Regulatory Focus and Perceived Self-Value as Predictors of Work Engagement

Abstract

WORK ENGAGEMENT HAS BEEN WIDELY recognized as a critical factor driving organizational performance (Lockwood, 2007) and providing organizations with a competitive advantage (Swarnalatha and Prasanna, 2013). As such, it has frequently been studied for its positive effects on job performance, organizational commitment, health (Halbesleben, 2010), career success (Ng and Feldman, 2014), and job satisfaction (Kane et al., 2014) and its negative effects on stress and turnover (Huynh et al., 2014). Given the favorable organizational and individual outcomes associated with engagement, researchers have turned their attention to identifying antecedents in hopes of improving engagement among employees.Extant research has shown that predictors of work engagement include coworker and supervisor support (Sarti, 2014), job control (Kuhnel et al., 2012) as well as the dispositional traits of emotional intelligence, openness to experience, extraversion, and conscientiousness (Akhtar et al., 2015). An additional dispositional characteristic that has not yet been examined for its effect on work engagement is one's regulatory focus.The premise of regulatory focus theory (RFT) (Higgins, 1997) is that individuals may be either promotion or prevention focused. In the work environment, those who are prevention focused are concerned with maintaining their job security and behave in ways that help them avoid losses. They are not concerned with achieving goals but rather maintaining what they have. Those with a promotion focus are primarily concerned with achieving goals and obtaining rewards. Thus, their primary motivation is goal achievement and they behave in ways that facilitate reaching their goals. In the workplace, this may be promotions and/or salary increases.Applying RFT to the current study allows us to argue that the relationships between both prevention and promotion focus with work engagement are positive; however, these relationships hold for different reasons. Essentially, prevention-focused individuals are engaged such that their performance is adequate to fully perform their jobs. Promotion-focused individuals engage in order to excel and be recognized and hopefully identified for promotions.One variable that may affect the relationships between regulatory focus and work engagement is perceived self-value (PSV). PSV refers to how valuable people think they are to their organization (Eisenberger et al., 2002; Ozcelik, 2013). High PSV reflects a feeling of strong value, that the organization needs me. Low PSV indicates a feeling that the individual is not valued and the organization could do just as well without me. This self-perception may interact with one's regulatory focus such that work engagement is enhanced or limited.The purpose of the current study is twofold. First, using RFT as our theoretical foundation, we explore the relationships between prevention and promotion focus and work engagement. Combining these two areas expands the engagement literature by adding new predictor variables. Second, we introduce PSV as a moderator of these relationships to highlight the differences between promotion and prevention focus. The hypothesized model is shown in Figure 1.Regulatory focus theoryRegulatory focus theory (RFT) (Higgins, 1997, 1998) rests in large part on approach/avoidance theories of motivation which suggest individuals are motivated to engage in behaviors that yield positive end states and will avoid behaviors that may produce negative end states. Specifically, RFT proposes individuals self-regulate as they pursue goal adoption through one of two mechanisms: promotion focus or prevention focus. Generally, individuals are motivated to achieve favorable outcomes and avoid negative outcomes and do so through the adoption of a promotion and/or prevention focus. While the underlying purpose for the behavior is the same-achieve a goal-the goals for which individuals strive differ. …