Meaningfulness Misfit: Consequences of Daily Meaningful Work Needs-Supplies Incongruence for Daily Engagement

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Vogel, Ryan M.; Rodell, Jessica; Sabey, Tyler
• 署名单位: Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); Temple University; University System of Georgia; University of Georgia
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0021-9010
• DOI: 10.1037/apl0000464
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 760-770
• 关键词: meaningful work; engagement; fatigue; EXPERIENCE SAMPLING METHODOLOGY

摘要

There is a general consensus that meaningful work is a positive attribute-at a general level, it attracts people to jobs and motivates positive outcomes. Yet, at the same time that organizations are focusing their attention on providing employees with greater meaning, day-to-day engagement of employees has been trending downward. In this study, we challenge several prevailing assumptions in the literature to suggest that, even though meaningful work is generally a sought after and desirable characteristic in a job, employees' daily experiences with their work present a more complex picture. Based on the idea that employees' construals of their daily experiences are more granular than those associated with their overall experiences, we use a person- environment fit lens to explore the idea that mismatches between meaningful work received and meaningful work needed on a given day may lead to lower engagement, both in situations of deficiency and excess. Based on a daily within-person examination, we found that although meaningfulness positively influenced daily engagement through increased attentiveness, both too little and too much meaningful work was fatiguing, reducing engagement levels. Combined, these findings suggest that the relationship between meaningful work and engagement is somewhat different depending on whether it is considered between-persons or within-person.