Engaging to Disengage

Abstract

As efforts to increase work engagement are commonly thought of as an organizational approach to motivate employees and reduce turnover, there has been little research connecting employees’ work engagement and their boarder career development. Drawing on an employability framework, the present study examines how work engagement may promote employed job search behavior over the course of two studies. Study 1, which involves a two-wave design with a 4-month time lag, finds support for a positive, direct effect of work engagement on preparatory job search behavior, as well as the moderating effect of employment status (i.e., permanent versus non-permanent) on this relationship. Study 2 uses a three-wave design to find a positive, indirect effect of work engagement on preparatory job search behavior via personal skill development, as well as the conditional indirect effect of employment status on this relationship. Practical and theoretical contributions are discussed in terms of their general implications for understanding a process, and a boundary condition of this process, that facilitate the understudied positive relationship between work engagement and employed job search.