Work engagement: An emerging psychological concept

Introduction: For two reasons, work engagement has emerged as a novel construct since the turn of the last century. First, positive turn has occurred in academic psychology that stimulated the study of "positive" psychological states, such as work engagement. Second, in modern organizations the importance of human capital, including employee motivation, has grown considerably so that nowadays engaged employees constitute a competitive advantage. However, rather than a unitary agreed-upon concept of work engagement, many different approaches exist both in science as well as in practice.  

Objectives: The presentation of an integrated model of work engagement that includes various aspects that have been discussed  previously under that heading. Also, the issue is addressed whether or not work engagement is "old wine in new bottles" (incremental validity), and in how far work engagement can be differentiated from other psychological states, such as job satisfaction and workaholism (discriminant validity).   Methods: A conceptual analyses is used for building the integrated model of work engagement and own empirical work and that of other is used for demonstrating the incremental and discriminant validity of work engagement.  

Results: Work engagement is a psychological state that results from a resourceful work environment and particular personal resources. It may lead to positive organizational (e.g. performance) and personal (e.g. health) outcomes. Although strongly related to job satisfaction, work engagement is a distinct concept that refers to activation rather than satiation. Moreover, engaged workers and workaholics work hard, but their underlying motivation differs fundamentally. It seems that the former are driven by an approach motivation (work is fun), whereas the latter are driven by an avoidance motivation (not working is stressful).  

Conclusion: A case is made for the uniqueness of work engagement as an important concept for a truly positive occupational health psychology that is relevant for science and practice alike