Work Engagement in Gen Z Employees Based on Employee Happiness and Adaptive Performance

PurposeThis study aims to explore mediational mechanisms and conditions by which empowering leadership leads to positive outcomes at the employee level. Using social identity theory (SIT) as a foundation, the authors present an integrated moderated mediation model to explain the interactive effects of empowering leadership and leaders' prototypicality on employees' work engagement through the mediation of organizational identification (OI).Design/methodology/approachThe research model was tested using multilevel nested data obtained from 634 employees working in 133 departments (teams) in the service sector of Pakistan.FindingsThe results reveal that empowering leadership influences work engagement through the mediation of OI. However, leader prototypicality has emerged as an important moderating condition for these relationships because, at a lower level of leader prototypicality, the positive effect of empowering leadership may diminish.Practical implicationsThe results of this study suggest that organizations should promote empowering leadership to increase their employees' OI and work engagement. Furthermore, it is suggested that leader prototypicality is important along with empowering leadership to inculcate positive behavior among employees.Originality/valueThis is the first study of its nature, which used SIT to explain the indirect effect of empowering leadership on employees' work engagement via OI. Furthermore, the bounding condition of leader prototypicality is also studied for the first time in the context of the indirect relationship between empowering leadership and employees' work engagement via OI. The authors note that the novel unique findings of this study have the potential to open additional further avenues of research in the field of empowering leadership.

Nowadays the competitive advantage of any organization mainly relies not only on technologies or material resources but also on competitive, energetic, engaged employees, who are willing to share their knowledge, skills, and experience. Organizations must not only recruit talents but also inspire them and create the conditions in which they reveal themselves and have the prospect for professional growth. According to Bandura (1982), the personal belief of how well one can execute courses of action required to deal with prospective situations may become crucial for work success. The present study integrates Bandura’s (1982; 1989) Social Cognitive, Kanter’s (1977; 1979) Structural Empowerment, and Schaufeli and Bakker’s(2004) Work Engagement theories and is aimed (1) to analyze the relationships between employee occupational self-efficacy, structural empowerment, and work engagement and (2) to determine the role of occupational self-efficacy in the relationships between the elements of structural empowerment and work engagement.
 A total of 1636 specialist level employees from one Lithuanian public sector organization were surveyed online. Ninety four percent of the respondents were female, six percent were male. The average age of the respondents was 45.71 (SD = 10.34) years, with the average of 8.29 (SD = 7.23) years of working experience. All respondents had higher education. Occupational self-efficacy was measured using the Schyns & von Collani (2002) OCCSEEF scale (short version), structural empowerment elements (access to opportunity, information, support, and resources, informal power and formal power) were measured using the Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire – II (CWEQ – II) (Laschinger, Finegan, Shamian, & Wilk, 2001), and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9) (Schaufeli, Bakker, & Salanova, 2006) was used to measure work engagement. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied to determine the mediating role of occupational self-efficacy in the relationships between elements of structural empowerment and work engagement.
 The analysis revealed that all dimensions of structural empowerment positively predicted occupational self-efficacy, and that occupational self-efficacy positively predicted work engagement. Formal power directly positively predicted work engagement, occupational self-efficacy fully mediated the relationship between informal power and work engagement and partially mediated the relationships between certain predictors (access to opportinity, information, and resources) and work engagement.
 Despite some limitations (e.g., this being a cross-sectional study, and that specialist level employees were surveyed from one organization), the results of the study highlighted, first, that employee occupational self-efficacy and work engagement might be strengthened by empowering organizational structures, and, second, that occupational self-efficacy is an important personal characteristic explaining the relationships between empowering organizational structures and employee work engagement. Perspectives for future research and practical implications are discussed.

In times past, researchers have studied different variables that predict work engagement of employees but few of such studies have looked at the influence of hardiness and supervisor support on employees’ work engagement especially in Ogun State, Nigeria. This study therefore, examined the extent to which hardiness and supervisor support influence the work engagement of employees in public and private tertiary institutions in Ogun State, Nigeria. A sample of 476 employees selected through stratified random sampling technique was used. Hardiness, supervisor support and work engagement of employees were measured with standardized scales while three hypotheses postulated were analyzed with multiple regression and correlation analysis at .05 level of significance. Findings reveal that 43% of the variance in work engagement were accounted for by hardiness and supervisor support showing that hardiness and supervisor support jointly contributed to employees’ work engagement (F(2, 473) = 181.496, p .05) which had no significant contribution. Finally, there was a significant positive relationship between supervisor support and work engagement ((r = .659, p .05), and hardiness and supervisor support (r = .037, p > .05) These findings stress the important role of hardiness and supervisor support on the work engagement of employees. Implications of these findings is that managers need to create and boost needed managerial support at the various levels of employment to enhance employee engagement to meet organisational goals. Although hardiness is found to have no significant influence on work engagement, yet it is noted that individuals who are high in hardiness may be more likely to build and maintain a social network compared to those who are low in hardiness, hence the result of this research may be significant to employers on manpower development for better work commitment and engagement. It would therefore, be beneficial to provide hardiness trainings to new hires in the work place since previous researches has established that hardiness training may increase levels of hardiness in workers improving their job performance while leading to a reduction in attrition rate.

Dynamic industrial development requires many organizations to have the right competitive business strategy. Indonesian startups are no exception. Startups must think about ways to develop their human resources. In addition, because startups are companies that have just grown, startup owners need to build trust in their members to achieve what is planned according to the company’s targets. This study will examine the role of trust in management on work engagement among startup employees in Indonesia, focusing on mediating change resistance. The participants actively involved in this study were 100 start-up members at the staff to middle manager level and were selected based on a purposive sampling technique. The instruments used are the change resistance scale, the trust in management scale, and the work engagement scale. The PLS-SEM method test results found a significant positive role for trust in management on work engagement; trust in management affects change resistance, and change resistance affects work engagement. This means that trust in management can further strengthen its role in increasing work engagement if it is mediated by change resistance.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on organizations, necessitating adaptations to ensure business continuity. In light of the new normal working conditions, this study focused on examining employees' work engagement and well-being. The theoretical framework of this study drew upon William Kahn's (1990) work engagement theory and Diener's (1984) theory of subjective well-being. To assess these constructs, the researcher utilized instruments developed by Pradhan and Hati (2019), Prawitz et al. (2006), Rich et al. (2010), Kuok and Taormina (2017), and May et al. (2004), which were distributed to 100 employees working in restaurants in Cagayan de Oro City. A descriptive correlational design was employed, utilizing statistical tools such as frequency, mean, percentage, and standard deviation to determine the level of work engagement and well-being. Additionally, multiple regression analysis was used to identify the factors that predict work engagement. The study's findings revealed that employees demonstrated high levels of well-being and work engagement. Notably, the physical, mental, and emotional dimensions of well-being were the most significant predictors of work engagement. The study highlights the importance of conducting further empirical investigations to examine the impact of employees' financial well-being on their work engagement in the new normal.

PurposeThe present study aims to determine the effect of adopting voice on subordinates' work engagement based on organization-based self-esteem (OBSE).Design/methodology/approachThree variables were rated according to the seven-point Likert-type response scales. To control the effect of common method variance, an online survey was conducted to collect data from 206 samples at Chinese firms by employing a two-wave and time-lagged approach. In addition, structure equation modeling analysis was adopted to verify the hypotheses with Mplus 7.FindingsLeaders' adoption of employee voice shows a positive association with employee OBSE and work engagement. OBSE is positively associated with work engagement and mediates the effect of adopting voice on work engagement.Practical implicationsAs suggested from the mentioned results, organizations are required to encourage leaders to adopt employees' reasonable voice that can be an effective management tool impacting employee work engagement.Originality/valueThough existing studies have discussed the effects of leader behaviors on subordinates' work engagement, the effect of leaders' adoption of employee voice on employee work engagement has been rarely studied. Based on the job demand-resource model, this study fills the gap by empirically examining the effect of adopting voice on work engagement. As indicated by the findings here, leaders' adoption of employee voice enhances employee OBSE, thereby facilitating work engagement. The present study provides insights to stimulate employee work engagement.

Background - Competition between companies is very competitive to be the best organization must manage human resources and pay serious attention to the behavior, attitudes, and psychological state of employees. The company is expected to only employ competent human resources with a positive work attitude. However, the work-life balance of employees in hotels has not been felt evenly by hotel employees in Surabaya. Therefore, it is necessary to study the factors of work-life balance and work engagement by mediating job crafting for hotel employees in Surabaya. Objectives - To provide empirical evidence related to the direct effect of work-life balance on work engagement, and the indirect effect of using job crafting mediation on hotel employees in Surabaya. Design/method/approach - Quantitative research that is explanatory research is used in this study. A total of 152 hotel employees in Surabaya were used as samples using the purposive sampling technique. The data that has been collected and tabulated is then analyzed using the PLS program. Findings - This study provides evidence that work-life balance has a significant effect on job crafting, work-life balance does not affect work engagement. After that, job crafting influences work engagement. Furthermore, job crafting has a fully mediating role in work-life balance and work engagement. Conclusion - Work life balance can improve work engagement. job crafting is able to mediate between work life balance and work engagement of hotel employees in Surabaya. work life balance allows employees to build a balance between work and family roles. Research Implications - Hospitality management needs to increase work engagement which is much needed for employees in completing their job responsibilities to be better and give their best contribution in achieving organizational goals. Paying attention to the work-life balance of employees between work and family makes employees happy so they are motivated to give their best performance in providing services to hotel guests satisfactorily. Provide support by facilitating employee job crafting to modify the way of working according to the needs of the job. Research Limitations - This research is not free from limitations. This study only examines hotel employees in Surabaya, so further research needs to be carried out in different sectors that have different characteristics. The results of the study which were found to be insignificant between work-life balance and work engagement need further empirical evidence. In addition, it is necessary to further develop factors that affect work engagement, such as work stress and psychological contracts.

For this study, the association between employee dissent and work engagement was investigated. In addition, the moderating influence of employee perceptions of distributive justice on this relationship was examined. The data were collected from 311 participants employed in four organizations in Turkey and the employees voluntarily participated in the survey. Overall, the results partially supported the association between employee dissent and work engagement, and the moderating influence of distributive justice on this relationship. The findings suggest that monitoring dissent can inform organizations about their employees’ work engagement and further implications of the study are discussed.

This study aims to determine the effect of spiritual quotient, affective commitment, and perceived organizational support towards work engagement and employee performance of the teacher in Langke Rembong District, Manggarai Region. In this study, the researchers used purposive sampling technique to determine the research sample. The sample used was 80 civil servant teachers in Langke Rembong District, Manggarai Region. This research used quantitative approach and PLS-SEM method for data analysis. Data was collected by distributing questionnaires and analyzed descriptively by conducting validity, reliability, and path analysis tests by using Smart-PLS 4.0 software. The results showed that spiritual quotient (X1) affects work engagement (Z), spiritual quotient (X1) affects employee performance (Y), affective commitment (X2) affects work engagement (Z), affective commitment (X2) affects employee performance (Y), perceived organizational support (X3) has no effects on work engagement (Z), perceived organizational support (X3) affects employee performance (Y) and work engagement (Z) affects employee performance (Y).

This study investigates the negative effect of abusive supervision on employees’ work engagement via the mediating role of employee creativity and examines how interpersonal communication competence (ICC) buffers the negative effect of abusive supervision on work engagement and employee creativity. The Conservation of Resources (COR) theory was employed to explain the theoretical model. Data were collected from employees working in various organisations. Participants were recruited using a combination of recruitment methods and completed the survey via an online platform. Five hundred fifteen (55.7% were male) responses were included after dropping participants who failed to complete all three phases of data collection and the attention check items. The measurement model analysis suggested that the theoretical model was supported. The results supported all hypotheses in this study. Abusive supervision negatively predicted work engagement and employee creativity. In addition, the negative effect of abusive supervision on employee creativity and work engagement was stronger for those with low ICC. This study also found that the indirect negative effect of abusive supervision on work engagement through employee creativity was stronger for employees with low than high ICC. Discussion, implications, and limitations are included.

Past research on work engagement has focused almost exclusively on either psychological or work-related factors in almost wholly separate literature. There is therefore a need to examine how these factors collectively influence work engagement. To determine levels of work engagement and to identify psychological and work-related characteristics predicting work engagement in employees in Malaysia. We recruited 5235 employees from 47 public and private organizations in Malaysia who responded to an online health survey. We assessed work engagement with the 9-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9) and psychological distress using the 6-item Kessler scale. We performed multiple linear regression to determine predictors of work engagement. Employee mean age was 33.8 years (standard deviation [SD] ± 8.8). The mean work engagement score on the UWES-9 was 3.53 (SD ± 0.94). Eleven of 18 variables on multiple regression predicted work engagement, F(18, 4925) = 69.02, P < 0.001, R2 = 0.201. Factors that predicted higher work engagement were age, marital status, education level, job type, job permanency, longer sleep duration, lower psychological distress and no history of workplace bullying. Key factors associated with poorer work engagement in Malaysian employees include inadequate sleep, psychological distress and a history of workplace bullying. These are modifiable factors that individuals and employers can target to improve work engagement, ideally tailored according to occupational type.

Purpose The purpose of the present study is twofold. First, the authors examine the potential mediating role of promotion focus in terms of the relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement. Second, the authors set out to examine whether the indirect effect of transformational leadership and follower work engagement through promotion focus is stronger when followers' public service motivations are higher versus lower. Design/methodology/approach The present study examines the association between transformational leadership behavior and employees' work engagement. Data included measures of transformational leadership behavior and promotion focus as well as public service motivation and work engagement. Utilizing a field sample of 316 employees, the study tested the proposed relationships with robust data analytic techniques. Results were consistent with the hypothesized theoretical framework, in that promotion focus mediated the relationship between transformational leadership behavior and work engagement stronger when public service motivation was high and weaker when public service motivation was low. Based on the findings, the study concludes that the connection between transformational leadership behavior and work engagements partially mediated by promotion focus and this mediated connection is stronger when employees' public service motivation is high and weak when employees' public service motivation is low—thereby yielding a pattern of moderated mediation. Findings The study findings suggest five main conclusions. First, consistent with previous studies (Aryee et al. , 2012; Bui et al. , 2017; Hetland et al. , 2018; Li et al. , 2021; Ng, 2017; Tims et al ., 2011; Zhu et al ., 2009), the study found a positive relationship between transformational leadership and employees' work engagement. Second, along the same lines of previous research (Brockner and Higgins, 2001; Hetland et al. , 2018; Johnson et al. , 2017; Kark et al. , 2018; Tung, 2016), this study found a positive association between transformational leadership and employees' promotion focus. Third, as hypnotized, the study found a positive association between employees' promotion focus and their work engagement. Fourth, as hypothesized using regulatory focus theory, promotion focus positively mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and employees' work engagement. This result elucidates the underlying mechanism that enables leadership to influence employees' work engagement, particularly, through the self-regulatory promotion focus. The result demonstrates that leadership relates to and affects basic motivations of the promotion systems, which have been known as a basic human need for development and growth. The study demonstrates that leaders may be able to promote followers' motivations by provoking a promotion focus frame and this motivational frame further shapes followers' outcomes in terms of employees' work engagement. Hence, this finding support previous research claiming that promotion focus acts as a mediating mechanism in the relationship between transformational leadership and various outcomes(e.g. Johnson et al. , 2017; Kark et al. , 2018). However, this study adds significantly to existing research by being the first study to empirically test and pay attention to the promotion focus frame as the underlying psychological mechanism through which transformational leaders motivate followers to higher levels of work engagement. Finally, consistent with the study hypothesis, public service motivation has a moderating effect on the promotion focus-work engagement association. In addition, as the study hypothesized, public service motivation has a moderating effect on the mediating relationships between transformational leadership and employees' work engagement through promotion focus in public sector organizations. It appears that the relationship between transformational leadership and followers' work engagement through promotion focus is enhanced by the role of employees' PSM. In other words, the employees' public service motivation increases employee engagement further for employees with high situational promotion focus than for employees with a low situational promotion focus, which could be explained by the fact that more public service motivation is more meaningful to followers with promotion focus motivational framework to be more engaged. That is, public servants who are predisposed to respond to motives grounded primarily or exclusively in public institutions and organizations are more engaged at work due to their self-regulatory promotion focus spirit. This result is in congruence with findings that indicate that PSM is an important driver of organizational performance and has a positive impact on organizational behavior (Ritz et al. , 2016). This finding does provide support to Bakker's (2015) proposition that PSM may strengthen the positive relationship between personal resources (e.g. optimism and self-efficacy) and work engagement because public servants with high levels of enduring PSM find their work important and meaningful. Therefore, they are likely to invest their resources in public service work, be engaged in their work and perform well. Research limitations/implications First, it examines the extent to which transformational leadership contributes to employee work engagement. That is, the current study adds to the literature by using promotion focus attributes to probe the underlying mechanism through which transformational leaders enhance employee engagement in the workplace (Kark and van Dijk, 2019). Second, by combining insights obtained from the literature on the self-regulatory theory (Higgins, 1997) and the PSM theory (Perry and Wise, 1990), this study adds to work engagement literature by showing the importance of PSM as an institutional factor in work engagement. Lastly, the study expands the transformational leadership literature by using a moderated mediating model that recognizes PSM as a situational variable in the mediating relationship between transformational leadership and employee engagement. Practical implications The results have several implications for practice. Findings reveal that transformational leaders can enhance follower work engagement by inducing their promotion focus orientation. Managers can, therefore, display more transformational behaviors, such as providing a compelling vision, communicating high expectations, promoting new ideas and giving personal attention to each employee in the workplace. In addition, managers may develop a promotion-focus orientation among their followers by appealing more to their ideals and aspirations than to their duties and responsibilities (Brockner and Higgins, 2001). Organizations, on the other hand, could offer leadership training and development programs designed to enhance transformational leadership Behaviors. As for employees' PSM, public organizations have to be more creative in attracting, selecting and retaining employees with high levels of public service motives (Kim, 2021). Public organizations can also train their employees on public service values and enhance their incentives structures to align their motivational predispositions with the organization mission and values. Originality/value The present study adds to the existing theory in two ways. First, despite significant progress in exploring the process and boundary conditions for transformational leadership with beneficial work behaviors, the study findings paid attention to the underlying psychological mechanism, precisely the self-regulatory promotion focus frame through which transformational leaders motivate followers to higher levels of work engagement. A second theoretical contribution of the present study is that it adds to the long line of research supporting a more concerted effort to understand both the moderating and mediating mechanisms that link transformational leadership to follower outcomes. By using the moderated mediating model, this study shows that transformational leaders can induce a promotion focus within followers who have developed a public service motivation profile to be more willing to engage in their organizations. The current study also has several practical implications that can be drawn from the study findings. First, organizations should become more sensitive to their employees' (promotional and preventive) self-regulatory foci. Managers should be trained to be strategically oriented toward people's growth and development. Second, by serving as role models, managers can shape their subordinates' regulatory foci. The more managers' actions suggest that they are focused on promotion, the more likely it is that their subordinates will follow suit. Third, managers may emphasize the use of positive feedback, such as praise, by giving it when employees succeed and withholding it when they fail. This feedback style is more likely to elicit a promotion focus, especially if the praise for success focuses on what the employee was able to accomplish (e.g. “You aided

Preschool teachers' work engagement is a pivotal factor influencing children's developmental outcomes, classroom climate, and overall educational quality. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, this study investigates how perceived organizational support (POS) affects work engagement (WE) through the mediating mechanism of psychological empowerment (PE). Using validated scales adapted for Chinese preschool teachers—including Preschool Teachers' Perceived Organizational Support Scale, Preschool Teachers' Psychological Empowerment Scale, and Preschool Teachers' Work Engagement Scale. The research framework was tested using survey data collected from 353 Preschool teachers in 17 kindergartens in Shaanxi Province, China. The empirical results reveal statistically significant positive relationships (p&lt;0.01) among the three core constructs - POS, PE, and WE - as well as between each of their subdimensions, as measured by Pearson correlation analysis. To systematically examine the mechanisms underlying teacher engagement, this study utilizes structural equation modeling (SEM) with AMOS software to explore the connections among POS, PE, and WE. The AMOS-based SEM analysis confirmed that POS directly enhances WE while also exerting an indirect effect through the mediating pathway of PE. The model demonstrated good fit indices, validating the hypothesized relationships. Specifically, organizational support fosters teachers' sense of meaning, autonomy, self-efficacy, and impact - the core dimensions of PE - which in turn strengthens their WE. These findings underscore that when teachers perceive organizational support—through fair policies, resource provision, and leadership recognition—they experience greater empowerment in their roles, subsequently enhancing their motivation and commitment. The study provides empirical evidence that kindergarten administrators should implement dual-focused interventions: (1) strengthen organizational support systems, and (2) cultivate empowerment via participatory decision-making and professional development. Such strategies can sustain teacher engagement, ultimately elevating early childhood education quality and child development outcomes.

<p id="p00005">Extant emotional intelligence (EI) research has documented its <italic>intrapersonal</italic> benefits and has begun to examine its <italic>interpersonal</italic> effects. However, this line of research has primarily focused on the interpersonal effects of EI in the work context, while ignoring the potential influences from non-work domain. Considering employees’ family may have a spillover effect on their work behaviors, in this research, we propose that spouse EI will affect employees’ work engagement. Specifically, integrating effort-recovery model with the EI literature, we argue that spouse EI exerts a positive impact on employee work engagement through improving employees’ life well-being. Furthermore, we argue that employee gender alters the aboved relationships such that the positive interpersonal influences of spouse EI will be stronger among male employees than among female employees. <break/>We conducted two studies to examine the hypothesized model. In Study 1, we collected two-wave survey data from a large bank. At time 1, 126 employees and their spouses rated their own EI and provided their demographic information. At time 2, two weeks later, 126 employees evaluated their own life well-being and work engagement. The final valid sample consisted of 124 employee-spouse dyads. In Study 2, we collected three-wave survey data from an internet company. At time 1, 80 employees assessed their own EI and some control variables (i.e., leader EI, coworker EI, job demands, and job control); and their 80 spouses evaluated their own EI and provided their demographic information. At time 2, one month later, 78 employees rated their own life well-being. At time 3, another month later, 73 employees rated their own work engagement. The HR department of the company provided the archival data of employees’ demographic information. The final valid sample included 73 employee-spouse dyads. Regression analysis and bootstrapping technique were used to test the mediation, moderation, and moderated-mediation effects. <break/>In line with the hypotheses, two studies consistently showed that: (1) Spouse EI was positively related to employee life well-being; (2) Employee life well-being was positively related to employee work engagement; (3) Employee life well-being served as a mediator to transmit the effect of spouse EI on employee work engagement; (4) Employee gender moderated the relationship between spouse EI and employee life well-being such that when employees were male, the positive effect of spouse EI on employee life well-being was stronger; (5) Employee gender also moderated the indirect effect of spouse EI on employee work engagement via employee life well-being such that the indirect effect was stronger among male employees than among female employees. <break/>Our theoretical contributions are threefold. First, our research has deepened our understanding on EI, as it is among the first to establish a link between spouse EI and employee work engagement and supports the interpersonal effects of EI from the family to the work domain. Second, our research identifies employee life well-being as a key mediator that explains <italic>how</italic> spouse EI affects employee work engagement. Third, our research highlights the role of employee gender and unravels the conditions under which spouse EI exerts more or less effects on employee work engagement. Practically, our research offers implications to improve employee life well-being and work engagement through improving spouse EI, especially wife EI.

This study aims to determine the level of career adaptability and work engagement and the effect of career adaptability on work engagement in millennial generation employees at a startup company. This type of research is ex post facto with a quantitative approach. The population of this study amounted to 34 employees who work at the startup company. This research is a population study; therefore, it uses the entire population of employees. The instrument uses a psychological scale of career adaptability and works engagement. The validity of the research scale uses content validity by expert judgment. The reliability of the research scale was estimated using Cronbach Alpha and composite reliability. The results of the descriptive analysis show that the level of career adaptability and work engagement of millennial generation employees at A startup company is relatively high. The results of multiple linear regression analysis show that: (1) career adaptability affects work engagement, (2) career adaptability concerns and curiosity dimensions affect work engagement, (3) career adaptability dimensions control and confidence have no effect on work engagement.