A model of employee engagement: Examining the mediational role of job attitudes and vigor

Employee engagement (EE) has gained notoriety for organizations seeking discretionary effort from their employees. Researchers have pondered whether EE is anything more than repackaged job satisfaction and/or organizational commitment. Following a conceptual framework of state and behavioral engagement, this research explored whether a measure of state-like affect (i.e., vigor) was divergent from the traditional job attitude measures of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Secondly, this research tested how these state engagement measures (i.e., vigor, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment) related to behavioral engagement (i.e., the proactive behavioral measure of taking charge). Finally, this research investigated important work conditions said to reside within the engagement domain, such as psychological safety, and their relationship to state and behavioral engagement.;A total of 672 respondents from a broad range of professions and organizations completed an on-line self-report questionnaire. Utilizing structural equation modeling, this research compared several models of EE, finding the greatest support for a partially mediated model whereby work conditions indirectly affected taking charge through vigor. Job attitude measures did not mediate the relationship. Different work conditions had different effects on vigor, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. This dissertation discusses implications for research and practice and offers suggestions to advance theory in this area.