Passionate and engaged? Passion for inventing and work engagement in different knowledge work contexts

Ilona Toth,Kaisu Puumalainen,Sanna Heinänen

doi:10.1108/ijebr-09-2020-0632

Abstract

PurposeIn response to the increasing interest in entrepreneurs' well-being in both the entrepreneurship and management research fields, this study builds and tests a research model on the role of entrepreneurial passion for inventing in work engagement in the context of modern knowledge work. The research argument is built on the job demands–resources model, the most commonly used frame for measuring employee well-being in work and organization psychology. The research setting in this study compares digital entrepreneurs and freelancers with traditional knowledge workers and part-time platform workers in terms of passion and engagement.Design/methodology/approachUsing a quantitative research design, the authors collected data from 349 highly specialized knowledge workers through anonymous questionnaires. The research hypotheses were tested with linear and logit models.FindingsThe results show that entrepreneurial passion is positively related to increased job demands and work engagement and that job demands can have a positive effect on work engagement in highly complex knowledge work.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by expanding the analysis of entrepreneurial passion outside the entrepreneurship context and into work engagement theory by adding passion for inventing as an important motivational factor in modern knowledge work. Extant literature on the consequences of work digitalization is still scarce, and this study provides insights into successful working on digital platforms.

Highlights

The role of entrepreneurial passion (EP) in work-related well-being in modern knowledge work is rapidly emerging as an important research area as the world of work is undergoing fundamental changes
We argue that having entrepreneurial passion for inventing (EPI) serves as a motivational resource in modern knowledge work contexts and that this motivational resource is needed in complex problem-solving expert assignments, in which both the pace of work and changes at work result in more variable job demands (Downes et al, 2020)
Entrepreneurial passion for inventing and work engagement Basing on the motivational aspect of the job design theory, we argue that EPI further increases work engagement in the complex autonomous work tasks increasingly demanded from the individual knowledge worker in organizations

Summary

Introduction

The role of entrepreneurial passion (EP) in work-related well-being in modern knowledge work is rapidly emerging as an important research area as the world of work is undergoing fundamental changes. The increase in autonomous work, job crafting (Bakker et al, 2012; Berg et al, 2013) or job sculpting (Pollack et al, 2020) and continuous learning and the demand for an entrepreneurial mindset (Turner and Pennington, 2015), along with globalization and digitalization, are changing the way knowledge work is being carried out. The amount of knowledge work done virtually will continue to increase with the introduction of new modes of working, such as virtual platforms (Caballer et al, 2005), co-creation teams (Johns and Gratton, 2013) and crowdsourcing (Barnes et al, 2015). The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

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