Job engagement trajectories: Their associations with leader–member exchange and their implications for employees

Abstract

The present study seeks to achieve a dynamic understanding of employees' job engagement trajectories, and of their time‐structured associations with leader–member exchange (LMX) and outcomes related to psychological adaptation (turnover intentions, emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction and life satisfaction). A sample of 285 employees was surveyed three times (6 months apart) over a 1‐year period. Results revealed that employees' global job engagement followed high and stable trajectories, their specific cognitive and emotional job engagement followed slightly decreasing trajectories, and their specific physical engagement displayed non‐linear trajectories characterized by an initial decrease followed by a slight increase. Specific LMX contribution and LMX professional respect were associated with positive fluctuations in global job engagement, whereas global LMX was associated with positive fluctuations in specific emotional engagement. Specific LMX loyalty and LMX affect (at Time 1 only) were associated with positive fluctuations in specific physical engagement, whereas global LMX was negatively associated with these fluctuations. Higher global job engagement and specific emotional engagement were associated with negative fluctuations in turnover intentions and emotional exhaustion and with positive fluctuations in job satisfaction. Higher specific physical engagement was associated with negative fluctuations in job satisfaction, whereas higher specific cognitive engagement was associated with lower life satisfaction.

One down, fifty to go: managers’ perceptions of their workload and how they cope with it to maintain their psychological health

“…This is even more important because those managers exposed to higher workloads are less likely to engage in transformational and transactional leadership behaviors and more likely to engage in laissez-faire leadership behaviors ( Rosen et al, 2019 ; Sherf et al, 2019 ). In a context where managers need to combine multiple roles and tasks (administrative, instructional, and informational roles), as in the healthcare sector, higher workloads can quickly become overwhelming and impede managers’ ability to successfully engage in all aspects of their work ( Bakker and Demerouti, 2017 ; Tóth-Király et al, 2023 ). Helping managers achieve more acceptable workloads could, in turn, help healthcare organizations attract and retain managers.…”

Influence of destructive leadership behaviors on the meaning of work and work productivity

“…For organizations to survive and prosper, it is not enough for employees to be productive; employees must also perceive their work as being meaningful, important, and motivating ( Pejtersen et al, 2010 ; Tóth-Király et al, 2023 ). Managers’ destructive leadership behaviors have been found to correlate negatively with employees’ job performance, engagement, and well-being, and positively with employees’ burnout, stress, health complaints, and workplace deviance ( Montano et al, 2017 , 2023 ; Li et al, 2021 ).…”