The Attitudinal, Behavioral, and Performance Outcomes of Work Engagement: A Comparative Meta-Analysis Across the Public, Semipublic, and Private Sector

Abstract

Eager to learn from private sector trends, practitioners in (semi)public organizations across the world have recently turned their eyes to the concept of work engagement to improve employee performance. Studies in the private sector show that work engagement is a more robust predictor of performance than, for example, satisfaction. The goal of this study is to find out whether the effects of work engagement on attitudinal, behavioral, and performance outcomes within the semipublic and public sector are also as high as expected and whether these relationships differ between the public, semipublic, and private sector. The results of the cross-sectoral meta-analysis of 130 studies showed that the most noticeable significant sectoral differences can be found in the mean work engagement and the effects of work engagement on the level of attitudinal outcomes (job satisfaction and commitment) and behavioral outcomes (workaholism and turnover intention).

Job satisfaction behind motivation: An empirical study in public health workers

“…Thus, each health care worker could be more productive if there is a corresponding reward that would lead to an increase in his/her job satisfaction. This can make the entire performance of the whole health unit to increase, which in turn would increase the quality of services provided ( Borst et al, 2020 ; Kontodimopoulos et al, 2009 ; Rubel et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Another factor that increases the job satisfaction of healthcare employees is the acknowledgment of their work and appreciation they receive from their colleagues, management and patients. When the work of employees is acknowledged, they have increased levels of job satisfaction ( Borst et al., 2020 ; Lambrou et al., 20 10 ). Aside the acknowledgment of their work, employees are highly satisfied with their job when there are opportunities for development and growth within the health unit ( Lambrou et al., 2010 ).…”

“…Popa and Popescu (2013) and Rossidis et al (2016) argue that meeting the needs of employees through the provision of incentives is a powerful tool that administrations can use to motivate them and increase their productivity. This is an element that all health organizations should take advantage of, as this can help them to deal with and overcome serious problems that limit their effectiveness (Borst et al, 2020;Valdez and Nichols, 2013). In this context, it is important to state that motivating healthcare workers is an urgent need as it increases their performance and consequently increases the efficiency of the services provided as well as patients' satisfaction (Hotchkiss et al, 2015;Rubel et al, 2020).…”

Same Involvement, Different Reasons: How Personality Factors and Organizations Contribute to Heavy Work Investment

“…Owing to the different motivations behind these forms of HWI, the individual and organizational level outcomes are quite the opposite. Engaged employees experience high levels of satisfaction and exhibit extra-role behaviors, better team functioning, job performance, and lower rates of sickness-related absence and intention to quit their jobs [ 9 ]. Beyond the consequences in the organizational context, these employees report better social functioning, high life satisfaction, well-being, and general health [ 10 ].…”

Ensuring Employee Task Performance: Role of Employee Engagement

“…In view of the limited literature and studies that have been conducted in the public sector that considered the relationship between employee engagement and task performance (Borst, Kruyen, Lako, & de Vries, 2019) and other nagging but extremely relevant questions that have not been answered concerning EE issues, this paper examines whether engaged employees affect ETP in a non‐western context.…”