Meaningful Work and Employee Engagement
Meaningful Work, Employee Engagement, and Other Key Employee Outcomes:
Implications for Human Resource Development
Below is the abstract to a recent research study on employee engagement. The link to the entire article is also available below.
Abstract
The Problem.
Meaningful work is underrepresented in current models and measures of work
characteristics. Ironically, past research suggests that meaningful work may have
substantive impacts on employee outcomes. The current study addresses this problem
by demonstrating the value of meaningful work in human resource development
(HRD) practices involving employee engagement.
The Solution.
A web-based survey of employed North Americans (n = 574) was conducted.
Meaningful work characteristics were compared to other work characteristics
as correlates and predictors of employee engagement, burnout, job satisfaction,
organizational commitment, and turnover cognitions. Meaningful work characteristics
had the strongest relative correlations with multiple employee outcomes. They also
predicted substantive variance in employee engagement while controlling for other
work characteristics in regression analyses.
The Stakeholders.
Since meaningful work contains themes of human development (e.g., self-actualization,
social impact), this variable represents an opportunity for human resource development
(HRD) practitioners to increase levels of employee engagement as a strategic leverage
point within organizations.
docs/Advances in Developing Human Resources.pdf