Entrained Engagement? Investigating If Work Engagement Follows a Predictable Pattern across the Work Week and the Role of Personality in Shaping Its Pattern

Abstract

Purpose

Our study examined whether work engagement follows a predictable pattern over the course of the work week and the role of personality traits in shaping this pattern.

Design/Methodology/Approach

We examined these questions with 131 employees from Canada and the United States who provided daily ratings of work engagement over the course of 10 work days.

Findings

Multilevel modeling revealed that employee engagement followed an inverted U-shaped curvilinear pattern from Monday to Friday, peaking midweek. Neuroticism moderated the change pattern of engagement across the work week, such that individuals with higher levels of neuroticism experienced lower and less stable levels of work engagement throughout the work week compared with individuals with lower levels of neuroticism. However, extroversion and conscientiousness did not moderate the change pattern of employee engagement.

Research Limitations/Implications

These results provide insight into the entrainment of work to the work week and how this entrainment is further affected by the personality trait neuroticism.

Practical Implications

Understanding the weekly pattern of work engagement will help leaders’ time work assignments, interventions, and training sessions to keep the levels of employee engagement high.

Originality/Value

Our study revealed novel predictors of within-person engagement: weekly entrainment and neuroticism.

Citation

Luta, D., Powell, D.M. and Spence, J.R. (2019), "Entrained Engagement? Investigating If Work Engagement Follows a Predictable Pattern across the Work Week and the Role of Personality in Shaping Its Pattern", Emotions and Leadership (Research on Emotion in Organizations, Vol. 15), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 89-109. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1746-979120190000015009