (six items); vigour (six items); and dedication (five items) which were rated on a seven-point frequency-based scale with (0 = never and 6 = everyday). The scores for all the three dimensions were added to create an overall score for work engagement, where a high score corresponded to high work engagement. Cronbach’s alpha for this scale was 0.91.

7.2.2 Job resource

Job resources are the physical, psychological, social, or organisational features of the job that function to achieve work goals, reduce job demands and the physical and/or psychological costs associated with them, and stimulate personal growth and

The mediating effects of work engagement 497

development (e.g., Bakker et al., 2003, 2005; Demerouti et al., 2001; Hobfoll and Shirom, 2001). Job Resources were tested by the following variables:

Perceived supervisor support (PSS) is likely to be an important predictor of employee engagement. Therefore, PSS was measured by the four-item scale (e.g., ‘My supervisor cares about my opinions’) adapted from the SPOS (Rhoades et al., 2001). This was measured on a seven-point scale ranging from (1) ‘strongly disagree’ to (7) ‘strongly agree’. Cronbach’s alpha for this scale was 0.83.

The other two measures were based on based on Karasek et al.’s (1998) job content instrument. Skill discretion assesses the level of skill and creativity required on the job and the flexibility permitted to the worker in deciding what skills to employ. This was measured by a six-item scale (e.g., ‘My job requires learning new things’). Autonomy assesses the organisationally mediated possibilities for workers to make decisions about their work. This was measured by a three-item scale (e.g., ‘I have very little freedom to decide how to do the work’). The above-mentioned three job resources were measured on a four-point scale ranging from (1) ‘strongly disagree’ to (4) ‘strongly agree’. Cronbach’s alpha for these scales were 0.76 and 0.72 respectively.

7.2.3 Personal resources

All measures for personal resources used in this study have been drawn from Luthans and Youssef (2007). The three personal resources, hope, resilience and optimism each contain six items , have been reported to be psychometrically validated in previous studies and have demonstrated adequate internal reliability in this study. Hope is defined as a positive, motivational state with goal-directed energy. A sample item for hope was ‘I can think of many ways to reach my current work goals’. Resilience referred to a person’s tenacity to rise again in the face of adversity or a crisis. A sample item for resilience was, ‘I usually take stressful things at work in stride’. A person having optimism attributes positive events to personal, permanent and pervasive causes, and negative events to external, temporary, and specific situations. A sample item was, ‘When things are uncertain for me at work I usually expect the best’. The responses for all measures ranged from 1 to 6, with 6 being the highest (most frequently or strongly agree). Cronbach’s alpha for hope, resilience and optimism were 0.76, 0.78 and 0.72 respectively.

7.2.4 Work related outcomes

Job Satisfaction was measured by a three-item scale measuring satisfaction of the employee with his\her line of work based on the work of Neteyemer et al. (1997). For affective commitment, we used the six-item scale by Meyer and Allen (1991). Turnover Intention was measured by a three-item scale indicating the propensity of the employee to quit his\her job by Colarelli (1984). Job satisfaction and affective commitment were measured on a seven-point scale ranging from (1) ‘strongly disagree’ to (7) ‘strongly agree’. Turnover intention was measured on a five-point scale ranging from (1) ‘strongly disagree’ to (5) ‘strongly agree’. Cronbach’s alpha for job satisfaction, affective commitment and turnover intention were 0.86, 0.79 and 0.76 respectively.

Control variables: Demographic variables like age, sex and education level were controlled in this study.

498 P. Priyadarshi and R. Raina

Table 2 Means, standard deviations, coefficient alphas, and interrelations between variables in the present study

w

Mea

n SD

1

2 3

4 5

6 7

8 9

10

11

12

13

14

15

1 A

ge

2.58

1.

02

2

Gen

der

1.14

.3

4 –.

29**

3

Ed le

vel

2.28

.6

2 –.

09

.06

4

WE

4.18

.8

0 .2

7**

–.09

–.

07

(.91)

5 SS

5.

11

1.24

.1

0 .0

3 .0

4 .4

4**

(.83)

6

SD

2.93

.5

7 .1

8**

–.09

–.

13

.57*

* .2

9**

(.75)

7 D

A

2.95

.6

2 .1

9**

–.13

.0

3 .4

2**

.40*

* .3

7**

(.71)

8

CS

3.30

.5

1 .1

2 .0

8 .0

6 .3

3**

.29*

* .2

1**

.33*

* (.7

3)

9

SE

4.89

.6

6 .2

5**

–.03

–.

04

.45*

* .2

6**

.33*

* .2

7**

.32*

* (.8

2)

10

HO

PE

4.64

.6

6 .1

7**

–.06

.0

0 .5

0**

.35*

* .4

3**

.39*

* .3

7**

.52*

* (.7

6)

11

R

ES

4.49

.5

4 .0

8 –.

04

–.04

.2

4**

.14*

.1

9**

.25*

* .1

9**

.49*

* .4

3**

(.78)

12

O

PT

4.19

.5

7 .1

1 –.

02

–.00

.3

8**

.38*

* .2

8**

.39*

* .4

2**

.42*

* .5

2**

.36*

* (.7

2)

13

JS

4.

72

1.37

.1

9**

–.12

–.

11

.62*

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The mediating effects of work engagement 499

8 Results and analysis

8.1 Correlations

It is shown in the table that age, among the three demographic variables considered in the study, correlated with all the variables except social support and optimism. Work engagement was found to be positively associated with job resources, personal resources and work related outcomes and negatively related with turnover intentions. Job resources and personal resources in general had significant positive relations with job satisfaction and affective commitment and a negative relation with turnover intention.

8.2 Drivers of work engagement

In order to test the hypotheses for the antecedents of work engagement, hierarchical regression analyses were conducted in which the demographic variables were entered into the equation in step 1 to measure its impact. This was followed by job resources and personal resources in step 2 for different equations. As shown in Table 1, the entry of job resources in step 2 significantly increased the amount of explained variance in work engagement (Δ R2 = 0.24, p < .001). Supervisory support and skill discretion were found to have a significant impact on work engagement (β = .23, p < .001; β = .41, p < .001 respectively). However, the effect of decision authority on work engagement was found to be non-significant. An increase for the explained variance was found in the model for work engagement (ΔR2 = 0.26, p < .001) when the effect of personal resources were taken into account. When entered into the equation, self-efficacy (β = .22, p < .01), hope (β = .33, p < .001), resilience (β = .17, p < .05) and optimism (β = .12, p < .05) showed significant effects on work engagement. The analysis affirms the Hypotheses (1a, 1b, 1c) about job resources and personal resources (Hypotheses 2a, 2b, 2c) being positively related to work engagement. Table 3 Hierarchical regression analysis: predictors of work engagement

Work engagement Work engagement β (t)

step 1 β (t)

step 2 β (t)

step 1 β (t) step2

Step 1: control variables Step 1: control variables Age .28** .14** Age .28*** .16** Step 2: job resource Step 2: personal resource Supervisory support .23*** Self-efficacy .22** Skill discretion .41*** Hope .33*** Decision authority .11 Resilience .17* Optimism .12* R2 .06 .30 R2 .07 .34 Adjusted R2 .06 .28 Adjusted R2 .07 .32 F 13.29*** 17.31*** F 17.46*** 20.93*** ΔR2 .24 ΔR2 .26 ΔF 17.29*** ΔF 20.21***

Note: *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.

500 P. Priyadarshi and R. Raina

8.3 Work engagement and its consequences

To examine the effects of work engagement on work related outcomes, a regression analysis was carried out where each of the outcomes was regressed on work engagement. Table 4 shows that work engagement explained a significant amount of variance in job satisfaction (R2 = 0.39, p < .001), affective commitment (R2 = 0.24, p < .001) and turnover intention (R2 = 0.14, p < .001). These findings support our hypotheses H3: Work engagement will be positively related to:

a job satisfaction

b affective commitment and negatively related to

c turnover intention. Table 4 Hierarchical regression analysis: predictors of work related outcomes

Work engagement Job satisfaction Affective commitment Turnover intention

Β .62*** 49*** –38*** R2 .39 .24 .14 Adjusted R2 .39 .23 .14 F 133.78*** 64.90*** 35.24***

Note: *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.

8.4 Mediating effects of employee engagement

Baron and Kenny (1986) suggested three necessary conditions that must be met to establish mediation. First, the independent variable(s) (the antecedents of engagement) must be related to the mediator (work engagement). Second, the mediator (work engagement) must be related to the dependent variable(s) (the consequences of engagement). Third, a significant relationship between the independent variable(s) (antecedents of engagement) and a dependent variable(s) (consequences of engagement) will be reduced (partial mediation) or no longer be significant (full mediation) when the mediator (employee engagement) is controlled. Conditions 1 and 2 have been met as described above. For condition 3, the antecedents must first be related to the consequences. In order to test for a mediation model in which engagement mediates the relationship between the set of antecedents and each consequence, additional regression analyses were conducted in which the consequences were regressed on the antecedents alone and then again with the engagement measures controlled.

The mediation model was carried out to test Hypothesis 4b in which work engagement mediates the relationship between job resources and work related outcomes. A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted in which the work related outcomes were regressed on the job resources alone and then again with the engagement measures controlled as shown in Table 6. Supervisory support, skill discretion and decision authority were the three job resources that were examined in this study. In this model, the cumulative variance that explained for job satisfaction was 0.48, for affective commitment 0.31 and again 0.31 for turnover intention. In the case of job satisfaction, the job resources explained variance reduced significantly (ΔR2 = .07, p < 0.001) when the engagement measures were introduced into the equation. The addition of work

The mediating effects of work engagement 501

engagement to the equation (step 3) led to a significant drop in the impact of supervisory support (β = .17, p < .01) and skill discretion (β = .32, p < .001). For affective commitment, the introduction of work engagement led to a drop in the explained variance of job resources (ΔR2 = .03, p < 0.001). It is evident from the above table that the impact of supervisory support (β = .25, p < .001) and skill discretion (β = .16, p < .05) on affective commitment was reduced upon the introduction of work engagement, suggesting a partial mediation. For turnover intention, the job resources explained variance dropped to 2% (ΔR2 = .02, p < 0.001) upon the introduction of work engagement in the equation (step 3). Table 5 suggests a complete mediation in the case of supervisory support (β = –.09), and a partial mediation for skill discretion (β = –.16, p < .05). It is important to note here that from the three outcome variables, only work engagement was found to be partially mediating between decision authority and turnover intention (β = –.16, p < .05). Table 5 Hierarchical regression analysis: work engagement as a mediator between job

resources and work related outcomes

Job satisfaction Affective commitment Turnover intention β(t)

step 1 β (t)

step 2 β (t)

step 3 β(t)

step 1 β (t)

step 2 β (t)

step 3 β(t)

step 1β (t)

step 2 β (t)

step 3

Step 1: control variables

Age .20** .07 .02 .24** .15 .12 –.21** –.13 –.10

Step 2: job resource

Supervisory support

.25*** .17* .30*** .25*** –.13* –.09

Skill discretion .47*** .32*** .26*** .16* –.22** –.16*

Decision authority

.04 .006 .02 .004 –.17* –.16*

Step 3: work engagement

.35*** .24*** –.16*

R2 .04 .42 .49 .06 .30 .33 .30 .33

Adjusted R2 .04 .41 .48 .06 .28 .31 .06 .28 .31

F 8.67** 30.41*** 32.93*** 13.29*** 17.31*** 16.53*** .06 10.27*** 9.24***

ΔR2 .38 .07 .24 .03 9.97** .15 .02

ΔF 34.48*** 26.67*** 17.29*** 9.20*** 9.92*** 3.51

Note: *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.

Overall, these results suggest that the relationship between job resources and work outcome is mediated by work engagement, justifying Hypothesis 4a.

In order to test the mediation model in which work engagement mediates the relationship between the set of antecedents and each consequence, additional regression analyses were conducted. The consequences were regressed on the antecedents alone and then again with the controlled engagement measures as shown in Table 5. For job satisfaction, the antecedents contributed significantly (ΔR2 = .20, p < 0.001) when the engagement measures were introduced to the equation. The addition of work engagement to the equation (step 3) led to a significant drop in the impact of hope (β = .21, p < .01),

502 P. Priyadarshi and R. Raina

resilience (β = .11, p < .05) and optimism (β = .14, p < .05). For affective commitment, the introduction of work engagement led to a drop in the explained variance of personal resources (ΔR2 = .08, p < 0.001). The introduction of work engagement to the equation (step 3) led to a significant drop in the impact of hope (β = .20, p < .01), resilience (β = .20, p < .05) and optimism (β = .16, p < .05). In the case of turnover intention, the personal resources explained variance dropped to 6% (ΔR2 = .06, p < 0.001) upon the introduction of work engagement to the equation (step 3). The table suggests a complete mediation in the case of hope (β = –.14), and a partial mediation for resilience (β = –.15, p < .05) and optimism (β = –.20, p < .05). Table 6 Hierarchical regression analysis: work engagement as a mediator between personal

resources and work related outcomes

Job satisfaction Affective commitment Turnover intention β(t)

step 1 β (t)

step 2 β (t)

step 3 β(t)

step 1 β (t)

step 2 β (t)

step 3 β(t)

step 1 β (t)

step 2 β (t)

step 3

Step 1: control variables

Age .20** .13* .04 .24** .15 .12 –.21** –.18 –.13

Step 2: job resource

Hope .41*** .21** .31*** .20* –.24** –.14

Resilience .15* .11* .22** .20* –.17** –.15*

Optimism .20** .14* .20** .16* –.23** –.20*

Step 3: work engagement

R2 .54*** .34*** –.31***

Adjusted R2 .04 .26 .46 .06 .30 .33 .05 .16 .22

F .04 .24 .44 .06 .28 .31 .04 .14 .20

ΔR2 8.67** 14.48*** 28.68*** 13.29*** 12.9*** 15.82*** 9.97*** 7.93*** 9.83***

ΔF .22 .20 .18 .08 .12 .06

Note: *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.

Overall, these results suggest that the relationship between personal resources and work outcomes is mediated by work engagement, which justifies Hypothesis 4b.

9 Conclusions and implications

Our study makes a compelling case for more research on work engagement in order to extend understanding and increase its usage by both researchers and practitioners. We found that job and personal resources influence work related outcomes and those relationships are mediated by work engagement. Reaffirming the job-demand-resource model in the Indian context, this study exhibited how opportunities to develop abilities, creativity and learning new things at the work place contributed towards work engagement. While supervisory support was found to be critical in enhancing work engagement, no support was found for a relationship between decision authority and work engagement. In this study, personal resources such as hope, resilience and

The mediating effects of work engagement 503

optimism, which can be developed, were found to be related to work engagement. The study clarifies measures that augment job and personal resources in order to improve work engagement amongst employees. The mediating role of work engagement proves that the mere availability of job and personal resources may not be enough to achieve the desired work related outcomes. This reiterates our argument that engaging a worker is pivotal for an organisation to realise the investments of its resources.

The results of this study have implications for both researchers as well as for practicing managers. The findings extend the nomological network of work engagement while also confirming the relationship proposed by Kahn (1990) and Bakker et al. (2003). Besides contributing towards the growing body of research on work engagement in India, the study has profound implications for its practical use. The findings further suggest that work engagement mediates between job and personal resource, job satisfaction, affective commitment and turnover intentions. By agreeing to the motivational aspect of work engagement, it is important for practitioners to identify the elements that could induce engagement among employees. This finding also indicates that decision authority may not be critical for enhancing satisfaction or commitment, but it can affect an employee’s decision to stay or leave an organisation. Designing jobs that can increase engagement among the employees will be important, especially in cases where the work is repetitive in nature.

The present study reiterates the importance of the supervisor’s role in creating an engaged workforce to the further the growth of the organisation. This needs to be examined in the socio-cultural context of India. The national culture influences the norms, beliefs, and values of a particular country, and it takes time to change those beliefs. According to Chhokar et al. (2007), collectivism and high power distance continue to be the most important characteristics of the national culture of India, which is not in sync with the present reality, as India appears to be in a period of a major transition towards power equalisation. As per Salacuse’s (2007) study, there is an increasing preference for individualism as employees today are more educated and intelligent than in past generations. It is therefore recommended that the traditional Indian managerial style may have to give way to more empowering and collaborative work environments. The managerial leaders need to use more persuasion instead of direction. This further illustrates the need for Indian managers to move away from the authoritative style of managing and start using a coaching or facilitative style of leading. They have to learn to tap into the expertise of their immediate subordinates, give them creative freedom and ensure they get jobs aligned with their respective competencies and capabilities that highlight their talents. They must be good listeners and encourage their subordinates to openly share their thoughts and ideas, which will be a shift from the national norms of strong power distance, which is associated with male – dominated societies such as India. According to Gratton (2008) “one of the most crucial organizational levers in the creation of cooperative working environments and collaborative teams is managers who coach and mentor others”. Therefore, the onus for engaging and retaining employees by providing organisational motivation lies primarily with the managers and supervisors. They must see to the well-being of the employee and offer resources for their advancement, since they are always looking for ways to learn, grow and connect. These elements and others will have to be weaved in to a meaningful programme designed to run on a continual basis that creates an engaged work environment. When employees feel that their organisation, supervisors, and co-workers are communicating openly, they will feel more confident and comfortable working with their superiors and co-workers in the

504 P. Priyadarshi and R. Raina

workplace (Wulandari and Burgess, 2011). Non-supportive managers can have a negative effect on a subordinate’s performance and satisfaction and might prompt younger Indian employees to leave their organisations. It can be also inferred from the study that Indian employees on their part need to do some homework before they join a company. They must ensure that they join a company whose culture meshes with their own goals and value systems. The process of integration and assimilation then becomes easier. By seeing the motivation potential of work engagement, practitioners can identify the elements that could induce engagement among employees.

10 Limitations and areas of future research

The results of this study are limited in certain accounts. Similar to other studies in this area (May et al., 2004; Rothbard, 2001; Schaufeli and Bakker, 2004; Sonnentag, 2003), the use of cross-sectional and self-reported data makes it prone to single source bias thus limiting the conclusions that can be drawn about causality. Although this study is in line with earlier works on engagement (Kahn, 1990, 1992; Scahufeli and Baker, 2004) more research would be required to determine the direction of causality. The possibility of bi-directional linkages makes it difficult to reach a conclusion about the directionality between engagement and work related consequences. Another limitation of the study refers to the data collection process that has been convenience based rather than using the random sampling method. As a result, some caution is required in generalising the results to the larger population.

Work engagement offers multiple areas where research could be undertaken to explore and expand its nomological network. We have used a limited number of determinants of engagement, so exploring other factors of engagement could be a potential area of research. We have not considered the mechanism about how these resources could be provided, hence research on how various human resource practices influence engagement may provide us with this understanding. The relationship between engagement and work family interaction is another area that is being seen with lot of interest for its role as a facilitator/hindering factor. Future research could also be undertaken to understand the influence of interactions between a person and their environment on work engagement. In this regard, the perception of a person-environment fit, demands-abilities fit and needs-supplies fit would be specific areas of interest.

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