Employee engagement: a sceptical analysis

Journal of Organizational Effectiveness

Volumn 1, Issue 2, 2014, Pages 141-156

  Guest, David ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Edvidence based management; Organizational engagement; Organizational performance; Well being; Work engagement

Indexed keywords

EID: 84981545640     PISSN: 20516614     EISSN: 20516622     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1108/JOEPP-04-2014-0017     Document Type: Article

References (53)

1. Abrahamson, E. (1991), “Managerial fads and fashions: the diffusion and rejection of innovations”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 586-612
2. Albrecht, S. (Ed.) (2010), Handbook of Employee Engagement, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham
3. Angle, H. and Perry, J. (1986), “Dual commitment labor-management climates”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 29 No. 1, pp. 31-50
4. Bakker, A. (2010), “Engagement and ‘job crafting’: engaged employee create their own great places to work”, in Albrecht, S. (Ed.), Handbook of Employee Engagement, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp. 229-244
5. Bakker, A., Albrecht, S. and Leiter, M. (2011), “Key questions regarding work engagement”, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 20 No. 1, pp. 4-28
6. Bakker, A. and Demerouti, E. (2007), “The job-demands – resources model: state of the art”, Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp. 309-328
7. Barney, J. (1991), “Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage”, Journal of Management, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 99-120
8. Blackburn, R. and Mann, M. (1979), The Working Class in the Labour Market, Macmillan, London
9. Bowen, D. and Ostroff, C. (2004), “Understanding HRM-performance linkages: the role of the ‘strength’ of the HR system”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 29 No. 2, pp. 203-221
10. Boxall, P. and Macky, K. (2009), “Research and theory on high performance work systems: progressing the high involvement work stream”, Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 3-23
11. Christian, M., Garza, A. and Slaughter, J. (2011), “Work engagement: a quantitative review and test of its relations with task and contextual performance”, Personnel Psychology, Vol. 64 No. 1, pp. 89-136
12. Clinton, M. and Woollard, S. (2012), Facing Continuing Uncertainty: The State of HR, King's College and Speechly Bircham, London
13. Cole, M., Walter, F., Bedeian, A. and O'Boyle, E. (2012), “Job burnout and employee engagement: a meta-analytic examination of concept proliferation”, Journal of Management, Vol. 38 No. 5, pp. 1550-1581
14. Combs, J., Liu, Y., Hall, A. and Ketchen, D. (2006), “How much do high-performance work practices matter? A meta-analysis of their effects on organizational performance”, Personnel Psychology, Vol. 59 No. 3, pp. 501-528
15. Coyle-Shapiro, J. and Conway, N. (2004), “The employment relationship through the lens of social exchange”, in Coyle-Shapiro, J., Shore, L., Taylor, S. and Tetrick, L. (Eds), The Employment Relationship: Examining Psychological and Contextual Perspectives, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 5-28
16. Crawford, E., LePine, J. and Rich, B. (2010), “Linking job demands and resources to employee engagement and burnout: a theoretical extension and meta-analytic test”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 95 No. 5, pp. 834-848
17. Fletcher, L. and Robinson, D. (2014), “Measuring and understanding engagement”, in Truss, C.et al. (Eds), Employee Engagement in Theory and Practice, Routledge, London, pp. 273-290
18. Gibson, J. and Tesone, B. (2001), “Management fads: emergence, evolution and implications for managers”, Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 122-133
19. Gouldner, A. (1960), “The norm of reciprocity: a preliminary statement”, American Sociological Review, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 161-178
20. Guest, D. (2004), “The psychology of the employment relationship: an analysis based on the psychological contract”, Applied Psychology: An International Review, Vol. 53 No. 4, pp. 541-555
21. Guest, D. (2014), “Voice and employee engagement”, in Johnstone, S. and Ackers, P. (Eds), Finding a Voice: New Perspectives on Employment Relations, Oxford University Press, Oxford, in press
22. Hackman, R. and Oldham, G. (1980), Work Redesign, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA
23. Halbesleben, J. (2010), “A meta-analysis of work engagement: relationships with burnout, demands, resources, and consequences”, in Bakker, A. and Leiter M. (Eds), Work Engagement: A Handbook of Essential Theory and Research, Psychology Press, New York, NY, pp. 102-117
24. Halbesleben, J., Harvey, J. and Bolino, M. (2009), “Too engaged? A conservation of resources view of the relationship between work engagement and work interference with family”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 94 No. 6, pp. 1452-1465
25. Harter, J., Schmidt, F. and Hayes, T. (2002), “Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement and business outcomes: a meta-analysis”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 87 No. 2, pp. 268-279
26. IPA/Tomorrow's Company (2012a), Rethinking Voice: Survey of Employers About Employee Voice, Involvement and Participation Association, London
27. IPA/Tomorrow's Company (2012b), Releasing Voice for Sustainable Business Success, Involvement and Participation Association, London
28. Judge, T., Thorsen, C., Bono, J. and Patton, G. (2001), “The job satisfaction – job performance relationship: a qualitative and quantitative review”, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 127 No. 3, pp. 376-407
29. Kahn, W. (1990), “Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 33 No. 4, pp. 692-724
30. Kahn, W. and Heaphy, E. (2014), “Relational contexts of personal engagement at work”, in Truss, C.et al. (Eds), Employee Engagement in Theory and Practice, Routledge, London, pp. 82-96
31. Keenoy, T. (2014), “Engagement: a murmuration of objects?”, in Truss, K.et al. (Eds), Employee Engagement in Theory and Practice, Routledge, London, pp. 197-220
32. Macey, W. and Schneider, B. (2008), “The meaning of employee engagement”, Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 3-30
33. MacLeod, D. and Clarke, N. (2009), Engaging for Success: Enhancing Performance Through Employee Engagement, Department of Business, Skills and Innovation, London
34. Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W. and Leiter, M. (2001), “Job burnout”, Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 52 No. 1, pp. 397-422
35. May, D., Gilson, R. and Harter, L. (2004), “The psychological conditions of meaningfulness, safety and availability and engagement of the human spirit at work”, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 77 No. 1, pp. 11-37
36. Newman, D., Joseph, D. and Hulin, C. (2010), “Job attitudes and employee engagement: considering the attitude ‘A-factor’”, in Albrecht, S. (Ed.), Handbook of Employee Engagement, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp. 43-61
37. Peccei, R. (2013), “Engagement at work: an evidence-based review”, in Bach, S. and Edwards, M. (Eds), Managing Human Resources, 5th ed., Wiley, Chichester, pp. 336-363
38. Purcell, J. (2014), “Employee voice and engagement”, in Truss, C.et al. (Eds), Employee Engagement in Theory and Practice, Routledge, London, pp. 236-249
39. Rayton, B., Dodge, T. and D'Analeze, G. (2012), The Evidence: Employee Engagement Task Force ‘Nailing the Evidence’ Workgroup, Engage for Success, London
40. Rich, B., Lepine, J. and Crawford, E. (2010), “Job engagement: antecedents and effects on performance”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 53 No. 3, pp. 617-635
41. Rousseau, D. (Ed.) (2012), The Oxford Handbook of Evidence-Based Management, Oxford University Press, Oxford
42. Saks, A. (2006), “Antecedents and consequences of employee engagement”, Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 21 No. 7, pp. 600-619
43. Schneider, B., Hanges, P., Smith, B. and Salvaggio, A. (2003), “Which comes first: employee attitudes or organizational financial and market performance?”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 88 No. 5, pp. 836-851
44. Schaufeli, W. (2014), “What is engagement?”, in Truss, C.et al. (Eds), Employee Engagement in Theory and Practice, Routledge, London, pp. 15-35
45. Schaufeli, W., Salanova, M., Gonzalez-Roma, V. and Bakker, A. (2002), “The measurement of engagement and burnout: a two sample confirmatory factor analytic approach”, Journal of Happiness Studies, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 71-92
46. Schaufeli, W., Taris, T. and Van Rhenen, W. (2008), “Workaholism, burnout and engagement: three of a kind or three different kinds of employee well-being?”, Applied Psychology: An International Review, Vol. 57 No. 2, pp. 173-203
47. Shuck, B. (2011), “Four emerging perspectives of employee engagement: an integrative literature review”, Human Resource Development Review, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 304-328
48. Sonnentag, S. (2011), “Research on work engagement is well and alive”, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 20 No. 1, pp. 29-38
49. Sparrow, P.R. (2014), “Strategic HRM and Employee Engagement”, in Truss, K., Alfes, K., Delbridge, R., Shantz, A. and Soane, E. (Eds), Employee Engagement in Theory and Practice, Routledge, London, pp. 99-115
50. Truss, C., Delbridge, R., Alfes, K., Shantz, A. and Soane, E. (Eds) (2014), Employee Engagement in Theory and Practice, Routledge, London
51. Xanthopoulou, D., Bakker, A., Demerouti, E. and Schaufeli, W. (2009), “Work engagement and financial returns: a diary study on the role of job and personal resources”, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 82 No. 1, pp. 183-2000
52. Bakker, A. and Leiter, M. (Eds) (2010), Work Engagement: A Handbook of Essential Theory and Research, Psychology Press, New York, NY
53. George, J. (2010), “More engagement is not necessarily better: the benefits of fluctuating levels of engagement”, in Albrecht, S. (Ed.), Handbook of Employee Engagement, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp. 253-263