Ciencia & Trabajo

YEAR 14 SPECIAL ISSUE MARCH 2012

FUNDACIN
CIENTFICA
Y TECNOLGICA
ASOCIACIN CHILENA DE SEGURIDAD

ISSN 0718-0306 versin impresa, ISSN 0718-2449 versin en lnea, Cienc Trab. 2012 march; 14 (special issue) w w w. c i e n c i a y t r a b a j o . c l

A Special Issue
on Work Engagement How Organizational Strategies Predict
Team Work Engagement | 7
How do Engaged Employees
2012

Stay Engaged? | 15
Workplace Relationships as Demands
and Resources | 22
Ciencia & Trabajo YEAR 14 SPECIAL ISSUE MARCH

The Empirical Distinctiveness of Work

Engagement and Workaholism among
Hospital Nurses in Japan | 30
Personal Resources Contribution to
Engagement | 36
Investigating the Associations between
Ministerial Resources, Personality Traits
and Engagement | 44
Reciprocal Relationships Between Work
Engagement and Task-Related,
Interpersonal, and Organizational
Resources | 53
Bridging the Practice and Science of
Employee Engagement | 61
Similarities and Differences Between
Engagement and Workaholism among
Finnish Judges | 72
Explaining Nurses Engagement and
Performance with Social Exchange with
Hospital | 81
Studying With Passion:
Personal Initiative and Engagement
Relationship | 89

Work Engagement
In 2002 a seminal article of Work Engagement was published in
Journal of Happiness Studies by Schaufeli, Salanova, Bakker &
Gonzlez-Rom. Since then, hundreds of scientific articles had
been published around the globe, and the great interest and publi-
cations on the topic still continues. For example, a search (January,
2012) in PsycINFO, the leading database of academic publications
in psychology, yielded 140 peer reviewed journal articles on work
engagement, 61 on employee engagement, and 30 on job
engagement. And more importantly, more than 80% of these arti-
cles used the UWES (Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, Schaufeli,
Salanova et al., 2002) as the measure of the construct. It seems that
Work Engagement is a very popular topic, not only in research but
also in consultancy as well. For instance, a
Google search (January, 2012) reveals
28,600,000 hits for employee engagement
and 632,000,000 hits for work engagement.
If we look into the past about the story of
work engagement, we can associate its study
to the idea that after years and years of being
studying job burnout (the theoretical opposite
to work engagement), it was time to shift our
focus from investigating the negative side of
psychological health at work and start to study
its positive side. This is coincident with the
Positive Psychology movement, which became more prominent
since the beginnings of the century. Whereas traditional psycho-
logy focuses on disease, disability and malfunctioning, Positive
Psychology focuses on well-being, human strength and optimal
functioning. Following this recent trend, Luthans (2002, p. 179)
argued that we need positive organizational research as well, which
he defined as the study and application of positively oriented
human resource strengths and psychological capacities that can be
measured, developed, and effectively managed for performance
improvement in todays workplace. Currently, Positive Organizational
Psychology moved around the globe with more and more specific
scientific journals, conferences and seminars, university teaching
programs and PhD theses.
In that International exciting context, we can characterize work
engagement as the competence (energy or vigour) and willingness
(involvement or dedication) to work passionately and with enthu-
siasm. Furthermore, empirical work seems to confirm the divergent
role of the third dimension of work engagementabsorption (e.g.,
Salanova, Llorens, Cifre, Martnez, & Schaufeli, 2003; Schaufeli,
Taris, & van Rhenen, 2008). To sum up, to recognise work engage-
ment, we have to focus on its three main indicators:
Vigor. A work engaged person feels energetic, strong, and
Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl |
Editorial | Ciencia & Trabajo
Editorial
vibrant while at work. He/she feels confident, can take a punch,
and does not easily get discouraged.
Dedication. Work engaged employees feel connected to their work
and are enthusiastic about it. They do care about what happens at
work. They find their work meaningful and are proud of their
job.
Absorption. Work engaged employees are completely immersed in
their work; they are sucked in to it, or absorbed. They are focussed,
find their job challenging and enjoy what they do, and often
forget time when they are working.
Despite work engagement has been investigated during last decades,
it is still important to know more about the underlying psychological
mechanisms that explain how work engage-
ment is developed over time, its antecedents
and consequences, and, more importantly, what
are the stronger theoretical models that can
explain work engagement over time. In addi-
tion, it is necessary to understand how work
engagement is related to opposite constructs
such as burnout and workaholism, what are the
differences among work engagement and
similar constructs such as work passion, how
work engagement is related to other resources
at different levels (such as personality, emotional
intelligence, team resources and organizational variables), and how
are these relations (i.e., reciprocal, causal?). Moreover, appears rele-
vant to consider using different methodological approaches to study
work engagement (such as qualitative methods for example) in order
to understand better the construct, and finally, but not least impor-
tant, how work engagement is related with important outcomes for
companies specially in an economic crisis as the one we are currently
experiencing (for example, job performance and productivity, proac-
tive behaviour and personal initiative, and job crafting).
International prestigious researchers about work engagement put
together their knowledge and empirical findings in their studies
about the topic. The result: this special issue about work engagement
that consider most of the topics listed before. The aims are to reflect
and go into the questions, gaps and current debates and topics
related to work engagement around the globe (from Japan to Canada
through Europe). Each of the researchers involved in this special
issue attempts to bring to the readers the best and hot topics on work
engagement.
I hope that these articles are useful to your research and professional
practice and, I really thank the authors for having enthusiasm and
real engagement on this piece of work. Thank you very much to
all of you.
Marisa Salanova
Castelln, Spain
Revista Ciencia & Trabajo
1
 YEAR 14 SPECIAL ISSUE MARS 2012

Ciencia & Trabajo

ISSN 0718-0306 versin impresa
ISSN 0718-2449 versin en lnea

Director: Pedro Crdenas

Editor Jefe: Leonardo Varela
Referencias e Indizacin: Mara del Carmen Sosa
Corrector de Texto: Ramn Espinoza
Traduccin Ingls: Pablo Valencia
Diseo Grfico: Corina Garca
Distribucin: Mauricio Millares

CONSEJO EDITORIAL:
PhD Arie Shirom
Universidad de Tel Aviv, Israel.
PhD. Carlos Daz
Universidad de Chile, Chile.
Dra. Catterina Ferreccio
Departamento de Salud Pblica, Pontificia Universidad Catlica de Chile, Chile.

Foto portada: Banco de fotos ACHS.

PhD. Christina Maslach
Universidad de California, Berkeley, USA.
PhD. Dana Loomis
Escuela de Salud Pblica, Universidad de Carolina del Norte, USA.
Dr. Eduardo Algranti
FUNDACENTRO, Brasil.
PhD. Eusebio Rial-Gonzlez
Agencia Europea de Seguridad y Salud en el Trabajo, Espaa.
PhD. Juan Andrs Pucheu
Pontificia Universidad Catlica de Chile, Chile.
PhD. Kyle Steenland
Escuela de Salud Pblica, Universidad de Emory, USA.
Dra. Luz Claudio
Mount Sinai School of Medicine, USA.
PhD. Marisa Salanova
Universidad Jaume I de Castelln, Espaa.
PhD. Marisol Concha
Asociacin Chilena de Seguridad, Chile.
Ing. Nella Marchetti
Universidad de Chile, Chile.
Dr. Oscar Nieto
Fundacin Iberoamericana de Seguridad y Salud Ocupacional, Argentina.
PhD. Pablo Livacic
Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Chile.
PhD. Pedro R. Gil-Monte
Universidad de Valencia, Espaa.
Dr. Rubn Torres
Organizacin Panamericana de la Salud, OPS / Organizacin Mundial de la Salud, OMS, Chile.
PhD. Sarah Gammage
Organizacin Internacional del Trabajo, OIT.
PhD. Shrikant Bangdiwala
Escuela de Salud Pblica, Universidad Carolina del Norte, USA.
PhD. Steven Markowitz
Queens College, USA.
Ms. Vctor Crdova
Asociacin Chilena de Seguridad, Chile.

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2 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | Ciencia & Trabajo


Index
1 Editorial
3 Index
4 In this Issue
Original Articles
7 How Organizational Practices Predict Team Work
Engagement: The Role of Organizational Trust
Acosta H, Salanova M, Llorens S
15 How do Engaged Employees Stay Engaged?
Bakker A, Demerouti E, Xanthopoulou D
22 Workplace Relationships as Demands and Resources:
A Model of Burnout and Work Engagement
Leiter M, Nicholson R, Patterson A, Spence H
30 The Empirical Distinctiveness of Work Engagement and
Workaholism among Hospital Nurses in Japan: The effect
on Sleep Quality and Job Performance
Kubota K, Shimazu A, Kawakami N, Takahashi M,
Nakata A, Schaufeli W
36 Personal Resources (Emotional Intelligence, Core Self-
evaluation and Positive Affectivity) Contribution to
Engagement: Analysis on Spanish College
Students and Employees
Durn A, Extremera N, Rey L
44 Investigating the Associations between Ministerial Resources,
Personality Traits and Engagement among the Indian Clergy
Newman E, De Witte H
53 The More You Give, the More You Get? Reciprocal
Relationships Between Work Engagement and Task-
Related, Interpersonal, and Organizational Resources
Korunka C, Kubicek B, Pakvan M
61 Bridging the Practice and Science of Employee
Engagement: A Qualitative Investigation
Albrecht S, Wilson-Evered E
72 Too Good to Be True? Similarities and Differences
Between Engagement and Workaholism
among Finnish Judges
Hakanen J, Rodrguez A, Perhoniemi R
81 Explaining Nurses Engagement and Performance with
Social Exchange with Hospital
Chambel M
89 Studying With Passion: Personal Initiative and
Engagement Relationship
Lisbona A, Bernab M, Palac F, Gmez A, Martn M
Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl |
Index | Ciencia & Trabajo
ndice
1 Editorial
3 ndice
4 En este nmero
Artculos Originales
7 Cmo Predicen las Prcticas Organizacionales el
Engagement en el Trabajo en Equipo?: El Rol de la
Confianza Organizacional
Acosta H, Salanova M, Llorens S
15 Cmo los Empleados Mantienen su Engagement
en el Trabajo?
Bakker A, Demerouti E, Xanthopoulou D
22 Las Relaciones Interpersonales en el Lugar de Trabajo
Como Demandas y Recursos Laborales: Un Modelo
de Burnout y Engagement
Leiter M, Nicholson R, Patterson A, Spence H
30 Distincin Emprica Entre Engagement y Trabajolismo en
Enfermeras Hospitalarias de Japn: Efecto Sobre la
Calidad del Sueo y el Desempeo Laboral
Kubota K, Shimazu A, Kawakami N, Takahashi M,
Nakata A, Schaufeli W
36 La Contribucin de Los Recursos Personales (Inteligencia
Emocional, Core Self-evaluation y Afectividad Positiva)
para el Engagement: Un Anlisis en Estudiantes
Universitarios y Trabajadores Espaoles
Durn A, Extremera N, Rey L
44 Investigacin de las Asociaciones entre los Recursos
Ministeriales, Rasgos de la Personalidad y Engagement
entre el Clero Indio
Newman E, De Witte H
53 Mientras ms Das, ms Recibes? Relaciones Recprocas
entre el Engagement Laboral y los Recursos Asociados a
las Labores, Interpersonales y Organizacionales
Korunka C, Kubicek B, Pakvan M
61 Uniendo La Ciencia y La Prctica del Engagement
Laboral: Una Investigacin Cualitativa
Albrecht S, Wilson-Evered E
72 Muy Bueno para Ser Cierto? Similitudes y Diferencias
entre el Engagement y la Adiccin al Trabajo en Jueces
Finlandeses
Hakanen J, Rodrguez A, Perhoniemi R
81 Explicando el Engagement y el Desempeo de las
Enfermeras que Presentan Intercambio Social con el Hospital
Chambel M
89 Estudiar con Pasin: Relacin con la Iniciativa Personal
y el Engagement
Lisbona A, Bernab M, Palac F, Gmez A, Martn M
3
In this issue

ORIGINAL ARTICLES
Falta el texto de los resumenes

4 1/1 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | Ciencia & Trabajo
Artculo Original
How Organizational Practices Predict Team Work
Engagement: The Role of Organizational Trust
Cmo Predicen las Prcticas Organizacionales el Engagement en el Trabajo en Equipo?: El
Rol de la Confianza Organizacional
Hedy Acosta1, Marisa Salanova, Ph.D1 and Susana Llorens, Ph.D1
1. WONT Research Team. Universitat Jaume I, Spain.
ABSTRACT
The current study contributes to our understanding of the rela-
tionship between healthy organizational strategies, organizational
trust and team work engagement based on the Healthy & Resilient
Organizations Model (Salanova, Llorens, Cifre, & Martnez, 2010)
and using aggregated data at work-unit level in a sample of 518
employees nested in 55 teams from 13 Small-and Medium-sized
Enterprises. Healthy organizational strategies, organizational trust
and team work engagement were aggregated from team members
perceptions using Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC1 and ICC2)
with the group as the referent. Structural Equation Modeling by
AMOS revealed that, as expected, organizational trust plays a fully
mediating role among healthy organizational strategies and team
work engagement at team level. Theoretical and practical implica-
tions are discussed.
Key words: healthy organization strategies, organiza-
tional trust, team work engagement
Global economic conditions, faster changes in labor market, and
the social and economic crisis are enhancing the necessity to
promote positive experiences in organizations, such as organiza-
tional trust, which is understand as employees willingness at
being vulnerable to the actions of their organizations, whose
behavior and actions they cannot control.1 Organizational trust is
important in working life and organizational effectiveness;2-4 and
received substantial attention in the management and social
science literature.5 In this sense, previous research has consensus
that trust is pivotal, useful in organizational activities and a source
of sustainable competitive advantage.6,7
Despite its relevance, there is a lack of studies focusing on trust
at team level, especially when groups play a crucial role to
Correspondence / Correspondencia
Hedy Acosta
Department of Social Psychology,
Universitat Jaume I, Av. Sos Baynat, s/n. 12071. Castelln (Spain).
Tel.: +34 964 72 9955 Fax: +34 964 729262.
e-mail: HYPERLINK "mailto:hacosta@psi.uji.es"hacosta@psi.uji.es.
Received: 15 January 2010 / Accepted: 08 March de 2011
Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 7/14
RESUMEN
El presente estudio contribuye a entender la relacin entre prcticas
organizacionales saludables, confianza organizacional y engage-
ment en el trabajo en equipo basndose en el Modelo de
Organizaciones Saludables y Resilientes (HERO, Salanova, Llorens,
Cifre, y Martnez, 2010) utilizando datos agregados a nivel de equi-
po. La muestra est compuesta por 518 empleados anidados en 55
equipos que pertenecen a 13 Pequeas y Medianas Empresas
(PyMEs) espaolas. Las variables se agregaron a nivel de equipos
utilizando el Coeficiente de Correlacin Intraclase (CCI1 y CCI2). De
acuerdo a lo esperado, los Modelos de Ecuaciones Estructurales
revelaron que la confianza organizacional media de forma total la
relacin entre prcticas organizacionales saludables y engagement
en el trabajo en equipo. Se discuten las implicaciones tericas y
prcticas del estudio.
Palabras claves: prcticas organizacionales saludables,
confianza organizacional, engagement en el trabajo
en equipo.
increase efficiency and competitiveness8, productivity9 and
health10 into the organizations. Moreover, as far as we know, there
is a lack research about the role of organizational trust in the
relationship among healthy organizational strategies and work
team engagement, which are two key elements that define healthy
and resilient organizations.11,12 That is, considering the team
perceptions as the reference of healthy organizational strategies,
organizational trust and team work engagement. In the current
study, we go one step further since we study the mediating role of
organizational trust among healthy organizational strategies and
team work engagement in a higher order level of analyses (i.e.,
teams). Specifically, the objective of our study is to test the medi-
ating role of organizational trust among healthy organizational
strategies and team work engagement using aggregated data at
work-unit level based on the HEROs Model (Healthy & Resilient
Organizations Mode). 13
The theoretical background: the Healthy &
Resilient Organizations Model
Nowadays organizations differ in their investment on healthy,
resilience and motivation of employees (and teams), but also on
the structure and the management of the work processes imple-
mented (e.g., organizational strategies) as well as at the healthy
7
Original Article | Acosta Hedy et al.
outcomes oriented to the incomes and to the excellence for the
society.14,10 These organizations are namely, healthy and resilient
organizations, since the focus on health and resilience is based not
only on individuals (i.e., employees) but also on the teams and on
the organization as a whole. There is evidence in favor that HEROs
are those which are resilient in coping economic and financial
crisis and important changes becoming stronger than unhealthy
organizations.15 In a similar way, Salanova11,12 and Salanova et al
13 defines HERO`s as whose organizations that make systematic,
planned and proactive efforts in order to improve employees and
organizational health through Healthy Organizational Practices
related to improve the job characteristics at three levels: (1) task
level (e.g., task redesign in order to improve autonomy, feedback),
(2) social environmental level (e.g., bidirectional communication in
order to improve social relationships), and (3) organizational level
(e.g., organizational strategies in order to improve healthy, work-
family conciliation).
Based on theoretical premises on healthy and resilient organizations,
HEROs Model is a heuristic and theoretical model that allows inte-
grates results on healthy and resilient organizations based on
empirical and theoretical-based evidence from research on job stress,
human resource management, organizational behavior and positive
occupational health psychology. According to this model, a healthy
and resilient organization refers to a combination of three main and
interrelated components: (1) healthy organizational practices (e.g.,
job resources, healthy organizational strategies), (2) healthy employees
(e.g., efficacy beliefs, resilience) and (3) healthy organizational
outcomes (e.g., performance).13 A particular aspect of the model is
that all dimensions included in the model are tested at collective
level. Since this model is considered a heuristic model, not the whole
model could be tested together but specific relationships among some
key elements. Consequently, in the present study, we focus on two
specific components of the HERO Model: (1) healthy organizational
practices (i.e., healthy organizational strategies) and (2) healthy
employees (i.e., organizational trust, team work engagement) tested
at team level.
Healthy Organizational Strategies
Healthy organizational strategies are a key element in the HERO
Model and constitutes one of the healthy organizational practices
that are referred to job resources (task and social resources) as well
as organizational strategies which are developed by Human
Resources Management (HRM) in order to achieve organizational
goals16 as well as to increase the psychological and financial
health at personal, teams and organizational level.13 Since two are
the key elements in healthy organizational practices, in the present
study we focus on one of them: organizational strategies defined
as the pattern of planned human resource deployments and
activities intended to enable an organization to achieve its goals.16
The reason to focus on this element is because organizational
strategies are highly relevant in organizations; in fact, such orga-
nizations which attempt to implant organizational strategies show
more positive experiences in employees (and teams) (e.g., organi-
zational trust;17,18 and healthy outputs such as organizational
commitment19 and organizational performance.20 All in all, orga-
nizational strategies foster the appeal of the organization to be
perceived as a great place to work21, and consequently, they should
be included in business strategy.22
8
Recent research based on ERCOVA European Project23 shows that
eight are considered the main strategies from HRM based on
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): work-family conciliation,
mobbing prevention, skills development, career development,
psychosocial health, perceived equity, communication and corpo-
rate social responsibility.13 These studies give evidence that these
organizational strategies can have a positive impact on the
employee well-being. Specifically, in a sample of 710 employees
nested in 84 groups from14 SME results show that in general terms
healthy organizational practices (in which healthy organizational
strategies as well as job and social resources were considered), had
a positive impact on healthy employees (i.e., collective efficacy,
engagement and resilience), which in turn had a positive impact
on healthy outcomes (i.e., performance, commitment and excellent
results).13 Also, Acosta, Salanova and Llorens24 show that organi-
zational strategies can also enhance organizational trust, specifi-
cally skill development and communication. All in all, few studies
about the topic reveal different results on which are the main
organizational strategies that influence to employee psychological
health and well-being. We agree with Fredrickson and Dutton25
who showed that the positive impact of healthy organizational
strategies on healthy employees only occurs when workers
perceive that actually those strategies are being correctly imple-
mented in the organization; that is, when employees trust in their
organization.
Organizational Trust
Organizational trust is considered another one of the key elements
in the HERO Model; specifically, as a psychological construct
included in the category of healthy employees. Healthy employees
are referred to employees with positive psychological resources
(e.g., organizational trust, self-efficacy, mental and emotional
competences, organizational-based self-esteem, optimism, hope,
resilience) which are positively related to well-being (e.g., work
engagement)26,27. As mentioned above, we consider organizational
trust as employees willingness at being vulnerable to the actions
of their organizations, whose behavior and actions they cannot
control.1 In this definition, the attention is focused on vertical
trust, that is, the trust between direct supervisors, top managers
and employees (or teams). So far, a healthy and resilient organiza-
tion needs to look for the generation of vertical trust, which is for
having supervisors and top managers who are perceived as
trusting and trustworthy by the teams of employees that they
supervise, in order to increase well-being as well for increasing
healthy outcomes. Different scholars have shown that in order to
increase organizational trust (i.e., vertical trust) a real inversion in
healthy organizational strategies is needed.24,17,25,28-30 Furthermore,
there is evidence that employees trust in their supervisor when
perceive justice in the organizational practices and decisions.31
There is research evidence in favor that organizational trust influ-
ences to employee well-being specifically on work engagement1
measured at individual level. Compared to employees with low
levels of organizational trust, employee who trust in the organiza-
tion experience more vigor, dedication and absorption at work.
One of the innovations of the present study is that work engage-
ment is not considered at individual but at team level. Research
has evidenced that groups plays an important role in to increase
efficiency and competitiveness8, productivity9 and psychosocial
7/14 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | Ciencia & Trabajo
 Original Article | How Organizational Strategies Predict Team Work Engagement: The Role of Organizational Trust
health.10 Despite the relevance of testing groups, there is a lack of
studies focusing on work engagement at team level.
Team Work Engagement
Traditionally, work engagement has been described as a positive,
fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor,
dedication, and absorption.32 Vigor suggests the willingness to
invest effort in ones work, persistence in the face of difficulties, and
high levels of energy and mental resilience while working. Dedication
refers to a particularly strong work involvement and identification
with ones job. The final dimension of engagement, absorption,
denotes being fully concentrated and engrossed in ones work,
whereby time passes quickly and one has difficulties with detaching
oneself from the task.
Since the well-established of work engagement at individual level
(e.g., Llorens, Bakker, Schaufeli, & Salanova33; Llorens, Schaufeli,
Bakker, & Salanova34; Salanova & Llorens35; Seppl et al36, recently
a shift in the study of work engagement its study as a collective
psychosocial construct, it is work engagement at higher-order level
of analyses, for example, at the team level. Although only few studies
are focusing on collective engagement, important results have been
found. Generally speaking, collective work engagement increases: (1)
business-unit outcomes37, (2) task performance in students working
in groups9; (3) service climate and performance in service employees38
and (4) collective positive affect and collective efficacy by positive
spirals.39 Team work engagement is defined as a positive, fulfilling,
work-related state of mind that is characterized by team work vigor,
dedication and absorption which emerges from the interaction and
shared experiences of the members of a work team.9
Basically, work engagement at collective level has been tested by a
collective version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale9,13 by
means of 18 items referred to: collective vigor, collective dedication
and collective absorption. Despite the reliability of this scale, this
instrument allows test work engagement by individual perceptions of
a team referent. Also, in Salanova et al13 the whole HERO Model was
validated by second order factor analyses, in which team work
engagement (with the long version with 18 items) showed a good
factorial structure and was considered one of the key elements in the
healthy employees. Based on this, recently, Torrente, Salanova,
Llorens, and Schaufeli (in press)40 offer a validation of the team work
engagement scale proposed in Salanova et al13 in order to construct
a shorter measure. The Team Work Engagement reduced scale is
composed by 9 items which considers three dimensions: team work
vigor (3 items), team work dedication (3 items), and team work
absorption (3 items). Although these three dimensions are considered
traditionally measures of work engagement at individual level,
previous empirical researches showed that the core of engagement is
formed by vigor and dedication.34,26,41 In the present study, we try to
delete this gap in the literature by using a team work engagement by
aggregated data at work-unit level of analyses, considering the core
dimensions.
The current study
Taking previous research, the objective of our study is to test, for
the first time, the role of organizational trust (i.e., vertical trust)
among healthy organizational strategies and team work engage-
Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 7/14
ment (core team work engagement) by aggregating data at team
level. Specifically, we test the mediating role of organizational
trust (i.e., vertical trust) among healthy organizational strategies
and team work engagement (i.e., team work vigor, team work
dedication and team work absorption) considering the aggregated
perception from the team members. At this point, we expect that
the organizational trust fully mediates the relationship among
healthy organizational strategies and team work engagement (i.e.,
team work vigor, team work dedication and team work absorption)
(see Figure 1).
Figure 1.
Research model: The proposed full mediated model.
Healthy Team
Organizational Work
Strategies Engagement
Organizational
Trust
Method
Sample and Procedure
The sample consisted of 518 employees (response rate was 58%)
nested in 55 work-units from 13 Small-and Medium-sized
Enterprises (SME). From these employees, 77% belonged to the
service and 23% to the industry sub-sectors. The 53% were women
and 70% had permanent contracts. The average tenure in the
current job was 5 years (SD = 3.47), 7 years working in the same
company (SD = 5.57) and 10 years working in general (SD = 7.67).
Finally, work-units had 7 members of average team-size (mean =
7.60, SD = 3.5).
Participants completed self-report questionnaire regarding to their
work units. We use the work-unit definition of George42 like an
entity consisting of a group of workers who work together under
the same supervisor and share collective responsibility for perfor-
mance outcomes. The questionnaire was distributed to the different
team members by the own researchers in the company. The ques-
tionnaire-administration processes took approximately 30 minutes.
In order to prevent bias only workers with more than 6 months of
organizational tenure were considered for the analyses. According
to Feldman43 at least three or four months are needed to new
workers get the accommodation in his/her job and the organiza-
tion. The confidentiality and anonymity of the answers were
guaranteed.
Measures
tate career development of workers), psychosocial health (1
item; In the last year, mechanism and strategies have been placed
in this organization in order to ensure the well-being and quality
of life at work), perceived equity (1 item; In the last year, mecha-
nism and strategies have been placed in this organization in order
to ensure that workers receive rewards), organizational communi-
cation (2 items; In the last year, mechanism and strategies have
been placed in this organization in order to facilitate communica-
tion from management to workers; In the last year, mechanism
and strategies have been placed in this organization in order to
report on organizational goals to be known to all) and corporate
social responsibility (1 item; In the last year, mechanism and
9
Original Article | Acosta Hedy et al.
strategies have been placed in this organization in order to ensure
issues of corporate social responsibility). Internal consistencies for
the scale achieved the cut-off point of 0,70 (alpha = 0,87).44
Respondents answered using a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging
from 0 never to 6 always. In order to lead fillers attention from
the individual level to the team level, all the variables were focused
on team perceptions by aggregated data at work-unit level.
Organizational Trust was assessed by 4 items from an adaptation
of the vertical trust scale (Huff & Kelly, 2003) included in the
HERO questionnaire.13 An example of item was: In this organiza-
tion, subordinates have a great deal of trust for supervisors and top
managers. Again, internal consistencies for the scale achieved the
cut-off point of 0,70 (alpha = 0,88).44 Respondents answered using
a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 0 totally disagree to 6
totally agree. Again, In order to lead fillers attention from the
individual level to the team level, all the items focused on team
perceptions in order to be aggregated at team level.
Team Work Engagement Scale was assessed by the core dimen-
sions (6 items) (i.e., team work vigor and team work dedication) of
team work engagement scale9 validated previously in the HERO
questionnaire13 and reduced by Torrente et al.40 Specifically, we
tested: team work vigor (3 items; e.g. At our work, we feel bursting
with energy; alpha = 0,78) and team work dedication (3 items; e.g.
We are enthusiastic about our job; alpha = 0,84). Internal consis-
tencies for two dimensions achieved the cut-off point of 0,70.44
Respondents answered using a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging
from 0 never to 6 always. In order to lead fillers attention from
the individual level to the team level, all the items focused on team
perceptions by aggregated data at team level.
Data Analyses
Firstly, we calculated internal consistencies (Cronbachs ) for
individual data using the PASW 18.0. Secondly, the Harmans single
factor test46 was computed for the variables in the study in order to
test for bias due to common method variance also by individual data.
Thirdly, since the variables in the study (i.e., healthy organizational
strategies, organizational trust, and team work engagement) were
measured at the team level, we computed agreement at team-level for
each scale (cf. Chen, Mathieu, & Bliese47 about the procedure to
aggregate). To do so, we used a consistency-based approach by
computing Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC1 and ICC2)48,49
using the PASW 18.0. Accordingly, team agreement was concluded
when ICC1 and ICC2 were superior to 0,12 and 0,60, respectively.48,49
Also different Analyses of Variance (ANOVA) were computed in order
to ascertain whether there was statistically significant between-group
discrimination for the average scales. Fourthly, we computed descrip-
tive statistics and intercorrelations among the scales by aggregated
data at team level. Finally, AMOS 18.0 (Analyses of Moment
Structures) software program was used to implement different
Structural Equation Modeling to know the relationships among
healthy organizational strategies, organizational trust and team work
engagement using aggregated data at work-unit level. Two plausible
models were compared following the Baron and Kennys steps50: M1,
the full mediated model, in which organizational trust is fully medi-
ating the relationship among healthy organizational strategies and
team work engagement; M2, the partial mediated model, in which
organizational trust partially mediates the relationship among
healthy organizational strategies; that is, also there is a direct rela-
tionship from healthy organizational strategies and team work
engagement.
10
Maximum likelihood estimation methods were used in which the
input for each analysis was the covariance matrix of the items. We
assessed two absolute goodness-of-fit indices to evaluate the good-
ness-of-fit of the models: (1) the 2 goodness-of-fit statistic; and (2)
the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA). The 2
goodness-of-fit index is sensitive to sample size so it is recommended
to use relative goodness-of-fit measures.51,52 So then, four relative
goodness-of-fit indices were used: (1) Comparative Fit Index (CFI); (2)
Normed Fit Index (NFI); (3) Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI, also called the
Non-Normed Fit Index); and (4) Incremental Fit Index (IFI). Finally,
the AIC (Akaike Information Criterion) index was also computed. For
RMSEA, values smaller than 0,05 are considered as indicating an
excellent fit, 0,08 are considered as indicating an acceptable fit
whereas values greater than 0,1 should lead to model rejection 0,53
For the relative fit indices, values greater than 0,90 are indicative of
a good fit 0,54 The lower the AIC index, the better the fit is.55,56
Results
Aggregation and Descriptive Analyses
Firstly, the results of Harmans single factor test46 on individual data-
base (N = 518) reveal a bad fit to the data [2(14) = 267.779, p =
0,000, RMSEA = 0,187, CFI = 0,776, NFI = 0,768, TLI = 0,665, IFI =
0,778, AIC = 295.779]. In order to avoid the problems related to the
use of Harmans single factor test46, we compared the results of the
one latent factor with multiple latent factors. Results show signifi-
cantly lower fit of the model with one single factor when compared
to the model with multiple latent factors [Delta 2(2) = 204.617, p <
0,001]. Consequently, we may consider the common method variance
is not a serious deficiency in this dataset.
Table 1 shows the means, standard deviations and intercorrelations
of all the study variables aggregated at work-unit level (N = 55) using
the PASW 18.0. Since variables in the study arise from the shared
perceptions of team members, a reference-shift consensus model was
applied.47 Based on the aggregated data at work-unit level (N = 55),
the ICC1 and ICC2 indices ranged from 0,12 to 0,41 and from 0,60 to
0,86 for the variables in the study, respectively. Thus, aggregation
results give support to conclude that within-group agreement in the
studys work-units is sufficient to aggregate unit members percep-
tions to the work-unit level.47 We also tested a one-way ANOVA to
ascertain whether there was statistically significant between-group
discrimination in average variables among employees. Results for the
variables in the study ranged from 2,37 to 7,55 (p < 0,001).
Consequently, there is a significant degree of between-group discrim-
ination and supported the validity of the aggregate healthy organi-
zational practices, organizational trust and team work engagement
(i.e., team work vigor, team work dedication and team work absorp-
tion) got support from it. Finally, intercorrelations among healthy
organizational strategies, organizational trust and team work
engagement by aggregated data at work-unit level (N = 55) shows
that, as expected, variables correlate positively and significantly each
other (100%) ranging from 0,30 to .94 (p < 0,001).
Model fit: Structural Equation Modeling
For the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) we used the aggregated
database (N = 55); consequently, the aggregated scales at work-unit
level for healthy organizational strategies, organizational trust, and
team work engagement were considered as latent variables. Healthy
organizational strategies comprise 8 indicators: work-family concili-
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 Original Article | How Organizational Strategies Predict Team Work Engagement: The Role of Organizational Trust

ation, mobbing prevention, skill development, career development,
psychosocial health, perceived equity, communication and corporate
social responsibility. Organizational trust is comprises 1 indicator.
Finally, team work engagement comprises 2 indicators regarding the
core dimensions of engagement: team work vigor and team work
dedication. Since organizational trust is only composed by 1 indi-
cator, the error variance of vertical trust indicator was constrained in
all the models by using the formula [(1-) * 2] 57 in order to avoid
unidentified problems.
Table 1.
Means, standard deviations and intercorrelations by aggregated data
(N = 55).
Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 4
1. Healthy organizational
strategies (8 strategies) 2,89 1,33 -
2. Healthy organizational
strategies (4 strategies) 2,87 1,48 0,94*** -
3. Organizational trust 3,23 1,49 0,57*** 0,54*** -
4. Team work vigor 4,28 1,04 0,33*** 0,34*** 0,30*** -
5. Team work dedication 4,48 1,14 0,38*** 0,38*** 0,36*** 0,68***
Notes: *** p < 0,001.
Table 2 shows the results of the SEM conducted to test the relation-
ship among healthy organizational strategies, organizational trust
and work team engagement by aggregated data at work-unit level.
The findings of these analyses indicate that the proposed model in
which organizational trust is mediating the relationship among
healthy organizational strategies and team work engagement (M1)
fitted not well to the data [2(43) = 153.884, p = 0,000, RMSEA =
0,22, CFI = 0,67, NFI = 0,61, TLI = 0,58, IFI = 0,68, AIC = 199.88].
Similar results were obtained for the M2 (the partial mediation
model): M2 fitted not well to the data [2(42) = 153.381, p = 0,000,
RMSEA = 0,22, CFI = 0,67, NFI = 0,61, TLI = 0,57, IFI = 0,68, AIC =
201,38]. Consequently, none of these two models showed adequate
goodness-of-fit indices, thus not giving support for the proposed
model when the healthy organizational strategies are tested with the
original 8 items.
To deal with this unexpected finding, an item reduction procedure
consisted on keeping the items with the highest factor loading was
applied to the original healthy organizational strategies indicators
in order to ensure the quality of the scale.58,40 For instance, skill
development, career development, perceived equity and corporate
social responsibility were leave out of the model. Consequently, a
short version scale of the healthy organizational strategies (5
items) distributed by 4 strategies was obtained (alpha = 0,82):
work-family conciliation (1 item), mobbing prevention (1 item),
psychosocial health (1 item), and organizational communication (2
Table 2.
ndices de ajuste para Modelos de Ecuaciones Estructurales mediante datos agregados (N = 55).
Modelos X2 gl p RMSEA CFI NFI TLI IFI AIC X2 gl RMSEA CFI NFI TLI IFI AIC
M1 153,88 43 0,000 0,22 0,67 0,61 0,58 0,68 199,88
M2 153,38 42 0,000 0,22 0,67 0,61 0,57 0,68 201,38
Dif. M2 -M1 0,50 1 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,01 0,00 1,50
M1R 17,69 13 0,17 0,08 0,97 0,91 0,96 0,97 47,69
M2R 14,02 12 0,30 0,05 0,98 0,93 0,98 0,98 46,02
Dif. M1 -M1R 135,69 30 0,01 0,03 0,03 0,39 0,29 153,76
Dif. M2R -M1R 3,68 1 0,03 0,01 0,02 0,02 0,01 1,68
Notes: 2 = Chi-square; df = degrees of freedom; RMSEA = Root Mean Square Error of Approximation; CFI = Comparative Fir Index; NFI = Normed Fit Index, TLI =
Tucker-Lewis Index; IFI = Incremental Fit Index; AIC = Akaike information Criterion.
items). Thus, a revised proposed model (M1R) in which organiza-
tional trust mediates among healthy organizational strategies (a
short version that was composed by 5 items distributed in four
strategies) and team work engagement fit the data with all fit
indices satisfying the criteria. Chi-square tests between M1R and
the original model (M1) show a significant difference between both
models showing the best fit of M1R [Delta 2(29) = 135,69, p <
0,001]. Consequently, in the following analyses, the short version
of the healthy organizational strategies is included in the analyses
at aggregated data at work-unit level.
As Table 2 shows, the Full Mediated Model Revised (M1R) fit the
data with all fit indices satisfying the criteria for a good fit.
Chi-square tests between M1R and the Partial Mediated Model
Revised (M2R), show a non-significant difference [Delta 2(1) =
3,67, n.s.]. These results give evidence for the M1R since: (1) it is
more parsimonious than M2R, (2) for M2R the direct path between
healthy organizational strategies and team work engagement was
not significant (p = 0,07) and more important, (3) also for M2R, the
regression weight between organizational trust and work team
engagement was non-significant (p = 0,293). This final proposed
model (M1R) is showed in Figure 2. Firstly, it is important to note
that all the manifest scales loaded significantly on the intended
latent factors. An inspection of the output revealed that all the
indicators of healthy organizational strategies, organizational trust
and team work engagement loadings on the intended latent factor
which were higher than 0,69. Secondly, a revision of the regression
weights of the proposed M1R reveals that, as expected, healthy
organizational strategies has a positive and significantly influence
on organizational trust ( = 0,58, p < 0,001), which in turn posi-
tively and significantly influences on team work engagement
( = 0,41, p < 0,05). It is interesting to note that, the healthy orga-
nizational strategies explain the 33% of the variance on organiza-
tional trust (R2 = 33%), which in turn explain the 16% of the
variance on team work engagement (R2 = 16%).
Discussion
The aim of our study was to evaluate, for the first time, the rela-
tionship among healthy organizational strategies, organizational
trust and team work engagement by aggregating data at team level.
Specifically, we tested the mediating role of organizational trust (i.e.,
vertical trust) between healthy organizational strategies and the core
of team work engagement (i.e., team work vigor, team work dedica-
tion) by considering the aggregated perceptions from the team
members. We hypothesized that the organizational trust fully medi-
ated the relationship between healthy organizational strategies and
team work engagement.

Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 7/14 11
Original Article | Acosta Hedy et al.
Figure 2.
SEM analyses about healthy organizational strategies, organizational trust and team work engagement in aggregated database (N = 55). Only the
significant coefficients are displayed at p < .001and p < .01.
Work-Family Mobbing Psychosocial
Communication
Conciliation Prevention Health
0,75*** 0,69***
0,84***
0,84*** Healthy
Organizational
Strategies
0,58***
Organizational
Trustl
Vertical Trust
The current study contributes to our understanding of the relation-
ship among two of the elements of the HERO Model, that is, healthy
organizational practices (in terms of healthy organizational strate-
gies) and healthy employees (i.e., organizational trust and team work
engagement) using aggregated data at work-unit level. Specifically,
in a sample of 518 employees nested within 55 work units from 13
SMEs, we tested the relationship among healthy organizational strat-
egies (4 strategies), organizational trust (i.e., vertical trust) and the
core of team work engagement (team work vigor and team work
dedication) at team level included in the HERO questionnaire.13
Results of the Structural Equation Modeling with aggregated data at
work-unit level of analyses revealed that, in an unexpectedly way,
the model with the 8 original items of the healthy organizational
strategies does not fit to the data (neither for the full nor for the
partial mediation model). Accordingly and based on an iterative
process, the original scale was reduced to 5 items distributed on 4
strategies. This result gives evidence to consider these four strategies
are the main related to organizational trust (i.e., vertical trust). On the
other hand, we expect that the rest of strategies (i.e, skill develop-
ment, career development, perceived equity and corporate social
responsibility) could be relevant not for increasing organizational
trust but for other healthy employees phenomenon (e.g., efficacy
beliefs, optimism, resilience) and healthy organizational outcomes
(e.g., commitment, excellent results). The hypothesized models with
the short version of healthy organizational strategies fit significantly
better to the data with the original model with the original healthy
organizational strategies. All in all, Structural Equation Modeling
show that organizational trust fully mediated the relationship among
healthy organizational strategies (4 strategies) and the core of team
work engagement (team work vigor and team work dedication) tested
at work-unit level. These results have in line of previous research, in
which the key role of organizational trust as a mediator among
healthy organizational strategies and team work engagement was
observed.17,28,29 However, in the present study we go one step more,
since the relationships among healthy organizational strategies,
organizational trust and team work engagement have been consid-
ered at team level. In fact, it seems that only when teams perceived
that organizations are implementing healthy strategies in the organi-
zation, the team work engagement is increasing. Thus, vertical trust
is a pivotal element to feel good at work. We can conclude that
12
Team Work Team Work
Vigor Dedication
0,98***
0,88***
0,19 Team Work
Engagement
0,41**
0,94***
organizations must foster trust between employees and supervisors
because healthy strategies to implement by Human Resources
Management will impact positively on teams work engagement if
there is organizational trust. All in all, results give support to our
hypothesis and we can say that the objective of the study has been
reached.
Limitations and further research
The present study has different limitations. The first one is that the
data were obtained by self-report measures. However, not individual
but aggregated perceptions of teams have been considered for
healthy organizational strategies, organizational trust and the core of
the team work engagement. Consequently, the use of these aggre-
gated data at team level of analyses we could minimize the method
common variance bias. Also we used a convenience sample is used
in the present study. However, this sample includes different team
groups from different enterprises that belong to different economical
sectors.
Another limitation is that we have used team perceptions on organi-
zational phenomena (i.e., healthy organizational strategies and orga-
nizational trust). A further step on research should consider the
aggregation of data at organizational level and to test the relation-
ship among healthy organizational strategies and organizational
trust (aggregated at organizational level) on team work engagement
(aggregated at team level) by multilevel analyses by exploring cross-
level effects and interactions among organizational and team levels.
However, in the present study we can assume that the group level of
analyses is adequate in testing organizational trust as well as healthy
organizational strategies. Attending to the organizational trust, in the
present study we focus on specific type of organizational trust:
vertical trust, that is, the trust between employees and direct super-
visor and top managers. Based on this, team perception of their direct
supervisor and top managers are needed to know about the organi-
zational trust. Secondly, and attending to the healthy organizational
strategies in the present study we use aggregated data at team level
of analysis since we consider that the sharing perceptions of
employees working in teams are determinant in order to perceive the
strategies implemented by the organizations and their quality.
7/14 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | Ciencia & Trabajo
 Original Article | How Organizational Strategies Predict Team Work Engagement: The Role of Organizational Trust
Moreover, we assume that in this process of perception and evalua-
tion of the quality of the strategies implemented by the organization,
supervisors and the internal functioning of teams play a key role. In
fact, in the present study, specially, we concluded that not only the
healthy strategies are important but the trust in supervisor has rele-
vant in work teams. If we assume this, we expect differences in
perceptions and quality of organizational strategies implemented and
consequently, the evaluations of this phenomenon at team levels are
also crucial.
Finally, it will be interesting to test this model using multiple orga-
nizations (not only SME) in cross-cultural and with longitudinal
studies in order to explore the existence of positive spirals over time.
According to HERO Model, it is assumed that is expected that the
three elements (i.e., healthy organizational practices, healthy
employee, and healthy outcomes) are reciprocally related among
them across time by a gain spiral. Another step in the study should
be to test the model including healthy organizational outcomes, for
example organizational commitment (aggregated at organizational
level), work-unit productivity (measured by the supervisor opinion)
and loyalty by customers (aggregated at organizational level) in order
to test the effect between healthy organizational strategies and orga-
nizational trust on healthy outcomes. This way, permit to test the
Hero Model considering the relationship between the three key
elements.
Theoretical and Practical Implications
The present study shows some implications for future research and
practice. At theoretical level, the present study extends the
knowledge about the key role played by organizational trust in
the relationship between healthy organizational strategies and
team work engagement tested by aggregated data at work-unit
level in SME. This positive relationship gives support to HERO
Model13 because analyzes the interaction proposed by the model
among healthy organizational practices (i.e., healthy organiza-
tional strategies) and healthy employees (i.e., organizational trust
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Artculo Original

How do Engaged Employees Stay Engaged?

Cmo los Empleados Mantienen su Engagement en el Trabajo?

Arnold B. Bakker1, Evangelia Demerouti2, Despoina Xanthopoulou3

1. Universidad Erasmus de Rotterdam, Depto. de Psicologa Laboral y Organizacional, Rotterdam, Holanda.
2. Universidad Tcnica de Eindhoven, Departamento de Gestin del Rendimiento Humano, Eindhoven, Holanda.
3. Universidad de Creta, Departamento de Psicologa, Rethimno, Grecia.

ABSTRACT RESUMEN
The present literature review focuses on what employees can do to Falta espaol
stay engaged. After defining enduring work engagement, we review
the literature on state work engagement. In addition, we discuss
research on the relationship between engagement on the one hand,
and (a) job performance, (b) proactive behavior, and (c) job crafting
on the other. Finally, we review the evidence for reciprocal relation-
ships between work engagement and job and personal resources. We
conclude that engaged employees take care of their own work
engagement by proactively shaping their work environment. As a
result, engaged employees do not only make full use of the available
job resources, but they also create their own resources to stay
engaged.

Key words: Job Crafting, Job Performance, Proactive

Behavior, Work Engagement

How do Engaged Employees Stay Engaged?
Most scholars agree that job resources are the most important
drivers of work engagement. Research has confirmed that career
growth opportunities, supportive relationships with coworkers,
performance feedback, and employee skill development facilitate
engagement1, particularly when the job is challenging.2,3 Given
these findings, one may argue that the organization plays an
important role in fostering engagement, through the provision of
resourceful and challenging jobs.
We agree that managers can play a crucial role in employee
engagement because they have the legitimate power to influence
work conditions. Research indeed suggests that management
influences the job demands and resources of their employees,4,5
Correspondence / Correspondencia
Arnold B. Bakker,
Erasmus University Rotterdam,
Institute of Psychology, Woudestein, T12-47, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR
Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Tel.: +31 10 408 8853 Fax: +31 10 408 9009.
e-mail: bakker@fsw.eur.nl.
Received: 05 July 2010 / Accepted: 08 March 2011
and can indirectly influence employee engagement.6 However, in
the present theoretical article, we focus on what employees can
do themselves. How do engaged employees stay engaged? We
argue that engaged employees take care of their own work enga-
gement by proactively shaping their work environment. We
propose that engaged employees do not only make full use of the
available job resources, but also create their own resources.
Understanding the psychological processes that explain how
engaged employees stay engaged contributes to the theoretical
advancement of the work engagement concept, but also provides
useful insights for sustaining or creating flourishing workforces.
What is Work engagement?
Work engagement is most often defined as a positive, fulfi-
lling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor,
dedication, and absorption.7,8 Vigor is characterized by high
levels of energy and mental resilience while working. Dedication
refers to being strongly involved in ones work, and experiencing
a sense of significance and enthusiasm. Absorption is characte-
rized by being fully concentrated and happily engrossed in ones
work.
In essence, work engagement captures how workers experience
their work: as stimulating and energetic and something to which
they really want to devote time and effort (the vigor component);
as a significant and meaningful pursuit (dedication); and as
engrossing and interesting (absorption).9 Research has revealed
that engaged employees are optimistic and self-efficacious indi-
viduals who exercise influence over events that affect their
lives.10 Because of their positive attitude and high activity level,

Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 15/21 15
Original Article | Bakker Arnold et al.
engaged employees create their own positive feedback, in terms
of appreciation, recognition, and success.11 Engaged employees
are often also highly engaged outside work, for example in
sports, creative hobbies, and volunteer work. However, engaged
employees are not addicted to their work. They enjoy other
things outside work and, unlike workaholics, they do not work
hard because of a strong and irresistible inner drive, but because
for them working is fun.12
In order to differentiate work engagement from related types of
work-related well-being (e.g., job satisfaction, workaholism, and
burnout), Bakker and Oerlemans13 used Russells14 circumplex
model of affect. According to this model, affective states arise
from two fundamental neurophysiological systems, one related
to a pleasuredispleasure continuum and the other to arousal,
activation, or alertness. Each emotion can be understood as a
linear combination of these two dimensions as varying degrees
of both pleasure and activation (see Figure 1). Specific emotions
arise out of patterns of activation within these two neurophysio-
logical systems, together with interpretations and labeling of
these emotional experiences. For instance, the degree of activa-
tion whilst experiencing positive (pleasurable) emotions varies
considerably.15,16 Feeling calm and content implies a lower level
of activation compared to feeling happy, engaged, excited or
enthusiastic. Similarly, unpleasant emotions may range from
feeling bored or depressed to feeling upset, anxious or tense.
Figure 1.
A two-dimensional view of work-related subjective well-being.13,14
HIGH ACTIVATION
Agitated Excited
Hostile
Irritated
WORKAHOLISM Engagement
Angry
Tense
UNPLEASANT
Dejected
Lethargic Burnout SatisfacTION
Fatigued
Gloomy
Sad
LOW ACTIVATION
As can be seen in Figure 1, work engagement is positioned in the
upper right quadrant of the circumplex model as it resemblances
high levels of pleasure (i.e. dedication and absorption) and acti-
vation (i.e. vigor). Engagement is different from job satisfaction
in that it is a much more active experience. Also, engagement is
different from workaholism, in terms of the valence of the expe-
rience. Workaholics have a strong inner drive to work excessively
hard17, but this experience often goes along with low levels of
pleasure. Finally, the positioning of burnout in the lower left
quadrant of the circumplex model (low levels of pleasure and
activation) is consistent with some studies suggesting that
16
burnout is conceptually the opposite of work engagement.18,19
Initially, the concept of work engagement was developed to
capture an overall state of employees with regard to their job.
Schaufeli et al8, in one of their first articles on work engagement,
emphasized that rather than a momentary and specific state,
engagement refers to a more persistent and pervasive affective-
cognitive state (p. 74). Later on, Sonnentag20 was the first to
challenge this view by introducing the concept of state-like, as
opposed to trait-like, work engagement.
State Work Engagement
Trait-like work engagement (or the between-persons view)
answers questions like why one person feels engaged at work
while another does not. State-like work engagement (or the
within-person view) answers questions like why one person feels
more engaged at work on specific days and not on other days. If
one aims at investigating the full phenomenological experience
of work engagement, one has to focus on state work engagement
as a rather momentary and transient experience that fluctuates
within individuals within short periods of time (from hour to
hour, or from day to day).21 This approach enables us to examine
in addition to general predictors such as enduring resources as
specified in the Job Demands-Resources model the more
proximal predictors of the work engagement experience. Thus,
this approach promises answers to the question: when do persons
feel work engagement? Are there specific situational features
that have to be present during a specific day in order to feel
engaged? Knowledge about the more proximal situational and
person-related predictors of work engagement is crucial to create
Enthusiastic a setting that optimally supports work engagement during
Energised critical times and periods.
Happy Diary studies have indeed demonstrated that work engagement
Pleased fluctuates substantially within individuals, thus supporting the
state-like view. For example, Sonnentag20 assessed work engage-
ment in public service employees over the course of five working
PLEASANT days and found that 42 percent of the overall variance was at the
day (i.e., within-individual) level and 58 percent of the overall
variance was at the between-individual level. Similarly,
Xanthopoulou, Bakker, Heuven, Demerouti, and Schaufeli22 who
Content studied flight attendants during three trips to intercontinental
destinations reported that 41 percent of the overall variance in
Relaxed
Calm work engagement was attributable to within-person variation.
Tranquil Furthermore, in the study of Bakker and Xanthopoulou23 among
dyads of colleagues within-person fluctuations in work engage-
ment were found to explain 44 percent of the total variance.
Slightly smaller but still substantial was the percentage (31%) in
the study by Xanthopoulou, Bakker, Demerouti, and Schaufeli24,
who studied daily work engagement among fast-food restaurant
employees. Taken together, these studies show that at least one
third of the total variance in daily work engagement can be
attributed to within-person fluctuations. Although persons
clearly differ in their overall level of work engagement (also
expressed in the 58 to 69 percent of total variance that is attri-
butable to between-person variation), day-level20,24 and week-
level25 studies suggest that persons do not engage in their work
every day to the same extent; work engagement shows substan-
tial variation across short periods of time.
With respect to predictors of state work engagement, findings
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parallel but do not overlap with findings about trait work enga-
gement supporting the distinctive status of the state experience.
Specifically, Sonnentag20 found that state work engagement was
significantly higher on days that employees felt recovered in the
morning, compared to days when they did not feel well reco-
vered. Furthermore, diary studies have shown that on days that
employees feel more self-efficacious, more optimistic and have a
stronger sense of organization-based self-esteem, they expe-
rience higher levels of work engagement.22,24 With respect to job
characteristics, the studies that addressed within-individual
variation in state work engagement24,25 consistently suggest that
autonomy plays an important role. In contrast, social job
resources like daily supervisory coaching, team climate, and
social support were found to be important predictors in some
occupations, but not in all. Although job demands were rarely
addressed as potential predictors of state work engagement, the
study by Bakker, van Emmerik, Geurts, and Demerouti26 found
that day-level workload was positively related to day-level state
work engagement suggesting that workload acted as a
challenge. To conclude, research on state work engagement indi-
cates that there are not only people who are more engaged in
their work than others but the level of engagement differs from
day to day within the same person. Importantly, the situational
predictors of state work engagement seem slightly different from
those of trait work engagement.
Engagement and Job Performance
The main reason for the growing interest of both academics and
managers in the concept of work engagement is its predictive
value for job performance. The positive association between
engagement and performance may be explained by at least four
distinct psychological mechanisms.11 First, engaged employees
often experience positive emotions, including joy and enthu-
siasm. These positive emotions seem to broaden peoples
thought-action repertoire27, implying that they constantly learn
and acquire new skills and thereby work on their personal
resources.28 These resources can be used during task perfor-
mance. Second, engaged workers experience better health.29 This
means that they have the ability to focus on their tasks and dedi-
cate all their energy to their work. Third, engaged employees
create their own resources as engagement has been found to
positively predict job resources over time.25,10 If needed, they ask
for performance feedback or they ask colleagues for help. Finally,
engaged workers transfer their engagement to others in their
immediate environment.23,30 Since in most organizations perfor-
mance is the result of collaborative effort, the engagement of one
person may transfer to others and indirectly improve team
performance.
The number of studies supporting the positive relationship
between employee engagement and (task and extra-role) perfor-
mance is increasing.31 For example, Halbesleben and Wheeler32
in their study among American employees, their supervisors, and
their closest coworkers from a wide variety of industries and
occupations showed that work engagement made a unique
contribution (after controlling for job embeddedness) to explai-
ning variance in job performance. Salanova, Agut, and Peir33
conducted a study among personnel working in Spanish restau-
rants and hotels. Service employees (N=342) from 58 hotel front-
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Original Article | How do Engaged Employees Stay Engaged?
desks and 56 restaurants provided information about organiza-
tional resources, engagement, and service climate, while custo-
mers (N=1,140) from these units provided information on
employee performance and customer loyalty. Structural equation
modeling analyses showed that organizational resources and
work engagement predicted service climate, which, in turn,
predicted employee performance and then customer loyalty.
Bakker and Xanthopoulou34 showed that engaged school princi-
pals were rated as more creative (i.e. a specific aspect of task
performance) by their subordinate teachers. It was proposed that
engagement adds to creativity because a person who is not
engaged is less likely to use his/her skills and expertise in the
service of creative performance, even if he/she holds the exper-
tise and ability to perform creatively. In contrast, energetic,
dedicated and absorbed employees are more inclined to use their
skills or to acquire new skills in order to be creative. Saks35
supported the positive relation between engagement and organi-
zational citizenship behavior. In a survey study among emplo-
yees working in a variety of jobs and organizations, he found
that engaged individuals were more likely to attend functions
that were not required by the organization in order to improve
the overall image. Finally, Bakker and Demerouti30 in their study
among 175 working couples supported the crossover of work
engagement from women to men. In turn, mens work engage-
ment related positively to their in-role and extra-role perfor-
mance, as rated by their colleagues.
Similar results have been reported for the relationship between
state work engagement and job performance episodes. Forty-four
flight attendants were followed-up over consecutive flights to
three intercontinental trips, three times per trip: after the
outbound flight, and before and after the inbound flight.22
Results suggested that colleague support during the outbound
flight related positively to flight attendants self-efficacy before
the inbound flight, and work engagement during the inbound
flight. Consequently, work engagement related positively to self-
reported in-role and extra-role performance during the inbound
flight. These findings are quite striking because they imply a
cyclical effect. When employees receive sufficient support from
their colleagues, they feel more efficacious and they are more
engaged. As a result, they reciprocate this support by being good
citizens (i.e. by supporting their colleagues). In a similar vein,
Bakker and Bal25 performed a study among 54 Dutch starting
teachers. Teachers filled in short questionnaires every Friday for
five consecutive working weeks. Results of this study revealed
that weekly engagement related positively to weekly (in-role and
extra-role) self-rated performance. Importantly, teachers self-
ratings of performance were strongly related to supervisors
ratings of teachers performance that were collected during the
first week of the study.
Furthermore, Bakker and Xanthopoulou23 in a diary study among
62 dyads of coworkers who worked closely together, found that
colleagues influenced each others level of engagement, and indi-
rectly influenced each others daily performance. Specifically,
this study revealed that daily work engagement crossed over
from one colleague to the other on days they had more business
and informal contacts (phone, e-mail, face-to-face) than usual;
on these days, particularly vigorous coworkers facilitated each
others performance. In a similar diary design among 78 dyads of
coworkers, Bakker and Xanthopoulou36 found evidence for the
daily crossover of job performance from one person to the other,
17
Original Article | Bakker Arnold et al.
particularly on days that one of the two colleagues was highly
engaged. This interaction effect remained significant after
controlling for daily availability of job resources, and the degree
to which colleagues liked each other.
Finally, work engagement has also been found to relate positi-
vely to productivity. In a study among Greek employees working
in fast-food restaurants, a compelling case was made of the
predictive value of work engagement for financial turnover, on a
daily basis.24 Consistent with hypotheses, results showed that
employees were more engaged on days that were characterized
by more job resources than usual. Daily job resources, like super-
visor coaching and positive team atmosphere contributed to
employees day-levels of optimism, self-efficacy, and self-esteem,
which, in turn, explained daily work engagement. Importantly,
on days employees were more engaged, restaurants reported
higher financial returns.
To conclude, there is substantial empirical evidence for the posi-
tive relationship between work engagement and job performance
both at the between-person and at the within-person level.31
Support for this relationship is substantial and adds to our
understanding of why engaged employees stay engaged. While
engagement facilitates high levels of performance and profit for
the organization, employees who perform at a high level are also
likely to stay engaged in their job. At the organizational-level of
analysis, a possible reason for this is that a flourishing organiza-
tion is more likely to provide the means (i.e. resources) to emplo-
yees that facilitate engagement. This is in line with Schneider,
Hanges, Smith, and Salvaggio37, who showed that financial and
market performance predicted overall job satisfaction more
strongly than the reverse (although some of the reverse relation-
ships were also significant). However, of more importance here is
a reason that stems from the person-level of analysis. Employees
performing at a high level are more likely to feel confident and
believe that they have control over the environment.10 As Gist
and Mitchell38 argued, positive, self-directed performance
feedback may retain or enhance employees self-efficacy, which
in turn keeps them engaged at work.28 This kind of proactive
behavior that characterizes engaged employees may be another
explanation of why they stay engaged.
Engagement and Proactive behavior
Proactivity at work has been defined as a special type of goal-
directed behavior that it is self-starting, anticipatory and change-
oriented.39-42 According to Bindl and Parker39, employees can be
proactive in initiating better ways of conducting their tasks (indi-
vidual task proactivity), they can be proactive in developing
methods to help their team perform better (team member proac-
tivity), or they can actively suggest how to improve performance
of the organization (organization member proactivity).
Several studies have focused on the relationship between work
engagement and proactive behavior at work. Salanova and
Schaufeli43 found in a cross-sectional survey study among mana-
gers of a Dutch telecom company and Spanish technology
employees a positive relationship between engagement and self-
reported personal initiative at work. Specifically, multi-group
analyses showed that work engagement fully mediated the rela-
tionship between job resources and proactive behavior at work in
both samples. In a similar vein, Schaufeli et al.12 in their survey
18
study among Dutch employees from a wide range of occupations,
reported a positive relationship between engagement on the one
hand, and innovativeness on the other. Specifically, engaged
employees were more likely to invent new solutions for problems
at work. Consistently, in a longitudinal study among Finnish
dentists, Hakanen, Perhoniemi, and Toppinen-Tammer44 found a
positive link between engagement on the one hand, and personal
initiative and innovation on the other hand. They found that
engaged dentists were more likely to do more than they are asked
to do, and tried to be actively involved in organizational matters.
In addition, engaged dentists constantly made improvements in
their work and gathered feedback and ideas for improvements
from clients. Furthermore, Sonnentag20 showed in her diary
study that day-level recovery was positively related to day-level
work engagement. Daily engagement was, in turn, positively
related to day-level proactive behavior (personal initiative and
pursuit of learning) during the workday.
In line with these findings, Bakker and Demerouti45 showed that
engagement is positively related to active learning behavior.
Employees from a wide variety of occupations who scored high
on vigor, dedication, and absorption scored also high on super-
visor-ratings of active learning. Engaged workers were more
likely to learn new things through their work activities, and to
search for task-related challenges. They were also more likely to
ask their colleagues for feedback about their performance.
Finally, a recent study among almost 750 young Finnish mana-
gers46 showed that engaged managers were most eager to develop
themselves in the job and to increase their occupational
knowledge. They were also most likely to have positive attitudes
towards modernization and increased productivity. Taken toge-
ther, these findings imply that engaged employees are not
passive actors in work environments, but instead actively change
their work environment if needed.
Engagement and Job crafting
Employees may actively change the design of their jobs by
choosing tasks, negotiating different job content, and assigning
meaning to their tasks or jobs.47 This process of employees
shaping their jobs has been referred to as job crafting.48 Job
crafting is defined as the physical and cognitive changes indivi-
duals make in their task or relational boundaries. Physical
changes refer to changes in the form, scope or number of job
tasks, whereas cognitive changes refer to changing how one sees
the job. Berg, Wrzesniewski and Dutton49 offer some examples of
making physical changes to ones job. For instance, they inter-
viewed a maintenance technician who told that he crafts his job
in the form of taking on additional tasks. After being for some
time in the organization, he started to proactively help newco-
mers to learn the job. Because he turned out to be good at this,
he became formally responsible for the training of new emplo-
yees. Berg and colleagues49 also cite a customer service represen-
tative who reframed the perception of the job as a meaningful
whole that positively impacts others rather than a collection of
separate tasks (i.e. cognitive change as a form of job crafting):
Technically, [my job is] putting in orders, entering orders, but
really I see it as providing our customers with an enjoyable expe-
rience, a positive experience, which is a lot more meaningful to
me than entering numbers (pp. 167).
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Changing relational boundaries means that individuals have
discretion over whom they interact with while doing their job.
According to Wrzesniewski and Dutton48, job crafting focuses on
the processes by which employees change elements of their jobs
and relationships with others to revise the meaning of the work
and the social environment at work. Thus, job crafting is about
changing the job in order to experience enhanced meaning of it.
As a consequence, employees may be able to increase their
person-job fit.
However, before employees can start crafting their job, they must
perceive they have the opportunity to make changes. This refers to
the autonomy employees have in what they do in their job and
how they do it. For example, when employees perform tasks that
are interdependent, there is not much room for changing how and
when to perform the tasks and relational boundaries. Also, support
from supervisors seems very important in perceiving opportunities
to craft. A supervisor who understands the employee may offer the
employee autonomy to impact upon his/ her job tasks, and thereby
encourages self-initiation.50
Tims and Bakker51 adopt the view that employees are active in
changing their job tasks and relational boundaries. However, they
argue that not every employee may have room and motivation for
changing the job. Wrzesniewski, McCauley, Rozin, and Schwartz52
suggested that employees who view their work as a calling (i.e.,
focus on enjoyment or fulfilling) are more likely to engage in job
crafting, because work is more central in their lives. Consistent
with this view, Tims, Bakker, and Derks53 showed that engagement
has a positive relationship with colleague-ratings of job crafting.
Engaged employees were most likely to increase their job resources,
for example, ask for feedback from their supervisor and mobilize
their social network. Additionally, engaged employees were most
likely to increase their own job demands in order to create a
challenging work environment. For example, they proactively
volunteered to be involved in a project if possible. Additionally, if
it is quiet at work they see this as an opportunity to start new
projects.
Petrou, Demerouti, Peeters, and Schaufeli54 examined the situa-
tional conditions influencing job crafting on a daily basis, as well
as the relationship between job crafting and state work engage-
ment. Their study was conducted among 95 employees from
several organizations who filled in a diary for five consecutive
days. Job crafting was operationalized as resources seeking,
challenges seeking and demands reducing. Findings not only
confirmed the validity of the job crafting conceptualization inclu-
ding the three specific behaviors of resources seeking, challenges
seeking and demands reducing, but also showed that job crafting
behaviors varied significantly from one day to another (within-
person variance ranged between 31% and 45%). Moreover, it was
found that on days that work pressure and autonomy were both
high (i.e. active jobs) individuals showed higher resources seeking
and lower demands reducing behaviors. Interestingly, it was
shown that the more employees sought resources and challenges
on a specific day the more engaged they were in their job. In
contrast, the more employees simplified their work on a specific
day, the less engagement they experienced on that day. These
findings suggest that job crafting may occur on a daily basis, it is
predicted by a work context that is characterized by high work
pressure and high autonomy, and it has both beneficial (in case of
resource and demands seeking) and detrimental (in case of
demands reducing) effects on work engagement.
Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 15/21
Original Article | How do Engaged Employees Stay Engaged?
Cycles of Engagement
The finding that job resources are the most important drivers of
work engagement29, and that engaged employees proactively
mobilize their own job resources, seems to suggest that resources
are reciprocal with engagement. This assumption of reciprocity
actually implies that engaged employees are more likely to craft
their job, which in turn helps them to sustain their engagement.
Is there evidence for the existence of such cycles of engage-
ment? Some longitudinal and diary studies indeed suggest that
such cycles do exist.
First, in their three-year panel study among 2,555 Finnish
dentists, Hakanen and his colleagues44 examined how job
resources and work engagement may start a gain cycle. Drawing
on Hobfolls55 conservation of resources (COR) theory, a reci-
procal process was predicted: (1) job resources lead to work
engagement and work engagement leads to personal initiative
(PI), which, in turn, has a positive impact on work-unit innova-
tiveness, and (2) work-unit innovativeness leads to PI, which has
a positive impact on work engagement, which finally predicts
future job resources. The results generally confirmed these hypo-
theses. Positive and reciprocal cross-lagged associations were
found between job resources and work engagement and between
work engagement and PI. In addition, PI had a positive impact
on work-unit innovativeness over time. This suggests that job
resources fueled engagement and initiative, but also that enga-
gement and personal initiative led to more resources over time.
Second, Xanthopoulou et al.10 examined the role of personal
resources (i.e. self-efficacy, self-esteem, and optimism) and job
resources (i.e. job autonomy, supervisory coaching, performance
feedback, and opportunities for professional development) in explai-
ning work engagement. They carried out a two-wave longitudinal
study among technical specialists with a time interval of one year
and a half. It was hypothesized that job resources, personal
resources, and work engagement are reciprocal over time. Results
showed that not only (job and personal) resources and work enga-
gement, but also job and personal resources were mutually related.
These findings support the assumption of COR theory55 that various
types of resources and well-being evolve into a cycle that deter-
mines employees successful adaptation to their work environments.
Importantly, these results indicate that engaged employees are more
likely to be efficacious (i.e. have control over the environment),
optimistic and to feel valued by the organization that increases the
chances of impacting on their work environment. Put differently,
engaged employees are characterized by high levels of personal
resources (and particularly self-efficacy) that broaden their auto-
nomy to change tasks or relational boundaries.
Third, Schaufeli et al.56 in their study among Dutch managers of a
telecom company hypothesized that work engagement would have
a positive impact on changes in job resources over a one-year time
period. The results showed that changes in job resources predicted
engagement, and that engagement was predictive of increases in
social support, autonomy, opportunities for development, and
performance feedback. Finally, in their study among starting
teachers Bakker and Bal25 found that weekly changes in work-re-
lated resources (autonomy, supervisory coaching, performance
feedback, and opportunities for development) predicted week-le-
vels of engagement. In addition, they found a reversed causal
effect: engaged teachers were best able to mobilize their own job
resources.
19
Original Article | Bakker Arnold et al.
Taken together, these results show that employee engagement
and behavior can have a positive effect on the available
resources. Engaged employees seem to create or mobilize their
own personal and job resources in other words, they engage in
job crafting.48 In this way, engaged employees seem to sustain
and manage their own vigor and dedication.25,28 This dynamic,
reciprocal relationship between resources and engagement as
described by COR theory is compatible with and partly supports
the notion of a gain cycle of engagement.
Conclusion
So far, the main concern of scholars and managers interested in
work engagement was to figure out what is the best way to
design a job in order to enhance employee engagement. Research
of the past decade boils down to the significance of job and
personal resources in creating engaged workforces.1,29 The
present conceptual paper has gone one step further, and
examined how engaged employees stay engaged based on their
own initiative. With the help of theory and previous findings the
main purpose was to find out how engaged employees stay
engaged in their work.
A thorough examination of the literature suggests that engaged
employees are likely to work in an environment that stimulates
autonomy, and believe that they have control over this environ-
ment (i.e. self-efficacy;28). The role of control, as a situational
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21
Artculo Original
Workplace Relationships as Demands and Resources: A Model
of Burnout and Work Engagement
Las Relaciones Interpersonales en el Lugar de Trabajo Como Demandas y Recursos
Laborales: Un Modelo de Burnout y Engagement
Michael P. Leiter1, Ryan Nicholson2, Ashlyn Patterson3, Heather K. Spence Laschinger4
1. PhD. Canada Research Chair in Occupational Health and Wellbeing.
2. MSc.
3. BScH. Centro de Investigacin y Desarrollo Organizacional, Universidad de Acadia.
4. RN, PhD, FCAHS. Profesora de la Universidad de Western Ontario.
ABSTRACT
This study investigates the relationship between workplace interper-
sonal encounters and the experiences of burnout and work engage-
ment in a longitudinal sample of Canadian nurses (N = 472). Based
on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, the authors hypothe-
sized that workplace demands (i.e., incivility) are related to the core
burnout scales of exhaustion and cynicism while resources (i.e.,
civility) are related to professional efficacy and work engagement.
Additionally, instigated incivility was hypothesized as being posi-
tively associated with experienced incivility. A structural equation
analysis found that the data best fit a slightly revised JD-R model
that supported demands being closely linked to exhaustion and
cynicism, while linking resources with efficacy and engagement.
Contrary to expectations, instigated incivility was related to a lack
of coworker civility rather than workplace incivility. The implica-
tions of these findings for potential interventions and future research
are discussed.
Key words: Engagement, Burnout, Teamwork, Incivility,
Civility, Social Behavior
Workplace stress has long been noted as a major contributor to
impairments in physical health and overall job performance.1 This
internalized personal experience of stress mediates the relationship
between workplace stressors and work-related outcomes including
leave of absences and illness.2 The stress response to prolonged
exposure of chronic job demands is termed burnout.3 Working
relationships with colleagues and supervisors have long been recog-
nized as having a definitive role in employees psychological
connections with work4,5, serving as both resources and burdens.
The research reported here considers the extent to which burnout or
work engagement are associated with the quality of social interac-
tion that employees have with their colleagues at work.
Correspondence / Correspondencia
PhD Michael P. Leiter
Centre for Organizational Research & Development, Acadia University
24 Highland Ave, Wolfville, NS Canada, B4P 2R6
Tel.: 902-585-1357 Fax: 902-585-1083
e-mail: michael.leiter@acadiau.ca
Received: 15 January 2010 / Accepted: 08 March 2011
22
RESUMEN
Este trabajo investiga la relacin existente entre los encuentros
interpersonales en el trabajo y las experiencias de burnout y enga-
gement en una muestra longitudinal de personal de enfermera
canadiense (N = 472). Basado en el modelo de demandas y recursos
laborales (JD-R), los autores plantearon la hiptesis de que las
demandas del lugar de trabajo (es decir, el incivismo) estn relacio-
nadas con las principales escalas de burnout y cinismo, mientras
que los recursos (es decir, el civismo) estn relacionados con la
eficacia profesional y el engagement. Adems se hipotetiz que el
incivismo instigado est asociado positivamente con el incivismo
percibido. A travs de un anlisis de ecuaciones estructurales se
pudo descubrir que los datos se ajustan mejor a un modelo JD-R al
que se le hicieron algunas modificaciones y que respalda la idea de
que las demandas estn estrechamente relacionadas con el agota-
miento y el cinismo, mientras que los recursos estn vinculados con
la eficacia y el engagement. Contrariamente a lo esperado, el inci-
vismo instigado est relacionado con la falta de civismo entre
colegas, en vez de vincularse con el incivismo en el lugar de traba-
jo. Por ltimo, se discuten las implicaciones de estos hallazgos para
las posibles intervenciones.
Palabras clave: ENGAGEMENT, BURNOUT, TRABAJO EN EQUIPO,
INCIVISMO, CIVISMO, COMPORTAMIENTO SOCIAL
Burnout
Job burnout is a response to the effects of emotional and interper-
sonal stressors found on the job.6,7 The Maslach Burnout Inventory
(MBI)8 defines burnout as comprising three factors: exhaustion,
cynicism, and feelings of professional inefficacy, although many
consider exhaustion and cynicism to be the core burnout dimen-
sions.
Exhaustion is the component of burnout describing the depletion
and overexertion of both physical and emotional resources. When
people use the term burnout colloquially, they often convey images
of exhaustion; however, exhaustion on its own fails to take into
account the relationship between an employee and their work when
subjected to these chronic job demands. Cynicism, the interpersonal
aspect of burnout, is characterized by creating psychological
distance from the workplace through detached responses to
co-workers, management, customers, and other various aspects of
the job. Finally, inefficacy refers to feelings of reduced occupational
self-esteem, accomplishment, and productivity, representing the
self-evaluation portion of burnout. Exhaustion and cynicism, the
two primary measures of burnout, demonstrate the highest correla-
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 Original Article | Workplace Relationships as Demands and Resources: A Model of Burnout and Work Engagement
tion between the three aspects of burnout at approximately 0,55.8 Although Schaufeli and colleagues12 showed that the three-factor
Burnout was initially thought to be brought about by stress from
intrapersonal relationships in the workplace applicable only to
employees acting as a service provider to a client. As a result, the
Maslach Burnout InventoryHuman Services Scale (MBI-HSS)8 was
designed to measure burnout in employees only with occupations
that could be defined as people work. The concept has since been
more broadly applied to people of varying occupations and sectors,
as reflected by the design of the Maslach Burnout Inventory
General Survey.9 The vast majority of burnout studies, approxi-
mately 90 percent, use the MBI as their primary measurement tool
making it the current gold standard for measuring occupational
burnout.10 High scores on the exhaustion and cynicism scales of the
MBI in combination with a low professional efficacy score signals
the presence of burnout.
Burnout research has focused primarily on the negative facets of work,
a logical viewpoint as psychology has generally examined the negative
aspects of the human experience, such as studies of mental illness,
environmental stressors, or countless other examples. Breaking away
from this stance, positive psychology has seen an emergence in popu-
larity within the last decade. Positive psychology shifts the focus away
from repairing damage and towards strengthening positive traits and
qualities.11 Maslach, Schaufeli, and Leiter7 applied this viewpoint to
burnout by proposing work engagement as its antithesis, defined as a
positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind.12
Unlike burnout, no clear operational definition of work engagement
has been established as two somewhat divergent perspectives have
been put forward. One perspective, as first put forward by Maslach
and Leiter13, suggests that work engagement is the direct antithesis
of burnout. They propose that work engagement consists of three
dimensions: energy, involvement, and efficacy. These three dimen-
sions are direct polar opposites of their respective burnout counter-
parts of exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy. According to this
model, individuals scoring high on the efficacy scale and low on the
exhaustion and cynicism scales of the MBI are considered as being
engaged with their work, in direct contrast to the scoring pattern of
burnout.
More recently, Schaufeli, Salanova, Gonzalez-Roma, and Bakker12
suggested that the MBI is unsuitable for measuring work engage-
ment as it does not provide a measurement independent from
burnout as the engagement and burnout scales are merely opposing
ends of three continuums. Rather, they developed the Utrecht Work
Engagement Scale (UWES) as a means of measuring work engage-
ment separate from burnout.12 Schaufeli and colleagues believe that
work engagement is characterized by three factors: vigor, dedica-
tion, and absorption. Vigor is characterized by high levels of energy
and effort directed towards work. Dedication is described as being
heavily involved in the job and includes feelings of pride and enthu-
siasm. The third factor, absorption, describes individuals who find
themselves happily immersed in their work to the point of having a
difficult time separating their life from their work. can have negative psychological costs to employees. For example,
Vigor and dedication are the direct polar opposites of the burnout
factors of exhaustion and cynicism respectively.7,14 These vigor-ex-
haustion and dedication-cynicism dimensions have been labeled
activation and identification respectively.14 Absorption, on the other
hand, is not considered to be the opposite of the burnout factor inef-
ficacy and was not originally hypothesized as a part of engagement.
Rather, it was proposed as a third factor following in-depth inter-
views conducted with a sample of workers15 and was supported by
a confirmatory factor analysis.12 resources correlate strongly with work engagement both immediately
Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 22/29
work engagement model fit their data better than a single measure
of work engagement, the correlations between the vigor, dedication,
and absorption are high, typically greater than 0,60.16 The impact of
these strong correlations may be best highlighted by Sonnentag17
who used the UWES to measure work engagement as a single-factor
after a principal component analysis did not result in a three-factor
structure. Various studies using the MBI and UWES have examined
how the proposed factors of burnout and engagement best fit their
respective data sets. As expected, the three components of burnout
have been negatively correlated with the three components of work
engagement.12,18,19 However, the loading patterns exhibited consis-
tently differ from what would be expected (i.e., exhaustion, cyni-
cism, and inefficacy loading on one factor and vigor, dedication,
and absorption on a second factor). A core burnout factor consisting
only of exhaustion and cynicism and an extended engagement
factor, including the three proposed engagement scales and efficacy,
best fit the data as efficacy is strongly correlated with all three
aspects of engagement.15,18,20,21 Schaufeli and Bakker18 suggest this
may be due to the positive wording of the efficacy items on the MBI.
The engagement scales are also worded positively while the core
burnout scales are negatively worded. With this in mind, it has been
suggested that burnout may be measured more accurately with the
use negatively-worded items to measure inefficacy instead of using
the reverse score of positively written efficacy items.22
Incivility and Job Demands/Resources Model
The Job Demands-Resources Model23 suggests job demands and job
resources are generalized job characteristics that are related to the
experience of burnout and work engagement. Job demands refer to
physical, social, and organizational factors on the job that require
extra physical or mental effort leading to physiological and psycho-
logical costs.23 Over time, the accumulation of these costs can lead
to burnout. For example, Baker, Demerouti, Taris, Schaufeli, and
Schreurs24 reported that an increase in job demands is related to
increased feelings of exhaustion. Similarly, Hakanen, Schaufeli, and
Ahola25 found that job demands were positively correlated with
burnout and depression both initially and over a three year time
period.
One job demand of considerable interest is incivility. As defined by
Andersson and Pearson26, workplace incivility is low-intensity
deviant behaviour with ambiguous intent to harm the target, in
violation of workplace norms for mutual respect. Uncivil behaviors
are characteristically rude and discourteous, displaying a lack of
regard for others (p.457). Examples of these types of behavior
include withholding information, spreading rumors about colleagues,
and making demeaning remarks to someone. Incivility among
coworkers can result in emotionally draining interactions, which
workplace incivility is associated with a decrease in self-esteem,
self-confidence, and an increase in feelings of depression, nervous-
ness, and anxiety.27,28
In contrast, job resources are physical, psychological, social, or
organizational aspects of the job that: assist in achieving work
goals, reduce job demands, and stimulate personal growth.23 These
resources foster employee motivation, and thus are also believed to
increase work engagement. For example, there is evidence that job
23
Original Article | Leiter Michael et al.
and over time.25 In addition, Demerouti et al.23 found that when job
resources are lacking, work disengagement is more likely to occur.
Civility reflects supportive collegial relationships that provide an
example of a job resource. Civil behavior involves taking others feel-
ings into consideration, treating others with dignity, and acting in
accordance with the social norm of mutual respect.26 Workplace
civility involves positive interpersonal relationships that consist of
valuing and being valued by others. As a job resource, supportive
collegial relationships motivate employees. That motivation is inte-
gral to maintaining a strong level of work engagement.
Workplace civility has strong associations with key organizational
outcomes. High levels of civility are positively correlated with nurses
trust in management29 while low levels of civility are associated
with employees turnover rates.30
In contrast to workplace civility that reflects the overall tone of colle-
gial interactions, incivility measures focus on specific incidents31
from coworkers or supervisors. Measures of instigated incivility ask
respondents to report the frequency with which they enact incivility
behaviors towards others at work. Instigated incivility marks a
qualitative shift from measures of experienced incivility in that it
asks respondents to acknowledge their personal contribution to inci-
vility occurring within their workplace. They are not only victims of
incivility but perpetrators of these actions as well.
We include instigated incivility as an outcome in parallel with
burnout and work engagement. As a self-report of respondents
behavior, it adds a distinct dimension beyond the emotional and
cognitive perspectives reflected in other constructs. While experi-
enced incivility and civility represent demands and resources at
work, instigated incivility reflects respondents direct participation in
that social environment. Whereas civility levels reflect core values in
an organizations culture32, people would tend to align their own
social interactions with those they receive from others. In addition to
direct relationships from received to instigated incivility, employees
levels of burnout or work engagement may have implications for
instigated incivility. Greater exhaustion and cynicism would
discourage employees to interact with colleagues with sensitivity and
consideration because these qualities require more effort. When
experiencing burnout, employees are incapable of considerate rela-
tionships because they lack the necessary energy and involvement in
others. Less work engagement could also contribute to more insti-
gated incivility as less engaged employees would invest less of their
personal resources in their workplace interactions even if they did
not feel exhausted or cynical but only indifferent.
Hypotheses
The Job Demand/Resources Model proposes that job demands align
more directly with the exhaustion and cynicism aspects of burnout
while job resources align more closely with work engagement.
Regarding interpersonal encounters at work, incivility from coworkers
and from supervisors represent a significant demand with emotional
and operational consequences.33,34 In contrast, coworkers and super-
visors can be the most effective source of resources in their capacity
to provide emotional, operational, and informational support.
Hypothesis 1: The data will support a model in which demands
(supervisor and coworker incivility) have close relationships with
the exhaustion and cynicism aspects of burnout while resources
(supervisor and coworker civility) have direct relationships with
professional efficacy and work engagement.
24
Instigated incivility reflects employees acceptance of incivility as
an unavoidable feature of worklife or something tolerated if not
encouraged in the organizational culture. A primary source of their
attitudes towards workplace civility is their encounters with others
at work.
Hypothesis 2: Instigated incivility will be positively associated
with incivility from coworkers and supervisors and negatively
associated with coworker civility.
Methods
Participants
At Time 1, 1173 health-care workers in three district health authori-
ties in Nova Scotia and two hospitals in Ontario completed a survey.
At Time 2, 907 health-care workers completed the survey. Time 1 had
255 participants on intervention units and 885 in the contrast units;
Time 2 had 171 participants in the intervention units and 691 in the
contrast units.
Four hundred seventy-two participants completed surveys both at
Time 1 and Time 2. Participants were predominantly female (N = 426,
90,3%; male: N = 37, 7,8%, 9 not responding), with an average age
of 43,26 years (SD = 9,46) at Time 1. Their employment status varied,
including full-time (Time 1: N = 353, 74,8%; Time 2: N = 351,
74,4%), part-time (Time 1: N = 87, 18,4%; Time 2: N = 87, 18,4%),
casual (Time 1: N = 25, 5,3%; Time 2: N = 23, 4,9%), and temporary
(Time 1: N = 4, 0,8%; Time 2: N = 3, 0,6%) employment, with 3 not
responding at Time 1 and 8 not responding at Time 2.
The occupational categories with the highest response rates included
Staff RNs (Time 1: N = 245, 51,9%; Time 2: N = 245, 51,9%), RPNs
(Time 1: N = 26, 5,5%; Time 2: N = 26, 5,5%), Ward Clerks (Time 1:
N = 22, 4,7%; Time 2: N = 21, 4,4%), LPNs (Time 1: N = 21, 4,4%;
Time 2: N = 21, 4,4%) and Unit Clerks (Time 1: N = 19, 4,0%; Time
2: N = 19, 4,0%). As of Time 2, respondents worked in their current
hospital for varying lengths: less than six months (9, 1,9%), 6 to 24
months (16, 3,4%), 2-5 years (80, 16,9%), 6-10 years (88, 18,6%),
11-15 years (46, 9,7%), 16-20 years (67, 14,2%), 21-30 years (106,
22,5%), and more than 30 years (22, 4,7%), with 38 not responding.
Procedure
These health-care workers completed a questionnaire as part of a
project to improve civility among colleagues. In accordance with
procedures approved by relevant ethics review panels, researchers
worked with hospital personnel to distribute questionnaire packages
to personnel on 41 units across the five hospitals. We explained the
research objectives, ensured confidentiality, and posted reminders in
the hospitals to help increase participation. In accordance with
ethical procedures, completing the surveys was voluntary. Participants
had an option of completing the survey online. Members of the team
presented the rationale for the survey and were present on partici-
pating units across the shifts to answer questions and provide assis-
tance upon request. Participants returned completed surveys in
business-reply stamped envelopes to a research center that was inde-
pendent of the hospitals. We received 1173 surveys from the 3163
distributed for a response rate of 37%. Following the first wave of
surveys, an intervention was implemented by the research team, in
cooperation with hospital partners, on 8 of the 41 units. In accor-
dance with ethical procedures, participation in CREW sessions was
voluntary. A second wave of surveys was administered one year after
the first survey using the same procedure. At Time 2, we received 907
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 Original Article | Workplace Relationships as Demands and Resources: A Model of Burnout and Work Engagement

surveys from the 3163 distributed for a response rate of 28,6%. Four
hundred seventy-two participants completed surveys both at Time 1
and Time 2 and had complete variables for this study.
Measures
Emotional Exhaustion. A subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-
General Survey (MBI-GS)8,9 was used to measure Emotional
Exhaustion. Participants used a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 0
(never) to 6 (every day) to rate the extent to which they experience
exhaustion and cynicism at work (e.g., I feel used up at the end of
the workday). In the current study, the internal reliability for
Emotional Exhaustion was high (_ = 0,91 at Time 1 and _ = 0,91 at
Time 2).
Cynicism. A subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General
Survey (MBI-GS)8,9 was used to measure Cynicism. Participants used
a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (never) to 6 (every day) to rate
the extent to which they experience exhaustion and cynicism at
work (e.g., I have become less interested in my work since I started
this job). In the current study, the internal reliability for Cynicism
was high (_ = 0,82 at Time 1 and _ = 0,87 at Time 2).
Professional Efficacy. Efficacy was measured using the professional
efficacy scale of the Maslach Burnout InventoryGeneral Scale
(MBIGS).9 Participants used a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 0
(never) to 6 (every day) to rate the extent to which they experience
efficacy (e.g., I feel exhilarated when I accomplish something at
work). In the current study, the internal reliability was high (_ = 0,73
at Time 1, and _ = 0,76 at Time 2).
Engagement. Engagement was measured using a shortened 4-item
version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES).12 The items
included all three UWES constructs: dedication (2), vigor (8, 15), and
absorption (9); the average of the four items produced one score,
UWES. Participants used a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (never)
to 6 (every day) to rate how often they experience engagement with
their work (e.g., I find the work that I do full of meaning and
purpose). In the current study, the internal reliability was high at
Time 1 (_ = 0,75) and Time 2 (_ = 0,76).
Instigated Incivility. Consistent with Blau and Andersson35, an addi-
tional dimension of instigated workplace incivility was included.
Using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from never to daily, partici-
pants rated their own behavior on each of the five items (e.g.,
Ignored or excluded others from professional camaraderie). In the
current study, the internal reliability was high at Time 1 (_ = 0,72)
and Time 2 (_ = 0,81).
Experienced Incivility (Supervisor and Coworker). The 10-item
Workplace Incivility Scale31 assesses the frequency of health-care
workers experiences of workplace incivility including disrespectful,
rude, or condescending behaviors in the previous month. Using a
7-point Likert scale ranging from never to daily participants rated
the extent to which they experienced each of five behaviors (e.g.,
People treat each other with respect in my work group) from their
supervisor and from their coworkers. In the current study, the internal
reliability was high for each dimension at Time 1 (supervisor: _ =
0,81, coworker: _ = 0,85).
Supervisor Civility. The 3-item Supervisor Evaluation Scale36
measures the perceptions of positive relations in regards to the
participants immediate supervisor (e.g., Encourages innovative/
creative thinking about improving quality). The items were rated on
a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 =
strongly agree. In the current study, the internal reliability was high
(Time 1 _ = 0,86).
Coworker Civility. The CREW Civility Scale37 consists of eight items
designed to measure the perceptions of workplace civility within a
work group and across an organization (e.g., A spirit of cooperation
and teamwork exists in my work group, Disputes or conflicts are
resolved fairly in my work group, This organization does not
tolerate discrimination). The items were rated on a 5-point Likert
scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. In the
current study, the internal reliability was high (Time 1 _ = 0,87).
Results
Descriptive Statistics and Correlations
Table 1 displays the means, standard deviations, Cronbach alphas,
and correlations for the variables in the study. Table 2 displays the
t statistics (comparing Year 1 to Year 2) for the outcome variables
(see Table 1 and Table 2).
In addition, pair-wise t-tests established that coworker incivility
(M=0,71) occurred more often than supervisor incivility (M=0,49;
t(475)=5,55, p<0,001) and more frequently than instigated incivility

Table 1. Descriptives, Correlations, and Cronbachs Alpha Values.

M (SD) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
1. T1 Exhaustion 2,68 (1,45) (0,91) 0,54 -0,16 -0,42 0,18 0,36 0,20 -0,32 -0,19 0,63 0,44 -0,17 -0,32 0,16
2. T1 Cynicism 1,56 (1,24) (0,82) -0,37 -0,60 0,37 0,33 0,31 -0,34 -0,33 0,40 0,58 -0,33 -0,43 0,26
3. T1 Efficacy 4,73 (0,91) (0,73) 0,62 -0,13 -0,02a -0,17 0,14 0,35 -0,15 -0,33 0,60 0,48 -0,12b
4. T1 Work Engagement 4,63 (1,08) (0,75) -0,20 -0,22 -0,19 0,26 0,33 -0,31 -0,42 0,45 0,63 -0,10
5. T1 Instigated Incivility 0,49 (0,45) (0,72) 0,28 0,56 -0,12 -0,41 0,22 0,31 -0,11b -0,19 0,48
6. T1 Supervisor Incivility 0,49 (0,72) (0,81) 0,24 -0,47 -0,24 0,28 0,30 -0,07a -0,12b ,020
7. T1 Co-worker Incivility 0,72 (0,76) (0,85) -0,08a -0,52 0,19 0,25 -0,11b -0,18 0,27
8. T1 Supervisor Civility 3,36 (0,93) (0,86) 0,31 -0,23 -0,27 0,19 0,25 -0,10b
9. T1 Co-worker Civility 3,74 (0,67) (0,87) -0,20 -0,31 0,30 0,32 -0,22
10. T2 Exhaustion 2,59 (1,43) (0,91) 0,61 -0,22 -0,37 0,23
11. T2 Cynicism 1,51 (1,30) (0,87) -0,44 -0,56 0,37
12. T2 Efficacy 4,76 (0,92) (0,76) 0,63 -0,11b
13. T2 Work Engagement 4,60 (1,11) (0,76) -0,18
14. T2 Instigated Incivility 0,50 (0,59) (0,81)
Note. N = 475; Unmarked correlations are significant (p<0,05); aCorrelations are not significant (p>0,05); bCorrelations are significant (p<0,01).

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Original Article | Leiter Michael et al.
Table 2.
Differences Between Variables Measured at Time 1 and Time 2.
Time 1 Mean Time 2 Mean t Sig,
(SD) (SD) Coefficient statistic df (2-tail)
Exhaustion 2,68 (1,45) 2,60 (1,43) 0,08 1,48 471 0,140
Cynicism 1,56 (1,24) 1,52 (1,30) 0,04 0,80 471 0,425
Efficacy 4,73 (0,91) 4,76 (0,92) -0,03 -0,68 471 0,497
Work Engagement 4,63 (1,08) 4,60 (1,11) 0,03 0,60 471 0,550
Instigated Incivility 0,49 (0,45) 0,50 (0,59) -0,01 -0,54 471 0,588
(M=0,49; t(475)=7,97, p<0,001). There was no difference in the
frequency of supervisor incivility and instigated incivility
(t(475)=0,03, p=980).
We contrasted the strength of correlations using Hotellings t test
for contrasting correlated correlations to determine the extent to
which the zero-order correlations reflected the expected pattern of
stronger resource relationships with professional efficacy and
UWES with stronger demand relationships with exhaustion and
cynicism. Exhaustion was more strongly correlated with super-
visor incivility (r = 0,36) than with coworker incivility (r = 0,20)
(t(472) = 3,18, p<0,01); exhaustion was also more strongly corre-
lated with supervisor civility (r =- 0,32) than with coworker
civility (r = -0,19) (t(472) = 2,55, p<0,01). However, the absolute
values of exhaustions correlation with civility measures were
nearly identical to its correlations with the corresponding inci-
vility measure. Cynicism showed a quite different pattern with all
of its correlations with the civility and incivility measures nearly
the same, ranging in absolute value from 0,31 to 0,37.
Efficacy showed yet a different pattern. Efficacy was more strongly
correlated with coworker incivility (r = -0,17) than with supervisor
incivility (r = -0,02) (t(472) = 2,55, p<0,01); it was also strongly corre-
lated with coworker civility (r = 0,35) than with supervisor civility (r
= 0,36) (t(472) = 4,15, p<0,01. The absolute value of efficacys correla-
tion with coworker civility (r = 0,35) was stronger than its correla-
tion with coworker incivility (r = -0,17) (t(472) = 4,26, p<0,01); the
absolute value of efficacys correlation with supervisor civility (r =
0,14) was stronger than its correlation with supervisor incivility (r =
-0,02) (t(472) = 2,24, p<0,01).
UWES showed little differentiation among the social variables.
Engagement was not more strongly correlated with coworker inci-
vility (r = -0,19) than with supervisor incivility (r = -0,22) (t(472) =
0,54, ns); it was also strongly correlated with coworker civility (r =
0,26) than with supervisor civility (r = 0,33) (t(472) = 1,33, ns). The
absolute value of efficacys correlation with coworker civility (r =
0,26) was not stronger than its correlation with coworker incivility
(r = -0,22) (t(472) = 0,92, ns); the absolute value of efficacys correla-
tion with supervisor civility (r = 0,33) was stronger than its correla-
tion with supervisor incivility (r = -0,19) (t(472) = 3,29, p<0,01).
Model Testing
A structural equation analysis evaluated the Hypothesized Model
using EQS (EQuationS).38 Whereas some items showed a moderate
kurtosis, the analysis used the robust analysis option of EQS,
which corrects for multivariate kurtosis.39 The following section
reports the robust statistics for Chi Square (Satorra-Bentler Scaled
Statistics)40, Comparative Fit Index (CFI), and Root Mean-Square
Error of Approximation (RMSEA). In all models the first item of
each factor is fixed to establish the factors scale. One criterion for
model fit was an absolute reference point of a CFI 0,900.39 For
the three subscales of the Work Incivility Scale respondents rate
26
the same five items regarding coworkers, supervisors, and them-
selves. This structure results in a response pattern for each item
across the three ratings. To address this pattern, the SEM freed the
error correlations among the identical items across the three
ratings. That is, the error term of WIS1Supervisor was freed to
correlate with the error term of WIS1 Coworker and the error term
of WIS1 Instigated, and the error term of WIS1 Coworker was freed
to correlate with the error term of WIS1 Instigated. The same
pattern was followed for the other WIS items.
We used three items as indicators for each of the three aspects of
burnout and each of the three areas of worklife. We selected these
items on the basis of previous research41,42 that identified these
items as having low error correlations: exhaustion (MBI-3, MBI-4,
MBI-6); cynicism (MBI-9, MBI-13, MBI-15); professional efficacy
(MBI-10, MBI-11, MBI-12). The constructs based on the restricted
set of items correlated very strongly with their full-scale counter-
parts, ranging from 0,86 for efficacy to 0,96 for exhaustion, indi-
cating a close correspondence of the reduced item scales with the
full item scales. Using few items has the advantage of focusing the
analysis on the structural relationships among constructs. The
model retains its factor analytic component, assigning it a
secondary role.
The basic reference point for an EQS analysis is the Independence
Model that assigns no items to factors. The second reference point
is the Structural Null Model that assigns items to their appropriate
factors, but does not assign any structural relationships among the
factors. The hypothesized JD/R Model improved the fit above the
Structural Null (c2(18) =496 0,21, p<0,0001). Although some of the
stipulated paths did not attain statistical significance, the analysis
did not indicate that it had neglected important structural relation-
ships.
The analysis indicated problems with one UWES item, When I get
up in the morning, I feel like going to work .The two largest
multivariate modification indices directed to assign this item
(negatively) to exhaustion for Time 2 (Modification Index =
50.695) and for Time 1 (Modification Index = 49,42). The third
largest modification index concerned the error correlation of the
Time 1 UWES item with a professional efficacy item (Modification
Index = 21.662). The suggestion of double loading this item on
both exhaustion and work engagement ran contrary to the
research objective of considering the distinct roles of burnout and
work engagement in modeling the social environments of work
group. We decided to repeat the analysis without this item, using
the other three items to define the work engagement construct.
Revised Model
The values for the Independence and Structural Null Models for the
Revised JD/R Model adjusted with the deletion of the UWES item
at Time 1 and Time 2. This analysis also showed that the proposed
JD/R model improved over the Structural Null Model
(c2(18) = 487,34, p<0,0001) (see Table 3). We computed a Final
JD/R Model by deleting the structural paths that did not attain
statistical significance (p<0,05):
To cynicism: coworker incivility
To efficacy: cynicism and coworker civility
To work engagement: coworker civility
To instigated incivility: coworker incivility and supervisor
incivility.
The Final JD/R Model provided a good fit (CFI = 0,930). The Chi
Square value dropped only 1,48 while gaining six degrees of
freedom, indicating a more parsimonious fit.
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 Original Article | Workplace Relationships as Demands and Resources: A Model of Burnout and Work Engagement
Table 3.
Model Fit Indices.
Model X 2 df Sig. CFI RMSEA
Independence 8023,40 1176 MBI 3 0,861 T1 Exhaustion 0,508 0,742
Structural Null 2110,48 1072 0,0001 0,848 0,050
JD/R Model 1614,27 1054 0,0001 0,918 0,037
Models without UWES 1 MBI 9 0,843 T1 Cynicism 0,538 0,710
Independence 7473,19 1081 MBI 10 0,516 T1 Efficacy 0,857 0,266
Structural Null 1900,15 980 0,0001 0,856 0,049
JD/R Model 1412,81 962 0,0001 0,929 0,035
Model with only
Significant Structural Paths 1414,29 968 0,0001 0,930 0,034
Figure 1 displays the Final JD/R Model. The only path among the
outcome variables in the model runs from cynicism to instigated
incivility. The paths from the social variables to the outcome vari-
ables follow the basic principles of the JD/R Model: the negative
indicatorssupervisor incivility and coworker incivilityhave paths
to exhaustion and cynicism. In contrast, supervisor civility has paths
to professional efficacy and to work engagement. Coworker civility
has a negatively signed path to instigated incivility.
Table 4 displays the factor coefficients for the constructs within the
model. The first item in each set was designated as fixed to provide
a standard for the scale. All of the coefficients are significant on the
proper construct. Note that the first UWES maintains a strong
loading on the UWES work engagement construct at both times; its
only problem is a tendency to cross-load on the exhaustion
construct.
Figure 1.
Final model with significant structural paths.
Final JD/R Model
Autocor AO 1 AO 2
0,12
0,57 Exhaustion Exhaustion
0,26
0,66 Cynicism Cynicism 0,30
0,55 Efficacy 0,11 Efficacy 0,14
0,20
0,61 UWES UWES
-0,24
0,61 Instigated incivility Instigated incivility
Discussion
This analysis has found general support for the basic pattern
predicted by the Job Demands/Resources Model that links demands
more closely with the exhaustion and cynicism aspects of burnout
while linking resources more closely with professional efficacy and
work engagement. The study went further in its exploration of team
social encounters: it encourages perceiving the positive side of these
interactions as resources while depicting negative encounters as
imposing additional demands upon employees. An unexpected but
intriguing finding was that instigated incivility is more directly tied
to a dearth of coworker civility than to the incidence of incivility
from others at work. In addition, the results shed some light on the
dynamics of burnout and work engagement. Implications for prac-
tice and future research are discussed.
The analysis is clear that both supervisor and coworker incivility
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Table 4.
Factor Loadings for Proposed Model.
Variable Coefficient Factor Error R2
MBI 4 0,839 T1 Exhaustion 0,544 0,704
MBI 6 0,830 T1 Exhaustion 0,558 0,689
MBI 11 0,725 T1 Efficacy 0,688 0,526
MBI 12 0,816 T1 Efficacy 0,578 0,665
MBI 13 0,431 T1 Cynicism 0,902 0,186
MBI 15 0,717 T1 Cynicism 0,697 0,514
UWES 8 0,721 T1 UWES 0,693 0,520
UWES 15 0,442 T1 UWES 0,897 0,195
UWES 2 0,784 T1 UWES 0,621 0,615
UWES 9 0,660 T1 UWES 0,751 0,436
Civility 1 0,786 T1 Coworker Civility 0,618 0,618
Civility 3 0,843 T1 Coworker Civility 0,537 0,711
Civility 4 0,726 T1 Coworker Civility 0,688 0,527
Civility 6 0,256 T1 Coworker Civility 0,967 0,066
MBI 3 0,830 T2 Exhaustion 0,557 0,690
MBI 4 0,834 T2 Exhaustion 0,551 0,696
MBI 6 0,892 T2 Exhaustion 0,453 0,795
MBI 9 0,882 T2 Cynicism 0,471 0,778
MBI 10 0,468 T2 Efficacy 0,884 0,219
MBI 11 0,707 T2 Efficacy 0,707 0,500
MBI 12 0,842 T2 Efficacy 0,539 0,709
MBI 13 0,490 T2 Cynicism 0,872 0,240
MBI 15 0,761 T2 Cynicism 0,649 0,579
UWES 8 0,743 T2 UWES 0,669 0,553
UWES 15 0,450 T2 UWES 0,893 0,203
UWES 2 0,804 T2 UWES 0,594 0,647
UWES 9 0,658 T2 UWES 0,753 0,433
Supervisor 1 0,802 T1 Supervisor Civility 0,597 0,644
Supervisor 2 0,932 T1 Supervisor Civility 0,362 0,869
AO 1 Supervisor 3 0,841 T1 Supervisor Civility 0,541 0,707
WIS Supervisor 1 0,828 T1 Supervisor Incivility 0,561 0,686
Coworker incivility WIS Supervisor 2 0,648 T1 Supervisor Incivility 0,762 0,420
WIS Supervisor 3 0,786 T1 Supervisor Incivility 0,618 0,618
Supervisor incivility WIS Supervisor 4 0,818 T1 Supervisor Incivility 0,576 0,669
WIS Coworker 1 0,828 T1 Coworker Incivility 0,561 0,685
Supervisor civility WIS Coworker 2 0,752 T1 Coworker Incivility 0,659 0,566
WIS Coworker 3 0,761 T1 Coworker Incivility 0,649 0,578
WIS Coworker 4 0,809 T1 Coworker Incivility 0,587 0,655
Coworker civility WIS Instigated 1 0,658 T1 Instigated Incivility 0,753 0,433
WIS Instigated 2 0,563 T1 Instigated Incivility 0,826 0,317
WIS Instigated 3 0,728 T1 Instigated Incivility 0,685 0,530
WIS Instigated 4 0,673 T1 Instigated Incivility 0,740 0,453
WIS Instigated 1 0,667 T2 Instigated Incivility 0,745 0,445
WIS Instigated 2 0,613 T2 Instigated Incivility 0,790 0,376
WIS Instigated 3 0,610 T2 Instigated Incivility 0,792 0,373
WIS Instigated 4 0,560 T2 Instigated Incivility 0,828 0,314
Note. Item numbers for the MBI refer to the full 16 item scale; Item numbers for
the UWES refer to the full 17 item scale.
serve as demands in that they precede increases in exhaustion and
cynicism in the longitudinal analysis. This finding extends
previous research43-45 in going beyond the expected correlation of
incivility with burnout to identifying specific links with exhaus-
tion and cynicism. Increased exhaustion reflects the role of inci-
vility as a demand that prompts recipients to expend energy. The
available information does not distinguish between energy
expended to counter incivility through further interactions and the
27
Original Article | Leiter Michael et al.
energy consumed through simple emotional reactions to an expe-
rience of rudeness.
The larger coefficients associated with supervisor incivility in
contrast to coworker incivility reflect the greater importance of
supervisory relationships for employees. Although supervisor inci-
vility occurs less frequently than coworker incivility, its occurrence
appears to be more consequential. The lower frequency for super-
visor incivility may reflect managers greater control over their
emotional reactions at work or respondents less frequent encounters
of any kind with supervisors relative to coworkers.
The correlations indicate similar levels of relationship of both kinds
of incivility with cynicism and exhaustion. Although the model
confirmed the path from coworker incivility to exhaustion, but not
to cynicism, this pattern reflects exhaustion playing a mediating role
between coworker incivility and cynicism: greater cynicism reflects
the energy depletion associated with responding to coworker inci-
vility.
Supervisor civility operates clearly as a resource, associated with
both work engagement and professional efficacy. Neither source of
civility has significant paths to exhaustion or cynicism despite their
correlations with these factors. Apparently exhaustion and cyni-
cisms relationships with incivility captured the shared variance
among the social variables in the model.
This aspect of the model is consistent with the JD/R model in that
the demand qualities relate to the core aspects of burnout while the
resource qualities relate to the positive conception of work engage-
ment. This pattern was more evident in the structural equation
model that accommodated the relationships among all of the vari-
ables than in the simple correlations. Only professional efficacy
shoed a pattern of stronger correlations with resources than with
demands; cynicisms correlations did not differentiate at all.
The analysis of instigated incivility provided valuable insights into
this constructs relationships with the social environment as well as
to burnout and work engagement. First, cynicism links instigated
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we do not have independent data sources within this study for the
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insight into the temporal sequence of processes, but cannot support
definitive conclusions about causality.
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As organizations develop policies and political jurisdictions develop
laws to control workplace bullying, the quality of social relation-
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at work or increases in employees standards for respect, employers
have an obligation to enhance the quality of their workplace
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relationships in the development of burnout and work engagement.
They also indicate that the psychological experience of burnout,
especially the cynicism component of the syndrome, is integral to
employees response to received incivility and to their propensity to
display incivility. The results are encouraging in that they support
working on both ends of the spectrum: both decreasing incivility as
well as increasing civility can be viable methods for controlling the
expression of incivility among people at work. There may well be
benefits in reduced burnout and increased work engagement along
the way.
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15. Schaufeli WB, Taris TW, LeBlanc PM, Peeters M, Bakker AB, De Jonge J. Maakt
arbeid gezond? Op zoek naar de bevlogen werkenemer [Does work make
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sources model of burnout. J Appl Psychol. 2001;86:499-512.
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three-year cross-lagged study of burnout, depression, commitment, and work
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31. Cortina LM, Magley VJ, Williams JH, Langhout RD. Incivility in the workplace:
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32. Schein E. Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 1992
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Occup Organ Psych. 2005;78:595-614.
36. Leiter MP, Maslach C. Preventing burnout and building engagement. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Inc; 2000.
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lopment and psychometric assessment of a survey measure. Paper presented
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in occupational stress and well being: Vol. 3. Emotional and physiological
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Complementary references:
1. Maslach C. Understanding burnout: Definitional issues in analyzing a
complex phenomenon. In: Paine WS, editor. Job stress and burnout. Beverly
Hills, CA: Sage; 1982. p.29-40.
2. Maslach C, Jackson, SE. The Maslach Burnout Inventory. Palo Alto, CA:
Consulting Psychologists Press; 1981.
29
Artculo Original
The Empirical Distinctiveness of Work Engagement and
Workaholism among Hospital Nurses in Japan: The effect on
Sleep Quality and Job Performance
Distincin Emprica Entre Engagement y Trabajolismo en Enfermeras Hospitalarias de
Japn: Efecto Sobre la Calidad del Sueo y el Desempeo Laboral
Kazumi Kubota, MS, RN, PHN1, Akihito Shimazu, PhD1, Norito Kawakami, MD, DMSc1, Masaya Takahashi, PhD2,
Akinori Nakata, PhD3, Wilmar B. Schaufeli, PhD4
1. Department of Mental Health, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan.
2. National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, 6-21-1 Nagao, Tama-ku, Kawasaki, 214-8585, Japan.
3. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 4676 Columbia Parkway, Cincinnati, OH 45226, USA.
4. Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, Utrecht University, PO Box 80.140, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands.
ABSTRACT
Objective: The aim of the present study is to demonstrate the distinc-
tiveness of work engagement and workaholism by examining their
relationships with sleep quality and job performance.
Method: A total of 447 nurses from 3 hospitals in Japan were sur-
veyed using a self-administrated questionnaire including Utrecht
Work Engagement Scale (UWES), the Dutch Workaholism Scale
(DUWAS), questions on sleep quality (7 items) regarding (1) diffi-
culty initiating sleep, (2) difficulty maintaining sleep, (3) early morn-
ing awakening, (4) dozing off or napping in daytime, (5) excessive
daytime sleepiness at work, (6) difficulty awakening in the morning,
and (7) tiredness awakening in the morning, and the World Health
Organization Health Work Performance Questionnaire.
Results: The Structural Equation Modeling showed that, work
engagement was positively related to sleep quality and job perfor-
mance whereas workaholism negatively to sleep quality and job
performance.
Conclusion: The findings suggest that work engagement and worka-
holism are conceptually distinctive and that the former is positively
and the latter is negatively related to well-being (i.e., good sleep
quality and job performance).
Key words: workaholism, work engagement, sleep quali-
ty, job performance
Correspondence / Correspondencia
Kazumi Kubota
Department of Mental Health, Graduate School of Medicine,
The University of Tokyo
7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan
Tel.: +81-(0)3-5841-3522 Fax: +81-(0)3-5841-3392
e-mail: kazumikubota-tky@umin.net
Received: 15 January 2010 / Accepted: 08 March de 2011
30
RESUMEN
Objetivo: El objetivo de este estudio es demostrar la distincin entre
engagement y trabajolismo, estudiando su relacin con la calidad
del sueo y el desempeo laboral.
Mtodo: Un total de 447 enfermeras de 3 hospitales de Japn fue-
ron entrevistadas mediante un cuestionario autoadministrado que
inclua la escala Utrecht (UWES, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale),
la Escala de Adiccin al Trabajo Holandesa (DUWAS, Dutch
Workaholism Scale), preguntas sobre la calidad del sueo (7 tems)
con respecto a (1) dificultad para conciliar el sueo, (2) dificultad
para mantener el sueo, (3) despertar temprano por la maana, (4)
dormirse o tomar siestas durante el da, (5) somnolencia diurna
excesiva en el trabajo, (6) dificultad para despertarse por la maana,
y (7) despertar cansado en la maana, y el Cuestionario sobre Salud
y Desempeo (CSD) de la Organizacin Mundial de la Salud.
Resultados: Los modelos de ecuaciones estructurales demostraron que
el engagement se relaciona positivamente con la calidad del sueo y
el rendimiento laboral, mientras que el trabajolismo tiene una rela-
cin negativa con la calidad del sueo y el desempeo laboral.
Conclusin: Los resultados indican que el engagement y el trabajo-
lismo son conceptualmente diferentes. El primero tiene una conno-
tacin positiva, mientras que el segundo se asocia de manera
negativa al bienestar (buena calidad del sueo y buen rendimiento
en el trabajo).
Palabras clave: Trabajolismo, Adiccin al trabajo,
Engagement, Calidad del sueo, Desempeo laboral.
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, work environment have rapidly been changing. For
instance, clear role expectations at work do not exist anymore1, and
the boundaries between work and personal life are becoming more
blurred.2 These changes on working conditions call for a better
understanding of personal attitude at work (i.e., how they feel about
their work as well as where they work). In fact, some researchers have
emphasized that personal attitude toward work can be associated
with well-being.3-7
This article focused on the empirical distinctiveness between work
engagement (i.e., working hard with intrinsic motivation) and
workaholism (i.e., work excessively hard in a compulsive fashion)
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 Original Article | The Empirical Distinctiveness of Work Engagement and Workaholism among Hospital Nurses in Japan
among nurses. This issue is particularly important because some
conceptual confusion exists about the nature of these two overlap-
ping concepts.8 In addition, current professional practice patterns
among nurses show they are working longer than they ever have.9-11
The effect of these long hours may cause nurses to work in the midst
of poor sleep quality and low job performance.
Work Engagement
The concept of work engagement emerged from burnout research,
namely as an attempt to cover the entire spectrum running from
employee unwell-being (burnout) to employee well-being.12 In order
to prosper and survive in todays continuously changing environ-
ment, rather than merely healthy employees, organizations need
engaged employees.13 Work engagement refers to a positive, fulfi-
lling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedi-
cation, and absorption.13 Vigor refers to high revels of energy and
mental resilience while working, the willingness to invest effort in
ones work and persistence even in the face of difficulties. Dedication
is characterized by a sense of significance, enthusiasm, inspiration,
pride and challenge at work. Absorption consists of being fully
concentrated, happy and deeply engrossed in ones work whereby
time passes quickly and one has difficulty detaching oneself from
work. Thus engaged employees work hard (vigor), are involved (dedi-
cated) and feel engrossed (absorbed) in ones work. Engaged worker
may be seen similar to workaholics in the sense that they both work
hard, are involved and feel engrossed in their work. However, in
contrast to workaholics, engaged workers lack the typical compulsive
drive.13,6 Engaged employees enjoy doing things outside work, they
do not feel guilty when not working, and they do not work hard
because of a strong and irresistible drive but for them work is fun.14
So, despite the fact that workaholics and engaged employees may
work similarly hard, their motivation to do so differs fundamentally.14,8,15
It is interesting to note that workaholism shows a positive relation-
ship with excess working time, whereas this relationships is absent
for work engagement.8
Workaholism
The term workaholism originates from Oates, who describes it as
the compulsion or the uncontrollable need to work excessively.16
Ever since, it has become a colloquial term in the popular press as
well as in empirical research. For the lay public workaholism seems
synonymous with working extremely hard, however, conceiving
workaholism exclusively in terms of the number of working hours is
misreading because it neglects its addictive nature. A typical work
addict is motivated by a strong internal drive that cannot be resisted
rather than being motivated by external or contextual factors, such
as financial problems, poor marriage, organizational culture, super-
visory pressure, or a strong desire for career advancement.17 Given
the ease with how the lay public uses the term workaholism, it is
surprising that even after four decades researchers do not have
adequate consensus about its meaning. Many researchers agree with
workaholism as a negative phenomenon18-21,8,14 because it refers to
the very origin of the term workaholism which was meant to corres-
pond to alcoholism.22 But some researchers view workaholism as a
positive phenomenon.23-26 For instance, Korn et al. call workaholics
hyper-performers as seen from an organizational perspective.23
Although Is workaholism good or bad for employee well-being? has
been discussed, Scott et al. found three common characteristics of
Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 30/35
workaholism that feature across various definitions.26 First, they
spend a great deal of time on work activities when given the discre-
tion to do so. Second, they are reluctant to disengage from work and
persistently and frequently think about work then they are not at
work. Finally, they work beyond what is reasonably expected from
them to meet organizational or economic requirements. Therefore,
based on a conceptual analysis, Schaufeli et al.8 defined workaho-
lism as the tendency to work excessively hard (the behavioral dimen-
sion) and being obsessed with work (the cognitive dimension), which
manifests itself in working compulsively. This definition agrees with
the most recent analysis of scholarly definitions that concludes that
hard work at the expense of other important life roles and a strong
internal drive to work are two key aspects of workaholism.27
Correlates of work engagement
Because work engagement was introduced as an antipode of
burnout6, it is expected that work engagement is primary related to
(lack of) health problems. In addition, in the job-stress recovery lite-
rature, recovery from work (i.e., psychological detachment, relaxa-
tion, mastery, and control) is positively correlated both with work
engagement and sleep quality.28 Hence, it can be speculated that
work engagement is related to good sleep quality because engaged
workers are likely to have better recovery experiences.
In terms of job performance, there are at least four reasons why
engaged workers perform better than non-engaged workers.29
Engaged employees: (1) often experience positive emotions, inclu-
ding happiness, joy, and enthusiasm; (2) experience better health; (3)
create their own job resources and personal resources; and (4)
transfer their engagement to others. In line with this notion, some
research showed that work engagement was positively related to
better job performance.14,6
Correlates of workaholism
Workaholics may go as far as actively creating additional work for
themselves (i.e., work excessively)for instance, by working on
projects more complicated than necessary or by refusing to delegate
work.8 Therefore, increased job demands can lead to insufficient
opportunities to recover from such excessive efforts, leaving
workaholics emotionally or cognitively exhausted over time.30 Such
persistent cognitive activities (i.e., working compulsively) may also
result in automatic arousal and emotional distress. Consequently,
workaholics report relatively high levels of psychological distress and
physical complaint.6
In modern industrialized society, poor sleep is prevalent31,32 and its
consequences include functional impairments, reduced quality of life,
and significant health care costs.33 Moreover, among the working
population, poor sleep quality is associated not only with deteriorated
health (e.g., psychological distress, physical complaints), but also
with poor work functioning, which can result in increased risk of
accident/injury at work, absenteeism, reduced productivity, and job
dissatisfaction.31,34 It means sleep quality is important outcomes in
the area of occupational health. Since sleep quality is associated with
psychological and physical health33-37, it can be speculated that
workaholism could be related to poor sleep quality. In fact, Kubota et
al.7 showed workaholic nurses had higher risks for poor sleep quality
(i.e., impaired awakening, insufficient sleep, and workplace sleepi-
ness).
Besides sleep quality, another relevant outcome associated with
workaholism is job performance. Schaufeli et al.14 argued that
workaholics work hard rather than smart; they create difficulties for
31
Original Article | Kubota Kazumi et al.
themselves and their co-workers, suffer from perfectionism, are rigid
and inflexible, and do not delegate. Some empirical studies revealed
that workaholism were negatively related to job performance.6,17
This study
Previous studies which examined the distinctiveness between work
engagement and workaholism suggest that they share the beha-
vioral component (work excessively hard), but that the underlying
motivation differs fundamentally.14,8,15 Moreover, the studies
mentioned above suggest that work engagement is related to well-
being, whereas workaholism to unwell-being. However, there have
been only two studies that empirically investigated associations of
work engagement and workaholism with well-being.14,6 In addi-
tion, there are no empirical studies that included sleep problems,
which are important outcomes in the area of occupational health.
Therefore, the aim of the present study is to demonstrate the empi-
rical distinctiveness of work engagement and workaholism by
examining their relationships with sleep quality and job perfor-
mance in a sample of Japanese nurses. In line with the discussion
above, we expected that work engagement is positively related to
sleep quality and job performance (Hypothesis 1). In contrast,
workaholism is negatively related to sleep quality and job perfor-
mance (Hypothesis 2).
METHODS
Participants and procedure
Participants in this study included 750 registered nurses in 3 hospitals
in Japan (2 hospitals are located in central area, and the other is in
eastern area of Japan). All participants received a self-administrated
questionnaire and had two months (from October to November 2008)
to complete it. A total of 503 nurses returned the completed ques-
tionnaire, for a response rate of 67,1%. Data from 56 respondents
were excluded from the analysis due to missing variables in the
questionnaire. Thus, the final number of respondents for analysis was
447 (overall coverage rate: 59,6 %). The aims and procedures of this
study were explained to all nurses prior to commencing the study.
The procedures of this study were approved by the Ethics Committees
of The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine.
Measures
The questionnaire included the following five aspects; work engage-
ment, workaholism, sleep problems, job performance, and possible
confounders.
Work engagement: Work engagement was assessed with the short
form of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES)38, that has
recently been validated in Japan as well.39 The UWES includes three
subscales that reflect the underlying dimensions of engagement:
Vigor (3 items; e.g., At my job, I feel strong and vigorous), Dedication
(3 items; e.g., I am enthusiastic about my job), and Absorption (3
items; e.g., I am immersed in my work). All items are scored on a
7-point Likert scale (0 = never, 6 = always).
Workaholism: Workaholism was measured using the Dutch
Workaholism Scale (DUWAS) developed by Schaufeli and his collea-
gues.40 The scale consists of two subscales: Work Excessively (e.g., I
stay busy and keep many irons in the fire) and Work Compulsively
(e.g., I feel guilty when I take time off work). Each subscale consists
of 5 items that are rated on a 4-point Likert scale (1 = totally disagree,
4 = totally agree).
32
Sleep quality: Seven self-reported questions related to sleep were
selected for this study, following previous sleep studies41,31,32,7
namely, (1) difficulty initiating sleep (i.e., How long does it usually
take you to fall asleep in bed), (2) difficulty maintaining sleep (i.e.,
How often do you have difficulty staying asleep), (3) early morning
awakening (i.e., How often do you wake up too early and cant fall
asleep again), (4) dozing off or napping in daytime (i.e., How often
do you take a nap while commuting time or during lunch break), (5)
excessive daytime sleepiness at work (i.e., How often do you feel very
drowsy when you are at work), (6) difficulty awakening in the
morning (i.e., Do you feel difficulty waking up in the morning), and
(7) tiredness awakening in the morning (i.e., Do you feel restless
when you wake up in the morning). Difficulty initiating sleep is
scored on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = within 10 minutes, 5 = over 2
hours), other questions are scored on a 6-point Likert scale (1 = very
few, 5 = almost every day).
Job performance: Job performance was assessed using a single item
from the World Health Organization Health Work Performance
Questionnaire (HPQ).42 Respondents were asked to rate their overall
work performance during the past four week on a 0-10 self-ancho-
ring scale, in which 0 is defined as the worst possible work perfor-
mance a person could have on this job and 10 is defined as top
work performance on the job.
Possible confounders: As possible confounders, age, gender, and shift
(two-shift / three-shift / day-shift / others) were included.
Statistical analysis
Before evaluating the hypothesized model (Fig. 1), we first examined
the factorial validity of sleep questions by explanatory factor analysis
(EFA) with principal factor method and promax rotation and confir-
matory factor analysis (CFA). In CFA, besides the 2 statistic, the
comparative fit index (CFI), the goodness-of-fit index (GFI), adjusted
goodness-of-fit index (AGFI), and the root mean square error of
approximation (RMSEA) were utilized to evaluate the model fit.
Then, the hypothesized model (Fig. 1) was evaluated with structural
equation modeling (SEM) techniques (Please note that Fig. 1 also
presents the results of SEM). Because of the large number of items, it
was not possible to conduct SEM-analysis on a full disaggregation
model. Therefore, the scales introduced above were used as indicators
of the latent factors. All latent factors had two or three indicators
except for job performance which had only one indicator. To control
for random measurement error for this factor, the error variance of
job performance was set equal to zero. The level of significance was
Figure 1.
Standardized solution (Maximum Likelihood estimates) of the hypo-
thesized model. N = 447.
VI DE AB
0,84 0,85 0,83 0,24 IS
0,29
Work Sleep 0,96
PA
engagement problems
0,36 0,31
SID
-0,36
Workaholism Job
performance JP
-0,10 1,00
0,78 0,86
WE WC
Note: VI = Vigor; DE = Dedication; AB = Absorption; WE = Work compulsively;
IS = Insomnia symptoms; PA = Problems on awakening; SID = Sleeping in the
daytime.
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 Original Article | The Empirical Distinctiveness of Work Engagement and Workaholism among Hospital Nurses in Japan

Table 1.
Means, SDs, Internal Consistency (Cronbachs alpha on the diagonal), and Correlations of the variables used in this study (n = 447a).
Measures # Items Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1 Vigor 3 6,7 2,8 0,85 0,71*** 0,69*** -0,16** -0,08 0,19*** 0,35*** 0,10* 0,29***
2 Dedication 3 8,9 2,6 0,77 0,70*** 0,01 0,06 -0,09 0,16** 0,07 0,36***
3 Absorption 3 6,5 3,0 0,83 -0,07 -0,05 0,07 0,23*** 0,09 0,28***
4 Work excessively 5 12,4 3,2 0,74 0,67*** -0,13** -0,35*** -0,06 -0,11*
5 Work compulsively 5 9,5 2,7 0,61 -0,18*** -0,29*** -0,04 -0,09*
6 Insomnia symptoms 3 6,2 2,9 0,76 0,23*** -0,01 -0,10*
7 Problems on awakening 2 8,2 2,8 0,53 0,30*** -0,11*
8 Sleepiness in the daytime 2 4,8 2,3 0,80 -0,13**
9 Job performance 1 5,6 1,7 - - - - - - - - -
* p < 0,05, ** p < 0,01, *** p < 0,001.
a The numbers did not add up to the total umber of the participants because of occasional missing data.

p < 0,05 (two-tailed). PASW Statistics 18 and AMOS 16 were used
for the statistical analyses.
RESULTS
Characteristics of the Respondents
Of 447 respondents, 428 (95,7 %) were females and 19 males (4,3 %);
272 (60,9 %) worked with three-shift, 132 (29,5 %) with two-shift, 29
(6,5 %) with day-shift, and 14 (3,1 %) with others. The mean age of
the respondents was 31,0 years (SD = 7,87).
Factor structure of sleep questions
The EFA for sleep questions extracted three factors regarding
insomnia symptoms ((1) difficulty initiating sleep, (2) difficulty
maintaining sleep, and (3) early morning awakening), problems on
awakening ((6) difficulty awakening in the daytime and (7) tiredness
awakening in the daytime), and sleepiness in the daytime ((4)
dozing off or napping in daytime and (5) excessive daytime sleepi-
ness at work). Inter-factor correlations were 0,23 (p < 0,001) between
insomnia symptoms and problems on awakening, 0,30 (p < 0,001)
between problems on awakening and sleepiness in the daytime, and
-0,01 between insomnia symptoms and sleepiness in the daytime.
These results suggest that sleep quality can be conceptualized by
these three factors. The proposed three-factor model was also
supported by the results of the CFA. The three-factor model (X2 (11)
= 41,18, CFI = 0,96, GFI = 0,97, AGFI = 0,93, RMSEA = 0,08) fits
significantly better to the data than the one-factor model which
assumed that all 7 items loaded on one sleep quality factor (X2 (14)
= 391,61, CFI = 0,54, GFI = 0,80, AGFI = 0,61, RMSEA = 0,25;
DX2 (3) = 350,43, p < 0,001).
Descriptive statistics for the study variables
Table 1 shows the mean, standard deviations, internal consistencies
(Cronbachs alpha), and correlations of all scales included in this
study. As can be seen, all variables have relatively favorable reliabi-
lities with Cronbachs alpha coefficients of 0,74 or higher except for
work compulsively and problems on awakening.
Model testing
Results of the SEM-analysis showed that the proposed model
(displayed in Fig. 1) fits adequately to the data; X2 (24) = 89,504, CFI
= 0,95, GFI = 0,96, AGFI = 0,92, RMSEA = 0,08. Work engagement
was positively related to sleep quality (b = 0,29 , p < 0,001) and job
performance (b = 0.36, p < 0.001). In contrast, workaholism was
negatively related to sleep quality (b = - 0.36, p < 0.001) and job
performance (b = - 0.10, p < 0.05).
In a next step, we conducted additional analysis to control for poten-
tial confounders (i.e., age, gender, and shift work). Specifically, each
control model as a manifest variable simultaneously and was allowed
to have effects on all variables in the model. After controlling for
confounding variables, the path coefficients were virtually the same
as those of the proposed model, but the model fit decreased (X2 (27)
= 99.016, CFI = 0.94, GFI = 0.96, AGFI = 0.90, RMSEA = 0.08).
Importantly, all the relationships of the control variables to the model
variables were non-significant. Therefore, the control variables were
removed from final model in Fig. 1.
DISCUSSION
This study examined the distinctiveness of work engagement and
workaholism in terms of their relationships with well-being (i.e., sleep
quality and job performance) among hospital nurses in Japan.
Results of SEM showed that associations of work engagement and
workaholism with well-being are different; work engagement is
related to well-being (i.e., better sleep quality and job performance),
whereas workaholism is related to unwell-being (i.e., poor sleep
quality and job performance). This means work engagement and
workaholism can be empirically differentiated from each other.
As far as the relationship of work engagement with sleep quality and
job performance is concerned, our SEM results showed that work
engagement had positively related to sleep quality as expected in
Hypothesis 1. Since engaged employees, compared to workaholics,
do not feel guilty when not working14, they are likely to have better
recovery experiences, which might lead to good sleep quality.
Our SEM results also showed that work engagement was positively
related to job performance as expected in Hypothesis 2. Although we
did not mention a specific hypothesis between sleep quality and job
performance, each component of sleep quality had positive correla-
tion with job performance (see Table 1). Since the experience of good
health is one of the conditions for better job performance29, good
sleep quality among engaged nurses may have led to better job
performance. This health component is an important conceptual
aspect that separates work engagement from other proactive organi-
zational attitudes like organizational commitment.43
As expected in Hypothesis 2 and in line with previous studies7,6,17,
workaholism was negatively related to sleep quality and job perfor-

Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 30/35 33
Original Article | Kubota Kazumi et al.
mance. The associations were still observed even after adjusting for
demographic variables (i.e., age, gender, and shift work), suggesting
that workaholism have adverse effects on sleep quality and job
performance independent of these characteristics.
It is important to note that workaholism had stronger relation-
ship with sleep quality (b = - 0,36) compared to job performance
(b = - 0,10). The relative strong association with sleep quality under-
lines the importance of health component for workaholism. Since
workaholics spend more time on their work26, increased job demands
may lead to less opportunity for recovery from excessive efforts and
higher exhaustion. In addition, thinking persistently and frequently
about work even when not working26 may cause autonomic
arousal and emotional distress through the cognitive activation.
These behavioral and cognitive characteristics of workaholism might
result in poor sleep quality. In terms of job performance, workaholism
are not only spending more times on their work but also rigid and
inflexible, which can lead to poor job performance.
Limitations
Several limitations need to be discussed. First, because of the cross-
sectional design of the study, a causal relationship could not be
determined. In addition, long-term effects of work engagement and
workaholism are unknown. A prospective study is needed to investi-
gate a causal linkage and long-term effects. Second, all indicators
were measured using self-reported questionnaires. In addition to self-
report bias due to (for example) negative affect, common method
variance might have played a role, although several studies have
demonstrated that these influences are not as significant as
expected.44,45 Nevertheless, findings should be repeated with objec-
tive indicators (e.g., sleep polysomnography and objective perfor-
34
mance) in the future. Third, because the participants were recruited
only from 3 hospitals in Japan, the findings could not be generalized.
Finally, not much consideration was given to unmeasured factors
such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and leisure time physical
activity35,32, or unknown factors. These confounders may have some
influence on the relationship of work engagement and workaholism
with well-being (i.e., sleep quality and job performance).
Conclusion
The present study indicated that work engagement and workaholism
are two different kinds of concepts: work engagement is associated
with well-being, whereas workaholism with unwell-being. This
suggests the importance of focusing on personal attitudes toward
work. Future research should examine the effects of personal atti-
tudes as well as work environment on improving well-being among
nurses.
Ethics Approval
This study was conducted with the approval of the Ethics
Committees of The University of Tokyo Graduate School of
Medicine
Funding source and conflicts of interest
Funding source: This study was supported in part by a National
Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Japan.
Conflicts of interest: None
30/35 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | Ciencia & Trabajo
 Original Article | The Empirical Distinctiveness of Work Engagement and Workaholism among Hospital Nurses in Japan
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35
Artculo Original
La Contribucin de Los Recursos Personales (Inteligencia
Emocional, Core Self-evaluation y Afectividad Positiva)
para el Engagement: Un Anlisis en Estudiantes Universitarios
y Trabajadores Espaoles
Personal Resources (Emotional Intelligence, Core Self-evaluation and Positive Affectivity)
Contribution to Engagement: Analysis on Spanish College Students and Employees
Auxiliadora Durn1, Natalio Extremera2, Lourdes Rey3
1. PhD en Psicologa, Departamento de Psicologa Social, Universidad de Mlaga.
2. PhD en Psicologa, Departamento de Psicologa Social, Universidad de Mlaga.
3. PhD, Departamento de Personalidad, Evaluacin y Tratamiento Psicolgico, Universidad de Mlaga.
RESUMEN
El presente estudio examina el aumento de la validez en las dimen-
siones de la inteligencia emocional ms all de las core self-evalua-
tions (autoevaluaciones fundamentales) y la afectividad positiva
como predictores del engagement laboral (compromiso laboral, EE
por sus siglas en ingls) tanto en estudiantes universitarios (N=347)
como en trabajadores (N=344). Adems, probamos el rol potencial
del las dimensiones de la inteligencia emocional y la afectividad
positiva como mediadores en la relacin entre las core self-evalua-
tions y el engagement. Las regresiones jerrquicas y los anlisis de
mediacin demostraron la influencia potencial de las dimensiones
de la inteligencia emocional (claridad y reparacin) sobre el vigor y
la dedicacin. Los datos de los anlisis mediacionales revelaron el
rol mediador de las dimensiones de la afectividad positiva y de la
inteligencia emocional entre las core self-evaluations y el engage-
ment (vigor y dedicacin). Los resultados se discuten en el contexto
de la relevancia de los recursos personales en un escenario acad-
mico y organizacional.
Palabras claves: Recursos personales, Engagement, Anlisis
de Mediacin, Inteligencia Emocional.
Introduccin
Desde el comienzo de la dcada anterior, el constructo del
Compromiso Laboral (Employee Engagement, EE, por sus siglas
en ingls), se ha convertido en un factor fundamental en el desa-
rrollo del capital humano, dentro del contexto de la Psicologa
Organizacional Positiva. Tambin se considera como una ventaja
Correspondencia / Correspondence
Facultad de Estudios Sociales y del Trabajo
Complejo de Estudios Sociales y Comercio,
Ampliacin Campus Teatinos.
29071 Mlaga, Espaa
Tel.: 0034951952154
e-mail: aduran@uma.es
Recibido: 15 de Julio de 2011 / Aceptado: 21 de Noviembre de 2011
36
ABSTRACT
This study examines the validity increment in the dimensions of
emotional intelligence beyond the core self-evaluations and positive
affectivity as predictors of work engagement in both college student
(N=347) and in employees (N=344). Furthermore, we test the poten-
tial role of the emotional intelligence and positive affectivity dimen-
sions as mediators in the relationship between the core self-evalua-
tions and the engagement. The hierarchical regressions and media-
tion analysis have demonstrated the potential influence of the
emotional intelligence dimensions (clarity and repair) over vigor and
dedication. Meditional analysis data uncovered the mediator role of
the emotional intelligence and positive affectivity dimensions
between the core self-evaluations and the engagement (vigor and
dedication). The results are discussed into the context of personal
resources importance in an academic and organizational stage.
Key words: Personal Resources, Engagement, Mediation
Analysis, Emotional Intelligence.
en orden de convertirse en una organizacin competitiva.1 En
este sentido, la literatura relacionada al EE indica que los traba-
jadores comprometidos con su trabajo estn dispuestos a realizar
un esfuerzo extra, tomar la iniciativa en el trabajo, generar su
propio feedback positivo y buscar desafos en su puesto laboral.
Los trabajadores deberan ser agentes activos, comprometidos a
un desempeo de alto nivel y que respondan de manera adecuada
a los cambios.1,29,30
En organizaciones que enfrentan cambios constantes y en un
contexto de crisis financiera e innovacin tecnolgica, se les pide
a los trabajadores que demuestren habilidad de adaptacin y resi-
liencia. De hecho, los trabajadores ideales deben ser proactivos,
auto gestionados, responsables de su desempeo y desarrollo.43 Es
por esto, que los trabajadores comprometidos laboralmente, son
extremadamente valiosos en organizaciones competitivas.
El EE est definido ampliamente como un estado de bienestar
afectivo-motivacional, positivo, satisfactorio, persistente y pene-
trante en relacin al trabajo que se caracteriza por el: vigor,
dedicacin y la absorcin.38 Este estado mental no est enfocado
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 Original Article | La Contribucin de Los Recursos Personales (Inteligencia Emocional, Core Self-evaluation y Afectividad Positiva) para el Engagement
a un objeto particular, evento, individuo o comportamiento,
adems los trabajadores engaged (comprometidos) demostrarn
elevados niveles de energa, se sentirn entusiasmados por su
trabajo y a menudo estarn completamente abstrados en sus
labores. En este sentido, el vigor se caracteriza por la resiliencia
al trabajar y la voluntad de realizar esfuerzos e incluso enfrentar
adversidades.
La dedicacin no incluye solamente el entusiasmo, sino tambin
la inspiracin, el orgullo y el sentido de la importancia del
trabajo que uno realiza. Por ltimo, la absorcin est asociada al
estado en el cual el tiempo transcurre rpidamente, donde uno se
siente atrado por el trabajo y es difcil dejar de realizarlo. Es por
esto, que el fenmeno relacionado con el trabajo engagement
tambin se analiz dentro de un contexto acadmico; para lo
cual, la versin Work Engagement Scale-Student se ha desarro-
llado para extender la investigacin a muestras con estudiantes.
A pesar de que los estudiantes no son ni trabajadores ni tienen
un empleo, desde un enfoque psicolgico sus labores diarias
podran considerarse como trabajo. En este sentido, los estu-
diantes estn engaged (comprometidos) en estructuras, activi-
dades coercitivas (como asistir a clases o realizar deberes) que
estn dirigidas a objetivos especficos (como pasar exmenes y
finalmente lograr un ttulo).37
Los resultados adaptativos de los trabajadores engaged pueden
mostrar diferentes tipos de dominios como: satisfaccin laboral y
compromiso organizacional; buena salud mental y psicosomtica,
emociones positivas y bajo riesgo a presentar burnout; buen rendi-
miento intra y extra rol; mayor motivacin intrnseca, iniciativa
personal o comportamiento proactivo; y la adquisicin de los
recursos del trabajo y personales. Para las organizaciones, los resul-
tados adaptativos identificados incluyen la retencin de los trabaja-
dores talentosos, una imagen corporativa positiva, rendimiento en la
unidad de negocios, rentabilidad o calidad de servicio.36,47
En este sentido, el engagement (compromiso), podra ser conside-
rado como un ndice de bienestar, tanto como para las organiza-
ciones saludables como para sus trabajadores. El presente estudio
analiza el fenmeno del engagement (como indicador de bien-
estar) en dos muestras diferentes: estudiantes universitarios y
trabajadores. Adems, se enfoca en los nexos del engagement
con varios constructos dentro del dominio individual, tales
como: La inteligencia emocional (EI, por sus siglas en ingls), el
ncleo de autoevaluacin (CSE, por sus siglas en ingls) y la
afectividad positiva (PA, tambin por sus siglas en ingls).
Recursos Personales como antecedentes
de engagement: El Modelo de
Demandas-Recursos Laborales.
Al prestar atencin a los antecedentes del engagement, el estudio
emprico muestra asociaciones positivas entre el EE y los recursos
del trabajo: Esto es, mientras ms recursos se encuentren dispo-
nibles para los trabajadores, ms probable es que los trabajadores
se sientan engaged, particularmente en situaciones de alta
exigencia laboral.10 En este sentido, muchos recursos laborales se
han identificado como antecedentes de EE, como por ejemplo,
asistencia social, feedback en el rendimiento, preparacin, auto-
noma, control del trabajo, instalaciones para realizar capacita-
ciones, variedad de labores y oportunidades para el desarrollo
profesional.1,34
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A pesar de lo anterior, una tendencia que va en aumento, se ha
enfocado en el estudio de los recursos del personal tipo estado
como predictores de EE, en general el estudio cientfico ha
negado hasta cierto punto el rol de los recursos personales como
determinantes potenciales de la adaptacin de los trabajadores a
ambientes laborales.18 En este contexto, los recursos personales
estn conectados a la resiliencia y se describen como autoevalua-
ciones positivas referidas al sentido de las personas de controlar
e impactar sobre el entorno13, lo cual podra determinar la
percepcin de los individuos del entorno. En relacin a lo ante-
rior, el estudio emprico tambin ha demostrado que las autoeva-
luaciones positivas predicen aspectos del bienestar laboral, tales
como fijacin de objetivos, motivacin, desempeo, satisfaccin
laboral y de vida.19 En el presente, los recursos personales como
la auto eficacia, autoestima basada en la organizacin, opti-
mismo, resiliencia, o un estilo de copia activo, han sido recono-
cidos como cruciales para el bienestar psicolgico y laboral de los
individuos asociados al EE.47,48 Efectivamente, tales recursos
personales parecen ayudar a los trabajadores engaged a experi-
mentar una cierta percepcin de control efectivo sobre su entorno
laboral.24 Adems, esta involucracin del ser interno podra ser
un prerequisito para la experiencia del engagement. Los rasgos
de la personalidad pueden influenciar la facilidad con la que los
recursos personales se desarrollan. Como Van den Heuvel y
otros43 sealaron, las personas con una extraversin elevada
podran ser ms propensas a pensar de manera optimista, pero a
pesar de los rasgos, es posible desarrollar estilos aclaratorios
optimistas. Es as que ellos identificaron los recursos personales
en el escenario organizacional como aspectos de la personalidad
cognitivo-afectivos, de bajo orden; sistemas de desarrollo de
pensamientos positivos acerca de uno mismo (autoestima, auto
eficacia), y el mundo (es decir el optimismo) el cual motiva y
facilita el logro de objetivos, incluso al enfrentar la adversidad y
el desafo. Los autores han propuesto un modelo de adaptacin
de los recursos personales, lo que sugiere una relacin recproca
entre los recursos personales y los recursos/demandas laborales
de los trabajadores. Tambin los recursos personales pueden
actuar ya sea como mediadores y moderadores al explicar la
relacin entre el entorno laboral y los logros, como el engage-
ment laboral o el rendimiento adaptativo. Finalmente, a lo largo
del tiempo se propone un impacto positivo del engagement
laboral y el rendimiento adaptativo de los recursos personales.
Xanthopoulou y otros47,48 han contribuido al desarrollo terico
del modelo Demandas-Recursos Laborales al proponer que los
recursos personales juegan un rol vital en el proceso motiva-
cional, ya que contribuyen al mismo, junto con las demandas y
recursos laborales, y tambin expresan una variacin nica en
agotamiento y EE. En este sentido, los trabajadores engaged
tienden a reconocer fcilmente, activar o crear recursos que faci-
liten la consecucin de logros. En suma, Los trabajadores que se
sienten autos eficaces, valiosos y optimistas podran concretar un
entorno de trabajo pleno en recursos. Los recursos personales
pueden ser promovidos por un entorno lleno de contenido y
manejable, adems podran determinar cmo los individuos
perciben o interpretan este entorno y cmo reaccionan ante el
mismo. Adicionalmente, el EE est relacionado a los recursos
personales-laborales a travs del tiempo y a los recursos labo-
rales que podran implementar la disposicin emocional del
trabajador, para as ser ms capaz de enfrentar los objetivos
laborales.
37
Original Article | Durn Auxiliadora et al.
Variables del Estudio
La afectividad positiva (PA, por sus siglas en ingls) se ha defi-
nido como el estado que refleja la medida en la que una persona
se siente entusiasta, activa, alerta, mientras que la afectividad
negativa (NA, tambin por sus siglas en ingls) presenta estados
de nimo adversos, tales como furia, miedo, nerviosismo.45
Medida como un estado, la afectividad se refiere a como una
persona se siente en un momento dado, el rasgo de la afectividad
es la tendencia de experimentar un estado afectivo particular a
travs del tiempo. La afectividad se ha relacionado con variables
de salud subjetiva y objetiva. Judge y otros18 sealaron que la
afectividad positiva es como una manifestacin de bienestar
subjetivo, considerada como un resultado del CSE (pero no de la
afectividad negativa). Los individuos con alto puntaje en CSE son
ms propensos a experimentar emociones positivas frecuente-
mente, diferentes en percepcin y motivacin, comparados con
otros que presentan un bajo puntaje en CSE. Como Schaufeli &
Bakker35 sealan, con respecto a ser un recurso personal; la afec-
tividad positiva incluye afectos similares, como engagement en
el trabajo, pero en un nivel de disposicin, ms que en uno de
estado. Esta distincin conceptual significa que los trabajadores
que se caracterizan por una afectividad positiva son ms
propensos a estar engaged con sus trabajos. En este sentido,
Langelaan, Bakker, Van Doornen, & Schaufeli22 mostraron que el
engagement laboral est positivamente relacionado a la extraver-
sin, usualmente considerado como un indicador positivo de
afectividad. Estudios empricos tambin han demostrado que los
alumnos que presentan un CSE elevado perciben su trabajo como
ms motivador (complejidad de la tarea) y experimentan sus
mundos de manera ms positiva (afectividad positiva).8 En estu-
dios recientes, Weyhrauch, Culbertson, Mills, & Fullagar46 descu-
brieron que los individuos altamente engaged reportaron haber
experimentado mayor afectividad positiva y capital psicolgico
(autoeficacia, optimismo, esperanza y resiliencia).
Las core self-evaluations (CSE, por sus siglas en ingls) son rela-
tivamente un nuevo constructo dentro de la personalidad de
dominio, stas reflejan la confianza en las capacidades propias
(de controlar la vida propia), las competencias (rendimiento,
enfrentar desafos, perseverar y tener xito) y un sentido general
de que la vida resultar bien para uno.19 Este rasgo amplio y
latente de la personalidad, es visto como la valoracin final del
valor propio, y est indicado por la autoestima, la auto eficacia
generalizada, el locus de control, y el neuroticismo (bajo) (esta-
bilidad emocional alta). Durante los ltimos aos, este constructo
ha sido examinado mayormente dentro de un contexto organiza-
cional, pero la investigacin emprica incluye resultados cada vez
ms altos desde otras reas.42
Como un todo, la investigacin emprica sugiere que los resultados
de actitud y conducta se producen por condiciones alentadoras
dentro del entorno, en combinacin al temperamento apropiado
por parte del trabajador, como el CSE. En suma a lo anterior, los
individuos con altos niveles de CSE reportan niveles de estrs y
conflictos ms bajos (incluyendo los conflictos entre el trabajo y el
hogar), son ms exitosos en sus carreras, se enfrentan de una
manera ms efectiva a los contratiempos, presentan reacciones
ms constructivas al feedback, capitalizan de mejor forma las
ventajas/oportunidades, y perciben mayores ingresos.
Al igual que las core self-evaluations definen como un individuo
se percibe a s mismo, tambin tienen efecto sobre la percepcin
38
y evaluacin de las situaciones por parte del individuo. El CSE ha
emergido como un predictor valido o correlacin entre los logros
afectivos y objetivos del trabajo, tales como satisfaccin laboral
y de vida, felicidad, rendimiento laboral o compromiso organiza-
cional afectivo.4,14,16,27,41 En estudios recientes, el CSE tambin
mostr tener un efecto negativo muy fuerte en el estrs laboral
percibido (Brunborg, 2008), y una relacin negativa con el
burnout.3 Al prestar atencin a los nexos que sostiene el engage-
ment, Rich, Lepine, y Crawford28 demostraron que el engagement
media la relacin entre el CSE y el rendimiento de tareas junto
con el comportamiento ciudadano organizacional.
En suma al CSE, la inteligencia emocional (EI, por sus siglas en
ingls) se ha posicionado como un rea popular y creciente del
estudio social.49 Al seguir el enfoque de Mayer y Saloveys,26 la
EI est definida como un grupo de habilidades interconectadas
correspondientes a la habilidad de percibir de forma precisa,
valorar y expresar emocin, la habilidad de acceder y/o generar
sentimientos que facilitan el pensamiento, y a la habilidad de
regular las emociones para promover el crecimiento emocional e
intelectual.
Bastantes estudios han demostrado que la EI est relacionada a
diversos aspectos del bienestar positivo o a la adaptacin psico-
lgica25 y a ser predictiva de conductas adaptativas, bienestar y
salud11 La EI tambin ha sido propuesta como predictora de resul-
tados relacionados al trabajo, tales como la satisfaccin laboral.6,44
Sin embargo, la investigacin emprica ha dado resultados
mixtos, al reportar una relacin dbil a modesta entre los razgos
de la EI y la satisfaccin laboral.20,23 De manera similar, algunos
estudios sealan que los trabajores emocionalmente inteligentes,
tienden a valorar ms positivamente los eventos potencialmente
estresantes, y enfrentan de mejor manera los efectos potencial-
mente dainos del estrs.9
Mientras que escasos estudios han analizado simultneamente la
influencia del CSE y la EI sobre los resultados, al parecer las
mediciones de la EI podran contribuir con algo nico. En un
estudio reciente, Kluemper21 descubri que el rasgo EI poda
predecir la adaptacin, el estrs y la satisfaccin de vida, al
utilizar las dimensiones del modelo de los Cinco Grandes y el CI
controlado. A pesar de que los coeficientes de validez incre-
mental se redujeron cuando el CSE y el deseo social se agregaron
como variables de control al modelo, an as el rasgo EI dio
cuentas de un variacin incremental significativa.
Siguiendo la lnea de Zeidner y otros,49 quines recomendaron
buscar la variacin explicada por la EI con respecto a los criterios
convencionales y si la EI permaneca predictiva con los factores
CI y personalidad controlados estadsticamente; en el presente
estudio extendemos la investigacin existente sobre CSE y EI, y
buscamos determinar cmo estos constructos, junto a la PA
influencian el engagement de trabajadores y estudiantes. Como
constructos relativamente nuevos, la EI y el CSE deben ser anali-
zados en orden de probar si stos proporcionan variacin
adicional, de manera independiente a la prediccin del bienestar
personal y laboral. Considerando que los efectos del CSE pueden
superponerse de alguna manera a los utilizados por la EI; adems
de descubrirse que el CSE, la EI, y la afectividad positiva se
encuentran fuertemente asociados al bienestar, sera importante
determinar la magnitud donde la influencia del CSE y la afecti-
vidad positiva sobre EE, pueda ser distinguida de las influencias
de la EI en estos indicadores de bienestar. Examinamos la validez
incremental de la EI por sobre y ms all del CSE, junto con la
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 Original Article | La Contribucin de Los Recursos Personales (Inteligencia Emocional, Core Self-evaluation y Afectividad Positiva) para el Engagement
afectividad positiva, como predictores del EE. Adems, ponemos
a prueba el rol potencial de las dimensiones de la EI y la afecti-
vidad positiva como mediadores en la relacin entre CSE-EE.
El presente estudio
El presente estudio tiene tres aristas: En primer lugar, buscamos
probar la influencia potencial de CSE, EI y PA sobre el engage-
ment (vigor y dedicacin), en una muestra multidisciplinaria de
trabajadores y otra de estudiantes universitarios. Adems
buscamos examinar la magnitud con la cual EI, como un cons-
tructo terico distinto, justifica a EE ms all de la influencia de
CSE, una dimensin de personalidad ms amplia, y afectividad
positiva. Finalmente, queremos explorar el rol de las dimensiones
de EI y PA como mediadores entre el CSE y el engament.
Para probar nuestra hiptesis, se realizaron una serie de regre-
siones jerrquicas y anlisis de mediaciones. Dada la investiga-
cin previa de las variables que se incluyen en el estudio, se
espera que las dimensiones del EE estn fuertemente asociadas e
influenciadas por el CSE, las dimensiones de EI y la afectividad
positiva. Adems, predecimos que las dimensiones de EI aadirn
validez incremental significativa y nica para predecir EE.
Finalmente, la hiptesis que planteamos es una dimensin de EI
significativa y un efecto mediador afectivo positivo entre CSE y
engagement.
Mtodo
Participantes y procedimiento
La informacin se recolect a partir de dos muestras: un equipo
multidisciplinario de trabajadores (N=344); 45,1% masculino/54,9%
femenino; edad promedio: 33,02 aos (I.M.=10,92) y una muestra
de estudiantes universitarios (N=347); 32,9% masculino/67,1%
femenino; edad promedio: 20,96 aos (I.M.=2,49). Los partici-
pantes del estudio constituyen una amplia variedad carreras
universitarias y actividades laborales. En orden de obtener una
generalizacin mayor en nuestros resultados, estos participantes
fueron reclutados utilizando la tcnica bola de nieve, una tcnica
de muestreo no probabilstico, en la cual los estudiantes reclutan
a sus amigos y familia de manera voluntaria. sta tcnica nos
permite recolectar una muestra ms amplia y general desde el
contexto de la universidad. Tambin, se les solicit a los estu-
diantes de turismo que participaran en una investigacin relacio-
nada a las actividades de ocio como opcin voluntaria en su
Tabla 1. Valores descriptivos y alfas de Cronbach.
Muestra de estudiantes Muestra de trabajadores
N=347 N=344
Promedio SD a Promedio SD a Rango
Core Self-Evaluations 3,43 0,58 0,69 3,51 0,58 0,80 1-5
Atencin 3,66 0,66 0,85 3,52 0,75 0,75 1-5
Claridad 3,64 0,61 0,83 3,67 0,63 0,82 1-5
Reparacin 3,57 0,69 0,84 3,63 0,71 0,76 1-5
Afectividad Positiva 3,45 0,61 0,74 3,37 0,68 0,84 1-5
Vigor 3,75 1,14 0,81 4,32 1,15 0,79 0-6
Dedicacin 4,28 1,19 0,86 4,12 1,40 0,85 0-6
Absorcin 3,49 1,32 0,85 3,79 1,38 0,82 0-6
SD (Sample Data): Datos de la Muestra.
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curso de psicologa. Ellos estuvieron a cargo de reclutar a otros
estudiantes y trabajadores para participar en el estudio.
Previamente, para completar el cuestionario, se le inform a
todos los participantes los puntos confidenciales del mismo.
Aunque la parcialidad del muestreo es un posible contratiempo
de este mtodo,12 las instrucciones del cuestionarios fueron
precisas para minimizar este tipo de problemas tanto como fuese
posible.
Materiales
Se considera la Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS, por sus siglas en
ingls)31 para representar la EI. La escala presenta tres factores
que proveen resultados independientes: atencin a los senti-
mientos (la habilidad de monitorear las emociones); claridad de
los sentimientos (relacionada a la habilidad de discriminar entre
las diferentes emociones); y la reparacin emocional (relacionada
a la habilidad de regular estados de nimo no placenteros o
mantener estados de nimo placenteros). Utilizamos la bien vali-
dada versin corta espaola del TMMS7 (tem de ejemplo:
Siempre puedo expresar lo que siento). La escala tiene un
universo de 5 tems, que van desde 1 (nunca) a 5 (muy a menudo).
Esta versin incluye 24 tems de la versin original (ocho por
cada subescala) demostrando consistencia interna aceptable,
junto a una satisfactoria fiabilidad de evaluacin y re-evalua-
cin.
Escala de Afecto Positivo y Negativo (PANA, por sus siglas en
ingls)45; Versin espaola Sandin y otros.32 La escala de 20
tems comprende dos modos, uno que mide los afectos positivos
(10 adjetivos de emociones positivas: felicidad, alegra, etc.) y
otro modo que mide los afectos negativos (10 adjetivos de
emociones negativas: ira, depresin, etc.). La escala tiene un
universo de 5 tems, que van desde 1 (casi nada o nada) a 5
(extremadamente) para indicar si el individuo que responde se ha
sentido de de dicha forma en el lapso de tiempo sealado. Un
puntaje mayor en los tems de PA, indican una afectividad ms
positiva, o las magnitudes en las que el individuo se siente entu-
siasta, activo y alerta. Por el contrario, un puntaje elevado en NA,
indica una afectividad ms negativa, o la magnitud en la que el
individuo pasa por estados de nimos aversivos y de angustia en
general. Watson y otros45 reportaron coeficientes alfas de
Cronbach para varios de los perodos de referencia. En el caso de
los perodos generales, el alfa fue 0,88 para PA y 0,87 para NA.
En este estudio aplicamos la subescala de PA.
Escala de Autoevaluaciones Centrales (CSES, por sus siglas en
ingls).17 La CSES es una escala de 12 tems desarrollada para
medir el factor autoevaluativo subyacente a lo largo de los cuatro
rasgos ms especficos: autoestima, autoeficacia generalizada,
neurotismo y locus de control. Ejemplo de lo que incluyen estos
tems: A veces cuando pierdo siento que no valgo nada, En
general, me siento satisfecho conmigo. La escala tiene un
universo de 5 tems, que van desde 1 (muy en desacuerdo) a 5
(muy de acuerdo).
La Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES, por sus siglas en
ingls) Schaufeli y otros;38 versin espaola Salanova, Schaufeli,
Llorens, Peir, & Grau).29 Esta escala incluye 15 tems, los cuales
miden tres dimensiones del engagement: vigor (Estoy lleno de
energa en el trabajo), dedicacin (Siento que mi trabajo est
lleno de sentido y propsito) y absorcin (Cuando estoy traba-
jando, me olvido de todo lo dems). La escala tiene un universo
de 7 tems, que van desde 0 (nunca) a 6 (todos los das). Para la
39
Original Article | Durn Auxiliadora et al.
muestra de estudiantes, la escala incluye tems relacionados a sus
actividades acadmicas (UWES-S).33 La UWES demostr buenos
ndices de consistencia interna entre 0,68 a 0,91.38
Resultados
Anlisis Descriptivo
La tabla 1 muestra los medios, las desviaciones estndar y los
alfas de Cronbach para todas las variables del estudio. Los ndices
de correlaciones estn incluidos en la Tabla 2.
Tabla 2. ndice de correlacin (r Pearson).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1. Core Self-Evaluations - de PA, obtuvieron mayor puntaje en dedicacin.
2. Atencin -0,10
-0,14** - explicaban una cantidad significativa de variaciones en EE (que
3. Claridad 0,18* 0,18**
0,33** 0,24** - estudiantes y trabajadores. Slo para predecir la dedicacin en los
4. Reparacin 0,33** -0,007 0,30**
0,42** 0,07 0,40** - trabajadores se detect que las dimensiones de EI no explicaban
5. Afectividad Positiva 0,39** 0,09 0,21* 0,24**
0,54** 0,01 0,35** 0,37** -
6. Vigor 0,11* -0,10 0,14** 0,19** 0,21**
0,26** 0,14** 0,31** 0,23** 0,25** -
7. Dedicacin 0,13* -0,02 0,10 0,19** 0,22** 0,62**
0,17** 0,24** 0,18** 0,12* 0,21** 0,66** -
8. Absorcin 0,06 0,01 0,20** 0,17** 0,15** 0,69** 0,65**
0,12* 0,20** 0,17** 0,07 0,17** 0,56** 0,69**
Estudiantes: primera lnea / Trabajadores: segunda lnea, en cada variable/dimensin.
**p< .01//* p< .05
De manera consistente con las investigaciones anteriores, el CSE
muestra una relacin muy estrecha con las dimensiones-cons-
tructos que se incluyen en el presente estudio. Los ndices de
correlacin no son significativos para la atencin y la absorcin
(muestra de estudiantes). Estos bajos, hasta moderados ndices
van desde r 0,11 (p< 0,05) para vigor (muestra de estudiantes)
hasta r 0,54 (p< 0,01) para PA (muestra de trabajadores). Los
ndices ms elevados se obtuvieron entre CSE-PA y CSE-reparacin.
Para la inteligencia emocional, la claridad y reparacin presen-
taron los ndices de correlacin ms elevados con PA (claridad
r 0,21/0,35; reparacin r 0,24/0,37; p< 0,01), para las muestras de
estudiantes y trabajadores. Como se esperaba, las dimensiones
del engagement demostraron ndices de correlacin moderados y
altos entre ellos, desde r 0,56 a r 0,69 (p< 0,01).
Anlisis de regresin jerrquica
Los anlisis de regresin jerrquica estn resumidos en la Tabla 3.
Estos anlisis incluyen las dimensiones fundamentales del enga-
gement (vigor y dedicacin) y EI (claridad y reparacin). Para
analizar la utilidad predictiva de EI en respuesta a la variacin en
vigor y dedicacin ms all de lo que se explica CSE y PA, reali-
zamos una serie de anlisis de regresin jerrquica para cada uno
de los criterios de medicin. Inicialmente, el sexo y la edad se
ingresaron en los anlisis de regresin como variables de control;
los CSE se ingresaron como un segundo paso, y PA como un
tercero. Las dimensiones de la inteligencia emocional, se ingre-
saron como un bloque en el cuarto paso.
En relacin al vigor, un total de 9,1% (estudiantes) y 15,5%
40
(trabajadores) de estas variaciones se explicaron. Los estudiantes
que reportaron un grado mayor de PA, como tambin los que
obtuvieron habilidades mayores en reparacin emocional,
lograron mayor puntaje en vigor. Para los trabajadores, que
mostraron un mayor nivel de CSE, como tambin los trabajadores
con una habilidad percibida mayor en la distincin de los estados
emocionales (claridad), lograron mayor puntaje en vigor. El sexo
y la edad demostraron igualmente una influencia estadstica-
mente superior en el nivel de vigor.
Para predecir la dedicacin, un total de 9,2% (estudiantes univer-
sitarios) y 6,7% (trabajadores) de estas variaciones se explicaron.
En este sentido, los estudiantes que presentaron un grado mayor
de PA y habilidades elevadas de reparacin emocional, en
conjunto a con los trabajadores que mostraron niveles elevados
En suma a lo anterior, se descubri que las dimensiones de EI
van desde DR2 0,021 hasta 0,043 p< 0,01) para las muestras de
una cantidad significativa de variaciones (DR2 0,008 p > 0,05).
Tabla 3. Anlisis de regresin jerrquica.
Muestra de estudiantes Muestra de trabajadores
R2 b DR2 R2 b DR2
VIGOR 9,1% 15,5%
Paso 1 0,18
Sexo 0,125 0,062
Edad 0,93 0,124*
Paso 2 0,17* 0,76**
Core Self-evaluations 0,006 0,13*
Paso 3 0,033** 0,018*
Afectividad positiva 0,167** 0,099
Paso 4 0,024** 0,043**
Reparacin 0,126** 0,049
Claridad 0,080 0,211**
DEDICACIN 9,2% 6,7%
Paso 1 0,014 0,001
Sexo 0,129* 0,052
Edad -0,022 -0,036
Paso 2 0,022** 0,039**
Core Self-evaluations 0,025 0,092
Paso 3 0,035** 0,019*
Afectividad Positiva 0,182** 0,141*
Paso 4 0,021** 0,008
Reparacin 0,155** -0,011
Claridad -------
**p< .01//*p< .05
Anlisis mediacional
Se realizaron una serie de regresiones para probar cada una de
las relaciones mediacionales de acuerdo a los criterios que espe-
cificaron Baron y Kenny2: Primero, la variable predictora (CSE)
se debe relacionar a la variable mediadora (PA/claridad/repara-
cin). Segundo, la variable predictora se debe relacionar a la
variable de resultado (vigor/dedicacin). Tercero, la variable
mediadora se debe relacionar a la variable de resultado. Cuarto,
luego de controlar los logros del mediador sobre los resultados,
la relacin entre el predictor y el resultado deben ser significati-
vamente menores. Para determinar si la reduccin se puede
considerar significativa, se utiliz el test de Sobel.40
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 Original Article | La Contribucin de Los Recursos Personales (Inteligencia Emocional, Core Self-evaluation y Afectividad Positiva) para el Engagement
Tabla 4. Anlisis Mediacional.
Estudiantes Trabajadores
R2 b p Z R2 b p Z
Sobel test Sobel test
PA como Mediador nados, podran reflejar de manera parcial, procesos diferentes.
VIGOR Por extensin, los resultados indican la importancia de las
CSE 1,4% 0,118 0,029 -- 7% 0,265 0,000 2,39*
CSE 1,4% 0,041 0,384 -- 6,9% 0,179 0,004
Afectividad Positiva 4,6% 0,195 0,001 -- 8,6% 0,153 0,015
DEDICACIN Ms especficamente, las autoevaluaciones fundamentales resul-
CSE 1,9% 0,137 0,012 -- 3,2% 0,179 0,001 --
CSE 1,9% 0,050 0,384 -- 3,1% 0,085 0,182 --
Afectividad Positiva 5,7% 0,215 0,000 -- 5,1% 0,167 0,009 --
Reparacin como Mediador
VIGOR En este sentido, PA figura como un antecedente relevante para la
CSE 1,4% 0,118 0,029 -- 7% 0,265 0,000 2,44*
CSE 1,4% 0,060 0,288 -- 7% 0,203 0,000
Reparacin 4% 0,172 0,003 -- 8,8% 0,147 0,011
DEDICACIN validez incremental sobre y ms all de CSE y PA, con la excep-
CSE 1,9% 0,137 0,012 -- 3,2% 0,179 0,001 //
CSE 1,9% 0,081 0,155 -- 3,2% 0,156 0,009 //
Reparacin 4,3% 0,165 0,004 -- 3,5% 0,056 0,347 //
Claridad como Mediador
VIGOR
CSE 1,4% 0,118 0,029 -- 7% 0,265 0,000 3,80**
CSE 1,4% 0,094 0,086 -- 7% 0,179 0,001
Claridad 3,1% 0,131 0,017 -- 12,8% 0,256 0,000 Como sealaron Xanthopoulou y otros48, las organizaciones
DEDICACIN
CSE -- -- -- // 3,2% 0,179 0,001 2,19*
CSE -- -- -- // 3,5% 0,143 0,012
Claridad -- -- -- // 5% 0,132 0,021 recursos adicionales. Las polticas de los recursos personales
**p< 0,01//*p< 0,05
De esta manera, de acuerdo a los criterios de tener una reduccin
en la relacin entre el predictor y la variable dependiente, a un
nivel no significativo, para los resultados de los estudiantes
universitarios indic una mediacin completa por cinco rela-
ciones mediacionales. Esto significa que la afectividad positiva y
la reparacin mediaron completamente la relacin entre CSE y
dos dimensiones del engagement; mientras que la claridad medi
completamente la relacin entre el CSE y el vigor.
Para los trabajadores, la claridad medi parcialmente la relacin
entre las dimensiones de CSE y EE, mientras que la habilidad en
reparaciones emocionales es un mediador parcial de la influencia
que tiene CSE sobre el vigor. Finalmente, la afectividad positiva
fue un mediador parcial entre la relacin de CSE y vigor, pero
medi completamente la relacin entre CSE y dedicacin.
Discusin
El propsito del presente estudio fue analizar la relacin entre el
engagement y diversos constructos dentro del dominio individual
en dos diferentes muestras: estudiantes universitarios y trabaja-
dores. Los principales intereses del este estudio yacen en el rol
predictivo de la inteligencia emocional (EI), las autoevaluaciones
fundamentales (CSE) y la afectividad positiva (PA) como recursos
personales. El estudio se centr especficamente en la validez
incremental de las dimensiones de EI para predecir el engage-
ment ms all de lo que CSE y PA explican; y el rol de las dimen-
siones de EI y PA como variables de mediacin en la relacin
CSE-EE.
Como un todo, el estudio brinda respaldo a las fuentes indivi-
duales que destacan el rol de la personalidad y la emocin como
predictores de bienestar.15 En adicin, la informacin apoya la
Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 36/43
validez incremental de constructos relativamente nuevos, como
la EI con respecto a una dimensin de la personalidad ms
amplia como la de CSE. En lnea con estudios previos21, nuestros
hallazgos sugieren que a pesar de que EI y CSE estn relacio-
emociones y la afectividad en un escenario organizacional y
acadmico.
taron ser una variable de antecedentes relevantes para el vigor de
los trabajadores, en conjunto con la claridad, mientras PA es el
nico antecedente significativo de la dedicacin del trabajador.
dedicacin tanto de los estudiantes universitarios como de los
trabajadores. Conjuntamente, las dimensiones de EI probaron su
cin del modelo de regresin final para la dedicacin del traba-
jador. Es decir, los estudiantes universitarios implementaron sus
habilidades de control emocional al dirigir dichas emociones
hacia actividades constructivas y de desarrollo personal, y los
que se sienten entusiastas, activos y alerta, podran estar ms
vigorosamente abstrados en sus labores acadmicas diarias.
deben entender que el trabajo y los recursos personales guan
hacia una fuerza de trabajo engaged, que parece movilizar
deberan enfocarse en crear entornos laborales plenos en recursos
y en programas de capacitacin que refuercen las auto convic-
ciones positivas de los trabajadores. Las organizaciones deberan
evitar las exigencias laborales exhaustivas y prestar atencin al
hecho de que empoderar los recursos personales de los trabaja-
dores tambin puede ser rentable. Los recursos personales como
CSE, PA y EI parecen ser herramientas tiles para promover el EE
y su mejoramiento podra llegar a ser muy importante en la
agenda organizacional. Las diferentes reas como seleccin de
soporte, liderazgo, distribucin de labores estresantes, etc.,
podran verse beneficiadas.
Al enfocarse en programas de intervencin en los escenarios
acadmico y laboral, se podra incrementar el engagement, incre-
mentando la claridad y la reparacin emocional, a travs de
estrategias de regulacin. En este sentido, Salovey y otros31
propusieron que mejorar las convicciones en donde las emociones
se pueden entender y regular, podra ayudar a que las personas
perciban sus emociones de manera menos amenazante y conse-
cuentemente, incrementar los niveles de bienestar. De esta
manera, las intervenciones psicolgicas positivas, que se enfocan
en promover CSE y en ensear a los individuos mtodos tiles de
regular sus emociones y mantener los estados placenteros, podra
contribuir a una percepcin ms feliz de la vida y a unos niveles
ms elevados de vigor y dedicacin en sus trabajos.
Debemos destacar algunas limitaciones de nuestra investigacin.
Primero, el estudio se realiz con mediciones auto reportadas, por
lo que es probable que la conveniencia social pudiese presentar
respuestas influenciadas. Adems, las mediciones auto reportadas
como la TMMS slo evala las dimensiones emocionales auto
percibidas, y sera de beneficio incluir mediciones de rendimiento
emocional para as reducir el problema de las variaciones de
mtodo comn con resultados variables. Lo ms apropiado para
futuras investigaciones sera la aplicacin de un enfoque combi-
nado para predecir EE. Otro factor importante es el uso de un
41
Original Article | Durn Auxiliadora et al.
diseo transversal, el cual necesariamente limita nuestras
conclusiones debido al hecho de que no es posible determinar la
direccin de causalidad.
Sin embargo, nuestros resultados respaldan la idea en cuanto a
que el desarrollo de programas de entrenamiento acadmico y
organizacional deben considerar las dimensiones esenciales de
CSE, tales como autoestima o auto eficacia generalizada, como
tambin habilidades de EI o PA, para incrementar el engagement
laboral/acadmico y as, contribuir al mejoramiento del bienestar
del trabajador y estudiante. Aunque en el lugar de trabajo y en
contextos acadmicos hay muchos factores que se encuentran
fuera del control individual, el desarrollo de programas de capa-
citacin (los cuales ayudan a los trabajadores y estudiantes a
entender sus propias emociones y reparar las mismas) junto con
cambios acadmicos y organizacionales (los que promueven
mayor dedicacin y sentimientos de vigor), obedecen a interven-
ciones complementarias y tiles para incrementar el bienestar
psicolgico de los trabajadores y estudiantes. Estas sugerencias se
pueden aplicar especialmente en un contexto universitario,
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donde las reformas en curso tendrn un gran impacto en la
educacin superior europea. Estos cambios incluyen alteraciones
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43
Artculo Original
Investigating the Associations between Ministerial Resources,
Personality Traits and Engagement among the Indian Clergy
Investigacin de las Asociaciones entre los Recursos Ministeriales, Rasgos de la
Personalidad y Engagement entre el Clero Indio
Eugene Newman Joseph1, Hans De Witte1,2
1. Research Group Work, Organisational & Personnel Psychology (WOPP) Department of Psychology, K.U.Leuven, Belgium.
2. North-West University (Vanderbijlpark Campus), South-Africa.
ABSTRACT
Work engagement is a state of being happily engrossed in work and
a feeling that one can give more in spite of difficulties, trials and
tribulations. In line with this clergy engagement can be seen as a
state in which priests constantly expend a great deal of energy
through service and compassion to others with enthusiasm, commit-
ment and absorption. The dynamic, dedicated and up-to-date priest
thrives in demanding situations. Since engagement is defined as a
work related state of mind43 most of the studies have concentrated
on the situational factors. This study attempts to explore if personal-
ity traits could play an important role in priests being positively
motivated and engaged in priestly life and ministry. The present
study on clergy engagement among a sample of 511 priests employed
the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale to tap engagement, Copenhagen
Psychosocial Questionnaire to tap ministerial resources and the NEO
FFI Personality Inventory to tap personality traits, which is yet
another addition to a long history of empirical research based on
Catholic clergy conducted in various parts of the world. Hierarchical
regression analyses confirmed that ministerial resources (skill utili-
zation, social support from people and social support from priests)
have a positive association with engagement and among the person-
ality traits as expected Neuroticism had a negative association, while
extraversion and conscientiousness had a positive association with
engagement among the Indian clergy.
Key words: Engagement; Ministerial Resources; Personality;
Clergy.
Introduction
The opening words of Charles Meyer in his book Man of God: A
Study of the Priesthood are the priesthood is in trouble (1974, p.
9). More than forty years after Vatican II, a plethora of books on
priesthood flood us with the widespread acknowledgement that
Correspondence / Correspondencia
Prof. dr. Hans De Witte
Full Professor Work Psychology
Research Group Work, Organisational & Personnel Psychology (WOPP)
Department of Psychology-K.U.Leuven
Tiensestr. 102, 3000 Leuven. Belgi - Belgium
Tel.: 016-32.60.60 Fax: 016-32.60.55
e-mail: Hans.Dewitte@psy.kuleuven.be
Received: Accepted:
44
RESUMEN
El engagement laboral es el estado de sentirse feliz y compenetrado
hacia el trabajo, adems de tener la capacidad de realizar un esfuerzo
extra a pesar de las dificultades, procesos y preocupaciones. De forma
paralela, el engagement del clero podra apreciarse como un estado en
el cual los sacerdotes gastan comnmente una gran cantidad de energa
a travs de su servicio y compasin hacia terceros con entusiasmo,
compromiso y absorcin. Los sacerdotes dinmicos, dedicados y moder-
nos se enfrentan a situaciones exigentes. Debido a que el engagement
se define como un estado mental hacia el trabajo, la mayora de los
estudios se han concentrado en los factores situacionales. Este estudio
intenta explorar si los rasgos de la personalidad podran jugar un rol
importante en la motivacin positiva y del engage en la vida sacerdotal
y ministerial. El presente trabajo se realiz a partir de una muestra de
511 sacerdotes utilizando la medicin Utrecht Work Engagement Scale
para estimar el engagement, el Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire
para evaluar los recursos ministeriales y el NEO FFI Personality
Inventory para revisar los rasgos de la personalidad, el cual es otra
adicin a una larga historia de investigacin emprica basada en el clero
catlico que se realiza alrededor del mundo.
Los anlisis de regresin jerrquica confirmaron que los recursos minis-
teriales (uso de habilidades, apoyo social de la gente y apoyo social por
parte de los sacerdotes) tienen una asociacin positiva con el engage-
ment y los rasgos de la personalidad. Tal como se esperaba, el neuroti-
cismo presenta una asociacin negativa, mientras que la extraversin y
la conciencia mostraron una asociacin positiva hacia el engagement
del clero indio.
Palabras clave: engagement, recursos ministeriales, perso-
nalidad, clero.
there is a crisis in priesthood today. Ministering to the faithful in
the Church is a noble call, which focuses on constantly giving and
sharing that could be fulfilling, when complimented with high
resources eventually leading to engagement. Taking into conside-
ration the scenario of the Indian Church in a multi-religio-political
situation, and also relying on the empirical studies done on enga-
gement that have led to the belief that the available resources43,
and positive personality traits30 predict engagement45, an attempt
was made to study engagement among the Catholic diocesan
clergy in India. In a bid to accomplish this for the first time this
study has employed a positive construct: work engagement in a
different context (India) among a different professional category
(priests) adapting some concepts like job and work to ministry
the term that denotes the work of priests. This study will focus on
positive psychology by analyzing work engagement and by testing
its antecedents: ministerial resources. Finally the JDR-model has
been employed for the first time among priests to test and compare
the differential effects of the two kinds of resources namely minis-
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 Original Article | Investigating the Associations between Ministerial Resources, Personality Traits and Engagement among the Indian Clergy
terial resources and personal resources.
Engagement
Since the beginning of the 21st century following the general trend
in psychology48 scholars in occupational psychology have
evinced interest on the psychological phenomenon engagement.
Engagement is defined as a positive, fulfilling, work-related state
of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption.46
Vigor is characterized by high levels of energy, zest, stamina and
mental resilience while working, the willingness to invest effort in
ones work, and persistence in the face of difficulties.45 It is consi-
dered the direct opposite of exhaustion one of the core dimensions
of burnout.33 The continuum spanned by vigor and exhaustion has
been labelled energy.42 Dedication refers to being strongly
involved in ones work, and experiencing a sense of significance,
enthusiasm, inspiration, pride, and challenge.43 It is considered the
direct opposite of cynicism, another core dimension of burnout.33,32
The continuum spanned by dedication and cynicism has been
labelled identification46. Absorption is characterized by being
fully concentrated and happily engrossed in ones work, whereby
time passes quickly and one has difficulties with detaching oneself
from work.42,45 Being fully absorbed in ones work comes close to
Csikszentmihalyis (1990) concept of flow, a state of optimal
experience that is characterized by focused attention, clear mind,
mind and body unison, effortless concentration, complete control,
loss of self-consciousness, distortion of time and intrinsic enjoy-
ment. But contrary to flow which is a complex concept with many
aspects and refers to short-term peak experiences, even outside the
realm of work, absorption is a more pervasive and persistent state
of mind.45 In line with this definition, clergy engagement can be
seen as a feeling of possessing high levels of energy, the willing-
ness to offer oneself wholeheartedly and to invest effort in ones
ministry even in the midst of difficulties and trying situations,
wherein a priest is happily engrossed in his ministry and feels a
sense of fulfilment.46
Ministerial Resources and Personality Traits
In the current era of great transition and upheaval, priests are
called to live their ministry with depth, anticipating the ever more
profound, numerous and sensitive demands and challenges not
only of a pastoral, but also of a social and cultural nature, which
they must face (PDV, no. 5, 1). Pastoral ministry is definitely a
fascinating undertaking, yet one that is onerous, open to misun-
derstanding and marginalization and especially today, to fatigue,
exhaustion, challenge, isolation and at times solitude. To engage
in the diverse areas of the apostolate requires complete dedication,
generosity, intellectual preparation, a mature and deep spiritual life
and a commitment to authentic service of the faithful through
pastoral ministry.10 Priests have multiple responsibilities and feel
pulled in many directions to perform everything equally well,
without being able to set priorities.40,18,17 In a situation like this if
they are complimented with resources at the same time if they are
in possession of positive personality traits they could be engaged
in their priestly life and ministry. One of the innovative aspects of
this study is the employment of the JDR-Model15 to develop our
hypotheses and to analyze the role of ministerial resources and
personal resources in predicting engagement among the Indian
priests.
Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 44/52
Ministerial Resources
Paraphrasing the definition of job resources15, ministerial resources
refer to those physical, psychological, social, cultural, organizational
and congregational aspects of the ministry that either/or (1) reduce
ministerial demands and the associated physiological and psycholo-
gical costs; (2) are functional in achieving ministerial goals; (3)
stimulate personal growth, learning and development.43 Resources
not only assist in dealing with job demands and in getting things
done43 but as Hobfoll23 describes they are also important in their own
right. Substantiating this view, several studies have confirmed the
hypothesis that resources are not only necessary to deal with minis-
terial demands and to get things done23 but they also are important
in enhancing performance.2,15 Though there are no specific studies
that have been done on clergy engagement, nevertheless there are
studies that have been done in relation to positive outcomes of
priestly life and ministry. Studies on clergy have attested to the fact
that resources like autonomy;31 skill utilization;32 support from the
people they minister to;17,40,20,41 support from fellow priests;26,52 and
support from the authority41,26,52 lead to the ministerial satisfaction
and well-being of the priest and lack of all these resources could lead
to depression, stress and burnout.
Based on literature and research, we have selected the following
variables for ministerial resources for our study among Indian
clergy. 1) Autonomy: The ability to determine ones work methods,
work schedules and even issues such as breaks and vacations38,39
is expected to have a positive association with engagement 2) Skill
utilization: The degree to which jobs allow individuals to exhibit
their skills, talents and abilities14,25,50 is assumed to be positively
associated with engagement. 3) Social Support is that piece of
information that convinces people that others love them and care
for them, respect them and value them and that they are part of a
network of communications and mutual support.8 Hence social
support from people, colleagues (priests) and Authority are
expected to be positively associated with engagement.
Personality Traits
Over the last decades, research using the so-called Five-Factor Model
(FFM) of personality has been quite productive. Despite the fact of
its popularity, there are hardly any studies that have employed the
FFM to study its association with engagement. The study by
Langelaan and collegues30 is the only study that the authors have
come across that has studied the association between two (neuroti-
cism and extraversion) of the five personality dimensions and enga-
gement.45 Hence the present study aims at extending these studies by
focusing on all the FFM personality factors simultaneously in the
prediction of engagement in Indian Catholic Diocesan Priests. Based
on the literature of the FFM, previous research and above all taking
into account the nature of priestly ministry in India wherein priests
are incessantly approached by the people for their spiritual, emotional
and even material needs, the following predictions were made.
Neuroticism is characterized by a tendency to be emotionally unstable,
fearful and irritable. The characteristics of neurotics are that they
possess low self-esteem, poor inhibition of impulses, social anxiety and
helplessness.11 People high on neuroticism are emotionally reactive and
tend to interpret ordinary situations as threatening, and minor frustra-
tions as hopelessly difficult.4,22 Previous research has found neuroti-
cism to be negatively associated with engagement.30 Serving the
45
Original Article | Newman Eugene, De Witte Hans
people in India has its own pros and cons. On the positive side, priestly
ministry would be satisfying and fulfilling but on the negative side, it
could be exhausting and frustrating due to the various unanticipated
demands and challenges a priest has to confront on a daily basis. Based
on literature and research and taking into account the nature of
priestly ministry in India which is people oriented, we expect neuroti-
cism to be negatively associated with engagement.
Extraversion is characterized by a tendency to be self confident,
dominant, active and excitement seeking. The basic characteristics of
extraverts are that they enjoy being with people, are full of energy,
optimistic, experience positive emotions, have higher frequency and
intensity in personal interactions, are enthusiastic, action-oriented10
and have a keen interest in other people and external events.16 Hence,
it is not surprising to find that extraversion was positively associated
with engagement.30 Pastoral ministry in India involves constantly
being with and for the people. Hence, it would be rather conducive
for priests scoring high on extraversion to naturally get along with
the people with ease than for priests who are low on extraversion.
Hence, in line with the literature and research, we assumed that
extraversion would be positively associated with engagement.
Thirdly, there no studies to the authors knowledge which have inves-
tigated the relationship between engagement and Openness to
Experience, which is characterized by a tendency to be creative,
intelligent and open to new ideas.12 It must be clear that to attend to
all people in a community, priests ideally need to be flexible and
open to the experiences and opinions of others. Taking into account
the characteristics associated with openness and the situation of
priestly ministry in India, we expect openness to experience to be
positively associated with engagement.
Agreeableness is characterized by the tendency to be most concerned
with interpersonal relationships.19 The basic characteristics of agreea-
bleness trait are being considerate, friendly, generous, helpful and
willing to compromise their interests with others and above all
valuing getting along with others.51 There are no studies yet that
have explored the association between agreeableness and engage-
ment. However, learning to be concerned about the welfare of the
people, being considerate, friendly, generous and helpful are essential
characteristics of priestly ministry in India. Taking into account the
nature of priestly ministry in India, we expect agreeableness to be
positively associated with engagement.
The construct of Conscientiousness, represents the drive to accom-
plish something and it contains the characteristics necessary in such
a pursuit: being organized, self-disciplined, systematic, efficient,
practical and steady.16 There is a dearth of research on conscientious-
ness and engagement. Ministering in India is strenuous because a
priest has to constantly deal with people who are poor, downtrodden,
uneducated, unemployed and with various social, financial and
cultural burdens. Unless he has some set goals and targets, and gets
himself organized to help the people, he could end up frustrated in
meeting all these demands. Taking into consideration the multi-cul-
tural Indian society in which a priest ministers, we expect conscien-
tiousness to be positively associated with engagement.
The Catholic Church in India
The motive behind briefly discussing the history of the Catholic
Church in India is to situate the target of our study-the Catholic
diocesan priests of the Latin rite. More often India is associated with
the major religions of Hinduism or Islam; however Christianity has
46
enjoyed a long and rich history and tradition in the Indian subcon-
tinent. Although India has a majority of Hindus, no official state
religion is named. India in its constitution has determined to preserve
freedom of religion. The population of India is around 1,16 billion
(http://populationcommission.nic.in) of which approximately 17,3
million are Catholics (http://www.ccbi.in), which represents less than
2% of the total population. The Indian Catholic Church is a commu-
nion of three individual churches: the Latin Church which is the
biggest, the Syro-Malabar Church and the Syro-Malankara Church.37
There are 160 dioceses in India comprising 30 archdioceses and 130
dioceses (http://www.cbcisite.com) (of which 23 archdioceses and 105
dioceses: a total of 128 dioceses are of Latin rite; 5 archdioceses and
21 dioceses: a total of 26 dioceses are of Syro-Malabar rite and 2
archdioceses and 4 dioceses: a total of 6 dioceses of Syro-Malankara
rite). According to 2003 statistics (the most recent posted on the CBCI
website) there are around 14,000 diocesan priests and 13,500 reli-
gious priests (http://www.cbcisite.com). Our target of study - the
group of Catholic diocesan priests of the Latin rite - is involved in
people-oriented work either in parishes or institutions in South India,
constantly catering to the material, educational, social and above all
spiritual needs of the people.
Aims of the Study
The primary aim of the study was to investigate whether the Indian
diocesan catholic clergy are engaged when they encounter ministe-
rial resources in their priestly life and ministry. Secondly, do perso-
nality traits aid in the prospect of being engaged when priestly life
and ministry are complimented with ministerial resources. By emplo-
ying the construct of engagement, this study adds to the literature of
engagement in three aspects: 1) to validate that the engagement scale
is applicable in the study of the ministry (work) of priests 2) to syste-
matically bring all the possible and relevant resources under the
broad variable ministerial resources to analyze its association with
engagement 3) to explore the association of five personality traits
with engagement for the first time.
Method
Procedure
The present empirical study was conducted in 21 Latin Catholic
dioceses of South India (Tamil Nadu [14 dioceses], Karnataka [5
dioceses], Andhra Pradesh [1 diocese] and Kerala [1 diocese]) during
the months of January-May 2007. Dioceses in the five ecclesiastical
regions of South India were randomly selected. 30 priest delegates
who extended positive assurances that they would lend a hand in the
distribution and collection of the questionnaires were chosen from
the dioceses selected (Alwaye, Bangalore, Bellary, Chikmagalur,
Chingelpet, Coimbatore, Dharmapuri, Dindigul, Kottar, Kumbakonam,
Madras-Mylapore, Mysore, Ootacamund, Palayamkottai, Pondicherry,
Salem, Shimoga, Sivagangai, Thanjavur, Trichy and Vizag). The
nature of the project and the research objectives were explained to
them in detail. The questionnaires were mailed to the priest delegates,
in packets containing 20 or 30 or 50, in accordance with their
requests. As instructed the delegates distributed the questionnaires to
all the priests who resided and ministered in the area the delegate had
his residence. No specific criteria were followed for selecting the
priests to fill out the questionnaire or in the distribution of the ques-
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 Original Article | Investigating the Associations between Ministerial Resources, Personality Traits and Engagement among the Indian Clergy
tionnaire as such, for every priest could be part of the sample. By the
end of February 2007, 800 questionnaires were distributed.
Participants
Overall, a total of 540 questionnaires were returned, for a response
rate of 67,5%, including those who responded but declined to parti-
cipate (N = 28), and those whose data were incomplete (N = 1). Of
the 67,5% (540) who returned their surveys, 63,9% (511) were
complete and usable for the study. Both the overall (67,5%) and the
usable response rates for this studys data are satisfactory. The age
of the participants in our sample varied between 27 and 88 years
with a mean age of 43,2 years (SD = 11,8). The participants minis-
terial experience varied from 1 to 58 years with a mean of 14,9 years
(SD=11,9). With respect to participants level of education in our
study, 43,2% (N = 221) had bachelors degrees, 44,4% (N = 227)
obtained a masters degree and 11,5% (N = 59) had acquired a PhD,
four participants did not indicate their educational qualification. In
our study, 28,2% (N = 144) of the participants lived alone without a
companion priest; 26,4% (N = 135) had one priest companion,
16,8% (N = 86) had two; 8,4% (N = 43) had three and the remaining
20,2% (N = 103) live with more than four up to thirty eight compa-
nion priests. A vast majority of the participants in our study are
situated in the town/semi-urban and rural areas. 33,5% (N = 171) of
the priests minister in rural areas, 49,7% (N = 254) work in town
areas and 16,8% (N = 86) in metropolitan cities. In our study, 74,4%
(N = 380) of the priests are engaged in parish ministry, 25,6% (N =
112) work in institutions (seminaries, colleges, schools and commis-
sions at the national, regional and diocesan levels) and 3,7% (N =
19) in the diocesan curia.
Measures
We adapted a few well known measures by choosing only the work-
related scales that were relevant for our study. We also changed
words like work and job used in the original version of the
measures to ministry, the term used for the work of priests. The
following were the measures that were used.
Utrecht Work Engagement Scale42,46 is a self-report questionnaire with
17 items assessing three aspects of work engagement: Vigor (6 items)
refers to high levels of energy and resilience, the willingness to invest
effort, not being easily fatigued, and persistence in the face of difficul-
ties (e.g., At my work, I feel bursting with energy). Dedication (5
items) refers to deriving a sense of significance from ones work,
feeling enthusiastic and proud about ones job, and feeling inspired
and challenged by it (e.g., I find the ministry that I do is full of
meaning and purpose). Absorption (6 items) refers to being totally
and happily immersed in ones work and having difficulty detaching
oneself from it, so that time passes quickly and one forgets everything
else (e.g., When I am ministering, I forget everything else around
me). Subjecting our data to a factor analysis using Principal
Component Analysis (PCA) with iteration and varimax rotation, factor
loadings below 0,40 were suppressed. A clear three factor structure
was absent all items loaded on one factor which is in line with the
study of Sonnetag.48 All items had a minimal factor loading of 0,55.
This gives us an additional reason to use the one factor fit of engage-
ment which is acceptable49 instead of the three factor fit. The reliability
of the total scale of engagement was high (_ = 0,96).
Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 44/52
Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire: (COPSOQ)28 Ministerial
demands and ministerial resources were assessed employing
Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire. The COPSOQ was deve-
loped by the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) in
Denmark to assess psychosocial work environment factors. This
inventory has been adapted by taking only those scales that were
applicable for our study. PCA using varimax rotation revealed that
all the items loaded in the respective scales on one factor. Factor
loadings below 0,40 were suppressed and all items had a minimal
factor loading of 0,48 and no cross loadings emerged.
Task related job characteristics assess autonomy and skill utilization.
Autonomy assesses if a priest can take a break or influence the
amount of work he is assigned to, on a 5-point Likert scale ranging
from 1 (to a large extent) to 5 (to a very small extent) (e.g., Can you
decide when to take a break?; 4 items _ = 0,76), and skill utilization
assesses whether the ministry is varied and opportunities are there to
utilize ones talents and skills, on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from
1 (Always) to 5 (Never/hardly ever) (e.g., Is your ministry varied?;
6 items; _ = 0,78). Social support at the interpersonal level assesses
the support of the people with whom and for whom the priest works,
on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Always) to 5 (Never/hardly
ever) (e.g., Is there a good atmosphere between you and the people
you work for?; 4 items; _ = 0,81), and support of priests measures if
there is good cooperation and understanding with other priests and
immediate superiors on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1
(Always) to 5 (Never/hardly ever) (e.g., How often do you get help
and support from other priests?; 4 items; _ =0,88). Social support at
the organizational level, assesses if the authority (Bishop) unders-
tands, appreciates and offers developmental opportunities to the
priest, on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Always) to 5 (Never/
hardly ever) (e.g., To what extent would you say that your Bishop
appreciates the priests and shows consideration for the individual?;
8 items; _ = 0,95).
The NEO Five-Factor Inventory: (NEO-FFI)12 is an abbreviated
60-item version of the 240-item NEO-PI-R assessing Neuroticism,
Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and
Conscientiousness. The anchoring for all the 60 items varies from
1 = totally disagree, 5 = totally agree. PCA using the varimax
rotation for the Big Five failed to reveal the expected five factors.
The factor structure was collapsed and in addition the reliability
score for the openness scale was very low (_ = 0,46). Neuroticism
(12 items) assesses the negative affect and self reproach (e.g.,
Sometimes I feel completely worthless; _ = 0,72). Extraversion (12
items) assesses positive affect, sociability and activity (e.g., I like to
have a lot of people around me; _ = 0,68). Openness to experience
(12 items) assesses aesthetic and intellectual interests and uncon-
ventionality (e.g., I am intrigued by the patterns I find in art and
nature; _ = 0,46). Agreeableness (12 items) assesses non-antago-
nistic orientation and pro-social orientation (e.g., I try to be cour-
teous to everyone I meet; _ = 0,75). Conscientiousness (12 items)
assesses orderliness, goal striving and dependability (e.g., When I
make a commitment I can always be counted on to follow; _ =
0,81). Since our study attempts to establish only the relevance and
association of engagement with the personality traits, we did not
delve into establishing the statistical criteria not supporting the
FFM for the NEO-FFI. As the NEO-FFI is an internationally vali-
dated and accepted scale, we decided to work with the original
four dimensional version excluding the openness scale in further
statistical analysis because of the low reliability score and lack of
correlation with the other variables.
47
Original Article | Newman Eugene, De Witte Hans

Table 1.
Correlations means and standard deviation of demographics, engagement, personality traits and ministerial resources
Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 M SD
1 Age 1 43,02 11,51
2 Bachelors -0,06 1 0,44 0,50
3 Phd 0,13** -0,32** 1 0,12 0,32
4 Comp 0,13** -0,21** 0,50** 1 3,33 5,89
5 Rural -0,05 0,18** -0,10* -0,22** 1 0,33 0,47
6 Metro 0,09* -0,20** 0,23** 0,46** -0,32** 1 0,17 0,38
7 Res 0,08 -0,29** 0,41** 0,57** -0,25** 0,36** 1 , 1,26 0,44
8 Engagement 0,09* -0,08 0,11* 0,18** -0,10* 0,13** 0,18** 1 4,02 1,42
9 Neuroticism -0,16** 0,11* -0,13** -0,15** 0,06 -0,08 -0,14** -,050** 1 2,82 0,55
10 Extraversion -0,11* -0,04 0,19** 0,06 -0,04 0,05 0,04 0,48** -0,31** 1 3,35 0,46
11 Openness -0,20** -0,09 0,01 0,03 -0,00 0,09* 0,07 -0,02 -0,05 0,09 1 2,94 0,29
12 Agreeableness 0,05 -0,06 0,08 0,11* -0,02 0,10* 0,13** 0,48** -0,56** 0,46** 0,08 1 3,39 0,53
13 Conscientious 0,09* -0,18** 0,19** 0,14** -0,16** 0,13** 0,13** 0,44** -0,34** 0,37** -0,02 0,37** 1 3,72 0,53
14 Autonomy 0,15** -0,04 ,02 0,07 0,11* 0,02 0,03 0,29** -0,28** 0,10* 0,01 0,16** 0,15** 1 3,39 0,83
15 Skill Utilization -0,06 -0,11* 0,04 0,07 -0,04 0,08 0,11* 0,51** -0,28** 0,27** 0,00 0,24** 0,33** 0,36** 1 3,67 0,67
16 Support-People 0,12** -0,04 -0,01 0,02 0,01 0,05 0,06 0,58** -0,40** 0,32** -0,04 0,39** 0,30** 0,41** 0,51** 1 3,88 0,71
17 Support-Priests 0,14** -0,02 0,00 0,09* 0,03 0,06 0,16** 0,50** -0,38** 0,23** 0,01 0,35** 0,24** 0,42** 0,45** 0,61** 1 3,42 1,00
18 Support-Authority 0,08 0,02 0,01 0,04 -0,01 0,04 0,09* 0,32** -0,28** 0,14** -0,07 0,21** 0,14** 0,32** 0,36** 0,41** 0,58** 1 3,16 1,04
Note: *p 0,05; ** p 0,01.

Data Analysis phics made no significant contribution in the prediction of enga-

The data was analysed with the help of SPSS 16.0. Descriptive statistics
(means, standard deviations) were employed to analyze the data.
Cronbach alpha coefficients (_) were used to assess the internal consis-
tency of the measuring instruments7 Pearson correlation coefficients
were used to specify the relationship between the variables (cf. Table
1). In order to examine the predictive impact of ministerial demands
and resources on burnout and engagement, a series of hierarchical
multiple regression analysis was performed for engagement in three
steps. Several relevant demographic variables were controlled, namely
age (years), education, companions, place and institution. Education
was recoded into two dummy variables with those who have completed
Masters as the reference group. Place was recoded into two dummy
variables with town as reference group and residence was recoded into
one dummy variable with institution as reference group. In each of
these regressions, demographic variables (age, education, companions,
place of ministry, institution) were entered in the model in the first step
to control for their influence on the outcomes. Pragmatically from the
psychological point of view, since personality traits are relatively stable
over time, differ among individuals and influence ones behaviour
(American Psychological Association, 2000)53 they (neuroticism, extra-
version, agreeableness and conscientiousness) were entered in the
second step to test its additional explanatory power. Finally, ministerial
resources (autonomy, skill utilization, social support from people,
priests and authority) were introduced in the third step. A test of the
change in R2 indicates whether ministerial resources and personality
traits add to the explanation of the dependent variable after controlling
for demographics.
Results
Foremost we wanted to test if personality traits and ministerial
resources were associated with burnout after controlling for demo-
graphic background. The results in Table 2 show that the demogra-
gement. With the introduction of personality traits in step two,
there was a significant increase in the explained variance (R =
0,44, p <0,001; R2 Change = 0,39, p <0,001). In step three with the
addition of ministerial resources there was an increase in the
explained variance (R = 0,57, p <0,001; R2 Change = 0,13, p
Table 2.
Results of regression analysis with engagement as dependent variable
and demographic characteristics, personality traits and ministerial
resources as predictors (N=511).
Predictors Engagement
1 2 3
Demographics
Age 0,06 0,07 0,06
Ed bachelors -0,02 0,01 0,02
Ed PhD -0,00 -0,09* -0,04
Companions 0,09 0,06 0,07
Rural -0,03 0,01 -0,03
Metro 0,04 0,02 0,00
Residence 0,10 0,09* 0,05
Personality Traits
Neuroticism -0,28*** -0,17***
Extraversion 0,29*** 0,22***
Agreeableness 0,10* 0,06
Conscientiousness 0,20*** 0,11***
Ministerial Resources
Autonomy -0,02
Skill utilization 0,19***
Support-people 0,23***
Support-priests 0,11*
Support-authority -0,01
R 0,22*** 66*** 0,75***
R2 0,05*** 0,44*** 0,57***
F value 3,42 34,34 39,39
df 7(492) 11(488) 16(483)
R2 change 0,05*** 0,39*** 0,13***
Note: *p 0,05; ** p 0,01; *** p 0,001.

48 44/52 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | Ciencia & Trabajo
 Original Article | Investigating the Associations between Ministerial Resources, Personality Traits and Engagement among the Indian Clergy
<0,001). The results confirmed that neuroticism was negatively
associated while extraversion and conscientiousness were positi-
vely associated with engagement. Agreeableness failed to make a
significant contribution. With regard to ministerial resources, skill
utilization, support from people and support from fellow priests
were positively associated with engagement. Autonomy and social
support from authority made no contribution in the prediction of
engagement.
Discussion
This study attempted to explore the associations between persona-
lity traits, ministerial resources, and engagement, among the
Indian Catholic diocesan clergy. With regard to neuroticism as
expected, it was negatively associated with engagement. The nega-
tive association of neuroticism with engagement was in line with
the previous empirical research among Dutch employees30 that
reported low levels of neuroticism to be associated with engage-
ment. Priestly ministry in India involves constant interaction with
people in their day to day struggles which could emotionally
exhaust priests. It is not unexpected that priests in India are
confronted by people who seek assistance for their various needs
(material, emotional, spiritual, educational and medical). Most
often priests do not possess the resources or the solutions to alle-
viate all the problems of the countless numbers who approach
them. Such challenging circumstances would be difficult even for
normal individuals to deal with and manage. Since individuals
high on neuroticism interpret even ordinary situations and events
as threatening, minor frustrations as hopelessly difficult, it is also
possible that they perceive and view things negatively and
moreover minister with a pessimistic and defeated approach.11,16,17
Taking into consideration the priestly call and the Indian context
in particular where the priest is incessantly thronged by the people,
it is likely that priests who are not too anxious, easily frustrated,
annoyed and irritated would be able to deal with and manage the
challenges of priestly life and ministry more effectively. The results
of our data reflect this notion emphatically that priests who score
low on neuroticism tend to be calm, emotionally stable, and free
from persistent negative feelings12 and feel engaged in their
priestly ministry.
With regard to extraversion, as expected it had a significant posi-
tive association with engagement. The findings were in line with
the only study that has been done in relation to personal diffe-
rences and engagement by Langelaan and colleagues30 that
revealed high levels of extraversion to be positively associated
with engagement. It is obvious that extraversion is positively asso-
ciated with engagement because extraverts are action oriented,
people oriented and above all enthusiastic11,17 and optimistic even
amidst challenging situations. Priestly ministry is challenging
everywhere in the world, however the exercise of priestly ministry
can be more challenging in India where Catholics are an impove-
rished minority. Very often challenges come unanticipated from
sudden explosions of communal violence, persecution of Christians
by fanatical Hindu movements, eruptions of natural disasters like
earthquakes, floods etc, sheep stealing by other denominational
congregations, anti-Christian attitudes and policies from the
government6 and so on. Unless a priest is optimistic and enthu-
siastic about his priestly role it would be hard for him to guard,
guide and lead the people entrusted to his care. Ministry basically
Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 44/52
involves interacting with the people on a daily basis, participating
in their daily struggles which necessarily requires constant vigi-
lance, fearless courage, patient love and above all, immense opti-
mism. Therefore, it is necessary that the priest be action oriented
and people oriented, which are the characteristics of extraversion.
It is evident from our results that priests who possess positive
feelings derive immense enjoyment and pleasure in being with
people11, bursting with immense energy in confronting the
challenges of ministry, and exhibiting optimistic attitudes in
dealing with the people which are also, to a certain extent the
characteristics of those who are engaged45. Thus, it is not surpri-
sing to find those with high scores on extraversion among the
Indian Catholic diocesan priests to be engaged.
With regard to agreeableness, the results of our study showed that
it had no significant association with engagement. Priestly
ministry in India is intense because people value the presence of
the priest in every aspect of their lives. Knowledge of the nature of
priestly ministry in India could be vital in understanding the rela-
tionship between agreeableness and burnout. Catholics in India
live in a multi-religious context with the Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs,
Jains, Buddhists and other religious groups who are devoted to
their religious beliefs, practices, customs and ceremonies. The
priests and leaders of these religious groups play a vital role in
lives of the people. In addition, there are several Christian denomi-
national groups who are eagerly waiting for opportunities to
attract Catholics to their congregational gatherings and prayer
meetings. Hence, it is imperative for the Catholic priests to be
generally concerned with the well-being and welfare of the people,
involved in their lives, and extend themselves more generously by
being considerate, friendly and helpful to the people which are
some of the basic characteristics of the agreeableness trait.
Furthermore, Catholics also to a great extent expect the presence
and the blessing of their priest in all their endeavours and under-
takings.31 Since, the agreeable dimension is most concerned with
interpersonal relationships; we assumed that it would have an
impact on engagement. However, the results of our study were
surprising and unexpected. Since there are no prior studies that
have been done on agreeableness and engagement we were unable
to compare our results.
As expected, conscientiousness was positively associated with
engagement. In India where illiteracy and poverty loom large, the
priest has a multitude of concerns to deal with in the administra-
tion of a parish/institution. Some of the most important concerns
are generating funds to keep the parish or institution alive, cons-
truction and maintenance of the church or rectory, helping the
poor in their educational, medical and housing needs, channeli-
zing government grants that aim at the welfare of poor, orphaned
and downtrodden etc.6 To achieve all this involves meticulous
planning and systematic organization which are the basic charac-
teristics of a conscientious individual. In addition, the priest is the
person who is sought after to deal with most of the concerns that
transpire in the lives of the Catholics, ranging from personal to
psychological to marital problems. When priests are inundated
incessantly with the cares of the people, we assumed that priests
who are organized, systematic, efficient, practical and steady
would be efficient and effective in dealing with, managing accom-
plishing and their priestly ministry. The results of our study have
confirmed the assumption true beyond doubt. This suggests that
conscientiousness paves the way for optimal functioning and
enhances engagement in priestly ministry. Since, conscientious
49
Original Article | Newman Eugene, De Witte Hans
individuals achieve their target through purposeful organized
planning and persistence, it is not surprising that they are engaged
in their priestly ministry.
Lack of association between autonomy and engagement among
the Indian priests is contradictory to the literature and studies that
confirm a positive relationship between autonomy and
engagement.15,42 One important reason for lack of association
between autonomy and engagement in this study is that with the
exception of a few assistant priests in parishes and institutions
most priests enjoy complete autonomy in their ministry. Those in
authority usually do not interfere in the parish/institution adminis-
tration unless a serious issue warrants it. Secondly, the assistant
priests are usually young priests who are either fresh from the
seminary or who have only a year or two of priestly experience.
The assignment of the assistant parish priest is transitory and his
elevation to the status of parish priest is imminent usually after
two or three years of experience in parish ministry with a senior
priest. Hence, he is aware that he has to adjust to the way of life
of the parish priest temporarily and can exercise autonomy when
he is given a parish. Thirdly, after rigorous formation for ten or
eleven years, serving in the parish is already a great source of relief
and freedom. Finally, as mentioned in the preceding sections,
people in India generally are very respectful and submissive to
their priests. People do not unnecessarily interfere in the adminis-
tration of the parish, unless extreme or urgent necessity requires.
Therefore, we can conclude that autonomy has no predictive
impact on engagement among the Indian Catholic diocesan
clergy.
The association of skill utilization with engagement among the
Indian clergy is in line with the research among other human
service professionals21,39 and also supports the literature of
Manalel31 which argues that in order to be effective in priestly
ministry, priests should be provided with a favourable atmos-
phere to utilize their skills. The significant association of skill
utilization with engagement in our sample could be accounted
for by the following: Unlike religious priests whose talents and
abilities are tapped even during the early days of formation and
who have opportunities created for them to specialize in their
field of interest, diocesan priests in accordance with the needs of
the diocese have to be open to all ministries (Ponnore, 1998).
Often they have to place the interests of the diocese first, rather
than their own. Hence, many diocesan priests end up specializing
in a field that they are not interested in because of the need of
the diocese. Secondly, we could never deny the human errors that
have preferred the less capable individual for specialization or for
a particular assignment neglecting the more capable and worthy
candidate. There are many such individuals among the diocesan
clergy who feel that they were passed over in favour of someone
else because of prejudice or bias. Thirdly, managerial environ-
ments with established traditional systems and organizations
could hinder the utilization of a priests talents and skills. We
could expect that many diocesan priests would be a lot more
engaged, if the authorities would take the trouble of studying the
interests and aptitudes of their priests and offer them favourable
opportunities to utilize their skills.36 Thus it is not surprising to
find among the sample of the Indian diocesan clergy provision
of opportunities to utilize skills significantly predicts engage-
ment.
Social support from the people is viewed as the most significant
variable in our study among Indian Catholic diocesan clergy in the
50
prediction of engagement. Being with and for the people is part of
the essence of the ministry of the diocesan priests. Their commu-
nity is the parish/institution to which they are assigned as minis-
ters. Hence getting psychologically engaged depends to a great
extent on how well they are accepted by the people to whom they
have dedicated their lives. Secondly, it is obvious that priests in
India constantly give: spiritually, emotionally and materially. This
constant spending of their time, energy and resources could be
complemented when priests know from the responsive support of
the people that what they are doing is helpful to them, this gene-
rates in them a feeling of accomplishment and leads to engage-
ment. Finally, to be supported by the people for whom one offers
his very being is a very basic human need.31 Hence, it is obvious
that priests in India look to the support of the people in the form
of appreciation, gratitude, feedback and encouragement which
would reduce the risk of burnout and enhance the possibilities for
engagement.
The positive association between social support from priests and
engagement is in line with the engagement literature38 and among
clergy4,17 that reported social support and co-operation from colle-
agues and fellow priests to be seen as of growing importance in
the adequate performance of a priests ministry. To be happy and
effective in the ministry, priests need support and affirmation from
the fellow priests.31 Priests in India regularly come together at the
diocesan and vicariate levels for recollections and other common
meetings. There are also gatherings among batch mates and
friends where common concerns are shared and discussed.
Furthermore, in the event of the eruption of a crisis or a problem
in a particular parish/institution, often it is priest friends who
extend their helping hands to resolve the crisis and rescue the
individual priest from trauma. Therefore, support from priests is
valued highly in our sample. In addition, a circle of friends among
priests who can guide, warn, encourage and sometimes admonish
is valued to a great degree by priests. This notion has been
confirmed by the positive association between social support from
priests and engagement in our study.
With regard to social support from the authority, we expected that
it would significantly contribute to the prediction of clergy enga-
gement. The findings reveal that there is no association between
social support from authority and engagement which contradicts
the literature and research on engagement15,43,47 that found a
significant association between social support from superiors/
supervisors and engagement. Three reasons could account for this
inconclusive result: 1) even though support from authority is
necessary for a priest, yet there are other more vital, immediate
and weighty concerns in the diocesan priests life and in the
ministry he encounters on a daily basis. Hence the ministry of the
diocesan priests depends more on his relationship with the people;
therefore it is not surprising that support from people and support
from fellow priests with whom they have close association are
valued more than the support from the bishops. 2) Quite often
priests evaluate the support from the bishop from four angles: i)
allotment of places to priests in the yearly transfers ii) approacha-
bility when a crisis occurs iii) the manner of dealing with problems
when approached iv) encouragement and appreciation given to the
priests in their ministry. The first is an indication of how apprecia-
tive the bishop is and only happens once in five or seven years
when a priest finishes his term in office. The next two are appli-
cable only to priests who find themselves in crisis. The fourth
happens once a year, when the bishop visits the parish or occasio-
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 Original Article | Investigating the Associations between Ministerial Resources, Personality Traits and Engagement among the Indian Clergy
nally when they meet. Hence it is not surprising to see that absence
or presence of support from authority does not contribute to enga-
gement in the Indian Catholic diocesan clergy.
Limitations of this study include the cross-sectional design and the
reliance on self-report. The scale that measured the Big Five perso-
nality traits in our study was NEO FFI (60 items). The factor structure
was collapsed and in addition the reliability score for the openness
scale was very low (_ = 0,46). Instead of the NEO FFI, the NEO PI-R
(240 items) could have been used so that a clearer factor structure,
absent in the present study, could have emerged. Furthermore,
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Artculo Original
The More You Give, the More You Get? Reciprocal Relationships
Between Work Engagement and Task-Related, Interpersonal, and
Organizational Resources
Mientras ms das, ms recibes? Relaciones recprocas entre el engagement laboral y los
recursos asociados a las labores, interpersonales y organizacionales
Christian Korunka1, Bettina Kubicek2, Matea Pakvan3
1. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Faculty of Psychology, Department of Applied Psychology: Work, Education and Economy, University of Vienna, Austria.
2. Mag. Dr. Faculty of Psychology Department of Applied Psychology: Work, Education and Economy, University of Vienna, Austria.
3. Mag. Faculty of Psychology Department of Applied Psychology: Work, Education and Economy, University of Vienna, Austria.
ABSTRACT
Drawing on broaden-and-build theory and conservation of resourc-
es theory, this study disentangles the reciprocal relationship between
employee work engagement and job resources by separately examin-
ing task-related, interpersonal, and organizational job resources.
More specifically, it hypothesizes that work engagement is not only
a consequence of, but also antecedes, job control, esteem reward,
and job security. Using data from a full two-wave panel study with
a 15-month time lag among 591 eldercare workers, the authors
examined normal, reversed, and reciprocal causation by means of
structural equation modeling. They found that the reciprocal model
best fits the data. As hypothesized, job security was mutually related
to work engagement over time. By contrast, job control was shown
to precede, and esteem reward was shown to follow from, work
engagement. Theoretically speaking, these findings suggest that
divergent mechanisms account for the relationships between job
resources of various types and work engagement. Practically speak-
ing, the development of a reciprocal cycle between work engagement
and job security may represent an active coping process in an
unstable economic situation, since data collection for this panel
study commenced shortly after the onset of the global economic
crisis.
Keywords: Work engagement, esteem reward, job control,
job security, eldercare
Introduction
The capacity of enterprises and organizations to be innovative and
assure future success relies, to some extent at least, on the willing-
ness of employees to invest energy in their work, perform to a high
Correspondence / Correspondencia
Bettina Kubicek
Department of Economic Psychology,
Educational Psychology and Evaluation, University of Vienna
Universitaetsstrasse 7, 1010 Vienna, Austria
Tel.: ++43-1-4277-47306, Fax: ++43-1-4277-47889
e-mail: bettina.kubicek@univie.ac.at
Received: 14 August 2011 / Accepted: 09 September 2011
Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 53/60
RESUMEN
Al utilizar la teora abierta y construida junto con la teora de la con-
servacin de los recursos, este estudio desenmaraa la relacin recpro-
ca entre el engagement laboral de los trabajadores y los recursos labo-
rales; esto, al examinar por separado los recursos laborales relacionados
a las tareas interpersonales y organizacionales. Ms especficamente,
plantea que el engagement laboral no es slo una consecuencia de, sino
que antecede al control laboral, recompensa a la estima y a la seguridad
laboral. Al utilizar los datos de un estudio completo de dos ondas con
un desfase de 15 meses entre 591 personas que trabajan al cuidado de
personas de la tercera edad, los autores examinan la causalidad normal,
invertida y recproca por medio del modelo de ecuaciones estructural.
Los autores descubrieron que el modelo recproco fue el que mejor se
adaptaba a los datos. Tal y como se haba planteado, la seguridad labo-
ral se encontraba relacionada mutuamente con el engagement laboral a
travs del tiempo. En contraste, se encontr que el control laboral pre-
ceda al engament laboral, mientras que la recompensa a la estima era
posterior. Hablando tericamente, estos hallazgos sugieren que meca-
nismos divergentes explican las relaciones entre varios tipos de recursos
laborales y engagement laboral. De manera prctica se podra decir que
el desarrollo de un ciclo recproco entre engagement y seguridad labo-
ral podra representar un proceso de copia activo en un escenario eco-
nmico inestable, debido a que la recoleccin de datos para este estudio
de panel comenz poco despus del principio de la crisis econmica
mundial.
Palabras clave: Engagement laboral, recompensa a la
estima, control laboral, seguridad laboral, cuidado
de personas de la tercera edad.
standard, take on responsibilities, and strive toward challenging
work goals. It may be due to the impact of such factors on business
outcomes1 that consultants and human resource managers are
increasingly attentive to employee engagement.2 Corresponding to
this trend, occupational health psychology is witnessing a growing
interest in work engagement as an important indicator of job-re-
lated well-being. In their attempts to better understand this posi-
tive, fulfilling work-related state of mind3, researchers tested the
relationship of work engagement to a variety of potential corre-
lates. What they found cross-sectionally, and also more recently,
over time, is that both job resources and personal resources foster
work engagement.4,6 Notwithstanding the importance of these
findings, researchers call for a more dynamic perspective on the
relationship between resources and work engagement.7,9 Based on
longitudinal data, they suggest that these two dimensions are
53
Original Article | Korunka Christian et al.
reciprocally linked. That is, work engagement is assumed to stimu-
late employees personal and situational resources, which in turn
foster employees work engagement. Congruent with this reasoning,
we argue that job resources are not only antecedents of, but also
consequences of, work engagement.
The theoretical foundations for this assumption are provided by
Hobfoll10,11 conservation of resources theory and by Fredrickson12,13
broaden-and-build theory. Both approaches describe gain spirals
or upward spirals that offer possible explanations for a recip-
rocal relationship between work engagement and job resources.
Conservation of resources theory states that people strive to
protect, retain, and accrue resources, because they are both valu-
able in their own right and helpful in attaining personal goals.11
The possession of resources is assumed to foster well-being as well
as the acquisition of additional resources. For example, jobs high
in autonomy and task variety may offer employees greater oppor-
tunities to engage in collegial contact which, for its part, has the
potential to lead to social support or approval. This dynamic
perspective on resource acquisition suggests that engaged workers,
i.e., those who are especially motivated to fulfill their work goals,
are more likely to search for resources and thereby accrue addi-
tional resources in the course of their work. Broaden-and-build
theory12,13, on the other hand, suggests that transient positive
emotions have the ability to both broaden peoples attention and
thinking and to open their mind for a wider-than-usual range of
ideas. These broadened perspectives are presumed to facilitate the
development of enduring personal resources which, in turn,
promote well-beingthe foundation for future experiences of posi-
tive emotions. As work engagement is, in itself, a positive work-
related state of mind, it is presumed to trigger the positive
emotions which broaden employees outlooks and thereby help
them handle their job. The successful completion of tasks should
then contribute to the accumulation of resources such as, rewards,
task discretion, and job security. The presumed reciprocal cycle is
closed when job resources, accrued through one of the pathways
described, make people more engaged in their work.
A reciprocal relationship with engagement has already been
demonstrated for composite measures of job resources, work rela-
tionships, and active coping.7,8 With our study, we want to add to
this line of research by looking at additional sets of job resources.
We seek to demonstrate that task resources (i.e., job control), inter-
personal resources (i.e., esteem reward), and organizational
resources (i.e., job security) are reciprocally related to work
engagement over time. Furthermore we go beyond previous
research by examining these three resources separately, in lieu of
merging them into one higher-order resource factor. We do so by
applying a structural equation modeling approach to a longitu-
dinal (two-wave) sample of 591 eldercare workers.
Job Resources as Antecedents of Work
Engagement
Work engagement is characterized by the positive work-related
states of vigor, dedication, and absorption.14 Even though its
tripartite structure bears resemblance with the burnout concept,
which consists of exhaustion, depersonalization/cynicism, and
reduced professional efficacy, work engagement is conceptually
distinct from job burnout.3 Rather than being exhausted and inef-
ficient, engaged workers show high levels of energy and mental
54
resilience (vigor). They are strongly involved in their work and
take meaning, pride, and inspiration from it (dedication). Further,
engaged workers lose track of time and experience difficulties in
detaching themselves from work, as they become absorbed in their
work.2
Given the positive work-related feelings that characterize engage-
ment, researchers have dedicated considerable effort to identifying
potential correlates and antecedents of work engagement (see
Halbesleben 2010 for a meta-analysis4; and Simpson 2008 for a
review).15 What they found is that work engagement results from
motivational processes that are triggered by job resources. Job
resources are physical, psychological, social, or organizational
features of the job that help employees to cope with job demands,
attain work goals, and achieve personal growth.16 According to the
effort-recovery approach17, work environments that offer resources
foster employees willingness to dedicate their efforts and abilities
to the work task. Such work environments are likely to facilitate
successful task completion even in the face of difficulties, and to
support goal attainment. Adequate performance feedback and
esteem rewards may, for instance, heighten employees work
investments by fostering their extrinsic motivation. On the other
hand, it can be inferred from self-determination theory18 that those
work environments that fulfill basic human needs for competence,
autonomy, and relatedness are intrinsically motivating. Performance
feedback, for example, offers the opportunity to learn new skills
and thereby improve ones job competence. Job control and social
support are, by contrast, able to satisfy workers needs for
autonomy and relatedness, respectively.
Empirical evidence of the effect of job resources on work engage-
ment has hitherto been based primarily on composite measures of
job resources. For example, in their influential work on the Job
Demands-Resources model, Demerouti and colleagues16 aggre-
gated such diverse aspects as performance feedback, job control,
rewards, participation in decision making, supervisor support, and
job security into an overall job resource variable. Subsequent
studies mostly followed this procedure and examined subsets of
these work characteristics19 or additional aspects20 within one
higher-order job resources factor. In summarizing this research,
one can argue that the effect of aggregated job resources is widely
established. Therefore, Weigl and colleagues8 suggested putting
more effort into the examination of specific constructs. In order to
disentangle the effects of various job resources on work engage-
ment, they drew on existing work about the distinction between
different resource bases, such as the focal worker, organizational
members, work tasks, and the organization.21 In continuing this
line of research, the present study differentiates between task-re-
lated, interpersonal, and organizational resources as indicated by
job control, esteem reward, and job security. Job control refers to
employee opportunities for decision-making and for discretion in
how to fulfill tasks and obtain goals. Esteem reward refers to the
recognition employees receive from other organizational members
in response to their work achievements. Finally, job security refers
to protection against undesirable job changes or involuntary job
loss. By distinguishing between various bases of job resources and
testing their relationship with work engagement, we hope to
contribute to a more differentiated perspective on the relationship
between job resources and work engagement. From a practical
point of view, this knowledge may help organizations to develop
more specific interventions to improve their employees well-being
and engagement.
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 Original Article | Reciprocal Relationships Between Work Engagement and Task-Related, Interpersonal, and Organizational Resources
According to previous findings on the positive effects of composite
measures of job resources on work engagement, we hypothesize:
Hypothesis 1a: Time 1 job control is positively related to Time 2
work engagement.
Hypothesis 1b: Time 1 esteem rewards are positively related to
Time 2 work engagement.
Hypothesis 1c: Time 1 job security is positively related to Time 2
work engagement.
Job Resources as Consequences of Work
Engagement
While research on the impact of work characteristics on employee
well-being has long been established and has produced consider-
able knowledge about beneficial and detrimental environmental
features, insights into how employees actively shape working
conditions are but beginning to emerge in occupational health
psychology. For example, in their model of work design, Parker,
Wall, and Cordery22 conceptualized individual workers as one ante-
cedent of work characteristics beside internal and external organi-
zational factors, such as management style or environmental
uncertainty. In a similar vein, Grant and Ashford23 called for a more
active conceptualization of employees, who, in their opinion, do
not just let life happen to them, but try to affect, shape, curtail,
expand, and temper what happens in their lives (p. 3).
With regard to job control, research on job crafting24 and proac-
tivity25 lends support to the notion of the employee as a co-de-
signer of her/his work characteristics. Not only were those
employees who perceive their job as a calling found to be more
likely to change the form, scope, or number of their tasks26, but
also, proactive workers were found to create more autonomous
tasks for themselves.27 Following from this research, two mecha-
nisms are likely to explain the influence of work engagement on
job control: Firstly, engaged workers may seize and generate
opportunities to exert control at work. As the tasks of a job are not
entirely fixed, engaged workers may utilize their existing latitude
to shape their work. Further, they may more actively search for job
control than their less engaged counterparts. Secondly, role
making may occur as a result of the employees interaction with
her/his supervisor.28,29 Supervisors may give engaged employees
more task discretion, which results in higher levels of job control
among engaged than among non-engaged workers. We therefore
hypothesize:
Hypothesis 2a: Time 1 work engagement is positively related to
Time 2 job control.
Evidence for the positive impact of work engagement on esteem
reward can be derived from broaden-and-build theory.
Fredrickson12, in her account of empirical support for the build
hypothesis, highlighted that shared experiences of positive
emotions translate into more enduring social resources. For
example, people in a positive mood were shown to be more likely
to help others.30 Receiving support, in turn, creates gratitude and
the urge to reciprocate. Engaged workers may, as they experience
a positive work-related state of mind, be more prone to provide
support to others and to build positive relationships at work. They
should therefore be better able to mobilize social resources and to
receive recognition from organizational members. Further, engaged
workers may receive approval from their supervisors in response
to their efforts and achievements. Whereas the positive effect of
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work engagement on work relationships has been supported by
prior research8,9, the effect of esteem rewards has not yet been
studied. We hypothesize:
Hypothesis 2b: Time 1 work engagement is positively related to
Time 2 esteem rewards.
Likewise, the supervisor-employee interaction suggests that work
engagement is beneficial to employee job security. Given their
positive outlook on the job and the effort they dedicate to their job,
engaged workers should be valued colleagues and employees. In
fact, their work engagement should put them at lower risk of expe-
riencing undesirable job change or involuntary job loss. We there-
fore hypothesize:
Hypothesis 2c: Time 1 work engagement is positively related to
Time 2 job security.
Reciprocal Relationships between Job
Resources and Work Engagement
Prior work on the relationship between job resources and work
engagement has gone further than proposing reversed causation.
By drawing on the concept of a gain spiral or an upward spiral,
an amplifying loop of consecutive increases in work engagement
and job resources has been assumed. In order to support this
hypothesis of an upward spiral, two prerequisites must be
fulfilled31: First, the variables of interest need to be bi-directionally
or reciprocally related. That is, job resources must be related to
work engagement and vice versa. Second, the variables must
increase over time. That is, job resources and work engagement
must be higher at Time 2 than at Time 1. Empirical evidence for
increases in work engagement and job resources is, however,
scarce. For example, in their three-wave study, Weigl and
colleagues8 found no substantial changes in work engagement or
job resources. Given the missing evidence for actual increases, we
restrict our analysis to reciprocal cycles of mutual reinforcement.
Following Bandura32 notion of reciprocal determinism, we
assume that employees are not only subjected to work character-
istics, but are also co-designers of their environment, making them
both producers and products of social systems (p.6). We therefore
hypothesize:
Hypothesis 3: Job resources and work engagement are reciprocally
related.
Method
Procedure and Sample
A two-wave panel study with a time lag of 15 months was under-
taken to test the study hypotheses. Participants were eldercare
workers, recruited from 38 nursing homes or outpatient care orga-
nizations in the Eastern region of Austria. Of the participating
organizations, some were privately financed and some were
publicly financed. In both waves of data collection, employees
received paper-pencil questionnaires and were asked to either
return the completed questionnaires to the researchers or post
them in a special box placed in their ward or at their organiza-
tional headquarters. In wave 1 (November 2008 until March 2009),
a total of 3.155 questionnaires was distributed among the nursing
staff and 1.697 were returned, resulting in an overall response rate
of 54%. In February 2010, these organizations were contacted
55
Original Article | Korunka Christian et al.
again and invited to participate in the second round of data collec-
tion lasting from March to July 2010. During this period, 1.437 of
the 3.145 distributed questionnaires were returned (response rate:
46%). The two data sets were linked using a personal code that
participants were asked to provide on each survey. In total, 591
responses could be matched. Thus, the longitudinal sample makes
up 35% of wave 1 respondents.
Of those study participants for whom data could be matched, 68%
were employed in nursing homes and 32% in outpatient care orga-
nizations. The sample included 27% nurses, 46% orderlies, and
20% nursing aids. Five percent of the participants indicated that
they belonged to other professional groups without specifying
these, and 2% did not indicate professional group membership.
Most respondents were female (89%) and reported German as their
first language (82%). At wave 1, 11% of the participants were
younger than 31 years of age, 26% were between 31 and 40 years,
46% were between 41 and 50 years, and 17% were 51 years or
older. Educational levels were typical for the nursing profession,
with nearly equal proportions of people having completed compul-
sory schooling (20%), vocational training (29%), or professional
school (34%). Few respondents indicated having earned a high
school diploma (13%) or a university degree (4%). Mean organiza-
tional tenure and average years of experience in the nursing
profession at Time 1 were relatively high with 8,82 (SD = 7,39) and
10,84 years (SD = 8,27), respectively.
Given the panel dropout, chi-square tests and unpaired t-tests were
conducted to compare the final longitudinal sample with the 1,105
participants who had provided data only at Time 1. No differences
were found with regard to gender (__(1) = 0,13, ns) or educational
level (__(4) = 7,41, ns). However, younger employees (i.e., those
below age 31; __(3) = 14,15, p < 0,01) were underrepresented in
the longitudinal sample as compared to the T1-only-sample. This
corresponds with the finding that participants of both surveys had
longer tenure and more experience in the nursing profession than
T1-only-participants (Ms = 8,82 and 7,71, t(1433) = 2,80, p < 0,.01;
Ms = 10,84 and 9,90, t(1616) = 2,19, p = 0,03, respectively).
Measures
Work engagement. Respondents indicated their level of work engage-
ment by answering the short version of the Utrecht Work Engagement
Scale (UWES-9).33 Comprising 3 x 3 items, the questionnaire
measures the sub-dimensions of work engagementvigor, dedication
and absorption. For each item respondents indicated how frequently
they experienced the respective work-related state of mind on a
7-point frequency scale ranging from 1 (always) to 7 (never). A
sample item of the dedication subscale reads as follows: I am enthu-
siastic about my job. After recoding the items so that higher values
indicate higher levels of work engagement, internal consistencies
were assessed. At both time points, consistency coefficients as indi-
cated by Cronbachs _ were relatively high: t1: 0,93; t2: 0,93.
Job control was measured using a 3-item subscale of a German
self-report instrument for work analysis in hospitals (TAA).34
Respondents specified their level of job control by indicating the
extent to which they could decide on their tasks as well as on the
ways and means of performing them. For example, respondents had
to assess the following statement on a 5-point rating scale ranging
from 1 (to a very great extent) to 5 (not at all): One can decide
which tasks to pursue. Again, the answers were recoded so that
higher values are indicative of more job control. The items showed
moderate internal consistencies (_(t1) = 0,64; _(t2) = 0,72).
56
Esteem reward was measured using a short version of the Effort
Reward Imbalance Questionnaire (ERI).35 Respondents had to rate
two 5-point Likert-scaled items based on the following rating
procedure. First, they had to indicate whether they received
adequate esteem reward at their workplace (1). Subsequently, those
who lacked adequate esteem were asked to indicate to what extent
they felt distressed by this lack. Response alternatives ranged from
not distressed (2) to very distressed (5). For example, respondents
had to assess the following statement: Considering all my efforts
and achievements, I receive the respect and prestige I deserve at
work. After recoding the items so that higher values indicate
higher esteem, intercorrelations were calculated. The resulting
correlation coefficients were relatively high, with r = 0,80 at Time
1 and r = 0,77 at Time 2.
Job security was also measured with the short version of the ERI
questionnaire.35 Using the same rating procedure as described above,
respondents had to assess the following two items: I have experi-
enced or I expect to experience a change in my work situation and
My job security is poor. Again, items were recoded so that higher
values indicate higher job security. Intercorrelations between the two
items were moderately high (r(t1) = 0,56; r(t2) = 0,62).
Results
Overall, 497 of the 591 participants provided complete data on all
study variables. Given the potential negative effect of not including
all available data in the analysis, we used imputation techniques to
substitute missing observations.36 Where respondents provided data
on more than half of the items of one subscale, missing data was
replaced by the respective scale mean. This procedure left us with 559
useable cases(*). Table 1 depicts descriptive statistics and intercorrela-
tions. This table shows that job resources and work engagement
changed across the two waves of data collection. To assess whether
these changes were statistically significant, we conducted pair-wise
t-tests. With regard to job resources, we found that esteem and job
control increased over the course of the study (t(558) = -2,56; p <
0,05 and t(558) = -2,34; p < 0,05, respectively), whereas job security
remained stable (t(558) = 0,73; ns). With regard to work engagement,
significant changes were observed that point in the opposite direction
to changes in job resources: respondents reported significantly lower
levels of work engagement at Time 2 than at Time 1 (t(558)=4,39,
p<0,001). Despite the observed changes in mean levels, test-retest
correlations were moderately high (0,22 r 0,60). Furthermore, all
correlations point in the expected directions, with resources being
positively associated with each other and with work engagement,
respectively.
Table 1.
Descriptive Statistics and Correlations among Subscales.
M SD 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 Job control (t1) 3,25 0,71 0,44** 0,09* 0,13** 0,20** 0,15** 0,29** 0,27**
2 Job control (t2) 3,33 0,74 0,10* 0,19** 0,17* 0,22** 0,23** 0,29**
3 Esteem (t1) 3,89 1,09 0,22** 0,35** 0,09* 0,16** 0,08
4 Esteem (t2) 4,03 0,99 0,22** 0,34** 0,18** 0,25**
5 Job security (t1) 4,11 0,91 0,38** 0,17** 0,22**
6 Job security (t2) 4,08 1,00 0,18** 0,34**
7 Work engagement (t1) 5,32 1,11 0,60**
8 Work engagement (t2) 5,14 1,15
Note: Pearson correlations; *p < .05, **p < .05, N = 559.
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 Original Article | Reciprocal Relationships Between Work Engagement and Task-Related, Interpersonal, and Organizational Resources

Measurement models Structural model

In a first step, the instruments construct validity was evaluated
using confirmatory factor analyses. To examine whether the job
resources and work engagement items represent distinct constructs,
we specified four alternative models: A 1-factor model with all
items from Time 1 and Time 2 loading on one factor; a 2-factor
model with items loading on their respective time-factors; a
4-factor model with items loading on their respective esteem-, job
control-, job security-, and work engagement-factors; and an
8-factor model with items loading on their respective dimensions
and time points. For all models, measurement errors between
corresponding items at Time 1 and Time 2 were correlated to
account for non-independence between repeated measures.37 As
can be seen in Table 2, the 8-factor model fits the data better than
the 1-factor (___(28) = 3285,64, p < 0,001), the 2-factor (___(27) =
2927,84, p < 0,001), or the 4-factor model (___(22) = 2438,54, p <
0,001). In addition to its more adequate fit compared to the alter-
native models, the 8-factor model yields acceptable overall fit
indices. Although the chi-square to degrees-of-freedom ratio as
well as the CFI deviate slightly from their recommended ranges of
acceptability (i.e., __/df < 2,5, CFI > 0,95; Hu and Bentler 1999)38,
the RMSEA value indicates a good model fit. However, an inspec-
tion of modification indices showed that adding two error correla-
tions would increase model fit. Allowing for these correlations
seems justified, as the respective items belong to the same sub-
dimension of work engagement (vigor and absorption, respec-
tively). The modification led to significant improvement in model
fit (___(4) = 346,09, p < 0,001). In a last step, this final model was
tested for metric invariance across measurement points by
constraining the factor loadings of corresponding items to being
equal across time points. These equality constraints did not lead to
a significant change in chi-square (___(12) = 10,85, ns), supporting
the assumption that the corresponding T1 and T2 items are equal
in meaning.
Table 2.
Results of Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA).
X2 df X2/df CFI RMSEA p-close
CFA Job resources & Work engagement workers reported higher levels of esteem rewards and job security
1-Factor model 4488,59** 448 10,02 0,61 0,127 0,000
2-Factor model 4130,79** 447 9,24 0,64 0,122 0,000
4-Factor model 3641,49** 442 8,24 0,69 0,114 0,000
8-Factor model 1202,95** 420 2,86 0,92 0,058 0,000
8-Factor model incl.
two error correlations 856,86** 416 2,06 0,96 0,044 0,995
8-Factor model incl, error corr.
and fixed factor loadings
(metric invariance) 867,71** 428 2,03 0,96 0,043 0,9980
Note: N = 559; *p < .05, **p < .01; CFI = Comparative Fit Index, RMSEA = Root
Mean Square Error of Approximation, p-close = p-value of close fit.
Table 3.
Results of Structural Equation Modeling Analyses.
Models X2 df X2/df CFI RMSEA p-close X2 df
M1: Stability model 1051,07** 446 2,36 0,94 0,049 0,61
M2: M1 incl. effects of resources on engagement 1028,47** 443 2,32 0,94 0,049 0,71 M1-M2=22,60** 3
M3: M1 incl. effects of engagement on resources 1020,73** 443 2,30 0,94 0,048 0,75 M1-M3=30,34** 3
M4: M1 incl. reciprocal effects 1001,22** 440 2,28 0,95 0,048 0,82 M1-M4=49,85** 6
Note: N = 559; *p < .05, **p < .01; CFI = Comparative Fit Index, RMSEA = Root Mean Square Error of Approximation, p-close = p-value of close fit, ___ = changes in
chi-square, _df = changes in degrees of freedom.
To test the study hypotheses, we transformed the final measure-
ment model into competing structural models using a stepwise
approach.39 In the first step, we specified a stability model (M1).
This model included autoregression paths for each construct from
Time 1 to Time 2 and synchronous correlations among Time 1
constructs. We then added lagged effects of Time 1 job resources
on Time 2 work engagement to the stability model. In a third
step, a reversed model (M3) was specified. Therefore, regression
paths from Time 1 work engagement to Time 2 job resources
were added to the stability model. Finally, Model 2 and Model 3
were combined to test for reciprocal effects between job resources
and work engagement (M4). Table 3 displays the overall fit
indices of the four alternative models. The stability model already
yielded acceptable fit, with most indices satisfying their cut-off
criteria. However, adding the effects of job resources on work
engagement did further improve the model. Model 3, which
contained reversed effects from work engagement to job
resources, did also fit the data better than the stability model. In
addition, it showed a more adequate fit to the data than Model
2, which contained effects of job resources on work engagement.
Yet, the best fit was achieved by the reciprocal model. This model
was not only superior to all other competing models, but also
revealed fit indices, which all fell well within their respective
ranges of acceptability. Structural path coefficients for the recip-
rocal model are depicted in Figure 1.
The structural paths of the reciprocal model reveal that the
stability coefficients are somewhat higher than the cross-lagged
effects and synchronous correlations at Time 1. Out of the three
lagged effects of job resources on work engagement, two were
statistically significant: Job control as well as job security at
Time 1 were positively related to work engagement at Time 2.
Thus, Hypothesis 1b and 1c were supported, whereas Hypothesis
1a was rejected. For lagged effects of work engagement a similar
pattern of results was found: Two out of three regression coef-
ficients were significant. In concordance with H2a and H2c, work
engagement at Time 1 was beneficial for esteem rewards at Time
2, and for perceived job security at Time 2. That is, engaged
15 months later. No such positive effect was found with regard
to job control at Time 2. Thus H2b was rejected. In addition, our
findings provide partial support for Hypothesis 3, stating that job
resources and work engagement are reciprocally related. Although
the reciprocal model yielded good fit indices and was the best
fitting model, only job security actually showed significant
causal and reversed relations with work engagement, suggesting
that job security is especially conducive to work engagement and
that engaged workers are more likely to perceive their jobs as
secure.
M2-M4=27,25** 3
M3-M4=19,51** 3

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Original Article | Korunka Christian et al.
Figure 1.
Reciprocal Model of Job Resources and Work Engagement.
Job control 0,57**
t1 0,12*[0,16; 0,07]
[0,63; 0,07]
0,32**[0,19; 0,04]
0,14*[0,09; 0,04]
Esteem
0,26**
t1 [0,23; 0,05]
0,20**[0,17; 0,04]
0,37**[0,16; 0,03]
0,44**[0,50; 0,07]
Job securityl 0,41**
[0,50; 0,08]
t1 0,15*[0,11; 0,05]
0,27**[0,21; 0,05]
Work engagement 0,57**
t1 [0,58; 0,04]
Note: N = 559; *p < .05, **p < .01; broken lines represent non-significant paths;
unstandardized estimates and standard errors of measurement are depicted in
brackets; manifest variables and autocorrelations among variables are not
displayed; job control is measured with three items; esteem and job security each
use two items as manifest indicators; and work engagement is measured with
nine items.
Discussion
Using longitudinal data of 591 eldercare workers, we tested recip-
rocal relationships between job resources and work engagement. It
was postulated that job resources are both antecedents and conse-
quences of work engagement. In further developing earlier longi-
tudinal studies on this topic9,20,21, we distinguished between task-
related (job control), interpersonal (esteem reward), and organiza-
tional (perceived job security) resources, instead of applying a
composite measure of job resources. By using structural equation
modeling, we were able to show that both job control and job
security at Time 1 affected work engagement at Time 2. Further,
work engagement at Time 1 affected esteem rewards and perceived
job security at Time 2. Hence, a reciprocal relationship between
work engagement and perceived job security was confirmed.
Theoretical considerations
In general, the study results comply with the few comparable
longitudinal studies which were recently published on the relation-
ship between work engagement and job resources.9,20,21 Further,
they are consistent with both conservation of resources theory10
and broaden-and-build theory12 insofar as positive effects of
resources on work engagement and of work engagement on
resources were shown over time. Our longitudinal study advances
the results of previous studies by examining different facets of job
resources, as recently suggested by Weigl and colleagues.8 We
separately investigated task-related (job control), interpersonal
(esteem rewards), and organizational (job security) resources. For
job control, a positive relationship with work engagement, but no
58
reversed effect, was found. If one takes into consideration that the
job demands of eldercare workers (e.g., the number of patients,
service obligations, and time for each patient) are relatively stable
Job control over time, the observed effect seems quite plausible. A job control
t2
work engagement job control upward spiral would entail
increases in personal work engagement empowering individuals to
reorganize their tasks. Though this assumption is conceivable from
a theoretical perspective, it may take some time for eldercare
workers to establish more job autonomy at their ward. For the
Esteem interpersonal job resource esteem reward, an opposite effect was
t2 observed. Esteem rewards did not affect work engagement, but
were affected by work engagement. Again this result seems quite
0,19**[0,25; 0,08]
plausible because esteem rewardas an interpersonal resourcemay
be gained if coworkers or supervisors recognize employees work
engagement and consequently give positive feedback. In contrast
to job control, esteem rewards may follow relatively promptly
Job securityl from work engagement, suggesting a reversed effect. A full recip-
t2 rocal effectresources affecting work engagement and vice
0,15**[0,25; 0,08] versawas observed for the organizational resource, job security.
In explaining and understanding this effect one should take into
consideration that data collection for this study commenced
shortly after the onset of the global economic crisis. For the first
time in their personal employment histories, eldercare workers had
Work engagement
t2 to face downsizing because of cost reductions in healthcare. Thus,
and somewhat contradicting the assumptions of broaden-and-
build theory12, one may speculate that the job security-work
engagement part of the reciprocal relationship was also triggered
by negative emotions. On the other hand, and in line with this
theory, the work engagement-job resources relationship may be
explained by a broadening of employee thought-action repertoires
based on positive emotions. Further, the development of a recip-
rocal cycle between work engagement and job security may repre-
sent an active coping process in an unstable economic situation.
Given the divergent relationships between the various facets of job
resources and work engagement revealed in this study, one might
argue that the underlying theoretical models need refining in
future studies. Conservation of resources theory and broaden-and-
build theory may be useful as general frameworks, but they are
somewhat limited in explaining specific job resources-work
engagement relationships. In further complicating this picture,
temporal factors in causal relationships need to be considered. As
Frese and colleagues39,40 pointed out, linear models may not
always be appropriate to represent cause-and-effect relationships.
And different types of resources may need divergent timelines to
develop in response to employee work engagement. Job character-
istics, for example, tend to have more inertia than do esteem
rewards or perceptions of job security. In order to increase ones
level of job control, structural changes pertaining to the work team
or the organization may be required, rendering modification
within a 15-month timeframe difficult.
Going beyond the assumption of reciprocal relationships, both
conservation of resources theory10 and broaden-and-build theory12
postulate gain spirals. For one of the three facets of job resources,
namely job security, we were able to confirm normal and reversed
causation as a first prerequisite for upward spirals.31 The second
precondition of gain spiralsconsecutive increases in both
resources and work engagement over timewas, however, not met.
Only two of the three job resources (esteem rewards and job
control) increased over the 15-month observation period. Job
security remained stable, while mean values of work engagement
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 Original Article | Reciprocal Relationships Between Work Engagement and Task-Related, Interpersonal, and Organizational Resources
decreased slightly over time. This result complies with several
earlier studies that tested for reciprocal causation, but neither
examined, nor confirmed, amplifying loops.7 In drawing on
Lindsey and colleagues31, one might even argue that upward
spirals are by no means preferable to constant cycles. Continual
increases in work engagement and resources may result in over-
confidence41 and in working overtime42, thereby increasing the
risk of experiencing a work-to-home conflict. Because of the
potential negative effect of upward spirals, Lindsey and colleagues31
advocate self-correcting cycles, in which adjustments are made as
a consequence of situation analysis and of an understanding of
cause-and-effect relationships.
Study limits and methodological considerations
The study was designed as a longitudinal study with a medium
time interval of 15 months between the two measurement points.
Longitudinal designs permit better control of common method
biases, but in principle also permit testing of cause-and-effect
relationships.39 Although a real causation effect may only be
tested in experimental settings, theory-based longitudinal field
studies assessing variables over time enhance confidence in causal
relationships.43
Although the total sample size of our study is quite large, and the
return rates for both waves average 50%, the return rate for the
true longitudinal sample was relatively low, yet still comparable to
earlier longitudinal studies.44 The low response rate notwith-
standing, we were able to confirm that the longitudinal sample
largely matches the cross-sectional sample with regard to demo-
graphic variables. Apart from age and tenure, participants of the
longitudinal sample did not differ from the T1-only-participants.
One reason for the somewhat lower mean age in the longitudinal
sample may be heightened job turnover among younger employees.
Unfortunately, we were not able to trace those employees who
changed their employer, because access to the study participants
was solely provided by the care organizations. Yet despite limita-
tions in the longitudinal sample size, one may conclude that the
study findings can be generalized across eldercare workers.
Further, the data partially supported the three study hypotheses,
but the observed lagged effects were relatively small. In fact,
stabilities seem to outweigh the regression paths between constructs.
In interpreting the magnitude of the lagged effects one has to keep
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in mind that stabilities are high if time for change is short.36 a time
interval of 15 months seems sufficient to detect causal and
reversed effects, it decreases substantial effects and increases
stabilities. Therefore the found lagged regression weights are by no
means trivial. Rather they are substantive and of practical impor-
tance.
Practical implications
This study is the first in a line of similar studies on the relationship
between resources and work engagement20,21 dealing with elder-
care. As eldercare belongs to the broader field of human service
work, general recommendations for designing motivating service
jobs may be derived from the study results. However, the specific
working conditions of elder care still need to be considered. In
addition to personal initiative, structural changes such as job rede-
sign do seem essential to increasing job control. One conceivable
improvement in job resources is to give eldercare workers more
control over patient selection and higher degrees of freedom in
scheduling start times and durations of shifts. Implementing such
changes may be somewhat easier in outpatient care organizations
than in nursing homes. On the other hand, increasing esteem
rewards should be able to be easily established in both settings.
Supervisor training and improved team meetings may be a first
step. As demonstrated by several studies45, stress management
training should help to further increase job resources and work
engagement. Considering the burnout-prone working conditions
of eldercare workers, stress intervention programs may be an effi-
cient strategy to maintain employee health and motivation at
work.
Future outlook
By measuring three individual facets of job resources, namely
task-related, interpersonal, and organizational resources, instead
of using a composite measure, this study shows that the under-
lying mechanisms linking resources and engagement at work
deserve in-depth examination. In order to do so, further refine-
ment of the theories and measurements is necessary. To investigate
dynamic relationships over time, even more sophisticated longitu-
dinal studies are needed. Improvements could be achieved by
including more measurement points or by using complementary
approaches such as diary studies.
59
Original Article | Korunka Christian et al.
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behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended
remedies. J Appl Psychol. 2003;88(5):879-903.
2. Schaufeli W, Bakker AB. Defining and measuring work engagement: Bringing
clarity to the concept. In: Bakker AB, Leiter MP, editors. Work engagement. A
handbook of essential theory and research. Hove: Psychology Press; 2010.
p.10-24.
53/60 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | Ciencia & Trabajo
Artculo Original
Bridging the Practice and Science of Employee Engagement:
A Qualitative Investigation
Uniendo La Ciencia y La Prctica del Engagement Laboral: Una Investigacin Cualitativa
Simon L. Albrecht1, Elisabeth Wilson-Evered1
1. School of Psychology and Psychiatry. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
ABSTRACT
While the practice and the science of employee engagement con-
tinue to run on largely separate paths, the science of engagement
continues to evolve with ongoing incremental refinements to exist-
ing models and measures. This qualitative study sought to map the
extent of the science-practice divide and to further inform the con-
tent of the science and the practice of employee engagement.
Interview data obtained from 51 senior operational and human
resource managers of a large multi-national mining company
revealed that whereas a considerable overlap is apparent in the way
that scientists and practitioners view the nature and the drivers of
employee engagement, there are also key differences and differences
of emphasis. Consistent with recent research, the importance of a
reciprocal or two-way partnership between management and
employees was highlighted by interviewees as being very important
to engagement. The interview data also suggested that focused
energy and alignment with organizational goals should further be
recognized as key attributes of engagement within the academic
literature. Importantly, a number of opportunities to elaborate the
Job Demands-Resources model were identified. First, the differential
influence of organizational level resources (e.g. senior leadership;
organizational climate) versus job level resources emerged. Second,
the potential differential influence that challenge versus stressor
demands can exert at the organizational level (e.g. large scale orga-
nizational change; organizational politics) and at the job level (e.g.
role ambiguity; role conflict) emerged. Third, the direct effects of
both challenge demands and hindrance demands on work engage-
ment could be usefully and more explicitly acknowledged in the
JD-R model. Finally, taking into account the study limitations, we
propose future opportunities to extend the integration of the science
and the practice of employee engagement.
Key words:
Correspondence / Correspondencia
Simon L. Albrecht
Monash University, School of Psychology and Psychiatry
PO Box 197, Caulfield East
Victoria 3145, Australia
Tel.: +61399031956 Fax: +61399032501
e-mail: simon.albrecht@monash.edu
Received: / Accepted:
Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 1/1
RESUMEN
Mientras que la prctica y la ciencia del engagement laboral conti-
nan recorriendo caminos separados, la ciencia del engagement
sigue evolucionando a travs de constantes refinamientos aplicados
a modelos y medidas existentes. Este estudio cualitativo busca
poder mapear el alcance de la separacin de la ciencia y la prctica;
adems de informar el contenido de la ciencia y la prctica del
engagement laboral. Los datos obtenidos a partir de un universo de
51 operadores experimentados y gerentes de recursos humanos,
pertenecientes a una compaa minera multinacional, revelaron que
mientras una considerable sobreposicin es aparente en la forma en
que los cientficos y practicantes ven la naturaleza y las conduccio-
nes del engagement laboral, tambin existen diferencias clave y de
nfasis. De manera consistente con investigaciones recientes, la
importancia recproca, o la sociedad igualitaria entre gerentes y
empleados, se destac como algo esencial por parte de los entrevis-
tados en funcin del engagement. Los datos obtenidos tambin
sugieren que la energa enfocada y la alineacin de objetivos
organizacionales, deberan ser reconocidos como atributos funda-
mentales del engagement dentro de la literatura acadmica. Es de
esta forma, se identificaron un nmero de oportunidades para ela-
borar un modelo de Demandas y Recursos Laborales (Job
Demands-Resources model, en ingls). Lo primero en surgir fue la
influencia diferencial de los recursos de nivel organizacional (lide-
razgo experimentado; clima organizacional) versus los recursos de
nivel laboral. Lo segundo en presentase fue la influencia potencial
diferencial que desafa versus las demandas estresantes que se ejer-
cen a nivel organizacional (cambio organizacional a gran escala,
polticas organizacionales) y al nivel laboral (ambigedad de rol,
conflictos de rol). Tercero, los efectos directos de las ordenes com-
plicadas y las demandas obstaculizadoras sobre el engagement
laboral podran ser reconocidas de manera ms provechosa y expl-
cita en el modelo Demandas y Recursos Laborales. Para concluir, al
considerar las limitaciones del estudio, proponemos futuras oportu-
nidades para extender la integracin de la ciencia y la prctica del
engagement laboral.
Palabras claves:
Employee engagement remains a hot topic within both the
academic and practitioner domains. The field continues to grow
and to grow rapidly. An internet search of the term employee
engagement will yield around one million hits leading to practi-
tioner articles, blogs, case studies, survey providers, and academic
research papers and commentary. Macey, Schneider, Barbera and
Young39 recently noted that rarely has a term resonated as
strongly with business executives as employee engagement has in
recent years (p. xv). Similarly, the body of scholarly work
focused on work engagement continues to flourish and the
number of books1,2,9,10,49, research papers, conference papers and
61
Original Article | Lasso Jorge
conference presentations emanating from the academic domain
continues to grow.
Despite the enormous advances about how best to understand,
measure and manage engagement, recent research and reviews of
the state of play of employee engagement5,15 have identified a
number of issues yet to be fully resolved. For example, there are
still unresolved issues about how best to conceptualize engage-
ment and the number and nature of its dimensions. Additionally,
more research is needed to ascertain the influence that organiza-
tional level variables such as organizational climate or a climate
for engagement exert on employee engagement. More generally,
the nature and amount of influence that leaders exert over
followers engagement also warrants further research attention.
With respect to how best conceptualize engagement and its
dimensions, Schaufeli and colleagues definition of work engage-
ment - ... a positive, fulfilling, work related state of mind that is
characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption53 - remains
the most widely accepted definition in the academic domain.
Alternative conceptualizations exist. For example, May, Harter
and Gilson38, and more recently Rich, LePine and Crawford45,
offered definitions and measures of employee engagement based
on the extent that employees invest themselves cognitively,
affectively and physically in their work.29 Although Schaufeli
and Bakker51 pointed out there is considerable commonality
across such approaches, there are nevertheless theoretical and
measurement issues across and within the two approaches which
have yet to be fully reconciled. Specifically, whereas Rich and
colleagues conceptualized engagement as a higher order construct,
indicated by three first order factors (physical, emotional and
cognitive engagement), Schaufeli and Bakker and colleagues
have generally conceptualized and measured engagement as a
construct consisting of three first order factors - vigor, dedication
and absorption (see Schaufeli, Bakker & Salanova, for validation
of the UWES-9).52 Additionally, although Schaufeli and Bakker51
identified absorption as a common denominator in differing
definitions of engagement, Bakker and Leiter9 suggested that
absorption might be better conceptualized as an outcome of
engagement rather than a constituent dimension. This line of
argument leaves energy and involvement as the core dimen-
sions of engagement.9 Furthermore, there may be additional
dimensions of engagement not fully encompassed by Schaufeli
and colleagues or by Rich and colleagues. Macey et al.34 for
example, argued in support of a definition of engagement that,
amongst other things, more explicitly acknowledges a focus on
alignment with, and the achievement of, organizational goals.
Macey et al. argued that engagement can, in part, be character-
ized by purpose and focused energy ... directed toward organi-
zational goals (p. 7). In sum, given that energy and involvement
appear to be core and foundational elements of engagement,
further theorizing and quantitative and qualitative research may
potentially identify and validate additional elements or dimen-
sions.
A broad range of theories have been invoked to understand and
explain the importance, emergence and maintenance of employee
engagement. Such theories include conservation of resources
theory (COR)28; self determination theory (SDT)16; social exchange
theory (SET)12; social identity theory (SIT)59; role theory29; broad-
en-and-build theory of positive emotion20; job characteristics
theory (JCT)25; and the job demandsresources model (JDR)6,7.
The JDR (see Figure 1), the most widely cited and widely used
62
theoretical model in the engagement literature, shows how job
resources (e.g. autonomy, feedback, support) and personal
resources (e.g. self-efficacy, optimism, resilience) directly influ-
ence work engagement. Engagement in turn influences outcomes
such as commitment, in-role performance, extra-role perfor-
mance, creativity and financial outcomes. Furthermore, the JD-R
explains the way in which job demands (e.g. workload, time pres-
sure) moderate the relationship between job resources and
engagement such that the motivational influence of resources on
engagement is enhanced when employees experience demands as
being moderately high or high26 or as challenging.8 Noteably,
Crawford et al15 recently argued that the nature of the relation-
ship among demands and engagement may be dependent on the
nature of the demand. Crawford et al., using meta-analytic struc-
tural equations modeling, showed that demands perceived as
challenge demands will likely have a positive influence on
engagement while demands perceived as hindrance demands
will likely have a negative influence on engagement. Beyond the
hindrance versus challenge distinction, arguably, demands clas-
sified as organizational level demands (e.g. macro level organi-
zational change, high level organizational politics, etc) might
exert a different type or amount of influence on resource-en-
gagement relationships relative to more proximal job level
demands such as work overload, role ambiguity, role conflict, job
enlargement, promotion, and the like.
Figure 1.
The JD-R model of work engagement (based on Bakker & Demerouti,
2007, 2008).
Job Demands
- Work Pressure
- Emotional demands
- Mental demands
- Physical demands
- etc.
Job Resources
- Autonomy
- Performance Feedback
- Social Support Performance
- Supervisory Coaching
Work Engagement - In-role performance
- etc. - Extra-role performance
- Vigor
- Dedication - Financial return
Personal Resources - Turnover
- Absorption
- Optimism - etc.
- Self-efficacy
- Resilience
- Hope
- etc
Irrespective of the different types of demands worthy of explora-
tion in the JD-R, the job and personal resources components of the
JD-R are of fundamental importance to practitioners and academics
alike. These key elements represent the motivational building
blocks to engagement and as such potentially define the salient
predictors or drivers of engagement. If engagement is desirable
and advantageous in organizational contexts - as generally agreed
- workplace practitioners in particular, will want to know which
levers to pull and which buttons to press to influence, manage
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and develop engagement. In effect, the drivers provide the keys
to taking action to increase engagement and [therefore]
performance.19
Recent meta-analyses and qualitative reviews have helped identify
the strongest and most reliable predictors of engagement.15,14,27,37,56
Halbesleben27 meta-analysis, consistent with the JDR6, showed
that feedback, autonomy, social support and organizational
climate are consistently associated with engagement and/or
particular facets of engagement. Halbeslebens meta-analysis also
showed that personal resources (e.g. self-efficacy and optimism)
are strongly related to engagement. Additionally, Crawford et al.s
meta-analysis identified work role fit, job variety, rewards and
recognition, recovery, and opportunities for development as reli-
able predictors of engagement. Overall, although a broad range of
predictors of engagement have been identified in the literature,
opportunities remain to identify additional antecedents, resources
or drivers and to organize such theoretically and empirically
derived key drivers into an overarching framework or taxonomy.
Such a framework or taxonomy, consisting of a comprehensive set
of resources, might then be applied by researchers and practitio-
ners to determine which resources or drivers are most salient
across differing organizational contexts.
With respect to developing a taxonomy of resources, it may poten-
tially prove helpful to further extend the JD-R by differentiating
more distal organizational level resources (e.g. senior leadership;
organizational climate; organizational support; HRM policies; etc)
from more proximal job level resources such as autonomy, skill
utilization, supervisor support, training and development opportu-
nities. Consistent with this view, Crawford et al.15 and Kahn30
suggested that the differential influence of senior leadership (an
organizational level resource) versus direct report leadership (a job
level resource) might warrant further investigation.
With respect to the influence that leaders exert over follower
engagement, the role of the leader in fostering work engagement
has received limited academic research attention.5 The lack of
attention is somewhat surprising given the widespread recognition
within the practitioner literature.46 While there is emerging
evidence to suggest that transformational leadership is either
directly or indirectly associated with followers levels of vigor,
dedication, and absorption;55,60 that middle managers have a crit-
ical role in developing engagement;41 and that empowering leader-
ship might also influence engagement3, additional research is
required to further establish the strength of the association
between different styles of leadership and follower engagement.
More generally, engagement, as a motivational construct, might
usefully serve as the key explanatory mechanism accounting for
the way in which leadership influences downstream individual
outcomes such as commitment, job satisfaction, absence and
performance. The influence on engagement of differing types of
leadership for example transformational, authentic and empow-
ering leadership at different levels of leadership (e.g. senior
leadership versus middle management versus direct line manage-
ment) might therefore usefully be further examined.
Organizational climate is another organizational level construct
worthy of further systematic research attention within the engage-
ment literature. Although Halbesleben27 and Crawford et al.15 in
their recent meta-analyses identified organizational climate as a
salient predictor of employee engagement, Albrecht1,2 argued for
the need to acknowledge a climate for engagement as an impor-
tant predictor of employee engagement. Such a construct, appro-
Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 1/1
Original Article | Ttulo Artculo
priately conceptualized and measured, might provide a useful
summary index of the extent to which the organizational context
supports employee engagement in varying organizational
settings.
At a somewhat broader level, another unresolved issue or chal-
lenge in the engagement literature centres on the research-practice
divide. Both scientists and practitioners have suggested that the
research and the practice of engagement are, in large part,
progressing along different paths. Macey and Schneider33, for
example, noted that scholars and practitioners think and speak
about engagement in different ways (p. 76). Bakker and Leiter9,10
noted that consultants, in contrast to academics, often define
engagement in a way that confuses it with traditional concepts
such as job satisfaction and commitment. Though it is widely
recognized that best-practice, peer-reviewed and evidence-based
research should underpin the practice of engagement Schaufeli y
Bakker51, perhaps part of the science-practice disconnect might
reasonably be attributable to practitioners being more skilful than
academics at detecting what resonates with the lived experience
of organizational decision makers interested in actioning and real-
izing the purported benefits of employee engagement. Whatever
the explanation, the differences in science and practice perspec-
tives suggest clear and present opportunities for researchers and
practitioners to work more closely together so that good science is
more firmly embedded in good practice and that good practice is
more firmly embedded in good science. Indeed, some closer
collaboration between scientists and practitioners, aimed at
bridging the science-practice divide, may in the end help inoculate
engagement against being remembered as merely a passing fad.
Instead, engagement could build on its current status as a legiti-
mate, distinct and important construct that explains important
individual, team and organizational experiences and outcomes.
One initial step on the path to bridge the science practice divide
might involve directly comparing how engagement is understood
in workplace practice against the accumulated wisdom found in
the peer-reviewed academic literature. Currently, there is very little
literature identifying how the academic understanding of engage-
ment corresponds to how engagement is understood by employees
and human resource and organizational development profes-
sionals in their working context. Even though a vast amount of
academically grounded survey data on engagement has been
collected in a wide diversity of organisations across the globe,
because these data have generally been collected using off-the-
shelf, pre-validated engagement and engagement-related scales,
their content validity or ecological validity has rarely been evalu-
ated. In response to ongoing calls for academics and practitioners
to more fully collaborate and cooperate4,39, and to avoid the
unhealthy situation whereby the academics [are] the [only] ones
asking the research questions and interpreting the answers13,
academics might usefully further engage with internal HR/OD and
operational decision-makers who are working on the practice of
engagement on a daily basis. By working on understanding the
language and the issues as experienced at the coal face by
employees, researchers may be able to gain a greater under-
standing of how employees think about, understand and action
engagement. By going to the lived experience of employee
engagement, researchers might find opportunities to translate the
prevailing academic models, theories, frameworks and measures
into a language more readily understood and appreciated by work-
place practitioners. They may, for example, using models such as
63
Original Article | Lasso Jorge
the JD-R.6,7 Be able to, in a practical sense, help practitioners more
clearly conceptualize engagement and distinguish it from related yet
distinct constructs more appropriately identified as antecedents or
consequences of engagement.
As previously noted, whereas the bulk of the engagement literature
is based on quantitative research methods, there has been limited
qualitative research published on the topic. Kahn29 seminal thinking
on engagement was derived from interviews conducted with camp
counselors and employees of an architectural firm. Kahn argued that
it is important to deeply probe peoples experiences and situations
and that qualitative methods provide a powerful means by which to
capture such experiences and situations. Furthermore, Kahn also
argued that attitude surveys may not sufficiently help researchers go
fully to the core of peoples lived experience of work.
In addition to Kahns qualitative research, Schaufeli and colleagues54,
Margolis and Molinsky36 and Engelbrecht18 are among the few
researchers who have applied qualitative methods to the study of
engagement. Bakker and Demerouti7, summarizing some of the key
findings to emerge from Engelbrechts interviews, noted that an
engaged midwife is a person who radiates energy and keeps up the
spirit at the ward, especially in situations where work morale is low
[;] is willing to do whatever needs to be done, and is viewed as a
source of inspiration for herself and her colleagues[;] has a positive
attitude towards her work and is happy for the things she is doing
(p. 210). Words such as energy, willing to do, and positive attitude
not only corroborate extant academic views as to the nature of
engagement but perhaps point researchers towards ways in which the
construct can be further elaborated. Additional qualitative research
might usefully inform and potentially progress some of the as yet
unresolved issues in the conceptualization and measurement of work
engagement as outlined above. Furthermore, qualitative research
methods may play an important role in assuring the content and
ecological validity of the theory, modelling and measurement of
engagement that to date has been largely derived from the use and
analysis of quantitative survey data.
To sum up, and in light of the scarcity of published qualitative
research on work engagement and the unresolved issues about
how best to conceptualize and measure employee engagement, the
study reported here had three main aims; first to determine how
key human resources and operational employees of a major
resource sector organization perceive and understand work
engagement. Second, the research aimed to cross-reference these
findings with established theories, models, and measures on work
engagement and to therefore contribute to establishing the content
validity and ecological validity of the existing engagement related
research. Third, we hoped to uncover additional considerations in
the study of engagement beyond those currently used and mostly
derived using quantitative methods. More specifically, the study
aimed to identify how the construct of engagement and the JD-R
might be augmented or reconceptualized to better reflect the lived
experience of engagement.
Method
Participants
The fifty one interviewees who agreed to participate in the study
were Australian employees of a large multi-national resources
organization which has operations in a range of locations across
the globe. The interviewees ranged in age from 26 to 60 years
64
and their tenure ranged from six-months to 22 years. The inter-
viewees had varying job roles broadly classified within opera-
tions (n = 25), human resources (n = 16), professional/technical
(n = 6), or other (n = 4). The interviewees occupied senior level
operational or human resource roles.
Procedure
The interviews were conducted by nine interviewers employed
within the host organization. The geographical spread and the
remoteness of some of the operations of the host organization
precluded the researchers from conducting the interviews.
Additionally, the decision to use in-house interviewers was in
part made by the host organisation to be seen to be directly
actioning the organizations strategic focus on engagement. The
researchers did, however, provide very specific guidelines for
training the in-house interviewers, advised on sampling and
communication strategies, and developed the semi-structured
interview protocol and a set of interviewer guidelines. The ques-
tions included: what does employee engagement mean for you,
tell me about times when you have felt particularly engaged at
work, and what are the conditions or factors which enabled you
or your colleagues to be engaged? The interviewers were trained
to use, where appropriate, open-ended and non-leading probing
questions to uncover deeper level characteristics of the lived
experience of employee engagement. The 51 interviews ranged
between 45 and 60 minutes in duration. Participant consent to
record the interviews was obtained and each interview was tran-
scribed in its entirety.
Data-analysis
The data analytic strategy aligned with that reported by Grant,
Dutton and Rosso (2008) who used a qualitative data derived
from 40 interviews to identify the prosocial sensemaking mech-
anisms through which giving to a support program enhances
employees affective commitment to [their] organization (p.
901). Drawing on grounded theory methods21 and interpretative
phenomenological analysis57, the first named researcher first read
through all the transcripts and identified key words and key
themes within which to classify responses. A coding scheme was
finalized for each of the questions analysed before the first and
second named researchers then independently coded the inter-
viewee responses from the transcripts. The overall average inter-
rater agreement across the different questions for the first and
second named researchers, calculated using Spearmans rho,
ranged between 0,81 and 0,93. After calculating inter-rater
reliability indices, coding discrepancies were identified and either
resolved across the two researchers or omitted from the
analyses.
RESULTS
The data collected in the interviews were very rich and attest to
the genuine commitment the interviewers and the interviewees
invested in the process. Interviewee commitment to adhering to
the semi-standardized process was clearly evident in the tran-
scripts. Interviewer skill in probing and encouraging engagement
in the interview process was also evident in the transcripts. The
key findings for the key questions addressed in the research are
described below.
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What is employee engagement?
Interviewees were initially asked for their understanding of the
term engagement as it applies to work. Interviewees were asked
questions such as what does engagement mean for you?, how
would you define it? and can you tell me about a time when
you felt particularly engaged at work? The questions generated
136 coded comments across 19 key themes. The themes and
words most often coded related to engagement being a relational
and reciprocal construct (n = 25 codings); being predicated on
open, respectful and supportive leadership (n = 22 codings);
involving the willingness to contribute to organizational objec-
tives and exercise discretionary effort (n = 15 codings); being
bound up with a sense of connection to, commitment to and
identification with the organization (n = 14 codings); involving
the full heart and mind expression of self in work (n = 11
codings); being about self-striving in alignment with business
objectives (n = 10 codings); and being about the experience of
open and respectful relationships (n = 10 codings). Other key
words and themes were related to the experience of trust (n = 9
codings); empowerment (n = 7 codings); and being challenged to
improve and grow (n = 4 codings).
Some example and representative comments for these key themes
include:
in terms of the relationship, it is sort of a two-way thing like
any relationship you know it needs to be both parties talking
and discussing and working through issues and coming to
some sort of common view [S14: Interviewee #42]
I think engagement is a genuine sense of connection that
either leaders make with people or that people make with
organizations that is all about reciprocity. If I do my best for
the organization the organization will do its best for me
[S3-Q2: Interviewee #2].
an employee chooses willingly (with their heart and their
head) to be a member of the organization. The team member
will apply discretionary effort. [S14: Interviewee #47]
it is about the contribution the person is willingly prepared
to make for their organization. [S22: Interviewee #77 (n.b.
interviewee identity numbers relate to the number indicated
on a master list of potential interviewees)]
I think engagement is a mindset of the employee who iden-
tifies with the success of the company and then exhibits that
by behaviors consistent with the interest of the company in
an all encompassing sense. [S6: Interviewee #72]
It is really about the individual, where the behavior of each
individual employee contributes to the business. Ultimately it
is about individual behavior, motivations, state of mind,
where there is alignment to and contribution to business
objectives. [S46: Interviewee #27]
These comments corroborate much of the thinking and research
published in the academic literature. The comments clearly point
to engagement being recognized as a motivational and psycho-
logical state which involves a willingness, a mindset, or a state
of mind. The comments mostly support the pervasive view
among academics that the psychological state of engagement
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needs to be clearly distinguished from behavior (e.g. discre-
tionary effort) which is better conceptualized as an outcome or a
consequence of engagement.24 Also consistent with the main-
stream academic engagement literature, the comments point to
the clear importance of involvement and dedication as key
constituent facets or dimensions of engagement.51 However, the
numerous references interviewees made to focused energy and
alignment with organizational goals, although acknowledged
by some practitioners and academics as central to the experience
of experience33, are not as clearly evident in mainstream
academic conceptualizations and measures of engagement (e.g.
UWES-9).52
As already noted, the notion of reciprocal responsibility or
mutual commitment was often identified as an important char-
acteristic or precondition for engagement. Consistent with the
tenets of social exchange theory12, and the double-headed arrows
or feedback loops in the JD-R model (see Figure 1), interviewees
endorsed the two-way commitment and responsibilities associ-
ated with engagement. In so doing, the respondents recognized
that without support and resources from the organization,
engagement will not emerge nor be maintained. One interviewee
related a case example whereby a previously engaged and
committed employee became disengaged as a consequence of a
perceived lack of mutual commitment from the organization in
managing a change in role:
They realized they had done nothing to ensure his compe-
tence and confidence in the new role. They hadnt consulted
him at all about the move. So he had been provided with no
support to manage the move, had had no consultation about
it, and his loss of confidence was assumed to be him not
being committed to the business. It became more and more
difficult for him to be engaged with the work. It was only that
the leader was [subsequently] prepared to look at it again that
there was a shift [S5: Interviewee #15a]
Interviewees were explicitly probed about their own personal
experience of engagement (tell me about a time when you felt
really engaged at work), consistent with the established academic
definitions. Responses clearly acknowledged the energy, enthu-
siasm, and passion dimensions identified by academics and
practitioners to be core characteristics of engagement.51 However,
the absorption dimension of Schaufeli and collegues53 conceptu-
alization of engagement did not as clearly emerge through the
comments. Of note, many interviewees reported being engaged
when the context or circumstance involved some significant
degree of demand or challenge. These observations are consistent
with the modeling of demands as moderators of resources-engage-
ment relationships within the JD-R (see Figure 1) and consistent
with recent commentary on the JD-R.15 The sense of striving to
achieve in the face of challenge seemed central to many of the
reported experiences of engagement:
it was a constant challenge the pressure I suppose was
what kept me involved in the outcome [S4: Interviewee
#6]
It felt positive. Sometimes draining. particularly intense
[S5: Interviewee #42]
I think the times when people are most engaged will be when
they are most challenged [S11: Interviewee #23]
65
Original Article | Lasso Jorge
the times I felt incredibly energized. .. my output is a lot
more focused for a lot longer time and my output level is a
lot higher and I probably work longer and I think my
behavior or my excitement about what I am doing probably
influences other people as well [S12: Interviewee #80]
It was the satisfaction that we had achieved something, I
had the feeling that I didnt think we were going to be able
to. You felt you were part of a grander scheme of things and
you know and you played your part in keeping that going.
[S19: Interviewee #20]
the times that I feel most engaged is when I am actually
doing positive work for the division [knowing] what I am
doing is then going to have a positive effect on people
because this is something that is going to make their work
easier or you know have less challenges. [S20: Interviewee
#67]
I think it basically means that when people go to work they
mostly enjoy it, , and can see that they can make a contri-
bution and that contribution is valued [S7: Interviewee
#15]
Having offered their own understanding and experience of
engagement, interviewees were asked to comment on example
definitions developed by the project team reflecting core elements
of engagement as drawn from existing academic and practitioner
definitions. Example statements included reference to working
positively, achieving the goals and needs of the company,
mutual commitment, respect, trust and fairness, personal
accountability, and saying positive things about the company.
Though the majority (88%) of interviewees agreed with the
example statements, a number of interviewees (n = 14) cautioned
against adopting an overly academic definition. Additionally,
four interviewees cautioned against using words such as posi-
tive in definitions of engagement because of the different mean-
ings such words may have for different individuals. Some of the
coded comments include:
we need to do some work to make it [the definition] more
punchy in terms of communication on the shop floor and
understanding [S3: Interviewee #2]
You dont want lawyers devising definitions of concepts like
this [S3: Interviewee #12]
The current definition is however too wordy. I dont believe
I can give this to an employee and they will necessarily
understand it. I think it would be more beneficial to have a
shortened/sharper version of the definition, which is supported
by the longer vision [Interviewee #47]
When you talk about employees working positively
people might have different notions of what working posi-
tively means. there is great diversity in our individual
judgments about what is positive and what is not. I might say
it something like this: Employees say things or talk about
their company, their team, their leader and themselves in
ways that build the business and its reputation. [S7:
Interviewee #15a, 15b]
66
What are the conditions or factors which lead to or drive
engagement?
Interviewees were asked for their views as to what drives engage-
ment what causes you, your team members to become
engaged? The interviewees were also asked specifically about the
importance of leadership as a driver of engagement. The question
generated 166 coded comments across 15 key themes. The words
and themes most often coded identified leadership as being a
critical ingredient to establishing engagement (n = 41 codings);
as being fundamentally about establishing and maintaining
respectful, open, and trusting relationships (n = 26 codings); as
being about communicating a purpose and a vision for the team
(n=18); about being visible, hands-on and walking the talk (n =
10 codings); about needing to have and to model personal
conviction, commitment and engagement (n = 10 codings); about
having a common purpose and common values across different
levels of leadership (n = 10 codings); and about being able to deal
with different personalities and balance the strengths and weak-
nesses within the team to achieve organizational goals (n=8).
Other key words and themes were related to the differential
effects of an employees direct leader as opposed to a leader once
removed or senior level leadership (n=14 codings). Some
example and representative comments for these key themes
include:
Leadership. Enormous. In fact I think it is the most important
issue. Leaders are the absolute key. [S2: Interviewee #2]
I think it [leadership] is the biggest single source. It is not
100% but if you ask me it is probably two thirds to three
quarters 60-65% of employee engagement is driven by the
one to one relationship with your direct manager and I think
this applies to every level of the organization [S7:
Interviewee #24]
If you dont have good leadership you will not have engage-
ment good leadership needs to be at all levels. [S13:
Interviewee #51]
the leader goes one step further, and needs to be able to assign
work to a team that maximizes the strengths of the team, needs
to be able to move the pieces on the chess board to avoid the
personality conflicts or to create the symmetries where those are
possible, and thats hard [S1: Interviewee #11]
building that relationship, building that sense of trust
where people feel as though they can comment openly, they
can debate openly, be directly recognized for their perfor-
mance . Because if people trust both their leaders and the
organization theyll engage at a much higher level than they
have been [S2: Interviewee #2]
I think the most important relationship is the manager once
removed. This is because the MoR has the ability to provide
opportunities for career development, supplying varied work
more so than their immediate manager. The immediate
manager is still very important. I can recall a situation where
my relationship with my immediate manager was not that
good, but my MoR relationship was good. I still had the
confidence regarding career development because of this
[S22: Interviewee #49]
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 Original Article | Ttulo Artculo

unless you are out there and seen to be visible in the work- contribute to where the company is going. You have to create
place then I think it is harder for people to relate to you. a climate where people can actively participate [Q16:
[S22: Interviewee #49] Interviewee #9]

More generally, the influence of organizational change on
engagement (n=9 codings), the importance of a clear organiza-
tional vision (n = 9 codings) and the influence of organizational
politics (n=8 codings) were identified as relatively important
factors which can positively or adversely influence engagement:
[people get disengaged] not understanding why the change is
being introduced, and feeling that they have no opportunity
to influence the change, not being in a position where they can
ask questions and be provided with an answer, so the disen-
gagement is where the leaders are not appropriately briefed
and appropriately committed through information to actually
sell the change in the organization. [Q17: Interviewee #22]
it is a bit hard to personally feel or personally see how you
can add value if you dont know where the company is going
or what the company is going to do. [Q17: Interviewee #21]
Overall, the results suggest a clear overlap between the lived expe-
rience of engagement of interviewees and the conceptualizations
of engagement as portrayed in the academic literature. The results
also offer a number of opportunities to broaden the conceptualiza-
tion, modeling and measurement of employee engagement. First,
the notion of focused striving might more fully be acknowledged
in definitions and measures of engagement. Second, and as
modelled in Figure 2, the results point toward opportunities to
elaborate the JD-R to further acknowledge the differential influ-
ence of organizational level resources (e.g. senior leadership, orga-
nizational politics, organizational change) and job resources.
Third, there are opportunities to further delineate the differential
influence that challenge versus stressor demands exert at both the
organizational level and the job level. The direct effects of both
challenge demands and hindrance demands on work engagement
also need to be acknowledged.

I think youve got to have a very clear alignment from the top
of the organization. [Q16: Interviewee #59] DISCUSSION
I have seen a lack of team effort between managers and on The study set out to determine how the lived experience of
occasions at general manager le, competiveness between them. engagement as experienced by employees of a large multina-
Cynicism and probably higher as well. [Q16: Interviewee #12] tional mining company compared to well-respected models,
theories, frameworks and measures of engagement derived from
I cant stand the corporate bullshit. [Q17: Interviewee #2]
Figure 2.
[I get disengaged] where a leader takes credit for my work An expanded JD-R model of work engagement (developed from Bakker
and doesnt say thank you or acknowledge me. [Q17: & Demerouti, 2007, 2008).
Interviewee #39]
Organizational Demands Job Demands
A number of comments also identified the important impact of Stressor / Challenge Stressor / Challenge
- Organizational Change - Work overload - Promotion
culture, climate, and social norms on engagement (n = 9 codings).
- Organizational Politics - Role ambiguity - Enlargement
These observations are in line with social information processing - etc. - etc. - etc.
perspectives (Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978) and calls for further
research on climate for engagement (Albrecht, 2010). Comments
such as the following point to the importance of establishing and Organizational Resources
maintaining a climate for engagement: - Senior Leadership Vision
if there isnt some critical mass of engagement in enough - Vision Communication Attitudes
individuals in the business, then it is very hard for one indi- - Leadership Alignment - Commitment
- HRM Practices - Satisfaction
vidual to sustain their own engagement [S7: Interviewee - Organizational Climate - Well-Being
#15a] - Climate for Engagement - Turnover Intention
- etc. - etc.
[disengaged arises when] you see little clumps of employees Work Engagement
Job Resources Performance/ Behavior
that spend half their day talking about why this isnt such a - Vigor
- Autonomy - In-role performance
good thing and that effects the next stage it permeates every - Performance Feedback - Dedication
- Focus - Extra-role performance
meeting. [Q17: Interviewee #22] - Direct Report Leadership - Adaptivity
- Supervisory Coaching - Striving
- Absence
the things that drive cultures are systems, symbols and - Co-worker Support - Turnover
- Skill & Career Development - etc.
behaviours So by fundamentally addressing the systems,
- etc.
symbols and behaviours you are actually setting up a new Outcomes
culture. [Q16: Interviewee #40] Personal Resources - Financial returns
- Optimism - Innovation
you have to create an environment where people feel they - Self-efficacy - etc.
- Resilience
can engage, and feel that its a non-threatening environment - Hope
where there is no fear from contributing, and the fear of being - etc.
ridiculed, as a fact that, yes I am willing to stand up and

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Original Article | Lasso Jorge
the academic domain. A number of general conclusions can be
drawn from the analysis:
(1) There is considerable overlap between what the academics write
and what the interviewees reported about their lived experience of
engagement.
Although the terminology the interviewees used to describe their
experience may have been somewhat different to that used by
academics, the interviewees clearly acknowledged vigor (energy/
being energized) and dedication (involvement/ commitment) in
their experience of engagement at work. There was, however, less
explicit acknowledgement of the absorption dimension as identi-
fied by academics in their definitions of engagement.45,47 Consistent
with academic theorizing34, focused effort and alignment with
organizational objectives were endorsed as important dimensions
of engagement. Furthermore, and consistent with the thinking and
writing of Kahn29, May, Gilson and Harter38 and Rich, LePine and
Crawford45, the affective (heart), cognitive (head) and behaviorally
oriented (e.g. willingness to engage in discretionary performance)
aspects of engagement were also acknowledged. More generally,
much of the interview data can be organised in a way which is
consistent with existing models, theories and frameworks. The Job
Demands-Resources model, for instance, provides an effective
means by which to summarise and integrate much of the content
provided by the interviewees. The interview data corroborated
core JD-R tenets by clearly evidencing that employee engagement
is dependent on the availability of adequate resources (social,
physical, psychological, organisational). Such resources were
reported to enable employees to strive to achieve work and orga-
nizational goals with energy and commitment, to fully invest
themselves in the work (affectively, cognitively and physically)
and to cope with the demands (physical, psychological, social,
organisational) that their job and organizational context presents.
The important role that job demands play in conditioning the
circumstances by which resources result in engagement was also
acknowledged. The utility of distinguishing between hindrance
demands and challenge demands15 was evidenced.
The importance of employees identifying a two-way and recip-
rocal co-commitment with management was also highlighted in
interviewee accounts of engagement and its causes. Such consid-
erations are consistent with academic research showing the emer-
gence of upward spirals of engagement20,50, reversed causal effects
between resources and engagement32 and exchange relationships
between managers and their subordinates.41 In sum, the interview
data showed that both individual employees and individual leaders
have a role in maintaining engagement with the experience of
engagement involving reciprocal interactions between individual
employees, their leaders and their workplace.
(2) There are opportunities to extend existing conceptualizations
and definitions of engagement to further emphasize aspects of the
lived experience of engagement.
As previously noted, the interviewees highlighted focused effort
and striving in alignment with organizational objectives as impor-
tant dimensions of engagement. While these dimensions have been
previously acknowledged in the engagement literature34,40 and are
implicit in Schaufeli et al.s dedication dimension, academic defini-
tions may usefully further emphasize the dimension of focused
striving in definitions of engagement. Such an emphasis, in line
with mainstream motivational theory and consulting practice44,
68
endorses the notion that the energy associated with engagement
needs to be directed toward, and aligned with, the achievement of
functional and adaptive work and organizational goals, objectives
and strategies. The conceptualization of the psychological state of
engagement might therefore usefully incorporate some further
consideration of focused striving or focused effort directed
toward the achievement of organizational goals.
As noted above, and in line with recent research findings15, the
interviewee comments also suggested opportunities to further
distinguish between challenge demands and hindrance or
stressor demands within the engagement literature. While the
JD-R6,7 and the Demands-Control Model clearly acknowledge the
positive outcomes associated with active jobs (characterized by
high demands and high control) the engagement literature may be
well served by further distinguishing known stressor demands
such as role conflict, role ambiguity and work overload from chal-
lenge demands such as increased responsibility, the challenge of
meeting project timelines, promotion and job enlargement. The
interviewee comments clearly indicated that challenge demands
play an important role in the experience of engagement.
Furthermore, and in accord with the modeling in Figure 2, the
interview data corroborate research evidence14 suggesting that
work demands, beyond moderating the association between
resources and engagement, also directly influence the experience
of engagement. These direct relations might sensibly be modelled
in the JD-R and further developed to understand when, why and
at what level different challenge demands convert into stressor
demands in different situations. Given that Sonnentag and
colleagues have shown that work engagement can result in
increased in job demands over time58 and that increased job
demands, in turn, might result in adverse health and well-being
outcomes17, the non-linear or curvilinear effects of job and orga-
nizational demands deserve further research attention. Furthermore,
it may also be useful to more formally distinguish between orga-
nizational level demands and job level demands. Organizational
level demands such as organizational politics and the implementa-
tion of broad level organizational change may exert additional and
unique effects on the way that organizational, job and personal
resources influence engagement. Modelling and assessing the
direct effects of such different demands on engagement could
usefully be the subject of further research.
As modelled in Figure 2, the interviewee data highlighted the
important influence that organizational level resources might exert
on job resources and employee engagement. The interviewee data
clearly pointed toward consideration of factors such as clarity of
organizational goals43, communication of vision23 and strategic
alignment42 as more distal or macro organizational level resources
likely to influence employee engagement. Consistent with the
social information processing perspectives48 and the recognition of
the social context of work engagement31, additional organizational
level resources such organizational climate, a climate for engage-
ment, and supportive HR practices were also identified as relevant
contextual factors pertinent to the experience and expression of
engagement.
(3) Much of the interviewee description of what engagement is and
what is consists of confused engagement with its antecedents and
outcomes. Academics can help practitioners think more clearly
about how engagement differs from its antecedents and its conse-
quences and other related constructs.
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The interview transcripts revealed that interviewees tended to
confuse engagement with its antecedents and outcomes in the
course of describing the nature and causes of engagement.
Supportive leadership, involvement in decision-making and
engaging in discretionary behavior were often bundled up in
interviewee descriptions of engagement. Most academics,
however, argue that these antecedents need to be conceptualized
and operationalized as distinct and separate constructs. Bakker,
Albrecht and Leiter, for example, argued it is time to put to bed
the notion that engagement is nothing more than some old
wine-new bottle conceptual cocktail. Instead, it is important to
recognize engagement is a unique construct which deserves the
same theoretical and practical attention as other more established
organizational constructs.1 The interview data therefore helps
explain how some of the practitioner-based definitions and
measures, which similarly have confused engagement, anteced-
ents and outcomes, might have emerged and why they have
become popular in practice and in the applied human resource
management and consulting press. Given that many of the inter-
viewees had not been exposed to the academic old wine-new
bottle arguments, it is not surprising that in conversation, they
might confuse constructs that others with a more trained focus
on such issues might be able to differentiate. Communicating
more clearly through conversations with HR and operational
staff the benefits of conceptualizing the experience of work in
terms of inputs and outcomes using practical models such as the
JD-R6,7 might guide practitioners to understand more clearly the
importance of the distinctions. Perhaps, academics could usefully
look for opportunities to further engage with practitioners to
explain the utility of models such as the JD-R but do so in a
language which more strongly resonates with the way that prac-
titioners feel, think and talk about their experiences at work.
Such conversations might enable practitioners to make distinc-
tions and describe subtleties that in turn could potentially
improve strategies to frame assessments, interventions and
evaluations.
(4) Leadership needs to be more explicitly acknowledged as a
resource within the engagement literature and the JD-R.
The interviewees were unequivocal about the importance of the
leaders role in influencing employee engagement, at the direct
reporting level, at the level of the leader once removed and at the
level of senior level leadership. The key and most commonly
cited driver of engagement was the extent to which employees
perceived their direct report leaders to be open, honest, involving,
and empowering.
The very strong thread within interviewee comments about the
important role that leadership has on engagement reflects a clear
difference of emphasis in the practitioner versus the academic
literatures. Within the practitioner literature46 and within writing
which straddles the practitioner and academic literature34, the
critical influence of leadership is taken as a given. Macey et al.,
for example, argued that senior leadership support and buy-in
is critical to any successful engagement related initiative.
Numerous consulting companies also stress the vitally important
role that the leadership exercised by direct supervisors has on
employee engagement.44 However, despite some quite recent
research55,60, there has been limited academic research directed
toward understanding the influence of leaders on employee
engagement. For example, Halbesleben27 and Christian and
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Original Article | Ttulo Artculo
Slaughter14 meta-analyses did not include leadership among the
set of resources examined as antecedents of engagement. The
results of the present qualitative analysis corroborate the impor-
tant role that leadership plays in the experience of employee
engagement. Specifically, our study has endorsed the call for
more academic research on the influence of leadership at the
level of the senior management team, middle management, team
leadership, and direct report leadership. Furthermore, the impor-
tance of the degree of alignment across leadership levels needs
also to be the subject of further research.42 Given that transfor-
mational leadership11 and empowering leadership35 styles appear
to cover the key dimensions highlighted as being important to
leadership, these well-established models might usefully serve to
guide ongoing research. Individualized consideration, for
example, was indicated as a particularly important dimension
pointing to the importance of leaders getting to know their
employees and team members as people and getting to know
their personal circumstances. The vision, charisma and inspira-
tional dimensions of transformational leadership were also
acknowledged in many interviewee comments as particularly
important determinants of engagement.
(5) Academic definitions and conceptualizations of engagement
might usefully be expressed in a language which practitioners can
readily identify with and adopt in practice.
As previously noted, several interviewee comments suggested
that academic definitions and language may not fully resonate
with the lived experience of engagement within employee
working contexts. Respondents were wary of endorsing defini-
tions which sounded too academic. Interviewees noted that any
definition of engagement adopted by an organization should be
able to be easily communicated to and understood by employees
working at the shop floor. It appears therefore that there are
opportunities for academics to better translate their academic
definitions and language into forms which are more likely to
resonate with practitioners and become more acceptable to and
adopted by practitioners.61 The directness and simplicity of defi-
nitions favored by practitioners are exemplified in a definition
offered by one of the interviewees: the feeling of willingly
applying your heart and mind toward making a valuable contri-
bution to the business.... The challenge for academics may be to
hold in the background their theoretically derived definitions and
dimensions of engagement and work with grounded definitions.
Such representations could nevertheless accommodate measure-
ment that is appropriately construct valid and derived from good
academic theory, thinking and practice. The challenge will be to
incorporate and accommodate these dimensions without making
the definitions overly cumbersome or complex.
In conclusion, on the basis of the interview transcripts analyzed,
the science-practice gap appears not too wide but wide enough
to hinder communication among the parties. Existing definitions,
models and measures from the academic domain overlap to quite
a large extent with comments, content and experiences offered by
the interviewees. Reciprocation or two-way commitment, for
example, was clearly highlighted as an important consideration
for the understanding and experience of engagement. Energy and
involvement were identified as key dimensions fundamental to
the experience of engagement. Figure 2, however, also highlights
some potential areas for further research which emerged from the
69
Original Article | Lasso Jorge
interviewee data. As previously noted, the results suggest oppor-
tunities to broaden the conceptualization, modeling and measure-
ment of employee engagement to further acknowledge the notion
of focused striving in alignment with organizational goals.
Additionally, and as modelled in Figure 2, there might also be
useful opportunities to elaborate the JD-R to further acknowledge
the differential influence of organizational level resources (e.g.
senior leadership; organizational climate) and job resources. More
particularly, leadership influence and a climate for engagement
appear particularly worthy of additional research within the
academic research domain. There might also be useful opportuni-
ties within the JD-R to further delineate the potential differential
influence that challenge versus stressor demands exert at both the
organizational level and the job level. The direct effects of both
challenge demands and hindrance demands on work engagement
might also usefully be further acknowledged.
Acknowledging that academics have much to offer practice in
terms of models and measures that can potentially help practitio-
ners more clearly and accurately disentangle engagement as a
construct from what are better conceptualized as its antecedents
or outcomes. Academic engagement research has developed a
firm platform from which practitioners can implement evidenced
based decisions aimed at assessing, developing and maintaining
optimal levels of engagement in varying organizational contexts.
We argue in favor of an increasing rapprochement, cooperation
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71
Artculo Original
Too Good to Be True? Similarities and Differences Between
Engagement and Workaholism among Finnish Judges
Muy bueno para ser cierto? Similitudes y diferencias entre el engagement y la adiccin al
trabajo en jueces finlandeses
Jari Hakanen, PhD1, Alma M. Rodrguez-Snchez2, Riku Perhoniemi3
1. Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland.
2. PhD, Wont Research Team, Universitat Jaume I Castelln, Spain.
3. MA, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland.
ABSTRACT
Recently, it has been suggested that in addition to positive relation-
ships between work engagement and organizational outcomes, work
engagement may also have a dark side, i.e., it may also lead to nega-
tive consequences for the employee. This study of a representative
sample of Finnish judges (N = 550) investigated the similarities and
differences between work engagement and workaholism. Despite
some similarities, our results generally supported previous findings
that engagement and workaholism are distinct concepts. First, confir-
matory factor analysis showed that engagement and workaholism are
separate notions, although absorption, a sub-dimension of engage-
ment, also loaded weakly on the workaholism factor. Second, struc-
tural equation modeling results showed that in contrast to workahol-
ism, engagement was positively related to job resources (positive core
self-evaluations and social capital) and to better sleep quality, life
satisfaction, and work-family and family-work interface, and nega-
tively related to presenteeism and turnover intentions. Unexpectedly,
engagement was unrelated to detachment from work. Both engage-
ment and workaholism were positively associated with organiza-
tional commitment, working hours and overtime. Interestingly,
workaholics showed both organizational commitment and, tenta-
tively, turnover intentions. All in all, engagement was mainly related
to healthy and positive outcomes. However, even though engaged
employees enjoy working, they should ensure sufficient recovery,
such as detachment from work, in order to remain engaged.
KEY WORDS: Work engagement; Workaholism; Judges;
Well-being; Work-Family; Recovery; Life satisfaction
Correspondence / Correspondencia
Jari Hakanen
Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Work Organizations,
Topeliuksenkatu 41 a A
FI-00250 Helsinki
Tel.: +358 30474 2453 Fax: +358 9 2413496
e-mail: jari.hakanen@ttl.fi
Received / Accepted
72
RESUMEN
De manera reciente, se ha sugerido que en suma a las relaciones
positivas del engagement laboral y los resultados organizacionales,
ste ltimo tambin podra tener un aspecto negativo, es decir,
tambin podra tener consecuencia negativas sobre los trabajadores.
Este estudio, considerando una muestra representativa de jueces
finlandeses (N = 550), se enfoc en las similitudes y diferencias
entre el engagement laboral y la adiccin al trabajo. A pesar de
tener algunas similitudes, nuestros resultados respaldan las investi-
gaciones previas donde se afirma que el engagement y la adiccin
al trabajo obedecen a conceptos diferentes. Primero, el anlisis del
factor confirmatorio prob que el engagement y la adiccin al tra-
bajo son nociones distintas, aunque la absorcin, una sub-dimen-
sin del engagement, tambin se mostr dbil en el factor adiccin
al trabajo. Segundo, la ecuacin estructural que modela resultados
demostr que en contraste a la adiccin al trabajo, el engagement
se relaciona de manera positiva a los recursos laborales (core self-
evaluations positivas y capital social), a una mejor calidad del
sueo, a la satisfaccin de vida, y a la interfaz trabajo-familia /
familia trabajo; y se relaciona negativamente al presentismo y a las
intenciones de rotacin. Inesperadamente, el engagement no pre-
sent relacin con el desapego laboral. Ambos, el engagement
laboral y la adiccin al trabajo, se asociaron positivamente al com-
promiso organizacional, a las horas laborales y al trabajar horas
extras. Desde un punto de vista que resulta interesante, la adiccin
al trabajo demostr compromiso organizacional, y, provisional-
mente, desapego laboral. En trminos generales, el engagement se
relacion a estados saludables y a resultados positivos. No obstante,
a pesar de que los trabajadores engaged disfrutan el trabajo, ellos
deberan asegurar suficiente recuperacin, como el desapego al
trabajo, en orden de mantenerse engaged.
PALABRAS CLAVES: Engagement Laborales, Adiccin al
Trabajo, Jueces, Bienestar, Trabajo-Familia, Recuperacin,
Satisfaccin de Vida.
Introduction
Today, the borders of time, space and work organization are beco-
ming increasingly blurred in the labor context. This boundaryless
work tendency, characterized by individualized schedules,
temporal and geographical flexibility and more job autonomy2,
has become more widespread among a broad range of occupa-
tions in the last decades, particularly among knowledge workers.1
Judges form one particular occupational group characterized by
long working hours, high responsibility, high autonomy and
blurred borders between work and free time.35 This boundaryless
work context might be seen as a double-edged sword. On the one
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 Original Article | Similarities and Differences Between Engagement and Workaholism among Finnish Judges
hand, flexible work arrangements and autonomy may enhance
work engagement and thriving at work followed by other positive
outcomes, but on the other, this flexibility may also pave the way
for extensive working and workaholic tendencies, with detri-
mental consequences for well-being. Moreover, in the flexible and
autonomous working conditions described above, it is not entirely
clear whether positive states, such as work engagement and nega-
tive work orientations (e.g. workaholism), are completely distinct
from each other particularly among employees who work hard
and who have high responsibility at work. Indeed, several scholars
have recently suggested that there may be a downside to work
engagement, which, for example, could lead to workaholism over
time.3,20
The general aim of this study was to address the differences and
similarities between work engagement and workaholism, regar-
ding a variety of outcomes (at individual, work-family and orga-
nizational level), among Finnish judges. In addition, we explored
the role of personal and social job resources (core self-evaluations
and social capital) in work engagement and workaholism. We
aimed at investigating, whether engagement in addition to its
positive correlates could also have negative correlates similar to
workaholism or even associate with workaholism, which would
suggest that engagement could be even too good to be true.
Work engagement and workaholism
Work engagement is defined as a positive, fulfilling, work-related
state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication and
absorption.42 Vigor refers to high levels of energy and mental
resilience while working, the willingness to invest effort in ones
work, the ability to avoid being easily fatigued, and persistence in
the face of difficulties. Dedication refers to strong involvement in
ones work accompanied by feelings of enthusiasm and signifi-
cance, and by a sense of pride and inspiration. Absorption refers
to a state in which individuals are fully concentrated and
engrossed in their activities, whereby time passes quickly and
they find it difficult to detach themselves from work.
In contrast, workaholism has been defined as the tendency to
work excessively hard and to be obsessed with work, which mani-
fests itself through working compulsively.46 Thus, workaholism
consists of two main dimensions: (a) a strong inner drive to work
hard, that leads to working compulsively, in combination with (b)
high effort expenditure, that leads to working excessively.53
At first glance, it seems there are some similarities between work
engagement and workaholism. For instance, engaged employees
work hard (vigor), are involved (dedicated) and feel happily
engrossed (involved) in their work. Workaholics also work hard
and are dedicated to their jobs. However the main difference is
that engaged workers work hard because they like and enjoy work
for its own sake, whereas workaholics are driven by a strong inner
obsession with their job. Moreover, previous studies suggest that
engaged employees are generally satisfied with their jobs and
their lives, whereas workaholics are not.53
It appears that engagement and workaholism are conceptually
different, although some authors argue that workaholism may
also have positive consequences for both workaholics and the
organizations they work for since they are devoted to their
work.28,34 However, only a few empirical studies43,44,46 of Dutch
and Japanese employees have addressed the relationships between
Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 72/80
these two concepts and their correlates. Thus it is necessary to
also focus on other professional and cultural contexts to clarify
the similarities and differences between these two concepts regar-
ding their outcomes from a global point of view, namely on an
individual, work-family and organizational level. In addition,
further research is needed to show the distinctiveness of these two
constructs in terms of their associations with personal and job
resources, and their factorial relationships.
Work engagement vs. workaholism: Individual outcomes
As regards individual outcomes, we investigated the differences
and similarities between work engagement and workaholism
related to overwork (working hours and boundaryless work), reco-
very and health (detachment from work, working when sick and
sleep problems), and well-being (life satisfaction). First, because of
the behavioral tendency of workaholics to work excessively, these
employees work more hours than is required.8 Likewise, boun-
daryless working, i.e., taking work home and working at weekends
also characterizes workaholics.54 However, engaged employees
may also spend a lot of time working because they are enthu-
siastic about their jobs. In fact, work engagement has been found
to associate with working overtime.44,46 Therefore we expect that
both engagement and workaholism are positively related to
working hours and boundaryless work (Hypothesis 1).
Individual health outcomes regarding engagement and workaho-
lism have been relatively scarcely investigated. In previous
studies, engagement has associated with perceived health and
well-being32,40,46, whereas workaholism has related to ill-health.49
However, some controversy exists regarding engagement and
workaholism and their relationships with health. In two studies,
unexpectedly, both engaged employees and workaholics reported
higher levels of psychosomatic complaints.44,46 Psychosomatic
complaints can be expected to relate to the amount of time spent
working and also to the lack of recovery (e.g. detachment, sleep
quality). As regards workaholism, McMillan and ODriscoll29
found hardly any differences in the health status of workaholics
and others. Thus, more research is needed to clarify the diffe-
rences between work engagement and workaholism in terms of
health.
Engagement has been positively linked to recovery experiences
such as daily feelings of recovery50 and detachment from work
during short respites26 suggesting that detachment from work
may also be important for those whose jobs are engaging. In
addition, engagement was negatively associated with working
when sick, i.e., presenteeism, among Finnish dentists.17 Because of
positive feelings generated at work, and not overworking at the
expense of health, engaged employees assumingly sleep well most
of the time. On the other hand, workaholics, due to excessive and
compulsive working are not likely to be able to detach mentally
from work and therefore may be prone to sleep problems10 and
continue working even when they feel sick.41 However, to our
knowledge, no empirical studies exist focusing simultaneously on
engagement and workaholism and their relationships with sleep
quality, detachment from work, and presenteeism. Based on
previous research, we argue that engagement is positively related
to detachment from work and negatively to sleep problems and
presenteeism (Hypothesis 2a), whereas workaholism is negatively
related to psychological detachment and positively to sleep
problems and presenteeism (Hypothesis 2b).
Finally, some support exists for the positive association between
73
Original Article | Hakanen Jari et al.

perform particularly well.47 As regards organizational attitudes,

engagement and different aspects of general well-being and life
previous studies have found weak positive associations between
satisfaction.32,44 In contrast, workaholics have reported lower
workaholism and organizational commitment44,46 but no relation-
levels of life satisfaction.6,9 Therefore we posit that work engage-
ship between workaholism and turnover intentions.9 Due to limited
ment is positively related to life satisfaction (Hypothesis 3a)
research evidence, we expect that workaholics show organizational
whereas workaholism is negatively related to life satisfaction
commitment both in terms of commitment and low turnover inten-
(Hypothesis 3b).
tions. Thus, we hypothesize that both engagement and workaho-
lism are positively related to organizational commitment and
Work engagement vs. workaholism: Work-Family enri-
negatively to turnover intentions (Hypothesis 6).
chment and conflicts
Another relevant and under-studied issue that may shed light on
the similarities and differences between work engagement and
Work engagement vs. workaholism: Personal and social
workaholism is work-family interface. Interestingly, Halbesleben,
job resources
Thus far, we have focused on the correlates of work engagement
Harvey, and Bolino21 found that engagement was positively asso-
and workaholism regarding diverse outcomes. However, it is also
ciated with work-to-family conflict (WF_). They argue that those
necessary to know about the role that personal and social
with excess work resources, i.e., high in engagement, are likely to
resources may play as antecedents of these two constructs.
reinvest those resources back into work (in the form of organiza-
Previously, engagement has been related to several personal
tional citizenship behavior) and subsequently lack resources to
resources (e.g., self-efficacy, self-esteem, optimism) and job
devote to family life. However, we assume that engaged and ener-
resources (e.g., autonomy, social support).15,40,56 In addition, it has
gized employees may also be engaged in other areas of their lives
been shown that job resources boost engagement over time,
and have a rich social and family life.45 Experiencing positive
which in turn influences organizational commitment in the
emotions and cognitions at work due to a fulfilling job may also
future.19 In contrast, a different association has been found regar-
enrich ones family role. Indeed, using a full panel design,
ding workaholism: the scant research evidence suggests that
Hakanen, Peeters, and Perhoniemi16 found that engagement and
workaholism is related to a lack of job resources46 It is possible
work-to-family enrichment (WF+) reciprocally influenced each
that workaholics experience a lack of resources (such as support)
other over time.
because, beyond external job demands they also work hard due to
In contrast, workaholics tend to have poor social relationships,
self-imposed demands and make their jobs even more compli-
and experience more WF_ than others employees.4,6,54 In addition,
cated than necessary. Moreover, workaholics are perfectionists
instead of work enriching their family role, the opposite is true for
and therefore tend to evaluate their work characteristics negati-
workaholics: work impoverishes their family role. Therefore, we
vely.52
expect that engagement is positively related to WF+ and negati-
In this study, we specifically focused on two kind of meta
vely to WF_ (Hypothesis 4a), whereas workaholism is negatively
resources that gather a variety of resources in themselves,
related to WF+ and positively to WF_ (Hypothesis 4b).
namely core self-evaluations (personal resource) and social capital
Very little is known about the associations between engagement
(social job resource). Core self-evaluation (CSE) is defined as a
and/or workaholism and family-to-work enrichment (FW+) and
higher order trait representing the fundamental evaluations that
family-to-work conflict (FW_). However, in previous longitudinal
people make about themselves and their worthiness, competence,
studies, job resources have predicted engagement, which in turn
and capability. In the core self-evaluations theory, the core
has also predicted future job resources15,56, one interpretation
concept is indicated by four traits: self-esteem, locus of control,
being that engaged employees may be more capable of mobilizing
neuroticism, and generalized self-efficacy.24 Judge, Bono, and
new resources at work. We expect that due to surplus resources
Locke23 found that CSE is indeed a relevant personal resource by
(being engaged and proactive), engaged employees may also be
showing that positive self-evaluations were associated with job
able to benefit from the family role and resources that can enrich
characteristics and job complexity, which were in turn related to
and improve the quality of ones work role, and accordingly expe-
job satisfaction. To our knowledge, only one recent study has
rience more FW+ and less FW_. In contrast, for workaholics,
explored the relationship between CSE and engagement38, which
family role and expectations are in conflict with the obsession of
showed that engagement fully mediated the relationship between
working constantly and the secondary family role is unlikely to
CSE and task performance and organizational citizenship beha-
enrich workaholics primary role as a hard worker. Therefore, we
vior.
expect that engagement is positively related to FW+ and negati-
Conversely, we found no studies addressing the relationship
vely to FW_ (Hypothesis 5a), whereas workaholism is negatively
between CSE and workaholism. However, one explanation for the
related to FW+ and positively to FW_ (Hypothesis 5b).
development of workaholism relates to the negative and distorted
Work engagement vs. workaholism: Organizational outcomes
self-concept of workaholics.36 Accordingly, because of low self-
Research has shown that engagement can be positive not only for
esteem and feelings of worthlessness, workaholics may strive
employees but particularly for organizations. Engaged employees
through addictive working for more positive self-evaluation. As a
enjoy their work, perform better and show high organizational
result of using all their time and energy for working at the cost of
commitment.14,39 Hence, engaged employees have also shown
their social lives and other potentially rewarding roles, they may,
lower levels of negative organizational outcomes such as turnover
however, end up having an even more negative self-image.
intentions.32,40 On the other hand, some controversy exists regar-
Social capital refers to those features of social organization that
ding the positive vs. negative consequences of workaholism for
act as resources for individuals and facilitate collective action.
organizations. Some authors argue that workaholism has positive
These include networks of associations, high levels of interper-
consequences since workaholics work hard and are extremely
sonal trust and norms, or mutual aid and reciprocity.11,37 High
productive34, whereas others state that they are rigid and do not

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 Original Article | Similarities and Differences Between Engagement and Workaholism among Finnish Judges
levels of social capital have been found to predict employee
health and well-being.30 Thus, social capital is a social and orga-
nizational job resource that may be positively related to engage-
ment. In contrast, workaholism, which is often accompanied by
poor social relationships at work, lack of social skills, and the
inability to delegate and work in a team may be negatively related
to social capital. In other words, we expect that work engagement
is positively related to CSE and social capital (Hypothesis 7a),
whereas workaholism is negatively related to CSE and social
capital (Hypothesis 7b).
Method
Participants
The cross-sectional data for this study was gathered through a
postal questionnaire survey as a part of a national well-being
study initiated by the Supreme court of Finland. The study was
aimed at every judge working in Finnish general courts at the
time of the data collection (N = 707). General courts provided
researchers with the contact information of judges. In October
2009, questionnaires were posted to every judge to his/her work-
place. The letter included the questionnaire and a pre-paid enve-
lope for returning the questionnaire. After two weeks, we posted
a reminder including a new questionnaire to those who had not
responded. Altogether, 550 judges responded to the questionnaire,
yielding a response rate of 78%. The data was representative of
Finnish judges working in district courts, the courts of appeal, and
the Supreme Court. Of the participants, 55,5% were male, the
mean age was 53,5 years (SD = 8,47) and the average number of
years employed in present tasks was 11,4 (SD=9,9).
Measures
Work engagement was measured using the nine-item version of
the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale.13,42 This includes three
sub-scales that each comprise three items: vigor (e.g. At my
work, I am bursting with energy), dedication (e.g. I am enthu-
siastic about my job), and absorption (e.g. I am immersed in my
work). Items were rated on a seven-point scale ranging from 0
(never) to 6 (daily). The subscales showed good internal reliability:
Cronbachs alphas (_) were 0,88 for vigor, 0,85 for dedication and
0,80 for absorption.
Workaholism was measured using the ten-item Dutch Workaholism
Scale (DUWAS)43, rated on a four-point scale from 1 (hardly
never) to 4 (nearly always). The scale consists of two subscales:
working excessively (e.g. I find myself continuing to work after
my coworkers have called it quits) and working compulsively
(e.g. It is important to me to work hard even when I do not enjoy
what I am doing). Both subscales had a good internal reliability;
_ = 0,82 for working excessively and _ = 0,82 for working
compulsively.
Overwork. Working hours were measured by one item (How
many hours a week do you usually work at your main occupa-
tion?). Boundaryless work was estimated using three items
comprising working on weekends, bringing work home, and
working on vacation. The items were rated on a scale from 1
(almost never) to 4 (nearly always); _ = 0,81.
Recovery and health. Sleep problems was assessed by three ques-
tions from the Basic Nordic Sleep Questionnaire31 comprising
trouble falling asleep, waking up in the middle of the night, and
Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 72/80
waking up too early and not being able to fall asleep again, over
the last three months. Items were rated on a scale from 1 (never
or more rarely than once a month) to 5 (daily or almost daily); _
= 0,68. Presenteeism consisted of two items measuring working
when feeling sick at home and/or at work during the last 12
months. Both items were scored on a four-point scale from 1 (not
once) to 4 (more than five times). Intercorrelation between the
items was r = 0,54. Detachment from work was measured using
the four-item scale developed by Sonnentag and Fritz (2007; e.g.
I forget about work). The items were rated on a five-point scale
from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree); _ = 0,86.
Life satisfaction was measured using the five-item scale by Pavot
and Diener33 (e.g. In most ways my life is close to the ideal). The
items were scored on a seven-point rating scale from 1 (strongly
disagree) to 7 (strongly agree); _ = 0,90.
Work-family interface was measured with four scales developed
by Grzywacz and Marks.12 The four scales cover both positive and
negative work-to-family and family-to-work spillover (enrich-
ment and conflict). The items were rated on a five-point scale
ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (all the time). WF+ was assessed using
three items (e.g. The things you do at work help you deal with
personal and practical issues at home); _ = 0,79. FW_ was simi-
larly assessed using three items (e.g. Your home life helps you
relax and feel ready for the next days work); _ = 0,73. WF_ was
assessed using three items (e.g. My job makes me feel too tired
to do the things that need attention at home); _ = 0,84. FW_ was
assessed using three items (e.g. Personal or family worries and
problems distract me when I am at work); _ = 0,82.
CSE theoretically has the subscales of self esteem, generalized
self-efficacy, locus of control and (lack of) neuroticism, which
should load on one factor.24 However, CFA showed that the two-
factor model consisting of a positive CSE factor (positively
phrased items) and a negative CSE factor (negatively phrased
items) fit the data better than the one-factor model. This solution
also enabled us to use two indicators for the latent CSE factor in
the study models. The items were scored on a five-point scale
from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree); _ = 0,79 for the
positive CSE factor and _ = 0,83 for the negative CSE factor.
Social capital was evaluated using four scales. Organizational
climate was measured using a four-item scale by Lindstrm,
Hottinen, and Bredenberg27 (e.g. Do you think the social climate
in your workplace is comfortable and relaxed?). Items were rated
on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree); _ =
0,85. Sense of community, justice and respect, and trust were
based on the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ).25
Sense of community was measured using a three-item scale (e.g.
Do you feel part of a community at your place of work?); _ =
0,84. Justice and respect was measured using a four-item scale
(e.g. Is the work distributed fairly?); _ = 0,84. Trust was
measured by one item inquiring whether supervisors and subor-
dinates trusted each other. All COPSOQ items were rated on a
scale from 1 (very rarely/ never) to 5 (very often).
Organizational attitudes. Organizational commitment was
measured using two items by Lindstrm, Hottinen and
Bredenberg27 (e.g. Im willing to put serious effort into furthe-
ring the basic mission of my organization). The intercorrelation
between the items was r = 0,55 (_ = 0,70). Turnover intentions
were measured using two items developed for the present study:
I often think about moving into another job inside the court
system and I often think about moving into another job outside
75
Original Article | Hakanen Jari et al.

the court system. Inter-correlation between the items was r = 0,47
(_ = 0,64). The items of both these scales were rated on a five-
point scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).
Statistical analyses
We employed Structural Equation (SEM) techniques and Amos
16.0 software to test the study models. We used latent variables
(indicated by respective scales or items) in all study models,
except with working hours which were measured with one item.
We applied Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine the
factorial relationships between work engagement and workaho-
lism. More specifically, we compared two factor (engagement
and workaholism) model with a one-factor (including both
engagement and workaholism) model and also examined whether
there would be cross-loadings between the two constructs. As
regards the structural equation model including core self-evalua-
tions, social capital, engament and workaholism, and organiza-
tional attitudes we compared a fully mediated model with a
partially mediated model. All model comparisons were based on
chi-square difference tests and inspecting fit indices. We used the
Goodness-of-Fit Index (GFI) and the Root Mean Square Error of
Approximation (RMSEA) as absolute goodness-of-fit indices, and
the Comparative Fit Index (CFI), and the Normed Fit Index (NFI)
as relative fit indices. RMSEA values smaller than 0,05 are indi-
cative of a good fit, whereas values greater than 0,1 should lead
to model rejection.7 For the other indices, as a rule of thumb,
values greater than 0,90 (and preferably greater than 0,95) are
considered to indicate a good fit.22 In addition, we used bootstra-
pping to investigate the total effects of job and personal resources
on the organizational outcomes. We also employed Sobel tests to
further examine the mediated relationships.
Results
Descriptive Statistics
Table 1 shows the means, standard deviations, and the correla-
tions between the study variables. As can be seen from this table,
vigor correlated negatively, and absorption weakly but positively
with both dimensions of workaholism. Dedication correlated
negatively with working compulsively and was unrelated to
working excessively.
Work engagement and workaholism
Confirmatory factor analysis showed that a one-factor model, in
which all the scales of engagement and workaholism loaded on
the same factor, had a poor fit (c2 (6) = 735,40, GFI = 0,65, CFI =
0,36, NFI = 0,36, and RMSEA = 0,484). Based on positive inter-
correlations between absorption and workaholism, together with
previous research, we next compared two 2-factor models (enga-
gement and workaholism factors) that were similar in all other
respects, except that in the second model absorption was allowed
to load both on engagement and workaholism. This latter model
(Figure 1) had a good fit with the data. Moreover, this model had
a better fit with the data than the model including pure engage-
ment and workaholism factors (__2 (1) = 45,66, p < 0,001). Thus,
engagement consisted of three highly loading scales : vigor, dedi-
cation, and absorption, whereas workaholism was indicated by
scales of working excessively and working compulsively, and to a
lesser extent by absorption (st. _ = 0,29). To obtain more clear-cut,
interpretable results, in subsequent analyses we removed absorp-
tion and focused on core dimensions of both engagement and
workaholism.

Table 1.
Means, standard deviations, and correlations between the study variables among Finnish judges (N = 550).
Variables 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21,
M Sd
1. Vigor 4,40 1,18
2. Dedication 4,57 1,17 0,76
3. Absorption 4,61 1,11 0,56 0,66
4. Working excessively 2,27 0,65 -0,13 0,01 0,20
5. Working compulsively 1,93 0,65 -0,23 -0,12 0,10 0,66
6. Working hours (1 item) 41,68 6,94 0,05 0,14 0,22 0,41 0,29
7. Boundaryless work 2,07 0,70 -0,04 0,07 0,19 0,64 0,51 0,52
8. Sleeping problems 2,56 0,89 -0,26 -0,21 -0,11 0,25 0,32 0,05 ,20
9. Presenteeism 1,88 0,84 -0,21 -0,15 -0,05 0,33 0,34 0,14 0,32 0,28
10. Psychological detachment 2,87 0,89 0,13 0,06 -0,04 -0,39 -0,43 -0,18 -0,39 -0,33 -0,23
11. Life satisfaction 5,13 1,18 0,47 0,44 0,24 -0,32 -0,37 -0,08 -0,20 -,020 -0,23 0,27
12. WF+ 2,40 0,77 0,35 0,29 0,18 -0,14 -0,14 -0,01 -0,09 -0,11 -0,08 0,20 0,31
13. FW+ 3,37 0,78 0,19 0,25 0,18 -0,10 -0,07 0,03 -0,04 -0,16 -0,01 0,10 0,45 0,32
14. WF_ 2,87 0,77 -0,39 -0,24 -0,03 0,64 0,60 0,25 0,45 0,33 0,31 -0,37 -0,45 -0,25 -0,12
15. FW_ 1,97 0,65 -0,20 -0,20 -0,10 0,24 0,25 0,04 0,16 0,17 0,17 -0,16 -0,41 -0,03 -0,23 0,38
16. Core self-evaluations 3,68 0,60 0,53 0,43 0,21 -0,38 -0,45 -0,12 -0,23 -0,36 -0,27 0,35 0,65 0,25 0,22 -0,57 -0,37
17. Climate 3,41 0,85 0,28 0,27 0,13 -0,14 -0,24 -,04 -0,15 -0,22 -0,19 0,14 0,25 0,13 0,11 -0,17 -0,13 0,26
18. Sense of community 4,17 0,68 0,27 0,22 0,16 -0,06 -0,16 -,04 -0,07 -0,19 -0,12 0,10 0,32 0,16 0,17 -0,21 -0,17 0,32 0,58
19. Justice and respect 3,36 0,79 0,27 0,26 0,16 -0,12 -0,15 ,04 -0,04 -0,19 -0,20 0,12 0,26 0,17 0,20 -0,22 -0,12 0,30 0,67 0,61
20. Trust (1 item) 3,63 0,88 0,21 0,20 0,13 -0,10 -0,16 -0,03 -,05 -0,17 -0,14 0,10 0,23 0,14 0,15 -0,18 -0,11 0,26 0,63 0,54 0,74
21. Organizational
commitment 4,36 0,59 0,33 0,41 0,36 0,12 0,11 0,17 0,15 -0,09 0,01 0,01 0,22 0,19 0,16 0,03 -0,04 0,25 0,14 0,21 0,22 0,16
22. Exit intentions 1,83 0,89 -0,22 -0,17 -0,09 0,19 0,21 0,01 0,07 0,05 0,20 -0,08 -0,33 -0,12 -0,04 0,21 0,13 -0,25 -0,19 -0,14 -0,20 -0,22 -0,17

Note. Correlations > .15 are statistically significant, p < .001; correlations between .12-.15 are statistically significant, p < .01; correlations between .09-.11 are statis-
tically significant, p < .05.

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 Original Article | Similarities and Differences Between Engagement and Workaholism among Finnish Judges

Figure 1. Relationships with work-family interface

Relationships between dimensions of work engagement and workaholism. In the next model (Figure 3), we investigated the relationships
(c2 = 37,55; df= 3; GFI=0,97; CFI=0,97; NFI=0,97; RMSEA=0,149) between engagement, workaholism and WF+, FW+, WF_, and
FW_. Engagement was positively related to WF+ and FW+ and
Vigor negatively to WF_ and FW_. In contrast, workaholism positively
0,84***
associated with WF_ and FW_ and negatively with WF+.
Workaholism was unrelated to FW+.
0,90***
Work engagement Dedication
Figure 3.
0,75*** Work engagement and workaholism, and their relationships with positive
and negative interaction between work and family.
-0,17** Absorption (c2 = 276,28; df= 89; GFI=0,94; CFI=0,95; NFI=0,93; RMSEA=0,064)
0,29***

Work engagement 0,38** Work to family +

0,76*** -0,24***
Workaholism Working excessively -0,12*
-0,27***
Family to work +
0,67*** Ns
-0,19***
Working compulsively
Note: *** p < .001; ** p < .01. Work to family -
0.78***
Relationships with overwork, recovery, and well-being
-0,18***
Figure 2 shows how engagement and workaholism were related to
0,29***
overwork, recovery and health, and life satisfaction. First, engage- Workaholism Family to work -
ment was weakly but positively associated with working hours and
boundaryless work (e.g. working during weekends or vacations), and Note: *** p < 0,001; * p < 0,05.
unrelated to detachment from work. However, it was negatively
related to working when sick and to sleep problems. Workaholism Relationships with job, and personal resources, and
showed mainly different patterns of relationships. Although workaho- organizational attitudes
lism also correlated positively with working hours and boundaryless Finally, we tested a model in which engagement and workaho-
work, the associations were clearly stronger than those of engage- lism mediated the impacts of social capital (job resource) and
ment. In addition, workaholism was related to poor recovery as CSE (personal resource) on organizational commitment and
indicated by its negative association with detachment from work and turnover intentions. The partially mediated model (c2 = 176,93;
positive associations with working when sick and with sleep df= 62; GFI=0,95; CFI=0,96; NFI=0,94; RMSEA=0,060) fit the
problems. Finally, engagement was positively and workaholism data better than the fully mediated (c2 = 194,11; df= 66;
negatively associated with life satisfaction. GFI=0,95; CFI=0,96; NFI=0,924 RMSEA=0,062) model (__2 (4) =
Figure 2. 17,17, p < 0,01). Figure 4 shows that both social capital, and
Work engagement and workaholism, and their relationships with indi- particularly CSE positively associated with engagement, whereas
vidual outcomes. CSE had a negative and social capital a non-significant relation-
(c2 = 495,69; df= 182; GFI=0,92; CFI=0,95; NFI=0,92; RMSEA=0,058) ship with workaholism. In addition, engagement was positively
related to organizational commitment and negatively to turnover
intentions. Interestingly, workaholism was both positively
Working hours
0,18*** related to organizational commitment and tentatively also to
0,47***
turnover intentions (p = 0,06). CSE also had a direct positive
0,13**
effect on organizational commitment, whereas social capital had
Work engagement Boundaryless work
a negative direct impact on turnover intentions. The Sobel tests
-0,27***
-0,71*** further confirmed three mediated relationships. Engagement
fully mediated the association between social capital and orga-
Sleeping problems nizational commitment (z = 2,17; p < 0,05), and both engage-
-0,36*** ment (z = 4,00; p <0,001) and workaholism (z = 4,69; p <0,001)
-0,17**
partially mediated the relationship between CSE and organiza-
Presenteeism
-0,41*** tional commitment. Finally, both engagement (z = 1,96; p =
Ns
0,05) and workaholism (z = 1,83; p = 0,067) tentatively mediated
-0,53*** the relationship between CSE and turnover intentions. All in all,
Workaholism Detachment the bootstrapping analysis showed that core self-evaluations
-0,47*** had a total effect (including direct and indirect effects) on both
-0,36*** organizational commitment (p < 0,01) and on exit intentions (p
Life satisfaction < 0,001). Similarly, social capital had significant total effects on
organizational commitment (p < 0,01) and on exit intentions
Note: *** p < 0,001; ** p < 0,01; * p < 0,05. (p < 0,05).

Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 72/80 77
Original Article | Hakanen Jari et al.
Figure 4.
Work engagement and workaholism as mediators between core-self
evaluations and social capital, and organizational attitudes.
(c2 = 176,93; df= 62; GFI=0,95; CFI=0,96; NFI=0,91; RMSEA=0,060)
0,33**
0,58*** 0,35***
Core self-evaluations Work engagement
0,45***
-0,12*
0,40***
-0,61***
Social capital
Ns
Workaholism
0,16*
-0,14*
Note: *** p < 0,001; ** p < 0,01; * p < 0,05; a p = 0,06.
Discussion
Previous studies have consistently shown that engagement is
related to various positive outcomes and may be fostered by a
variety of resources.16,39,46 However, Halbesleben an collegues21
showed that being highly engaged may also associate with
increased levels of work-family conflict. These results raise the
question as to whether engagement is even too good to be true
and whether there is a downside to engagement, e.g. it could lead
to workaholism in the long term.3 In this study, using a represen-
tative sample of Finnish judges, we focused on the associations of
engagement and workaholism with job (social capital) and
personal (core self-evaluations) resources, and with a set of indi-
vidual, work-family, and organizational outcomes. All in all, the
results supported previous findings that engagement can be diffe-
rentiated from workaholism.46,49 However, engagement showed
some similarities with workaholism that also deserve attention.
Similarities between engagement and workaholism
CFA between the sub-dimensions of engagement and workaho-
lism supported the two-factor model consisting of engagement
and workaholism factors. However, similarly to a previous study
by Schaufeli and collegues46 the third sub-dimension of engage-
ment, i.e. absorption, loaded not only on engagement but also
positively albeit weakly on the workaholism factor. Obviously,
employees may become absorbed in their work for different moti-
vational reasons.53 Thus, vigor and dedication seem to be pure
indicators of engagement, whereas high level of absorption could
also be a sign of workaholic tendency.
In addition, supporting the finding by Schaufeli et al.46 engage-
ment was positively related to working hours and boundaryless
working. This means that engaged judges were also likely to work
longer hours, take work home, and occasionally also work at
weekends and on vacation. It is plausible that because of boun-
daryless working, the association between engagement and detach-
ment from work during free time was unexpectedly non-significant.
However, Khnel et al.26 findings suggest that in order to foster
engagement, individuals should detach from work demands and take
care of recovery, through for example short (2-4 days) respites.
Similarly to engagement, workaholism was also positively related to
78
overwork, but this association was clearly stronger, and workaholism
further associated negatively with psychological detachment.
As expected, engagement positively associated with organizational
commitment and negatively with turnover intentions. Interestingly,
workaholism positively related both to commitment and tentatively
also to turnover intentions. It is noteworthy that although workaho-
lics are assumed to work hard because of inner pressures, regardless
of feelings related to a particular organization,47 a positive associa-
Organizational
commitment tion between workaholism and organizational commitment has also
been previously found.46 The present study suggests that in contrast
to engaged employees, workaholics may not be truly loyal to their
-0,15*
-0,18* organizations; they may at the same time consider alternative jobs.
Longitudinal studies are needed to compare how engagement and
Exit intentions workaholism may lead to different types of organizational attitudes.
Differences between engagement and workaholism
Thus far, only a handful of studies have focused on the relationship
between engagement and health.5 Our study lends further support to
the positive association between engagement and subjective indica-
tors of health. Although engagement was positively associated with
overwork and not related to detachment from work, our results
showed that engaged employees would not however work when sick
(presenteeism). In addition, engagement was negatively related to
sleep problems. These findings suggest that being engaged means
that one may overwork as long as it remains within reasonable limits
and is not at the expense of ones health. In contrast, workaholism
associated with less detachment and more presenteeism and sleep
problems, indicating that workaholics indeed work compulsively and
beyond what is good for their health and well-being. The difference
between engagement and workaholism was also evident in their
associations with life satisfaction _ positive for engagement and
negative for workaholism.49
Moreover, this was the first study to show that engagement may be
good for all four possible types of work-family interaction whereas
the opposite holds true for workaholism: Engagement was positively
related to WF+ and FW+ and negatively to WF_ and FW_. In
contrast, workaholism was negatively related to WF+, positively to
WF_ and FW_, and unrelated to FW+. Several previous studies have
shown that workaholism is related to WF.4,6,54 Recently, Halbesleben
et al.21 found that engagement may also predict WF_ via organiza-
tional citizenship behavior. It is possible that judges are not actively
involved in extra-role behavior and therefore their engagement does
not lead to conflicts between work and family. On the contrary,
engagement seems to promote enrichment experiences from work to
family.16 Instead, for a workaholic, enrichment between two conflic-
ting roles is not plausible, and even reasonable role expectations and
demands from the family may interfere with work and thereby
influence FW_.
Previous studies have constantly shown that the main drivers of
engagement are job resources but that in some cases, for example
after having recovered from a serious disease, the role of personal
resources may be even more important.15 This was one of the first
studies to show that positive core self-evaluations (CSE), i.e. valuing
oneself (self-esteem), belief in ones capabilities of performing (self-
efficacy), seeing events as being contingent on ones own behavior
(locus of control), and emotional stability (low neuroticism) were
closely related to engagement.38 Moreover, we found that CSE was
even more strongly related to engagement than job resources (social
capital as indicated by justice, trust, community, and climate). The
rather weak relationship between social capital and engagement can
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 Original Article | Similarities and Differences Between Engagement and Workaholism among Finnish Judges
relate to the secondary role of interpersonal job resources in judges
jobs compared to task resources, such as autonomy. Is it however
noteworthy that engagement was a mediator between social capital
and commitment, as well as between CSE and commitment.
Schaufeli and collegues44,46 have found that workaholics may
perceive their job resources negatively, whereas we found that
workaholism was unrelated to job resources. One explanation is that
job resources help to meet job demands and foster well-being but
that workaholism is about self-imposed demands regardless of the
available job resources. Workaholics are also often characterized by
a lack of social skills, undervaluing their colleagues, and an inability
to delegate work, which all imply difficulties in mobilizing social
resources at work. Furthermore, our study showed quite a strong
negative relationship between workaholism and positive self-evalua-
tions. This finding supports the cognitive theory of workaholism,
which posits that workaholism is based on deeply-rooted negative
core-beliefs.55 Our study, albeit cross-sectional, encourages paying
more attention to this theory in investigating the origins of workaho-
lism.
Limitations
This study has two noteworthy limitations. First, all the variables
were based on self-reports. It is a challenge for future studies to use
for example other-rated estimates (e.g. ratings by a family member
and/or a close colleague) of work-family relationships.48 In addition,
it would be valuable to use an objective measure of turnover in
comparing the outcomes of engagement and workaholism. Second,
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Artculo Original
Explaining Nurses Engagement and Performance with Social
Exchange with Hospital
Explicando el engagement y el desempeo de las enfermeras que presentan intercambio
social con el hospital
Maria Jos Chambel1
1. Faculty of Psychology, University of Lisbon.
ABSTRACT
This study investigated the impact of a social exchange relationship
on workers engagement and the relationship between this positive
psychological state and workers performance. We analysed a sample
of nurses from a Portuguese public hospital (N=249). Our results
showed that nurses who perceived their relationship with the hospi-
tal as being characterised by mutual high inducements had higher
engagement than nurses with mutual low- mutual medium or
employee over-inducements. The work engagement of nurses was
positively related to nurses performance (behaviours as assessed by
their supervisors). The theoretical and practical implications are
discussed and limitations and suggestions for future research are
presented.
Key words: Work engagement; Nurses; Employment rela-
tionship; Social exchange; Performance.
Introduction
Hospitals have an exceptional complexity. Organising practices
are essential to effectiveness, but they are not necessarily easy to
implement.36 To deliver care that is safe, effective, patient-cen-
tered, timely, efficient and equitable is the core objective of a
hospital and its achievement depends on multiple dimensions.
The motivation of the hospitals employees has been deemed
indispensable due to their importance in promoting their positive
attitudes and behaviours and involving them in the organizations
activities.9 Indeed, nurses form the largest group of hospital
professionals and research has revealed that nurses affective and
motivational response at work, understood as engagement at
work, positively relates to work-related outcomes such as nurses
performance.55
Correspondence / Correspondencia
Maria Jos Chambel
Faculty of Psychology, University of Lisbon
Alameda da Universidade 1649-013
LISBOA, Portugal
Tel.: 351 21 794 36 00 Fax: 351 21 793 34 08
e-mail: mjchambel@fp.ul.pt
Received / Accepted
Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 81/88
RESUMEN
El presente estudio investiga el impacto de una relacin de inter-
cambio social sobre el engagement de las trabajadoras y la relacin
entre este estado psicolgico positivo junto con el desempeo de
las mismas. Para tales efectos, analizamos una muestra de enferme-
ras de un hospital pblico portugus (N=249). Nuestros resultados
demostraron que las enfermeras que perciban su relacin con el
hospital como un elevado estmulo mutuo presentaban un enga-
gement mayor comparado a las enfermeras que perciban dicha
relacin como un estmulo bajo, intermedio o como un sobre est-
mulo. El engagement laboral de las enfermeras fue positivo en
relacin a su desempeo (comportamientos evaluados por los
supervisores). Las implicancias tericas y prcticas se discuten.
Adems se presentan limitaciones y sugerencias para futuras inves-
tigaciones.
Palabras claves: Engagement Laboral, Enfermeras, Relacin
Laboral, Intercambio Social, Desempeo.
Some recent studies within the framework of the Job Demands-
Resources Model have demonstrated that job resources are signi-
ficant predictors of work engagement.20,30,31,49,58 As triggers of the
motivational process, engagement results from job resources. It is
associated with positive outcomes such as, for example, organisa-
tional commitment, performance and citizenship behaviours.3
However, despite the large body of literature concerned with work
engagement over recent years, little work has explored the rela-
tionships among organisational variables, engagement, and
performance. This study aims to extend previous research by
adding an organizational component to the literature on engage-
ment. Building on the arguments of social exchange theory, a
positive association might be expected between the degree of
social exchange and nurses engagement. When social exchange
takes place in an employeremployee relationship, a broader
scope of resources is received by employees that trigger a broader
contribution on their part.11 Employers who can balance these
inducements and contributions are likely to be able to develop
better social exchange relationships with their employees and,
consequently, reap higher motivation and performance.
The current study attempts to examine the relationship involving
employment, namely social exchange, engagement and perfor-
mance. Our goal was to move away from the focus in the litera-
ture on job predictors of work engagement, particularly job
resources (e.g. control, supervisor support, and peer support), to a
focus on the organisational resources, namely the pattern of the
81
Original Article | Chambel Maria Jos
exchange relationship. Thus, in this study we set out to determine
whether various types of exchange relationships between nurses
and the hospital were meaningful in predictions of work engage-
ment. In our study, like the typology developed by Tsui and colle-
agues57 exchange relationship types were represented by nurse
and hospital inducements. However, like Shore and Barksdale52
we considered this relationship as perceived by the nurse. Since
we focus on the form of the exchange agreement, we describe our
typology as one of exchange relationships. In a balanced relation-
ship, both nurses and the hospital are perceived to be contributing
similarly in the exchange. On the contrary, in an unbalanced
relationship, either the nurse or the hospital is perceived to be
substantially more of a contributor than the other party.
Typology of the social exchange relationship
We used the social exchange theory as a basis for understanding
the employment relationship. According to Blau6, in contrast to
economic commodities, inducements involved in social exchange
do not have an exact price in terms of a single quantitative
medium of exchange. Contrary, they are defined only in general
and it is the exchange of the underlying mutual high social indu-
cements that is the main concern of the participants. By balanced,
we mean that employees perceive the level of employee and
employer inducements within the relationship to be similar. In
these types of exchange relationships, when one person does
something beneficial for another party, there is an expectation
that the action will be reciprocated.19 Thus, if an employee
perceives that he or she has been treated well by the organisation
(e.g. received high inducements from), he/she would feel obligated
to treat the organisation well (e.g. provided high inducements to).
In other words, employees feel obligated to reciprocate in order to
create balance in the exchange with the organisation.
Like Tsui and collegues57, Shore and Barksdale52 and Hom et al24,
we predicted that some nurses would perceive social exchange
relationships, which were balanced, while others might perceive
their employment relationships as unbalanced. Unbalanced rela-
tionships can be as follow nurses had high hospital contribution
perceptions while contributions by the nurses to the hospital were
low; nurses had low hospital contribution perceptions while
investment by the nurses in the hospital was high. In fact, the
changing context in public hospitals in Portugal and the conse-
quences for nurses work conditions may contribute to an unba-
lanced relationship with the hospital.24 Trends involving greater
financial control have implied teams with lower number of
members, more control of time and material expenses for each
task, more patients for each professional, and less time for hospi-
talisation. Nurses in close contact with patients are the first to
notice changes in patient health. In response, they tend to increase
their contributions by simultaneously responding to both hospital
and patient demands. However, the strategy of cost control by
hospital implies that contributions towards the nurses are not
increased. As a result, the relationship between the hospital and
nurses becomes unbalanced.
Thus, we propose that the exchange agreement might be catego-
rised into four types, based on the extent to which there is
balance, or mutuality in nurse and hospital inducements.52,57
Inducements can range from high (the nurse or hospital is viewed
as having a high obligation to contribute with social induce-
ments) to low (there is a very limited, or non-existent sense of
obligation to contribute with social inducements).
82
When the nurse perceives that the employment relationship
consists of high levels of both nurse and hospital social induce-
ments, the exchange relationship is balanced. This type of `mutual
high inducements exchange reflects a strong social exchange in
which the nurses perceive that they owe the hospital a great deal
(i.e., they feel highly obligated to contribute a wide variety of
inducements) and that the organisation is also highly obligated to
them.
When both nurse and hospital inducements are low to moderate,
the exchange relationship is balanced, and of a weak form. In this
mutual low inducements relationship neither the nurse or
hospital inducements are as strong. The nurse with a mutual low
social inducements exchange feels that with limited effort he or
she can maintain the employment relationship and expect a
limited amount in return from the hospital.
Two types of unbalanced social exchange relationships may also
occur between nurses and the hospital. When the nurse considers
his or her inducements to be higher than hospital inducements,
he/she feels betrayed by the hospital. In this type of exchange
`employee over-inducements relationship, nurse inducements are
perceived to be consistently higher than hospital inducements.
Nurses would likely view their own part of the exchange as
having been fulfilled, while the hospital has not reciprocated by
contributing with inducements to the nurses.
The final type of unbalanced relationship consists of low nurse
inducements and high hospital inducements. This `employee
under-inducements relationship arises when hospital couple high
or broad inducements with low or narrow contributions by
nurses. This exchange favours nurses, who consider themselves to
receive more than they give, and favour the perceptions of inde-
btedness to the hospital.
Social exchange relationship and engagement
In the mutual high inducement relationships employees consider
they have a stronger social exchange relationship with the orga-
nization. They will benefit from the exchange relationship because
each party to the exchange is likely to continue the mutually
beneficial relationship.53 In the employee under-inducement
employees are in a position of feeling obligated to fulfil the obli-
gations created by the organisations good treatment.19 This
allows them to restore the balance in the exchange with the
employer and positively contribute to the organisation.52
Based on exchange partners reciprocity mutual high inducement
and employee over- inducement of social exchange the relation-
ship has positive effects on employee responses. Because emplo-
yees consider the organisation to amply invest in employees, they
should reciprocate with corresponding greater contributions than
do those working for employee over- inducement or low mutual
inducements relationships.13 Feeling obligated because of valuable
benefits, employees commit to and remain in a mutual- and
under-inducement relationship to avoid the psychological
discomfort and social stigma of not living up to their end of the
bargain as well as to maintain the inflow of valuable induce-
ments.61
We may consider two reasons for the interaction between a social
exchange relationship and engagement. Engagement is a motiva-
tional construct characterised by a positive feeling in relation to
work, which includes vigour, dedication and absorption.51 Vigour
is characterised by high levels of energy while working, which are
conveyed through strong effort and persistence. Dedication is
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 Original Article | Nurses Engagement and Performance with Social Exchange with Hospital
characterised by a sense of significance, enthusiasm and inspira-
tion. Absorption is characterised by being fully concentrated and
happy in ones work, with distortion of time and intrinsic
enjoyment.49,51 However, this last characteristic, absorption, has
been viewed as the result of engagement. Hence, vigour and dedi-
cation as considered the core dimensions of engagement.44
First, motivation at work has been analysed for several decades
by means of an effort-reward balance, given that each and every
one of us seeks some kind of reward as a response to the efforts
we put into our work.48 When this balance exists, we find
ourselves in reciprocal situations and feel motivated to continue
to put effort into the accomplishment of our work. On the
contrary, when this balance is not present, because we are making
an effort but not receiving due reward, we are then confronted
with an absence of reciprocity between the costs and rewards
which gives rise to a de-motivation (Siegrist, 2000). The mutual
high inducement and the employee under-inducement relation-
ships trigger additional effort on the part of the employee, with a
view to obtaining the expected rewards. This balance demands
greater investment. This leads to higher motivation, in other
words, physical and psychological investment with a view to
maintaining or obtaining the balance of relationship. Thus, we
may expect great investment in maintaining the social exchange
or recovering such balance to increase work engagement: the
energy devoted to the job that ends up being conveyed through
an increase in the amount of vigour used to accomplish tasks;
more dedication, enthusiasm and inspiration, since work promo-
ting self-fulfilment and intrinsic enjoyment is carried out in that
particular organisational context.49
Second, engagement implying a high level of energy and invol-
vement with work is dependent on the resources the individual
obtains in the work context17,20,43,50, namely the resources which
have a high potential in the promotion of intrinsic motivation and
well-being at work.46 Thus, the social exchange relationship might
be related to engagement as the broad menu of socio-emotional
inducements given by mutual- and employee under-inducement.
Specifically, cultivating social exchange also strengthen work
motivation by fulfilling employees needs for esteem, approval,
and emotional support. In fact, the socio-emotional inducements
triggered by an organisation in a social exchange include being
responsive to employee objectives and well-being, taking emplo-
yment security, promoting potential job opportunities outside and
within the organization, and the creation of more challenging
goals.27,40 When there is exchange of these inducements the indi-
vidual regards him/herself as having available job resources that
stimulate personal development and work motivation49 and,
consequently, increase his or her engagement.17
H1: The social employment relationship will relate to nurses work
engagement:
H1a) The mutual high inducement social exchange relation-
ship (SER) will relate positively to nurses work engagement;
H1b) The under employee inducement SER will relate positi-
vely to nurses work engagement.
Engagement and performance
Job performance refers to employees behaviors that are supposed
to contribute to the effectiveness of the organization and to
overall organizational performance.8 Recent theoretical and empi-
rical work suggests that the conceptualization of job performance
should include in-role performance, or how well a person
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completes his/her assigned duties, and also include contextual
performance7, or, as labeled by Organ33, Organizational Citizenship
Behaviors (OCB). These behaviors are discretionary, are not part of
individuals assigned duties and are still beneficial to the organi-
zation, its members and the employees themselves.
Engagement entails a positive definition of work health and
relates positively with outcomes to contribute to organizational
success, such workers performance.50 In fact, workers with high
engagement are workers with high motivation to perform their
work well.3 First, engaged workers are characterized by a high
energy and dedication that increase the effort that is invested to
perform well. Second, workers with engagement get trapped in a
positive, vicious cycle, in which they are inclined to search job
resources (for example, control, peer or supervisor support) that
contribute to higher engagement.47
Engagement, as a predictor of employee performance, is supported
by various researchers theoretical and empirical work.23,29,51
Studies have linked job engagement to a spectrum of performan-
ce-related behaviours, including task performance20, customer
satisfaction43, supervisor-rated performance37,38,41, colleague-rated
performance4, affective organisational commitment21,34, organisa-
tional citizenship behaviour37,38, and financial return.59 Specifically
with nurses, Salanova, Lorente, Chambel and Martnez45 esta-
blished a relationship between work engagement and supervisor-
rated extra-role performance.
Furthermore, in meta-analysis studies the relationship between
engagement and positive outcomes at work has been demons-
trated. Harter and colleagues demonstrated the economic benefits
of business-units with higher average levels of engagement
compared to those with lower levels of engagement.23 Halbesleben22
confirmed the positive association between engagement and posi-
tive outcomes at work, namely a stronger relationship between
dedication and commitment and turnover intention. Thus, work
engagement may not only benefit the individual but also offer
organisations a competitive advantage.5
In this study, we followed the recommendations for future
research put forward by Simpson.55 The author calls for more
research in the arena of nursing, namely conducting more
research to provide a better understanding the consequences of
nurses work engagement on job performance. In this study we
considered that engagement relates with in-role performance, e.g.
how well a person performs activities required by his or her job
description.
H2: Nurses work engagement will relate positively to supervi-
sor-rated in-role performance.
Method
Participants and Procedure
The participants in our study were nurses in a Portuguese public
hospital with different health services. We distributed self-report
questionnaires with scales measuring the main variables of this
study among nurses who belonged to these different health
services. After eliminating incomplete questionnaires, a total of
249 sets of supervisor-subordinate questionnaire dyads remained
and constituted the sample for our study (70,7% participation
rate). Out of these, 81,9% were women and 18,1% were men, with
a mean age of 33,5 years (SD = 10,1) and a mean tenure at this
hospital of 9,4 years (SD=9,0). All nurses were directly contracted
83
Original Article | Chambel Maria Jos
by hospital, 71% had a permanent contract and 29% had a fix-
term contract.
In our procedure, we first received permission from the Board of
Directors of the hospital and the Ethical Committee. Second, the
researcher met with the supervisors, in several small groups, to
explain the purpose and requirements of the study. Each one of
the 18 supervisors, who agreed to participate in our study, was
given two kinds of questionnaires, one for him/herself to
complete, and one for each of the subordinated nurses. Supervisor
and nurses were matched via identification numbers on the ques-
tionnaires. Third, supervisors distributed the questionnaires to
their corresponding subordinates. Each respondent was given a
sealable envelope in which to enclose the completed survey.
Finally, the researcher returned to the hospital after two weeks to
collect the surveys.
Moreover, we asked each supervisor to evaluate the performance
of each of his/her subordinate. We wrote each specific and indi-
vidual subordinate name on the supervisors questionnaire. After
completing the survey, the supervisors were asked to cut the
names of the subordinates. Thus, the identity of the subordinate
was anonymous, even if someone was to see the completed
survey. All the participants were assured the complete confiden-
tiality of their responses. We also emphasized that participation in
the study was voluntary.
Measures
The social employment relationship (SER). The social employment
relationship was assessed by an adaptation of the measure deve-
loped by Rousseau.40 This measure referred to promises, but other
authors also adapted measures concerning promises and asked for
inducements.10,12,15 A social exchange includes inducements that
predict intrinsic motivation because they fulfill basic human
needs such as the needs for autonomy, competence, and related-
ness.42 These inducements are closely related to the relational and
balanced items included in the measure of Rousseau.40 Contrary,
the exchanges of material inducements, closely related to transac-
tional items in this measure, is present in an economic relation-
ship that predicts extrinsic motivation. Because we were analy-
sing the social exchange and not economic exchange we erased
transactional items. Hospital inducements (what the nurse feels
the hospital provide to the nurse) contained twelve items and
nurse inducements (what the nurse feels he or she provides to the
hospital) also contained twelve items. All responses for the indu-
cement items were made with a 5-point scale (1 not at all; 5 to a
very large extent).
To test if nurses distinguished the two perceptions of induce-
ments, one for the hospital and another for him or her, we
performed an exploratory factor analysis of the items capturing
these variables. An exploratory analysis in principal components
(eigenvalues >1) revealed two factors with item loadings on the
expected factors. Item loading equalled or exceeded 0,50. Overall
the rotated varimax factor solution showed loadings that
confirmed the postulated structure (Appendix A). The cronbach
alpha for hospital inducement was 0,90 and for nurse induce-
ments was 0,86. A k-means cluster analysis of the two social
exchange relationship (standardised) dimensions (hospital induce-
ments and nurse inducements) yielded clusters matching the
categories: mutual high inducements (pattern 1, N=38), mutual
low inducements (pattern 2, N=50), mutual medium inducements
(pattern 3, N=67), and employee over-inducement (pattern 4,
84
N=93) (Table 1). Contrary to other studies24,52,57 we did not obtain
the employee under-inducements relationship. This might have
occurred due to the fact that perceptions of the individuals
towards their relationship with the organisation undergo a
number of cognitive biases, which tend to protect and attach more
importance to their contribution in such.40
Table 1.
Social Exchange Relationship Patterns of Nurses (N= 249).
Patterns N Inducements Exchange
Hospital Nurse
1 38 3,12 4,07
2 50 1,60 2,89
3 67 2,41 3,43
4 93 1,73 4,01
Given that clusters are empirically derived, we employed double
cross-validation to check robustness by randomly dividing the
sample into two halves and running k-means cluster analysis with
each subsample. We then derived cluster centers for the four
social employment relationship dimensions from the Subsample 2
cluster analysis and applied them to Subsample 1s social emplo-
yment relationship scores to classify cases in this latter group. A
chi-square test indicated that these two ways of clustering
Subsample 1 cases equivalently classified them. We repeated this
cross-validation with Subsample 2 and found similar clusters.
Thus, our initial cluster solutions were cross-validated. We also
compared social employment relationship dimension scores
across the four clusters with analysis of variance (ANOVA). The
results reveled that organizational inducement were significantly
different (F= 210,58, p<0,001) and individual inducement too (F=
119,74, p<0,001).
To contrast mutual high inducement SER with the other we
created a mutual high inducement dummy variable (coding this
as 1s and the other as 0s). Since we expected mutual low indu-
cements, mutual medium inducements and employee over-in-
ducement to produce inferior outcomes, we combined these three
forms.
The dummy variable thus contrasted the mutual social exchange
relationship with this second reference group.
Engagement. We measured the core dimensions of engagement,
e.g. vigour and dedication dimensions44 of Work Engagement
using the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES)51 formed by 6
and 5 items, respectively (item examples: At my work, I feel
bursting with energy and I find the work that I do full of
meaning and purpose). Individuals answered the questionnaire
items using a 7-value Likert scale, ranging from 0 (never/nothing)
to 6 (always, everyday). The cronbach alpha for vigour was 0,80
and for dedication was 0,85.
Performance. We measured performance using an adaptation of
the Williams and Anderson scale60 also used in another study in
Portugal.14 The measure contained six items with responses on a
15 scale ranging from almost never to almost always. An
example of an item is He/she carries out the tasks that are given
to him/her (Appendix B). The cronbach alpha for performance
was 0,78. The nurses supervisor evaluated performance and high
scores indicate good performance.
Control Variables. As possible confounders, age, gender, and tenure
were included. We controlled for tenure (in years), and demographic
variables - gender was coded 1 if the respondent was male and 0
if the respondent was female - and age (in years).
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 Original Article | Nurses Engagement and Performance with Social Exchange with Hospital

Structural Equations Modeling Analyses implemented in the AMOS computer program.2 We used Social
Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the measure- Exchange Relationship and Performance as a single scale score
ment model and to analyse structural models, as recommended by indicator for each latent variable and Work Engagement as a
Anderson and Greging.1 Obtaining a good fit in a prior test of measu- latent variable with two indicators (vigour and dedication). We
rement model is critical to establish discrimant validity, and to used age, gender and tenure as latent variables with exogenous
inspect risks associated with the common method variance.35 SEM influences on outcome measures.18,24
was performed using the AMOS software package. The Maximum Fit for the hypothesized model was good (c2 (df, 4)= 9,03, p<
Likelihood Estimation Method and the covariance matrix were used 0,001; IFI= 0,98; CFI= 0,98; RMSEA= 0,07). According to para-
throughout the analysis and gauged model fit with the comparative meter estimates (Figure 1), mutual high inducements SER related
fit index (CFI), the incremental fit index (IFI), and root-mean- square positively to work engagement relative to employee over-induce-
error of approximation (RMSEA).26 Values near 0,08 for RMSEA are ments, mutual medium inducement and mutual low induce-
considered to indicate an acceptable model fit16 and fit index values ments SER (b = 0,25, p< 0,001). This finding corroborated
greater than 0,90 are considered to indicate a good fit.25 For complete Hypothesis 1a. We also verified in support of Hypotheses 2 a
model testing, we checked individual parameter estimates. positive relationship between work engagement and nurses
performance (b = 0,16, p< 0,05). The model explained 12% of the
variance of work engagement and 4% of performance.
Results Figure 1.
Results from SEM.
Preliminary analyses
Since self-reports were used in this study, we considered the
Vigor Dedication
recommendations of Podsakoff and colleagues35 in order to test for
the common method variance bias. Thus, we applied Harmans
0,86*** 0,88***
single-factor test with Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) for the
study variables. The results reveal a significantly inferior fit of the Mutual SER 0,25***
Engagement 0,16*
Performance
single-factor model [Delta c2 = 522,22, p < 0,001] compared to the
model with three latent factors (i.e. social exchange relationship,
work engagement and performance) (c2(111, n=249) = 292,70; 0,15* 0,16*
RMSEA = 0,07; CFI = 0,91; IFI = 0,91). Hence, one single factor -0,17*

cannot account for the variance in the data and, consequently, we

cannot consider the common method variance to be a serious Gender Age Tenur
deficiency in this dataset. Furthermore, all factor loadings were
significant and sizeable (mean estimated standardised loading
0,84), suggesting convergent validity.1 0,13*

Table 2.
Measure Model fit. Discussion
Models c2 df IFI CFI RMSEA The results of this research study contribute to our understanding
1 Factor Model 814,92 115 0,59 0,65 0,16 of the effects of an organisational variable, the social exchange
3 Factor Model 292,70 111 0,91 0,91 0,07 relationship, on workers engagement. We found that nurses belie-
ving to be a mutual high inducement between them and the
Descriptive analyses hospital had higher engagement than others with mutual low,
Table 2 shows the inter-correlations and the alpha coefficient of mutual medium or employee over inducements. We confirmed
all the variables. We may observe that all variables have an alpha that work engagement is important to nurses in-role perfor-
coefficient higher than 0,7032 and as expected, all the inter-co- mance.
rrelations among the study variables are positive and significant. Previous studies have shown that the resources available in a
Table 3. work context have a crucial role in the development of engage-
Descriptive statistics and zero-order correlations for all variables. ment3, whereby the most used resources are those related to the
Mean S.D 1 2 3 4 5 6 job, for instance, job control, supervisor support and peer
1. Age 33,46 10,09 support.50 Nevertheless, professional life has a broader scope than
2. Gendera - - -0,15* the job. That is why the social exchange relationship with the
3. Tenure 9,43 9,00 0,94*** -0,16* organisation for which one works takes on greater importance in
4. Mutual SER 0,15 0,36 0,09 0,09 0,12
explaining employee motivation.6 It is through this relationship
5. Vigour 4,17 0,95 0,22** -0,14* 0,23*** 0,20** 0,80
6. Dedication 4,55 1,00 0,13 -0,15* 0,14* 0,24*** 0,76*** 0,85 that employees gain access not only to a set of benefits that
7. Performance 3,77 0,78 -0,12 -0,03 -0,13 0,09 0,08 0,13* 0,78 satisfy their intrinsic needs, but also when there is a balance
Note: () Dummy Variable coded 0 if Female and 1 for Male; Mutual SER (Mutual between the provider and receiver they feel motivated to continue
high inducement) = 1 and 0 for other Social Exchange Relationship. Reliability this relationship. As expected, we found that the nurses who
coefficients are shown along the diagonal. * _< 0,05; ** _< 0,01; *** _< 0,001. believed themselves to have a relationship with the hospital in
Hypotheses testing which they exchanged more socio-emotional inducements were,
The testing of our Hypotheses was performed by a covariance in fact, the nurses with higher engagement levels. If they consi-
structure modeling28 using the maximum-likelihood method dered the hospital to provide them conditions for further self

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Original Article | Chambel Maria Jos
development, creating more job opportunities to guarantee higher
levels of well-being, stability and security27 then they invested
more energy in the accomplishment of their tasks and regarded
the work as more inspiring and challenging.49 It was this situation
based on the mutual exchange of valued inducements that corres-
ponded to higher levels of motivation on the part of the
nurses.11
Social exchange has long dominated scholarly writings about
employment relationships, furnishing a prime explanation for how
they shape workforce contributions and corporate performance.11,24,56,57
Our study has shown that social exchange, namely mutual high
investment between the organisation and employees, is related to
work engagement. Future research might analyse whether this posi-
tive psychological state is an important mechanism for helping us
to explain the why and how social exchange relations influence the
results of employees and organizations.
Contrary to what was expected, we did not find nurses who
believed they received more benefits than they provided in their
relationship with the hospital. We believe this to be due to a situa-
tion of over-penalisation towards the hospital.39 The profound
changes in the health system in Portugal and its implications for
the professional lives of nurses may have favoured this result.
Future research is needed to explore the reasons for an absence of
this category, in which, for example, the extent to which breach
or violation of promises that contribute to the social exchange
relationship11 may be examined.
On the other hand, in our sample only a minority of nurses
(15,3%) consider their relationship to be balanced, implying an
exchange of mutual high benefits. Indeed, given that these are the
nurses who feel more engagement with their work, we consider it
essential that health policy makers and administrators understand
the importance of employees motivation and attempt to promote
a positive employment relationship capable of making it mutually
high in the exchange of inducements.
In our study we confirmed that having nurses with high engage-
ment was important for the life in the hospital as the nurses with
higher work engagement levels were the ones to display better
performance.55 Our results show that work engagement related
positively with in-role performance (evaluated by supervisor).
This relationship is in agreement with the studies developed by
other researchers that had demonstrated that workers with higher
engagement performed better.20,37,38,41 On the other side, recently
Salanova et al.45 showed that only engaged nurses would show
extra-role performance. We could consider that this positive
psychological state is not only crucial to promote nurses contex-
tual performance, but also their in-role performance.
As with all studies, certain shortcomings should be mentioned.
First, results may not readily generalise to different countries.
Evidence for categorisation of social exchange might be correlated
with the Portuguese situation in health public policy. Furthermore,
exclusively sampling nurses also limits applicability of findings to
other workforce populations. Second, we used cross-sectional data,
meaning that one should be wary of interpreting the results in a
causal way. For example, we argued that the social exchange rela-
tionship lead workers to feeling more engaged, but it could as well
be that engaged workers are more likely to see their relationship
with the organisation as positive. However, the hypothesised rela-
tionships were based on generally accepted employment relation-
ships workers motivation relationships.
86
Despite these limitations, we believe that this study has presented
some interesting findings that may inspire future studies on both
work engagement and the performance of health professionals.
We showed that the employment relationship, namely the mutual
high inducement relationship between nurses and the hospital, is
related to nurses engagement. Second, we confirmed that super-
visors performance ratings were higher for nurses with higher
engagement. Therefore, and as referred to by Simpson55 this study
points to a need to analyse the context of health institutions to
understand nurse engagement. Moreover, this study is assumed to
be innovative because we have found a social context variable in
work that provides engagement, i.e., an employment relationship
characterized by the mutual exchange of value inducements. On
the other hand, and as stated by Ramanujam and Rousseau36 it
also points to a need to analyse the organizational context
beyond health issues, since the latter seem to be the most likely
cause for the problems experienced by such institutions. Our
study also confirms that nurses engagement plays a key role in
ensuring their performance.50
Appendix A.
Exploratory Factorial Analysis of inducements.
Factor1 Factor2
Development of my skills and competences 0,55 0,10
Developmental opportunities within this firm 0,75 0,12
Give me more attractive performance goals 0,77 0,10
Support me to attain higher levels of quality 0,75 0,14
Advancement within the firm 0,78 0,04
Job assignments that enhance my goals 0,81 0,11
Employment stability 0,54 0,17
Offer me permanent social benefits that cover my family 0,58 0,04
Concern for my personal welfare 0,75 0,05
Sacrifice it short-term interests for my interests 0,71 -0,10
Make decisions on the basis of my interests 0,73 0,02
To work hard so that I stay in this Hospita 0,65 -0,05
Make personal sacrifices for this Hospital -0,05 0,55
Accept increasingly more demanding performance requirements 0,09 0,67
Take this hospitals concerns personally 0,11 0,63
Adapt to the new performance demands according to job requirements 0,02 0,77
Develop my skills 0,16 0,67
Not leave the Hospital at a critical time -0,16 0,53
Protect this hospitals image -0,05 0,70
Positively respond to new performance demands 0,02 0,79
Become personally attached to the Hospital 0,16 0,55
Accept increasingly challenging performance standards 0,10 0,77
Actively seek internal opportunities for development and training 0,25 0,52
Continue working in this hospital 0,12 0,56
% Variance Explain 25,5 21,6
Eigenvalue 6,12 5,18
Cronbach Alpha 0,90 0,86
Appendix B.
Items of in-role performance responded by nurses supervisor (Williams
& Anderson, 1991).
Fulfills
responsibilities specified in job description.
Performs tasks that are expected of him/her.
Meets formal performance requirements of the job.
He/she carries out the tasks that are given to him/her.
Neglects aspects of the job he/she is obligated to perform (R).
Fails to perform essential duties (R).
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 Original Article | Nurses Engagement and Performance with Social Exchange with Hospital
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Artculo Original
Estudiar con Pasin: Relacin con la Iniciativa Personal y el
Engagement
Studying With Passion: Personal Initiative and Engagement Relationship
Ana Lisbona, Miguel Bernab1, Francisco Palac, Ana Gmez-Bernabeu2, Maite Martn-Aragn1
1. Universidad Miguel Hernndez
2. Universidad de Alicante
RESUMEN
Los objetivos de este trabajo son, la adaptacin al castellano de las
escalas de pasin armoniosa y pasin obsesiva de Vallerand et al.
(2003) y la propuesta de un modelo exploratorio que analice la
relacin ente ambos tipos de pasin y la iniciativa personal, el
engagement y el aprendizaje percibido. En el estudio han participa-
do una muestra de 266 estudiantes de titulaciones superiores de tres
universidades (UNED, UMH y UA). Los resultados muestran relacio-
nes estadsticamente significativas entre todas las variables del
estudio, reproducen la estructura factorial del cuestionario original
y confirman el modelo propuesto. Los resultados estn en la lnea
de trabajos previos que identifican que experimentar pasin armo-
niosa en una actividad se relaciona con comportamientos positivos
tales como persistencia, vigor y dedicacin y un mejor rendimiento.
Asimismo, se contrasta la independencia entre el engagement y el
concepto de pasin. Las implicaciones tericas y prcticas as como
las limitaciones son discutidas en el trabajo.
Palabras clave: Pasin Armoniosa, Pasin Obsesiva, Engage-
ment, Iniciativa Personal, Rendimiento Acadmico.
Introduccin.
En los ltimos aos el inters por conseguir una enseanza
universitaria de calidad se ha hecho saliente en las universidades
espaolas con la adaptacin de sus ttulos al Espacio Europeo de
Educacin Superior, si bien la preocupacin por ofrecer una ense-
anza de calidad no es una novedad en Espaa. Recientemente,
tambin est despertando el inters por el estudio del bienestar de
los estudiantes. As, se ha estudiado el bienestar psicolgico de
estudiantes universitarios y su relacin con el desempeo acad-
mico, entre otras variables.27,29 Asimismo, el inters de los inves-
tigadores se est dirigiendo al estudio de aspectos motivacionales
Correspondencia / Correspondence
Ana Lisbona
Facultad de Psicologa. UNED
(Universidad Nacional de Educacin a Distancia)
Dpto. de Psicologa Social y de las Organizaciones
Despacho 1.49. C/ Juan del Rosal, 10. 28040 Madrid (Spain)
Tel.:+34 913986285 Fax:+34 913986215
e-mail: amlisbona@psi.uned.es
Recibido: / Aceptado:
Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 89/95
ABSTRACT
This article studies the spanish adaptation of the harmonious passion
and obsessive passion scale (Vallerand et al. 2003) and the proposal
of an exploratory model capable of analize the harmonious passion
and obsessive passion; the personal initiative; the engagement; and
perceibed learning. A sample of 266 students of higher degrees from
three colleges (UNED, UMH and UA) participated in this study. The
outcomes show significant statistic relationships among all the vari-
ables of this study, the factorial structure of the original questionaire
is reproduced and the proposed model is confirmed. The outcomes
match previous studies that show that experiencing harmonious pas-
sion in an activity is related with positive behaviours such as persis-
tence, vigor, dedication, and better performance. From this perspec-
tive, the independence between engagement and the passion con-
cept is compared. The theorical implications and practices along
with limitations are discussed in this study.
Key words: harmonious passion, obsessive passion, engage-
ment, personal initiative, academic performance.
y emocionales de los estudiantes. Por ejemplo, se ha estudiado
como la absorcin y el disfrute en la actividad se relaciona con la
experiencia de Flow en estudiantes que realicen una tarea
mediada por ordenador, encontrndose el papel de la motivacin
intrnseca en el desarrollo de emociones positivas.24 En este
contexto de estudio, la pasin sobre una actividad constituye una
lnea novedosa, especialmente si nos referimos a la pasin en los
estudios. La pasin, puede incrementar la motivacin, potenciar el
bienestar y la identificacin, aunque tambin generar estados
motivacionales-afectivos, como son el Burnout o la Adiccin al
Trabajo, que afecten al rendimiento.5,39
El estudio de la pasin se incluye en el conjunto de investiga-
ciones que tienen por objeto el anlisis de las fortalezas humanas
y el desarrollo ptimo, denominado Psicologa Positiva.33 Ms all
de una moda pasajera, se agrupan los estudios de variables que
tradicionalmente no han despertado inters en la comunidad
cientfica como es el estudio del bienestar o la felicidad.21,40,32
Este menor inters histrico por el estudio del funcionamiento
ptimo, ha producido una carencia de herramientas que permitan
su anlisis. Por ello, el objetivo de este trabajo ser adaptar y
validar una escala para evaluar la pasin sobre una actividad, en
concreto los estudios, que facilite el anlisis de la misma.
De acuerdo a la Teora de la Autodeterminacin6,7, se puede
afirmar que las personas tienen una tendencia natural a interna-
lizar algunas actividades en su self. Dependiendo de la impor-
89
Original Article | Lisbona Ana et al.
tancia y el valor de estas actividades eventualmente llegan a
ocupar una parte central en la identidad de la persona. As, si una
actividad es altamente valorada y se ha convertido en un aspecto
central de la propia identidad, la actividad se convierte en pasin.3
La pasin ha sido definida como una fuerte inclinacin hacia una
actividad que gusta a las personas y que se considera importante,
sobre la que se invierte tiempo y energa.38 Estos autores diferen-
cian entre dos tipos de pasin, la obsesiva y la armoniosa. La
pasin obsesiva se refiere a la internalizacin controlada sobre
una actividad como parte de la propia identidad, que genera una
presin interna para abordar una actividad que a la persona le
gusta. Mientras que la pasin armoniosa se refiere a una interna-
lizacin autnoma que permite a la persona elegir abordar una
actividad que le gusta. La diferencia ente ambos tipos de pasin,
es que la segunda de ellas promueve una adaptacin saludable
mientras que la primera, frustra esta adaptacin positiva y genera,
no slo un afecto negativo, sino tambin una persistencia sin
flexibilidad o rgida.38 Tanto la pasin como la motivacin intrn-
seca, presentan similitudes y diferencias. As, ambos constructos
tienen una relacin con una actividad (i.e. estudiar). Se diferen-
cian en el grado que ocupa en la identidad de la persona. Las
personas que estn intrnsecamente motivadas libremente se
comprometen en una actividad y de la satisfaccin inherente se
deriva en compromiso con la actividad. Mientras que la pasin
por una actividad llega a ser una parte central de la identidad de
la persona y esto lo que explica el desarrollo de la actividad.35
Tanto en el mbito acadmico como en el laboral, es importante
detectar cul es el proceso psicolgico involucrado mediante el
cual el inters por una actividad se convierte en pasin. Vallerand
y Houlffort38 identificaron dos procesos, incluidos en la definicin
de ambos tipos de pasin: la valoracin de la actividad y la inter-
nalizacin de la actividad como parte de la propia identidad.
Los estudios que se han realizado en este contexto38,37 proponen
el Modelo Dualstico de Pasin35 donde se identifican una serie de
respuestas afectivas en funcin del tipo de pasin experimentada
con el desarrollo de la actividad. En primer lugar, sealan los
resultados afectivos positivos para la pasin armoniosa y nega-
tivos para la pasin obsesiva, destacando entre los positivos el
flow y entre los negativos, la ansiedad.22,18,15 Este patrn de
respuestas se ha mostrado invariable en diferentes dominios de
actividades como la prctica deportiva, la prctica de artes esc-
nicas o el estudio de disciplinas artsticas.34 En nuestro caso, como
el engagement se ha estudiado en el contexto acadmico27,29,
proponemos el engagement como uno de los resultados afectivos
positivos de la pasin armoniosa. El engagement se ha definido
como un estado mental positivo relacionado con el trabajo y
caracterizado por vigor, dedicacin y absorcin.31
El segundo bloque de resultados de la pasin que sealan
Vallerand y Houlffort38 es la persistencia. En ambos tipos de
pasin se encontrar persistencia, si bien existen diferencias entre
la persistencia asociada a la pasin armoniosa, que se espera sea
ms flexible que la persistencia asociada a la pasin obsesiva, de
carcter ms rgido. La iniciativa personal es un concepto de
desempeo activo que recoge la persistencia entre las caracters-
ticas de la definicin, por eso pretendemos explorar si un resul-
tado de la pasin armoniosa es la iniciativa personal. Por ejemplo,
en estudiantes de msica se ha comprobado que la pasin expli-
cara la prctica deliberada y el alto rendimiento.3
La definicin de iniciativa seala que se refiere a conductas, prin-
cipalmente relacionadas con el trabajo y con el mbito organiza-
90
cional que se caracteriza por las siguientes tres caractersticas:
auto-iniciadas, proactivas y persistentes en la superacin de las
barreras que van apareciendo.9 Adems, estas conductas son
capaces de modificar el ambiente, ya que se encuentran efectos
recprocos de la iniciativa personal en los cambios en las caracte-
rsticas del trabajo.11
El tercer bloque de resultados que destacan Vallerand y Houlffort38,
es el desempeo, en nuestro caso el objetivo ltimo de estudiar la
pasin en el mbito acadmico es analizar cmo se relaciona con
los resultados de aprendizaje percibido. En este sentido, hay un
elevado consenso en la bibliografa en que cada vez es ms
importante la reflexin que el propio estudiante realiza sobre su
proceso de aprendizaje desde el punto de vista de la persona que
aprende y del modo en que lo hace.14
Por ltimo, aunque el concepto de pasin ha sido definido y
contrastado empricamente, al hablar de pasin en la actividad de
estudiar nos preocupa diferenciar esta pasin por la enseanza
superior del concepto de engagement. As, partiendo del modelo
de Recursos y Demandas de Demerouti y otros8, se identifica
claramente una fuerte relacin entre la existencia de recursos en
el entorno prximo de la persona y la generacin de respuesta de
engagement, mientras que en la ausencia de estos, la respuesta se
debilitara teniendo un mayor peso las demandas laborales. Sin
embargo, la pasin explicara la persistencia mantenida en situa-
ciones donde se requiere una inversin personal importante,
ejerciendo la propia actividad la fuerza motivacional necesaria en
ausencia de recursos. Un trabajo realizado con estudiantes de
msica, seala tal efecto donde la prctica deliberada no siempre
es divertida.3
Atendiendo a las definiciones propuestas por los autores, la defi-
nicin de Vallerand y Houlfort38, habla de una fuerte inclinacin
hacia una actividad que gusta a las personas por que se considera
importante, sobre la que se invierte tiempo y energa y, del mismo
modo, en la dimensin del engagement vigor, de acuerdo a la
definicin de Schaufeli y otros30, se caracteriza por altos niveles
de energa y resistencia mental mientras se trabaja, el deseo de
invertir esfuerzo en el trabajo que se est realizando incluso
cuando aparecen dificultades en el camino, junto con la dimen-
sin dedicacin que se refiere a la manifestacin de un senti-
miento de significacin, entusiasmo, inspiracin, orgullo y reto
por el trabajo.30 De las definiciones se desprende que el mbito de
influencia de la pasin ocupara un aspecto central en la identidad
de la persona, mientras que el vigor se reducira al mbito
laboral.
De acuerdo a la dimensin del engagment, la absorcin, parece no
estar tan relacionada con la definicin de pasin, ya que de
acuerdo a la definicin de Schaufeli y otros30, la absorcin ocurre
cuando se est totalmente concentrado en el trabajo, mientras se
experimenta que el tiempo pasa volando, y se tienen dificultades
a la hora de desconectar de lo que se est haciendo, debido a las
fuertes dosis de disfrute y concentracin experimentadas.
Salanova, Llorens, Cifre, Martnez y Schaufeli26 sugieren que la
absorcin podra considerarse ms una consecuencia del engage-
ment, que uno de sus componentes. Sealan, adems su cercana
al concepto de flow, que como hemos mencionado se ha conside-
rado uno de los resultados de la pasin. As, siguiendo la compa-
racin con el corazn del burnout21, los opuestos a agotamiento y
cinismo, seran vigor y dedicacin, por lo que podemos hablar de
estas dos dimensiones como el corazn del engagment.26 Entre los
objetivos de nuestro trabajo se encuentra clarificar la diferencia-
89/95 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | Ciencia & Trabajo
 Original Article | Estudiar con Pasin: Relacin con la Iniciativa Personal y el Engagement
cin de estos conceptos: pasin (armoniosa y obsesiva) y engage-
ment.
Ante lo expuesto, el objetivo principal de este trabajo ser adaptar
al castellano las escalas de pasin armoniosa y pasin obsesiva de
Vallerand y otros37, al mbito acadmico de la enseanza univer-
sitaria, partiendo del Modelo Dual de Pasin.36 As, las hiptesis
del trabajo son las siguientes: Hiptesis 1: La estructura factorial
de la adaptacin al castellano y al contexto acadmico del cues-
tionario ser la misma que la original: dos factores independientes
que se corresponden con las dos escalas estudiadas: pasin armo-
niosa y pasin obsesiva.
En segundo lugar, la pasin armoniosa se ha relacionado con
resultados positivos a nivel organizacional, tales como: persis-
tencia, rendimiento o bienestar.38 Atendiendo al Modelo Dualstico
de Pasin propuesto por Vallerand y otros.36 Por tanto, de manera
exploratoria se espera encontrar esa misma relacin en resultados
similares a nivel acadmico, de manera concreta: se espera encon-
trar una relacin positiva entre pasin armoniosa y engagement,
iniciativa personal y desempeo acadmico, mientras que se
espera que esta relacin no resulte significativa con pasin obse-
siva (Hiptesis 2). Por lo que se propone un modelo de relaciones
entre los dos tipos de pasin y los resultados: engagement, inicia-
tiva personal y aprendizaje percibido. Vase figura 1.
Figura 1.
Modelo terico propuesto.
Vigor
Pasin
Armoniosa Absorcin
Dedicacin
Pasin Iniciativa
Obsesiva Personal
Aprendizaje
Percibido
Por ltimo, a pesar de estar relacionados, se analizar si el concepto
de pasin es independiente del trmino engagement (Hiptesis 3).
Mtodo
Participantes
La poblacin est formada por 400 estudiantes, la muestra de
estudio es de 266 participantes pertenecientes a la Universidad
Miguel Hernndez de Elche (49,2%), la Universidad Nacional de
Educacin a Distancia (39,1%), y a la Universidad de Alicante
(9,4%). Principalmente participaron estudiantes de Psicologa,
Terapia Ocupacional y Publicidad y Relaciones Pblicas (84,8%).
La media de edad es de 28,42 aos (dt= 9,84), siendo un 71,8%
mujeres. Un 63,3% de los participantes se encuentra cursando los
primeros cursos o el primer ciclo.
Instrumentos
Pasin. Se utiliz la Escala de Pasin37 que evala el grado y el
nivel de pasin respecto a una actividad donde invierten tiempo
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y energa. La escala est compuesta por dos subescalas: Pasin
Armoniosa (ej. Estoy totalmente involucrado en mis estudios) y
Pasin Obsesiva (ej. Mi humor depende de si soy o no capaz de
estudiar algo) de 6 tems cada una. La escala de respuesta es tipo
Likert de 1 a 7 (Completamente en desacuerdo a Completamente
de acuerdo). Ambas subescalas cuentan con una adecuada consis-
tencia interna con un Alpha de Cronbach de 0,82 para la subes-
cala pasin armoniosa y 0,84 para la subescala pasin obsesiva.
Engagement. Se utilizaron las subescalas Vigor, Dedicacin y
Absorcin de la versin espaola para estudiantes del Utrecht Work
Engagement Scale31 que fue validado a poblacin espaola por
Schaufeli y otros.30 As, ejemplos de Vigor (6 tems) es Puedo seguir
estudiando durante largos periodos, de Dedicacin (5 tems) Estoy
orgulloso de hacer esta carrera y de Absorcin (6 tems) Estoy
inmerso en mis estudios. La fiabilidad de la escala es apropiada con
un Alpha de Cronbach de 0,83 para Vigor, 0,88 para Dedicacin y
0,80 para Absorcin. La escala de respuesta es tipo Likert de 0 a 6
(Nunca o Ninguna vez a Siempre o Todos los das).
Iniciativa Personal. Se utilizaron dos instrumentos: la escala de
Iniciativa Autoinformada de Frese, Fay, Hilburger, Leng y Tag10
adaptaba a poblacin espaola por Lisbona y Palac.17 Cuenta con
6 tems y una escala de respuesta tipo Likert de 1 a 5 (Totalmente
en desacuerdo a Totalmente de acuerdo). El alpha de cronbach es
0,76. Y, en segundo lugar, la adaptacin al espaol y al mbito
acadmico del Situational Judgement Test of Personal Initiative
(SJTPI) de Bledow y Frese,2 que en su escala original se compone
de 12 situaciones habituales y comunes a cualquier trabajo con 4
posible opciones de respuesta o conductas probables para solu-
cionar la situacin planteada y que ha sido adaptado a situaciones
en el mbito acadmico17 el Alpha de Cornbah es 0,70
Resultados de aprendizaje. Se elabor una escala ad hoc que
evala los resultados del aprendizaje percibido con relacin al
estudio. La escala est compuesta por 2 tems (ej. Creo que he
aprendido mucho en mis estudios). La escala de respuesta es tipo
Likert de 1 a 7 (Completamente en desacuerdo a Completamente
de acuerdo). La consistencia interna es apropiada con un Alpha de
Cronbach de 0,77.
Diseo y procedimiento
Se trata de un estudio cuasi-experimental con un diseo trans-
versal. El procedimiento de recoleccin de datos se llev a cabo
realizando un muestreo de conveniencia, contactando bien
presencialmente, bien mediante correo electrnico con estudiantes
matriculados en asignaturas donde impartan docencia los inves-
tigadores y solicitando la participacin voluntaria. Los cuestiona-
rios fueron auto-administrados durante los tres primeros meses
del curso acadmico. Se solicit su consentimiento informado
para la utilizacin de los datos para fines de la investigacin. La
Tasa de Respuesta fue del 66,5%.
Anlisis de datos
En primer lugar, se ha realizado un anlisis factorial confirma-
torio utilizando AMOS17.0 probando tres modelos: (1) un modelo
de un factor donde todos los constructos son la expresin de un
solo factor latente; (2) un modelo de cinco factores donde todos
los factores (pasin obsesiva y armoniosa, engagement, iniciativa
personal y aprendizaje percibido) son independientes y (3) un
modelo de cinco factores donde todos estn correlacionados. Si el
modelo de cuatro factores cuenta con un mejor ajuste que el
modelo con un solo factor, se reducen los posibles problemas del
efecto de la varianza del mtodo comn.
91
Original Article | Lisbona Ana et al.
Se han realizado, adems, anlisis factoriales exploratorios
mediante el mtodo de componentes principales con rotacin
Oblimin, utilizando el paquete estadstico Spss17. Por ltimo, se
han realizado modelos de ecuaciones estructurales mediante el
mtodo de mxima verosimilitud utilizando AMOS1, para analizar
a nivel exploratorio la relacin entre la pasin y los resultados.
Los ndices de bondad de ajuste utilizados han sido tanto abso-
lutos como relativos y de parsimonia. Los ndices absolutos utili-
zados han sido (1) the c2 goodness-of-fit statistic and (2) the Root
Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA). Se ha utilizado
como ndice relativo, el comparative fit index (CFI).19 Por ultimo
como ndice de parsimonia, el Akaik Information Criterion (AIC).
Los criterios para estos ndices son los siguientes: para el RMSEA,
se consideran indicadores de un ajuste del modelo aceptable
valores menores de 0,084, y para el ndice relativo CFI valores
mayores de 0,90 (Hoyle, 1995).
Resultados
Anlisis descriptivos
En la Tabla 1 se muestran los anlisis de fiabilidad y descriptivos
de las escalas utilizadas, as como la correlacin entre las mismas.
Como se observa, los niveles de consistencia interna son supe-
riores al criterio propuesto para todas las escalas. Las correla-
ciones entre las variables son estadsticamente significativas para
la totalidad de las mismas. Con la excepcin de la escala situa-
cional para evaluar la iniciativa personal (SJTPI) que no ha obte-
nido una correlacin estadsticamente significativa ni con la
dimensin dedicacin del engagement ni con el aprendizaje perci-
bido. Como en la escala original37, ambas subescalas de pasin
cuentan con una correlacin positiva y significativa.
Tabla 1.
Consistencia Interna (Cronbachs a), Medias, Desviaciones Tpicas y
Correlaciones.
M DT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1. P, Armoniosa 5,27 0,90 (0,82) 0,41** 0,62** 0,72** 0,62** 0,53** 0,14* 0,60**
2. P, Obsesiva 3,24 1,17 (0,84) 0,41** 0,34** 0,40** 0,30** 0,13* 0,24**
3. Vigor 3,68 1,14 (0,83) 0,67** 0,81** 0,53** 0,12* 0,46**
4. Dedicacin 4,64 1,05 (0,88) 0,61** 0,47** 0,10 0,63**
5. Absorcin 3,77 1,07 (0,80) 0,50** 0,12* 0,41**
6. Iniciativa Auto 3,39 ,68 (0,76) 0,13* 0,35**
7. Iniciativa SJTPI ,13 ,45 (0,70) 0,10
8. R, Aprendizaje 5,44 1,20 (0,77)
Anlisis factorial confirmatorio
Se ha comprobado el ajuste de los tres modelos de anlisis facto-
rial confirmatorio, el ajuste es mejor para el tercer modelo(c2=527,8;
df =142; RMSEA= 0,101; CFI=0,845; IFI=0,793; AIC=661,752) con
los cinco factores correlacionados, que considerando los cinco
factores independientes (c2=1051,7; df =187; RMSEA= 0,132;
CFI=0,685; IFI= 0,690; AIC=1181,65). Adems, el ajuste de este
modelo es, tambin mejor que el modelo con un solo factor
latente(c2=666,02; df =184; RMSEA= 0,099; CFI=0,825; IFI=0,780;
AIC=802,02).
Anlisis factorial exploratorio
Para contrastar la primera hiptesis, en la que se esperaba encon-
trar la misma estructura factorial que en la escala original, se
realiz un anlisis factorial exploratorio con rotacin Oblimin por
92
encontrarse los dos factores correlacionados (Tabla 2). As, el
ndice Kaiser-Meyer-OIlkin es 0,853 y junto al Test de Esfericidad
de Bartlett que muestra una _2 de 1568,95 (p0,000) con 91 g.l.
apoya como adecuado la realizacin del anlisis factorial para la
matriz de datos. De acuerdo al mtodo de extraccin de compo-
nentes principales se extraen dos componentes que conjunta-
mente explican el 53,42% de la varianza explicada de Pasin
(Tabla 2). Como se observa en la Tabla 2, los tems saturan en cada
uno de los factores esperados con puntuaciones superiores a 0,50
en todos los casos. Los tems del factor I (Armona) explican el
37,05%, mientras que los tems del factor II (Obsesin), explican
el 16,37%. As, los resultados reproducen la misma estructura
factorial de la escala original (Hiptesis 1).
Tabla 2.
Anlisis Factorial de la Escala de Pasin.
tem Factor I Factor II
A6. Mis estudios me permiten vivir
experiencias memorables 0,74
A1. Mis estudios me permiten vivir una
gran variedad de experiencias 0,58
A5. Mi formacin acadmica es un pasin que controlo 0,70
A3. La formacin que estoy recibiendo para
conseguir esta titulacin reflejan las cualidades
que me gustan de mi mismo 0,65
A7. Estoy totalmente comprometido con mis estudios 0,74
A4. Mis estudios se encuentran en armona con
las otras actividades que forman parte de mi vida 0,75
A2. Las cosas que descubro en mis estudios me permite
apreciar mi formacin acadmica todava ms 0,61
O4. Me siento dependiente emocionalmente
de mis estudios -0,50
O5. Para mi es difcil controlar mi necesidad de estudiar -0,53
O6. Tengo un sentimiento obsesivo hacia mis estudios -0.64
O3. Tengo dificultad para imaginar mi vida
sin los estudios -0,83
O2. El impulso que siento es tan fuerte
que necesito seguir estudiando -0,81
O7. Mi humor depende de si soy o no
capaz de estudiar algo -0,82
O1. No puedo vivir sin mis estudios -0,58
VAR 37,05% 16,37%
Relaciones entre la pasin obsesiva y armoniosa
y los resultados
Se ha puesto a prueba el modelo de investigacin, mediante un
modelo exploratorio de ecuaciones estructurales, donde tanto la
pasin armoniosa como la pasin obsesiva se relacionan con los
tres resultados: engagement, para cada una de sus tres dimen-
siones por separado: vigor, dedicacin y absorcin, iniciativa
personal y aprendizaje percibido. El ajuste del modelo no es
adecuado (c2=659,18; gl=182; RMSEA=0,0106; CFI=0,810; IFI=
0,812; AIC= 15530,86) y las relaciones entre la pasin obsesiva y
los resultados: dedicacin, absorcin, aprendizaje percibido e
iniciativa personal no son significativas (t=-0,896; t=1,373;
t=-0,785 y t=1,792, respectivamente).
Al eliminar estas relaciones, entre tambin deja de ser significa-
tiva la relacin entre pasin obsesiva y vigor (t=-1,931) Por lo que
se decide mejorar el modelo, mediante los ndices de modificacin
y eliminando la pasin obsesiva, obteniendo as relaciones signi-
ficativas (t>1,96) entre la pasin armoniosa y los resultados y
unos ndices de ajuste adecuados (c2=589,98; gl=295;
RMSEA=0,067; CFI=0,916; IFI= 0,917; AIC=755,98).
89/95 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | Ciencia & Trabajo
 Original Article | Estudiar con Pasin: Relacin con la Iniciativa Personal y el Engagement

Figura 2. todos los tems de las dimensiones vigor y absorcin, con la

Modelo final. excepcin del tem 4 de absorcin que satura en el factor cuatro.
El segundo factor explica el 9,33% de la varianza y agrupa los 5
Vigor
0,83*** 0,69 tems de la dimensin del engagement dedicacin y dos tems de
pasin armoniosa. El tercer factor, que agrupa los cinco primeros
Pasin 0,66*** Absorcin tems de pasin obsesiva. El tem 5, satura tambin en el factor 6,
Armoniosa 0,43 junto con los otros dos tems de pasin obsesiva. El tercer factor
0,93***
explica el 6,74% de varianza y el sexto factor el 3,49%. El cuarto
Dedicacin factor agrupa dos tems de absorcin y tres de pasin armoniosa
0,89*** 0,86
y explica el 4,71% de la varianza. Por ltimo, el quinto factor,
Iniciativa
explica el 4,55% de varianza y agrupa dos tems de pasin armo-
0,77*** Personal niosa.
0,79

Aprendizaje
Percibido Discusin
0,58 A la vista de los resultados, se reproduce la estructura factorial del
cuestionario original en la muestra de estudiantes espaoles,
Para contrastar la tercera hiptesis, que explorar la indepen- confirmando la hiptesis 1. Los resultados estn en la lnea de los
dencia entre el concepto de pasin y el concepto de engagement, trabajos consultados, agrupndose los tems en dos factores, uno
se ha realizado un anlisis factorial exploratorio. El Test de que incluye respuestas relacionadas con la pasin armoniosa que
Esfericidad de Bartlett, obtiene una puntuacin de 4265,53, siendo promueve una adaptacin saludable, mientras que un segundo
significativo el estadstico _2 (p0,000) con 435 g.l. El ndice factor que recoge aquellos tems que reflejaran un afecto nega-
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin es 0,908. Los estadsticos apoyan como apro- tivo.38 Asimismo, la consistencia interna de ambas subescalas ha
piado la realizacin del anlisis factorial. Se obtienen 6 factores resultado apropiada. Por lo que podemos decir, que la escala es
que explican el 65,64% de la Varianza. Como se observa en la apropiada para evaluar la pasin sobre los estudios. La literatura
Tabla 3, el primer factor explica el 36,83% de la varianza y agrupa hablaba de pasin sobre una actividad concreta y se han desarro-
llado escalas sobre la pasin en el trabajo, pero hasta ahora no se
Tabla 3. haba estudiado la pasin sobre los estudios.
Anlisis Factorial Pasin Armoniosa y Engagement. Por otra parte, los resultados obtenidos apoyan las relaciones que
Item Factor I Factor II Factor III Factor IV Factor V Factor VI se han encontrado entre la pasin armoniosa y resultados afec-
36,83% 9,33% 6,74% 4,71% 4,55% 3,49%
tivos positivos en el trabajo.18 Adems, los resultados estn en la
Vigor 1 0,68
lnea de los trabajos que confirman que los elevados niveles de
Vigor 2 0,53
engagement en estudiantes se asocian con un mejor rendimiento.20,27
Vigor 3 0,61
Respecto a la segunda hiptesis planteada, los resultados estn en
Vigor4 0,70
Vigor5 0,71
la lnea de los trabajos que apoyan el modelo terico propuesto38,18,22,
Absorcin 1 0,72
donde experimentar pasin armoniosa respecto a una actividad,
Absorcin 2 0,68 en nuestro caso estudiar, se asocia a resultados positivos como el
Absorcin 3 0,73 engagement, la iniciativa personal y el desempeo38, en concreto,
Absorcin 4 0,50 el aprendizaje percibido. Sin embargo, la pasin obsesiva no es
Absorcin 5 0,51 predictora de las respuestas positivas evaluadas en los estudiantes,
Absorcin 6 0,69 lo cual confirmara lo expuesto en la segunda hiptesis. As, los
Dedicacin 1 0,69 resultados sealan la importancia de experimentar emociones
Dedicacin 2 0,52 positivas o bienestar que puedan estar a la base de mejores niveles
Dedicacin 3 0,75 de rendimiento acadmico en los estudiantes.27,29
Dedicacin 4 0,80 Una de las relaciones sealadas a nivel terico ha sido la
Dedicacin 5 0,82 propuesta entre la pasin y la persistencia, sealando diferencias
P. Armoniosa 1 0,78 en el tipo de persistencia entre ambos tipos de pasin. En nuestro
P. Armoniosa 2 0,52 trabajo se ha elegido un concepto activo de desempeo: la inicia-
P. Armoniosa 3 0,56 tiva personal, que recoge en su misma definicin la persistencia.
P. Armoniosa 4 0,62 Frese y Fay9 sealan un aspecto muy importante de la persistencia
P. Armoniosa 5 0,56 relacionado con la distincin entre flexibilidad y rigidez de la
P. Armoniosa 6 0,76 persistencia en funcin del tipo de pasin. As, analizando las tres
P. Armoniosa 7 0,57 facetas de la iniciativa personal desde la Teora de la Accin13,
P. Obsesiva 1 0,80 indican como la persistencia ser imprescindible en la puesta en
P. Obsesiva 2 0,58 marcha de los planes para la consecucin de los objetivos, ya que
P. Obsesiva 3 0,85 ser necesario superar diversas dificultades durante la ejecucin
P. Obsesiva 4 0,72 del plan. Si bien, desarrollan la idea de cmo los trabajadores que
P. Obsesiva 5 0,57 0,56 llevan a cabo acciones efectivas, protegen sus objetivos y no se
P. Obsesiva 6 0,76 desvan de ellos, pero si pueden modificar los planes para conse-
P. Obsesiva 7 0,83 guir los objetivos cuando detectan que stos no funcionan en la

Ciencia & Trabajo | YEAR 14 | Special Issue | MARCH 2012 | www.cienciaytrabajo.cl | 89/95 93
Original Article | Lisbona Ana et al.
consecucin de objetivos, sealando: proteger los planes es menos
importante que proteger los objetivos durante el proceso de la
accin.9 Es decir, la flexibilidad en la persistencia ser ms efec-
tiva que la rigidez en la persistencia relacionada con la pasin
obsesiva, que no permite modificar los planes cuando no
funcionan para proteger la consecucin del objetivo.
Queremos destacar, tambin, el hecho de que la iniciativa personal
ha sido evaluada mediante dos herramientas. Por un lado se ha
utilizado el cuestionario autoinformado, y, adems, se ha utilizado
la versin adaptada al mbito acadmico del cuestionario situa-
cional para evaluar la iniciativa personal, SJTPI.17 La correlacin
entre pasin, tanto armoniosa como obsesiva es significativa para
la iniciativa evaluada con las dos herramientas. Sin embargo, en
el modelo de ecuaciones estructurales la relacin es significativa
slo para la pasin armoniosa, tal y como se esperaba a nivel
terico.
Por ltimo, la relacin del concepto de pasin con el concepto de
engagement, a nivel terico sugera la necesidad de distinguirlos
empricamente. La definicin de pasin se encuentra estrecha-
mente relacionada con las definiciones de dos de las tres dimen-
siones del engagement: dedicacin y vigor, consideradas el
corazn del engagement. Sin embargo, la correlacin entre ambas
dimensiones y la pasin armoniosa y la pasin obsesiva no ha
resultado ms elevada que para la dimensin absorcin y en el
anlisis factorial, los tems de pasin armoniosa saturan en tres
factores, dos de ellos con tems de las dimensiones del engage-
ment dedicacin y absorcin. No podemos concluir que los
conceptos pasin y engagement son totalmente independientes,
pero la estructura factorial apunta hacia esa independencia.
Limitaciones y futuras lneas de investigacin.
En cuanto a las posibles limitaciones de la investigacin, sera
conveniente analizar la relacin entre la pasin obsesiva y otros
conceptos, como la identificacin con los estudios o la adiccin
al trabajo, entre otros para contrastar que realmente el concepto
de pasin obsesiva se diferencia de otros conceptos tambin estu-
diados en la literatura organizacional. La definicin de Salanova,
Del Lbano, Llorens, Schaufeli y Fidalgo25 se refiere a la adiccin
al trabajo como un estado psicolgico negativo caracterizado por
el trabajo en exceso debido, fundamentalmente, a una presin
interna que no se puede evitar, y en la definicin de pasin obse-
siva, tambin se habla de esa presin interna.38
94
Por ltimo, el presente trabajo se enmarca dentro de un estudio
ms amplio, con un diseo longitudinal. En trabajos posteriores
se estudiarn las relaciones de las variables evaluadas en el
momento de este estudio con las evaluadas al finalizar el curso
(mes de septiembre). De especial inters ser estudiar el valor
predictivo del modelo sobre el rendimiento acadmico objetivo,
las calificaciones. Sin embargo, es necesaria una reflexin en
torno a los criterios de rendimiento acadmico ms apropiados, ya
que junto con criterios objetivos como las calificaciones o el
nmero de crditos superados, es necesario considerar la propia
percepcin de aprendizaje, la utilidad de ese aprendizaje, los
ndices de abandono, la posterior insercin laboral, la satisfaccin
personal, o incluso, el esfuerzo percibido.
Asimismo, es importante continuar con el estudio de la validez del
cuestionario, tanto convergente como divergente.
Implicaciones tericas, tcnicas y prcticas.
La importancia de la introduccin del concepto de pasin se ha
puesto de manifiesto al encontrar relacin con resultados posi-
tivos. Si bien, es necesario el estudio longitudinal que se est
desarrollando en la actualidad para profundizar en la relacin con
resultados positivos y objetivos, las calificaciones. El hecho de que
la pasin por los estudios se relacione con la iniciativa personal y
el engagement justifica la necesidad de fomentar la pasin por los
estudios en los universitarios. Del mismo modo, que prevenir la
pasin obsesiva, que ya en su definicin se muestra como gene-
radora de malestar, y no ha mostrado relaciones significativas con
resultados beneficiosos analizados.
A nivel tcnico, el trabajo aporta una herramienta de evaluacin de
la pasin por una actividad, con la cual podemos cuantificar la
pasin experimentada por un sujeto en el desarrollo de una actividad
y contribuye a reducir la escasez de instrumentos para evaluar el
funcionamiento ptimo. Por ltimo, a nivel prctico, el estudio reali-
zado contribuye a la reflexin sobre las acciones dirigidas a la
prevencin del absentismo y el abandono en los primeros cursos y la
promocin del rendimiento acadmico. As, mediante estrategias a
diferentes niveles organizativos, es posible promover la pasin por
los estudios y generar una identidad en los estudiantes que contri-
buya a su iniciativa y rendimiento. Aspecto relacionado con los
cambios actuales en los planes de estudio que demandan un estu-
diante ms activo en el proceso de enseanza-aprendizaje.
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 Original Article | Estudiar con Pasin: Relacin con la Iniciativa Personal y el Engagement
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95
Instrucciones a los Autores
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y Tecnolgica de la Asociacin Chilena de Seguridad, tiene como misin
divulgar el conocimiento en las reas de seguridad e higiene industrial,
salud ocupacional, calidad de vida laboral y otras disciplinas asociadas
al mundo del trabajo y medio ambiente. .
C&T suscribe principalmente al acuerdo sobre Requisitos Uniformes
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15, actualizados en octubre de 2008, en el sitio web www.icmje.org).
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Pgina tres y siguientes en el siguiente orden
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Los artculos cientficos son el producto de un trabajo de obser-
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Mtodos en la que se describen los elementos y procedimientos utiliza-
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estadstico; c) Resultados en la que se presentan los hallazgos del
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La comunicacin de Casos, en los que se describen situaciones de
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especiales encontradas en la prctica diaria de otros profesionales de la
salud ocupacional (investigacin de un accidente que ocurre por prime-
ra vez, por ejemplo). Este tipo de artculo debe contener dos secciones;
en la primera se describe el caso y en la segunda se comentan
los hallazgos y se hacen las recomendaciones que correspondan. La
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caracteres (incluyendo los espacios).
Los Artculos de Educacin son aqullos que contribuyen a la for-
macin integral de los profesionales de Salud Ocupacional. Generalmente
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Los Artculos de Opinin son comunicaciones personales sustenta-
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apoyan las opiniones. La extensin mxima de estos artculos es de
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Al final del texto puede incluirse una seccin de agradecimientos y, a
continuacin las Referencias bibliogrficas. Es de completa responsa-
bilidad de los autores la informacin entregada en esta rea, quienes
debieran revisar siempre su listado para confirmar que stas estn
completas, con todos sus elementos y simbologa integrantes en
orden y verificar su insercin en el texto. En caso contrario, el mate-
rial puede ser devuelto para correccin. Las referencias deben ser
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Apellido paterno del autor/editor ms las iniciales del nombre
(hasta seis autores, separados por coma; si son ms de seis agregar
et al despus del sexto) o autor institucional, si corresponde.
Ao de publicacin, separado por punto de elemento anterior.
Ttulo completo del artculo, del libro o del captulo, si corresponde,
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Ttulo abreviado de la revista, de acuerdo a listado de Biosis o Index
Medicus (ver: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=
journals), o libro Proceedings, si es el caso, separado por punto de
elemento anterior.
Ciudad/estado/pas de publicacin, y editor, separando por dos
puntos estos elementos y por punto de elemento anterior.
Nmeros del volumen y pginas inicial y final, separando por dos
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Disponibilidad en Internet, si se sabe, separado por punto de ele-
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Las referencias se enumeran en el orden en que se las menciona por
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Figuras, deben numerarse en la secuencia que corresponda a la primera
vez que se citen dichas Tablas o Figuras en el texto.
Los resmenes de presentaciones a Congresos pueden ser citados como
referencias slo cuando fueron publicados en revistas de circulacin
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como referencias a trabajos que estn aceptados por una revista, an
en trmite de publicacin; en este caso, se debe anotar la referencia
completa, agregando a continuacin del nombre abreviado de la revista
la expresin (en prensa). Los trabajos enviados a publicacin pero
todava no aceptados oficialmente, pueden ser citados en el texto (entre
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cacin y no deben alistarse entre las referencias.
Al alistar las referencias, su formato debe ser el siguiente:
Artculos en Revistas:
Apellido e inicial del nombre del o los autores. Mencione todos los
autores cuando sean seis o menos; si son siete o ms, incluya los seis
primeros y agregue et al. Limite la puntuacin a comas que separen los
autores entre s. Sigue el ttulo completo del artculo, en su idioma
original. Si elige su traduccin al ingls, debe ser la que figur en la
publicacin y se enmarca en parntesis cuadrado. Luego, el nombre de
la revista en que apareci, abreviado segn el estilo usado por el Index
Medicus: ao de publicacin; volumen de la revista: pgina inicial y
final del artculo.
Ejemplo:
Brunser A, Hoppe A, Crcamo DA, Lavados PM, Roldn A, Rivas R et al.
Validez del Doppler transcraneal en el diagnstico de muerte enceflica.
Rev Med Chile 2010;138: 406-12.
Captulos en Libros:
Ejemplo: Rodrguez P. Trasplante pulmonar. En: Rodrguez JC, Undurraga
A, Editores, Enfermedades Respiratorias. Santiago, Chile: Editorial
Mediterrneo Ltda.; 2004. p. 857-82.
Artculos en formato electrnico:
Citar autores, ttulo del artculo y revista de origen tal como para su
publicacin en papel, indicando a continuacin el sitio electrnico
donde se obtuvo la cita y la fecha en que se hizo la consulta.
Ejemplo: Cienc Trab 2010; 12 (38): 461-464. Disponible en: wwwcien-
ciaytrabajo.cl [Consultado el 14 de enero de 2010].
Para otros tipos de publicaciones, atngase a los ejemplos dados en los
Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical
Journals.
Pginas complementarias
Las Tablas, deben llevar numeracin arbica correlativa con ttulo
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Las tablas deben ser enviadas en el formato original; por ejemplo, si ella
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Figuras o Grficos deben ser elaboradas en formatos compatibles con
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nmeros arbicos correlativos. Las leyendas deben facilitar su compren-
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La responsabilidad de los conceptos publicados en Ciencia & Trabajo es
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Aspectos Administrativos
La recepcin del manuscrito ser notificada por correo electrnico al
primer autor firmante, lo que no implica su aceptacin. El Comit
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Leonardo Varela
Editor Jefe Revista Ciencia & Trabajo
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Fono: (56-2) 685-3854
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El siguiente documento debe ser firmado por todos los autores del
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Ttulo del Manuscrito:
Responsabilidad de Autora: Certifico que he contribuido directa-
mente al contenido intelectual de este manuscrito, a la gnesis y
anlisis de sus datos, por lo cual estoy en condiciones de hacerme
pblicamente responsable de l y acepto que mi nombre figure en la
lista de autores.
Conflicto de intereses: Declaro que no existe ningn posible con-
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fuentes de financiamiento.
ndex
1 Editorial
3 Index
4 In this Issue

Original Articles
7 How Organizational Practices Predict Team Work
Engagement: The Role of Organizational Trust
Acosta H, Salanova M, Llorens S
15 How do Engaged Employees Stay Engaged?
Bakker A, Demerouti E, Xanthopoulou D
22 Workplace Relationships as Demands and Resources:
A Model of Burnout and Work Engagement
Leiter M, Nicholson R, Patterson A, Spence H
30 The Empirical Distinctiveness of Work Engagement and
Workaholism among Hospital Nurses in Japan: The effect
on Sleep Quality and Job Performance
Kubota K, Shimazu A, Kawakami N, Takahashi M,
Nakata A, Schaufeli W
36 Personal Resources (Emotional Intelligence, Core Self-
evaluation and Positive Affectivity) Contribution to
Engagement: Analysis on Spanish College
Students and Employees
Durn A, Extremera N, Rey L
44 Investigating the Associations between Ministerial Resources,
Personality Traits and Engagement among the Indian Clergy
Newman E, De Witte H
53 The More You Give, the More You Get? Reciprocal
Relationships Between Work Engagement and Task-
Related, Interpersonal, and Organizational Resources
Korunka C, Kubicek B, Pakvan M
61 Bridging the Practice and Science of Employee
Engagement: A Qualitative Investigation
Albrecht S, Wilson-Evered E
72 Too Good to Be True? Similarities and Differences
Between Engagement and Workaholism
among Finnish Judges
Hakanen J, Rodrguez A, Perhoniemi R
81 Explaining Nurses Engagement and Performance with
Social Exchange with Hospital
Chambel M
89 Studying With Passion: Personal Initiative and
Engagement Relationship
Lisbona A, Bernab M, Palac F, Gmez A, Martn M

FUNDACIN
CIENTFICA
Y TECNOLGICA
ASOCIACIN CHILENA DE SEGURIDAD