Working in the sky: A diary study on work engagement among flight attendants.

Abstract

This study aims to gain insight in the motivational process of the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model by examining whether daily fluctuations in colleague support (i.e., a typical job resource) predict day-levels of job performance through self-efficacy and work engagement. Forty-four flight attendants filled in a questionnaire and a diary booklet before and after consecutive flights to three intercontinental destinations. Results of multilevel analyses revealed that colleague support had unique positive effects on self-efficacy and work engagement. Self-efficacy did not mediate the relationship between support and engagement, but work engagement mediated the relationship between self-efficacy and (in-role and extra-role) performance. In addition, colleague support had an indirect effect on in-role performance through work engagement. These findings shed light on the motivational process as outlined in the JD-R model, and suggest that colleague support is an important job resource for flight attendants helping them reach their work-related goals.

Good morning, good day: A diary study on positive emotions, hope, and work engagement

“…However, several longitudinal studies have shown that psychological capital (Luthans, 2002), consisting of self-efficacy, optimism, resilience, and hope, was positively related to work engagement among employees (Avey et al, 2010) and students (Ouweneel et al, 2011). On a daily basis, optimism, self-esteem, and self-efficacy were significantly related to work engagement (Tims et al, 2011;Xanthopoulou et al, 2008Xanthopoulou et al, , 2009a. In the present study, we focus on the engaging value of another dimension of psychological capital, namely hope, on a daily basis.…”

“…Namely, positive emotions build proactivity (Fritz and Sonnentag, 2009), and resources like optimism and self-efficacy have been found to predict work engagement (Tims et al, 2011;Xanthopoulou et al, 2008Xanthopoulou et al, , 2009a. Recently, Salanova et al (2011) showed that positive emotions such as enthusiasm, satisfaction, and comfort predict work and task engagement.…”

“…In particular, hope as a day-level state can be considered a snapshot of a person's current goal-directed thinking (Snyder et al, 1996). In that sense, daily hope differs from daily self-efficacy in that the latter is focused on feeling capable of overcoming problems and unexpected events (Xanthopoulou et al, 2009a) and handling whatever happens at work (Tims et al, 2011;Xanthopoulou et al, 2008), whereas with the construct of hope, the expectation of attaining current work-related goals is central (Bryant and Cvengros, 2004).…”

“…Including baseline levels enables us to investigate the daily fluctuations around the baselines of the employees, which is important because employees' general levels may affect their momentary states (Xanthopoulou et al, 2008). Moreover, adding the previous day's levels in our models allows us to look specifically at daily changes in scores, and is therefore being advised by Sonnentag et al (2010).…”

Role of Leadership in Employees’ Work Engagement: Organizational Identification and Job Autonomy

“…Consequently, work engagement represents employees' attitudes towards work and the extent of involvement to which they are willing to commit (Kahn, 1990). Accordingly, when engaged, employees feel a sense of involvement in their work mentally, intellectually and physically, and they are eager to exercise all of their dynamism at work (Xanthopoulou, Bakker, Heuven, Demerouti, & Schaufeli, 2008). In contrast, non-engaged employees have low levels of ambition for their job in physical terms, and they lack an emotional connection with their colleagues (Kahn, 1990).…”