Personality and Job Engagement

The affective-motivational state of job engagement has been shown to differ between jobs with different characteristics, but its possible links with workers’ personal attributes have less often been studied. Engagement was predicted to be a primary function of personality factors and sub-factors which match its affective and motivational elements, namely Emotional Stability and more energized forms of Extraversion and Conscientiousness. Predictions were confirmed in correlational and regression analyses across three studies. Theoretical frameworks in this area should extend to personal characteristics in addition to covering job content, and practical benefits can follow from engagement-relevant staff selection and development as well as from appropriate job design. --------------------------In studying workers’ well-being, attention has traditionally been focused on the construct of job satisfaction, a relatively passive experience of low-to-moderate activation. Recently, this type of well-being has been complemented by the more energized form referred to as job engagement. Engaged workers feel positively about their situation, but beyond mere satisfaction they are motivated to expend energy on a task. Thus Leiter and Bakker (2010, p. 1) defined job engagement as “a positive, fulfilling, affective-motivational state of workrelated well-being”, and the review by Bakker, Albrecht, and Leiter (2011) identified a “growing consensus that engagement can be defined in terms of high levels of energy and high levels of involvement in work” (p. 22). See also, for instance, Inceoglu and Fleck (2010), Kahn (1990), Rich, Lepine, and Crawford (2010), and Schaufeli, Salanova, GonzálezRoma, and Bakker (2002). It is widely agreed that engagement arises from both personal and environmental sources (Macey & Schneider, 2008). However, theoretical discussions and empirical investigations have so far emphasized one of those, mainly examining engagement as a response to characteristics of the job. Thus Schaufeli and Bakker (2004), Shirom (2010) and others (not denying the role of within-person factors) have investigated key job features such as autonomy, demands, conflicts and good relations with other people, and Rich, Lepine, and Crawford (2010) developed and tested a model incorporating organizational support. However, there is also a need to develop understanding of engagement’s bases within individuals themselves. More engaged and less engaged workers are likely to differ in certain traits as well as in the nature of their jobs, but few studies or models of possible personality contributors to job engagement have been published. The meta-analysis by Halbesleben (2010) identified a small number of reports about optimism and self-efficacy (e.g., Xanthopoulou, Bakker, Demerouti, and Schaufeli, 2009a), but comprehensive information about a wider range of traits appears to be lacking. For instance, within the widely-applied Big Five taxonomy (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness) it has yet to be determined which factors are or are not relevant to engagement. Langelaan, Bakker, Van Doornen and Schaufeli (2006) considered relationships with only two of those, Neuroticism and Extraversion, but in a five-factor comparison To appear in Journal of Personnel Psychology, 2012 2 controlling for some job variables Kim, Shin and Swanger (2009) found that Conscientiousness alone was significant. Additional information and theorizing are required. First, we need to learn more about all five factors’ possible associations with workers’ engagement; and, second, research and theories should additionally consider possible differences between elements within certain of those factors (e.g., Tett, Steele, & Beauregard, 2003). For example, studies have distinguished empirically and conceptually between two sub-factors of Conscientiousness – active industriousness sometimes referred to as Achievement Orientation, and diligent, rule-following Dependability with its emphasis on orderly, hard-working reliability (e.g., Roberts, Chernyshenko, Stark, & Goldberg, 2005). Similarly, distinguishable facets of Extraversion have been identified as Affiliation (strongly desiring social interaction) and Social Potency (proactivity in influencing other people) (e.g., DeYoung, Quilty, & Peterson, 2007). Given that job engagement is defined as relatively activated and energized, it can be predicted that aspects of personality that are themselves more activated and energized will be reflected in engagement. Thus, in addition to possible associations with the broad factors of Neuroticism and overall Extraversion (as identified earlier), stronger links with job engagement are predicted for the more energized components of Extraversion and Conscientiousness, namely Social Potency and Achievement Orientation. The engagement studies reported here are unique in distinguishing between components of those kinds within a comprehensive assessment of all five factors of personality. In addition to sub-factor predictions (above), engagement is expected to be primarily associated with three of the Big Five – Emotional Stability (reverse-scored Neuroticism) and Extraversion, as found by Langelaan et al. (2006), and (in view of its motivated nature and findings by Kim et al., 2009) with Conscientiousness.