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The main objective of this study is to apply broaden‐and‐build theory to occupational wellbeing. More specifically, it seeks to test whether positive emotions “build” resources and to what extent they contribute to work engagement through an increase in personal or job resources. Additionally, it aims to hypothesize that positive emotions, resources, and work engagement are reciprocally related to each other in a way akin to a gain cycle.

In order to test whether positive emotions, personal and job resources, and work engagement are related over time, a structural equation model was constructed. The model was based on two waves of data, with a time lag of six months.

Results show a reciprocal relationship between positive emotions and personal resources. Furthermore, there is a causal effect of personal resources on work engagement and a reversed causal effect of work engagement on positive emotions. Most surprising is the fact that no relationships with job resources are found to be significant.

Because the authors exclusively used self‐report measures to assess positive emotions, resources, and work engagement, the cross‐paths might have been inflated.

The results underline the importance of increasing both positive emotions and the level of personal resources in order to create an engaged workforce.

The study adds to the existing literature in the sense that the research model entailed positive emotions as a “novel” variable in the context of resources and work engagement. The model recognized the building capacity of positive emotions as well as the potential of personal resources in predicting work engagement.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of an individual oriented positive psychology intervention on positive emotions, self‐efficacy, and work engagement.

The online self‐enhancement intervention program consists of three types of online assignments: happiness assignments, goal setting assignments, and resource building assignments. The authors expected the self‐enhancement intervention group to show a significantly stronger increase in the outcome variables compared to a self‐monitoring control group.

The results revealed that the self‐enhancement group showed a stronger increase in positive emotions and self‐efficacy compared to the control group, but not on engagement. Additional analyses showed that the positive effects of the self‐enhancement intervention are present for employees who are initially low in engagement, but not for those medium or high in engagement.

The study was conducted via a semi‐public web site. The participants were all working in different organizations throughout the country and did not have the advantage of having the support of their supervisors and colleagues who were participating in a similar intervention.

Positive psychology interventions should target employees who are low in engagement, because they have the most unused potential and therefore have more to gain.

Traditionally speaking, individual interventions are carried out when something is wrong or malfunctioning, and with the sole objective of fixing it. The intervention presented in this paper includes the entire workforce, because it is based on the belief that improving employee well‐being is relevant for all.

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships between transformational leadership (TL), informal learning and job involvement. The study delineates two pathways from TL to job involvement. The first is an indirect link through informal learning on job involvement, while the second pathway focuses on the moderating role of self-efficacy on the relationship between TL and informal learning.

Survey data were gathered from 596 employees of small services firms in Pakistan. The proposed hypotheses were examined using structural equation modeling.

The results reveal that TL is indirectly related to job involvement through informal learning. The study also shows that self-efficacy strengthens the relationship between TL and informal learning.

Previous studies have overlooked the potential influence of TL on job involvement through the mechanism of informal learning. The current study addresses this gap by examining informal learning as a mediator between TL and job involvement. Furthermore, the study provides several theoretical and managerial implications for research and practice.

Although managers and academicians have recognised the importance of high-commitment work systems (HCWS), work engagement and psychological capital (PsyCap) in service firms, many questions remain unanswered. This study aims to fill the gaps in the area of work engagement by considering the relationships among HCWS, PsyCap and work engagement. In this cross-sectional study, the author drew on the social exchange theory to analyse these relationships.

Cross-sectional data from 309 employees from India’s services sector was collected to investigate HCWS and work engagement associations. The data were analysed by structural equation modelling.

The study findings integrate the existing literature on human resource (HR) systems and positive psychology by identifying the critical role of PsyCap in passing the positive effects of HCWS to engage employees in their work. Further, it supports the assumption that PsyCap is formed primarily based on organisational practices, thereby addressing the paucity of research that examined the antecedents of PsyCap.

Owing to study findings, service firms are encouraged to carry out human resource development intervention(s) to make their employees psychologically capable. Since PsyCap is a state-like construct, it can be developed among individuals. Thus, managers can develop their employees’ PsyCap through various training interventions.

The mediating role of PsyCap in the HCWS and work engagement in India’s service industries settings was tested. The present study’s findings contribute to the theory of strategic human resource management by explaining how HCWS can help employees engage better in their work.

The purpose of this paper is to differentiate between two types of job resources (i.e. task resources and social resources) and extends the job demands-resources (JD-R) model with a typically Chinese form of social exchange – guanxi exchange – to increase its applicability in the Chinese context.

Multigroup structural equation analysis was used to test the hypotheses in two cross-sectional Chinese samples of 463 police officers and 261 nurses.

Results supported the distinction between social resources and task resources. Social resources were positively related to engagement and organizational commitment (for police officers), task resources were positively related to engagement (for both nurses and police officers), organizational commitment (for police officers), and negatively to burnout (for police officers). Guanxi exchange with supervisors was positively associated with social resources (for both nurses and police officers), task resources (for nurses), and organizational commitment (for police officers). Moreover, guanxi exchange was positively related with work engagement in both nurses and police officers. Unexpectedly, guanxi exchange was positively related with burnout in police officers.

Due to its cross-sectional design, longitudinal replication of the findings is desirable in order to establish causality.

The effects of informal interpersonal relations (i.e. guanxi exchange) on employees’ well-being and organizational commitment should be acknowledged, especially when developing strategies to reduce burnout and increase work engagement.

For the first time, task resources and social resources are distinguished and a Chinese traditional concept (guanxi exchange) is integrated into the JD-R model.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relation between employee engagement, decisions to be in a relationship with a co-worker, and commitment uncertainty in a sample of adults who identified they were currently working with their romantic partner.

Because workplace romance can be a taboo topic among working adults, we recruited participants anonymously from online social media websites (n=68). The use of non-experimental design limits the ability to draw causal references in relation to the variables of interest.

Participants who reported they were motivated to be in a romantic relationship with a co-worker to increase status also reported lower levels of engagement, even after controlling for other relationship (e.g. relationship adjustment) and workplace variables (e.g. intent to turnover).

Romantic relationships within the workplace will most certainly transpire yet the topic remains underexplored in the management literature. This work provides scholars and practitioners insight into the psychological mechanisms that influence workplace relationships and more, explores how relationships between co-workers impact performance variables such as employee engagement.

This is the first study to examine the influence of workplace romantic relationships in the context of employee engagement. Moreover, this is one of only a handful of studies that has documented the empirical linkage between workplace relationships and performance variables.

Drawing from the self-determination theory (SDT) model of work motivation (Gagné and Deci, 2005), the paper aims to examine the relationship between employee intention to stay and happiness through work engagement and analyses how hope acts as a boundary condition in this relationship.

In this study a survey was conducted among the individuals working in the Information Technology (IT) and Information Technology Enable Services (ITeS) sector across India. The data were assessed through PROCESS v.3.3 macros in Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).

The moderated mediation results from 256 responses reveal that the intention to stay is positively related to happiness and that this relationship is mediated by work engagement. The indirect effect of intention to stay on happiness is seen to be strengthened by hope, thus substantiating the moderated mediation hypothesis.

The empirical insights will be valuable for managers and organisations in the IT/ITES sectors around the globe. Happy employees are productive employees, and practitioners should focus on creating a positive environment.

This study aids in understanding the outcomes of intention to stay and moderating the role of hope between intention to stay and work engagement. It highlights how the positive construct of intention to stay and the negative construct of intention to quit, while essentially different, also appear to be two sides of the same coin. If an employee has decided to quit, it would be futile to bear further costs on them, whereas, if they intend to stay, they are unlikely to engage in deviant behaviours.