Work engagement, job design and the role of the social context at work: Exploring antecedents from a relational perspective

By Yseult Freeney, Martin R. Fellenz. 2013

116 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Relational resources are now recognized as significant factors in workplaces and increasing attention is being given to the motivational impact of giving, in addition to receiving social support. Our study builds on this work to determine the role of such relational mechanisms in work engagement, a concept that simultaneously captures drive and well-being. Data from 182 midwives from two maternity hospitals revealed a best-fit model where perceived supervisor support, social support from peers, prosocial impact on others and autonomy explained 52 percent of variance in work engagement. Perceived prosocial impact acted as a significant partial mediator between autonomy and work engagement. This study provides evidence for the importance of perceived prosocial impact and the role of immediate supervisors in facilitating work engagement in midwifery. Results highlight the value of relational resources and suggest their explicit inclusion in current models of work engagement.

Subfields: Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, Social Psychology, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/8626e56a59b1b6f0f166745755d7b0e41e47eaff

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

1. Gavin R. Slemp
2. Dimitri Van Maele
3. D. Vella‐Brodrick
4. Margaret L. Kern
5. M. Van Houtte

In Social Psychology

1. Gavin R. Slemp
2. Margaret L. Kern
3. Dimitri Van Maele
4. D. Vella‐Brodrick
5. M. Van Houtte
6. Martin E. P. Seligman
7. L. Waters
8. Sarah Mercer

In Sociology and Political Science

1. Dimitri Van Maele
2. D. Vella‐Brodrick
3. Margaret L. Kern
4. M. Van Houtte
5. Gavin R. Slemp

Citations in the corpus

• Trust in School: A Pathway to Inhibit Teacher Burnout?. (2015, background): “As an antipode of work engagement (Schaufeli and Bakker, 2004), it is further reasonable to argue that teachers who experience burnout will not act in a way that is conducive for student learning given that work engagement equals additional professional efforts and prosocial behaviors toward clients”
• Workplace Well-Being: The Role of Job Crafting and Autonomy Support (2015, background): “In addition to individual factors, contextual factors also influence well-being and psychological needs (Freeney and Fellenz 2013).”