The conceptualization of employee engagement and its distinction from related constructs

Abstract

Employee engagement has become a very popular and powerful concept receiving attention in both the academic literature and business industry. However, this concept still remains inconsistently conceptualized and often seems to overlap with other well-researched and established concepts. With the above considerations in mind, the present study critically examines the existing literature regarding the conceptualization of employee engagement and its distinction from other related psychological constructs such as job satisfaction, job involvement, organizational citizenship behavior, and organizational commitment. The findings in this study suggest that it is meaningful to refer to employee engagement as a distinct construct.