Engagement at a higher level: The effects of public value on employee engagement, the organization, and society

Abstract

We investigate whether an organization’s social contribution is associated with positive consequences for both the organization and its employees by building on the growing body of research that aims to bridge the gap between micro-level and macro-level phenomena. Specifically, we theorize and empirically show that public value can increase the engagement of employees, while employee engagement mediates the effect of public value on job satisfaction, affective commitment, life satisfaction, and intention to quit. To test our hypotheses, we conduct a large-scale representative online survey (N = 1383). We use organizational public value as a comprehensive conceptualization of the social contribution of organizations and measure employee engagement by creating and validating a German-language version of Shuck et al.'s (2017a) employee engagement scale. Our findings indicate that both external and internal benefits for the organization and its employees may need to be considered when an organization decides on how to balance or integrate profit and social contribution. Additionally, we demonstrate that the experiences of employees regarding not only their work role but also their role as members of their organization, i.e., their perception of their organization’s public value, are relevant for a more comprehensive understanding of what affects and engages employees.

Public administration contributes to happiness: a study on the relationship between public value and happiness in Switzerland

“…In this sense, we contribution to the research field by not only considering individual micro-level processes outside the public administration, but also at individual processes within the organization at the employee level. Third, this study is a further addition to the field of research on public value (Grubert et al, 2022;Meynhardt and Jasinenko, 2020;Ritz et al, 2022) that has also supported to bridge the gap between micro-and macro-level processes. More specifically, our study scientifically contributes to the research field of public value literature by drawing on the public value approach (Meynhardt, 2009(Meynhardt, , 2015, which considers public value creation through needfulfillment and as performance measurement of public administrations and its association with individuals' happiness.…”

“…There is a bit of research on how public sector organizations influence the well-being of their employees (e.g. Berry, 2010;Grubert et al, 2022) and how well-being can be measured to design public policy (Forgeard et al, 2011). However, research with regard to public sector organizations' external influence on the communities and societies they serve has been sorely lacking.…”

Leveraging Employee Engagement for Competitive Advantage: Satisfaction and Work Motivation Management

“…By investing in work motivation, organizations can improve employee well-being, job performance, and organizational effectiveness (Irabor and Okolie 2019; Virgiawan et al 2021). Grubert et al (2022) propose that individuals strive to strike a balance between their pursuits and their contributions in the workplace. They define work motivation as a construct encompassing several dimensions, such as desired outcomes, behavioral persistence, and work-related intensity, that organizations seek to measure (Virgiawan et al 2021;Sánchez-Hernández et al 2019).…”

The impact of work engagement of different generations on organisational engagement

“…(Harter et al, 2020;Nguyen et al, 2021). Moreover, employee engagement is associated with positive behaviours at work (Giancaspro et al, 2022;Szostek, 2022;Szostek et al, 2022), greater job satisfaction (Rayton and Yalabik, 2014;Grubert et al, 2022), work efficiency (Basit, 2019;Turner, 2020;Borisov & Vinogradov, 2022), enhanced individual and teamwork innovativeness (Afsar, 2021;Seppälä et al, 2018), individual employee creativity (Demerouti et al, 2015), increased well-being (Saks et al, 2022), benefits of employee training and development (Azeem et al, 2013), discovered talents, and career advancement (Onday, 2016;Pandita and Ray, 2018;Rózsa et al, 2023).…”