Passionate and engaged? Passion for inventing and work engagement in different knowledge work contexts

Abstract

PurposeIn response to the increasing interest in entrepreneurs' well-being in both the entrepreneurship and management research fields, this study builds and tests a research model on the role of entrepreneurial passion for inventing in work engagement in the context of modern knowledge work. The research argument is built on the job demands–resources model, the most commonly used frame for measuring employee well-being in work and organization psychology. The research setting in this study compares digital entrepreneurs and freelancers with traditional knowledge workers and part-time platform workers in terms of passion and engagement.Design/methodology/approachUsing a quantitative research design, the authors collected data from 349 highly specialized knowledge workers through anonymous questionnaires. The research hypotheses were tested with linear and logit models.FindingsThe results show that entrepreneurial passion is positively related to increased job demands and work engagement and that job demands can have a positive effect on work engagement in highly complex knowledge work.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by expanding the analysis of entrepreneurial passion outside the entrepreneurship context and into work engagement theory by adding passion for inventing as an important motivational factor in modern knowledge work. Extant literature on the consequences of work digitalization is still scarce, and this study provides insights into successful working on digital platforms.

Work engagement among different types of solo self-employed: the mediating role of intrinsic job resources

“…From that it can be deducted that becoming self-employed out of a lack of other viable alternativesi.e. resulting from pressure rather than from freedom of agency (Shir et al, 2019) might lead to lower levels of entrepreneurial passion (Toth et al, 2021) and thus ultimately less work engagement. It is worth noting however, that intrinsic job resources, also in the case of necessity self-employment, acted as motivational resources (Bakker and Demerouti, 2007), and were thus able to (partially) mediate the relationship.…”

“…Firstly, there is the call for better considering entrepreneurs' eudaimonic well-being to advance the overall understanding of well-being in entrepreneurship (i.e. current studies have focused on hedonic well-being) (Ryff, 2019;Stephan, 2018;Stephan et al, 2020b;Toth et al, 2021). Secondly, the "decent work"debate (see, e.g.…”

“…anxiety, illness) that are often reported by those employed on casual contracts (Taylor et al, 2017). Therefore, especially for economically dependent selfemployment and necessity self-employment, there is a growing interest in investigating work engagement (Ryff, 2019;Toth et al, 2021).…”

“…Nevertheless, given that research on the work engagement of the self-employed is scarce (Ryff, 2019; Stephan et al. , 2020b; Toth et al. , 2021), one should investigate whether the self-employed are in fact, as engaged as is assumed.…”

Transformational Leadership and Employee Engagement: Empirical Evidence in the Employment Sector for the Plywood Industry in Indonesia

“…Meaning, security, and availability are three psychological states that are all crucial in work-related engagement. Personal engagement is defined as a person's preference for task behaviors that foster connection to work and people, personal presence (physical, cognitive, and emotional), and active, full-role performance while working and self-expressing at the same time (Kahn, 1990).Other work-related ideas that demonstrate a favorable attitude toward work are linked to employee engagement directly (Toth et al, 2021).Employees are encouraged by transformational leaders who increase their optimism and decrease their discontent. According to systematic review, employees engage in the workplace after they have a clear understanding of their role and a high level of optimism (Lai et al, 2020).…”