Timeline of engagement research and future research directions

Abstract

Purpose Studies suggest that engagement is related with organizationally desired outcomes, including performance, productivity, profitability, employee retention, organization citizenship behavior and employee well-being. Despite its practical relevance in the workplace, the concept of engagement has been theoretically dispersed. Therefore, this study aims to present a conceptual review of engagement studies leading to the development of a nomological framework and an evolution timeline for the concept. Design/methodology/approach The present study is divided into three sections. The first section elicits the nomological framework based on the comparison between engagement, its predecessors and its contemporary concepts such as motivation theories, job design theories, burnout theories and positive psychology. A review of related theories and concepts highlights the similarities and differences vis-a-vis engagement. In the second section, the study depicts the evolution of the engagement concept based on the nomological framework. The evolution is discussed through the decades of before 1990, 1990-2000, 2000-2010 and 2010 onwards. To consolidate the theories and concepts, the authors covered studies that defined engagement as role engagement, personal engagement, work engagement and employee engagement. The third section presents the future research directions based on the framework and evolution. Findings The literature review reveals future research directions. These include the addition of new antecedents and theoretical frameworks to enrich the explanatory power and practical relevance of the antecedents of engagement, exploring the context of work with qualitative and mixed method designs, exploring the unit of “role” in engagement studies and the need for more replication studies in this field. Originality/value The key contributions of this paper are the nomological framework and the timeline of the evolution of engagement concept.

Work engagement as a mediator between subjective well-being and work-and-health outcomes

“…Despite the popularity of work engagement and the evidence that work engagement is positively associated with organizationally desired outcomes (Kunte and Rungruang, 2018), It also tends to support the view that focus should be shifted from job resources to personal resources as they provide a sustainable and self-sustaining approach toward increasing work engagement. This finding also complies with the spillover hypothesis, which advocates that experiences from one life domain (such as predisposition to overall satisfaction with life in the current study) influences the experiences in other life domains (such as work engagement) (Judge et al, 2001).…”

An expanded holistic model of healthy workplace practices

“…The third objective is to introduce three new independent variables (supportive workspace design, vision alignment and cultivation of high-quality leader-member relationships) to Grawitch et al's (2006) five-factor model of healthy workplace practices, and test whether any of these new variables help to explain incremental variance beyond that of the original five factors for any of the above-noted dependent variables (job satisfaction, overall life satisfaction and work engagement). In addition to meeting the aforementioned calls by Grawitch et al (2007) for research that examines different outcome variables and uses a different sample, the present study also addresses Kunte and Rungruang's (2018) call for more research on the determinants of work engagement, and contributes to a fuller understanding of the antecedents of job satisfaction and overall life satisfaction as well.…”

“…The newer model of healthy workplace practices offered in this paper better predicts outcomes associated with healthy workplaces, and emphasizes the importance of being attentive to the workspace design, promoting the cultivation of high-quality manageremployee relationships, and ensuring that the organization's vision aligns with the values and preferences of employees. Such research answers Kunte and Rungruang's (2018) call for further studies on the determinants of work engagement, and contributes to a fuller understanding of the antecedents of job satisfaction and overall life satisfaction. Future research should examine how the eight workplace practices identified in the present study affect other important outcomes (e.g.…”

Employee engagement: exploring higher education non-tenure track faculty members’ perceptions

“…The findings from this study parallel the research-based assertion that employees were more likely to be engaged when they have a clear role and expectations understanding. Studies have supported this definition by indicating individuals who identify with their work are less likely to be impacted by quitting and absenteeism (Bakker and Demerouti, 2008;Kunte and Rungruang, 2018;Shuck et al, 2014). Employees' engagement in their work has a positive influence on knowledge creation, customer loyalty, individual performance and financial returns (Azim et al, 2019;.…”