Engaging Élitism: the Mediating Effect of Work Engagement on Affective Commitment and Quit Intentions in Two Australian University Groups

Some universities rely on their élitism as one mechanism to attract and retain talented faculty. This paper examines two groups of élite and non-élite universities and the mediating effect that work engagement has on affective commitment and intention to quit. Findings indicate partial support for the mediating effect of work engagement in the non-élite group but no support in the élite university group. The implications of these diverse results are posed for the management of academics in élite and non-élite universities, suggesting that a ‘one size fits all approach’ to performance outcomes does not always fit.

The effect of mobile technology usage on work engagement and emotional exhaustion in Japan

Researchers have repeatedly found that the use of mobile technology (MT) in the West is a double-edged sword that produces both positive and negative psychological experiences for employees. MT blurs the boundaries between work and non-work contexts, limiting employees' personal space and time as a result, and possibly having a negative impact on their work engagement. Our findings in Japan, however, were different. Japanese workers' total MT usage (i.e., during office and non-office hours) had a positive impact on their work autonomy, which, in turn, led to greater work engagement. Emotional exhaustion was not related to MT usage. The findings from this study imply that MT can result in positive psychological experiences for employees and present some managerial implications for boundary conditions.

Salesperson work engagement and flow : a qualitative exploration of their antecedents and relationship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an interpretation of the lived experiences of salespersons’ work engagement and work-related flow and how these states are related. Design/methodology/approach – A mixed-methods qualitative investigation on a sample of 14 salespeople from a large Australian-based consumer goods enterprise was conducted. Using interpretative phenomenological analyses and ethnographic content analyses the antecedents and conditions for salesperson work engagement and work-related flow were investigated. Findings – The data showed that affective, cognitive and conative dimensions underpinned the experience of work engagement and work-related flow. Work engagement was interpreted as an aroused and self-regulated psychological state of energy, focus and striving aimed to address the situational and task relevant opportunities and demands encountered. Work-related flow was characterized by passion, absorption, eudaimonia and automatic self-regulation of goal pursuit. Research limitations/implications – The sample was from a single manufacturing organization with sales roles focussed primarily on business-to-business selling, and as such the generalizability of results to salespeople working in different contexts (e.g. retail sales, telesales) needs to be established. Practical implications – The research helps sales managers to take more account of the conditions that foster salesperson engagement and flow. Originality/value – This study represents one of the first attempts to interpret, compare and contrast the lived experience of salesperson work engagement with that of work-related flow. The study also adds to the relative paucity of research published on work engagement using qualitative methods.

The influence of job, team and organizational level resources on employee well-being, engagement, commitment and extra-role performance : test of a model

Purpose – Worker well-being continues to be fundamental to the study of work and a primary consideration for how organizations can achieve competitive advantage and sustainable and ethical work practices (Cartwright and Holmes; Harter, Schmidt and Keyes; Wright and Cropanzano). The science and practice of employee engagement, a key indicator of employee well-being, continues to evolve with ongoing incremental refinements to existing models and measures. This study aims to elaborate the Job Demands-Resources model of work engagement (Bakker and Demerouti) by examining how organizational, team and job level factors interrelate to influence engagement and well-being and downstream outcome variables such as affective commitment and extra-role behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach – Structural equations modelling of survey data obtained from 3,437 employees of a large multi-national mining company was used to test the important direct and indirect influence of organizational focused resources (a culture of fairness and support), team focused resources (team climate) and job level resources (career development, autonomy, supervisor support, and role clarity) on employee well-being, engagement, extra-role behaviour and organizational commitment.

Findings – The fit of the proposed measurement and structural models met criterion levels and the structural model accounted for sizable proportions of the variance in engagement/wellbeing (66 percent), extra-role-behaviour (52 percent) and commitment (69 percent).

Research limitations/implications – Study limitations (e.g. cross-sectional research design) and future opportunities are outlined.

Originality/value – The study demonstrates important extensions to the Job Demands-Resources model and provides researchers and practitioners with a simple but powerful motivational framework, a suite of measures, and a map of their inter-relationships which can be used to help understand, develop and manage employee well-being and engagement and their outcomes.

Challenge demands, hindrance demands, and psychological need satisfaction: their influence on employee engagement and emotional exhaustion

The job demands-resources (JD-R) model provides a well-validated account of how job resources and job demands influence work engagement, burnout, and their constituent dimensions. The present study aimed to extend previous research by including challenge demands not widely examined in the context of the JD-R. Furthermore, and extending self-determination theory, the research also aimed to investigate the potential mediating effects that employees' need satisfaction as regards their need for autonomy, need for belongingness, need for competence, and need for achievement, as components of a higher order needs construct, may have on the relationships between job demands and engagement. Structural equations modeling across two independent samples generally supported the proposed relationships. Further research opportunities, practical implications, and study limitations are discussed.

Leading educational re-design to sustain socially just schools under conditions of instability

There is now significant evidence that school and leadership redesign is necessary in order to achieve more socially just educational futures for all students and a productive and professionally rewarding environment for teachers. Redesign requires some fundamental shifts in how schools work; engagement with and through learning communities based on systematic critical inquiry; and inclusive leadership practices that address the complexities of the relationships between diversity, culture, gender and race in schooling. I argue that democratic leadership is most conducive to initiating and sustaining equitable outcomes. The article concludes with consideration of principles that could sustain leadership for social justice.

Measuring work-study engagement in built environment undergraduate education in Australia

The cost of accessing higher education is expensive causing students to juggle the demands of paid work with study responsibilities. Whilst some work can be beneficial to student leaning this research seeks a more accurate understanding of why students undertake paid experience work to the level that they do. This paper examines the extent of work and study during an undergraduate program in construction at RMIT University Australia. Students responded to a questionnaire on the duration and nature of their work and study times. The results indicate that students who were involved in paid work do in excess of 20 hours per week, whist also enrolled as full-time undergraduates. The results of the study show that students in the early years of the program seem to be more engaged with study and spent slightly less time at work. This is contrasted with students in the final two years of the course spend considerable more time in paid work and less time undertaking study.
The paper concludes by suggesting that the results are partly the result of the unstructured work-experience requirements that occur from about year 3 of the program. Students who were encouraged by the university to undertake paid work-experience appeared to be increasingly disinterested in connecting with the broader university experience.

Can a media annotation tool enhance online engagement with learning? A multi-case work-in-progress report

The paper explores preliminary data of four cases in a larger study investigating the effects on learning of a new educational technology called Media Annotation Tool (MAT). In particular, the paper focuses on learning engagement with MAT and begins to raise questions about what factors promote or enhance engagement. Drawing on the work of Kirkwood (2009), the authors analyse the type of educational technology functions that were expressed through the ways teachers integrated the use of MAT into their curriculum. Another factor explored in the paper is student engagement. Barkley's (2010) theorising on the complexity of student engagement for learning argues that engagement is where motivation and active learning synergistically interact. Examining students reflections on their use of MAT, the authors identify that while MAT offers active learning, motivation for the use of MAT may be a missing factor for some disengaged students. This insight provides further themes to explore in further analysis of the projects data.