Adrian Madden

The Meaning, Antecedents and Outcomes of Employee Engagement: A Narrative Synthesis

The claim that high levels of engagement can enhance organizational performance and individual well-being has not previously been tested through a systematic review of the evidence. To bring coherence to the diffuse body of literature on engagement, the authors conducted a systematic synthesis of narrative evidence involving 214 studies focused on the meaning, antecedents and outcomes of engagement. The authors identified six distinct conceptualizations of engagement, with the field dominated by the Utrecht Groups ‘work engagement’ construct and measure, and by the theorization of engagement within the ‘job demands–resources’ framework. Five groups of factors served as antecedents to engagement: psychological states; job design; leadership; organizational and team factors; and organizational interventions. Engagement was found to be positively associated with individual morale, task performance, extra-role performance and organizational performance, and the evidence was most robust in relation to task performance. However, there was an over-reliance on quantitative, cross-sectional and self-report studies within the field, which limited claims of causality. To address controversies over the commonly used measures and concepts in the field and gaps in the evidence-base, the authors set out an agenda for future research that integrates emerging critical sociological perspectives on engagement with the psychological perspectives that currently dominate the field.

Time reclaimed: temporality and the experience of meaningful work:

The importance of meaningful work has been identified in scholarly writings across a range of disciplines. However, empirical studies remain sparse and the potential relevance of the concept of temporality, hitherto somewhat neglected even in wider sociological studies of organizations, has not been considered in terms of the light that it can shed on the experience of work as meaningful. These two disparate bodies of thought are brought together to generate new accounts of work meaningfulness through the lens of temporality. Findings from a qualitative study of workers in three occupations with ostensibly distinct temporal landscapes are reported. All jobs had the potential to be both meaningful and meaningless; meaningfulness arose episodically through work experiences that were shared, autonomous and temporally complex. Schutz’s notion of the ‘vivid present’ emerged as relevant to understanding how work is rendered meaningful within an individual’s personal and social system of relevances.

Value of Formalization for Women Entrepreneurs in Developing Contexts: A Review and Research Agenda: Women Entrepreneurs in Developing Contexts

The informal economy (IE) has attracted the attention of policy makers, practitioners and academics alike, reflected both in the growing number of publications spanning different disciplinary foci and in the recent policy emphasis on the formalisation of IE (ILO 2014, Sepulveda and Syrett 2007, Williams and Nadin 2014). The emphasis on formalisation reflects the move beyond traditional explanations of IE as lacking sustainability and stability associated with being a remnant of economic development (Webb et al. 2009) to appreciate its permanence and significance, and its links with, and interdependencies on, the formal economy (Castells and Portes 1989, Meagher 2013, Chen 2007). The IE, broadly accepted as ‘the diversified set of economic activities, enterprises, jobs, and workers that are not regulated or protected by the state’ (Chen 2012: 8), contributes substantially to national GDPs of countries at different developmental stages, accounting as much as 40-60% of the GDPs of developing countries (Godfrey 2011, Schneider 2002). The IE also attracts a disproportionately high number of women, whose participation in these often vulnerable forms of (self)employment is frequently portrayed as motivated by poverty or ‘involuntary exclusion’ from the formal labour market and concerned with sustaining their family’s livelihood (Franck 2012, Bushell 2008, Williams and Gurtoo 2011). These views often ignore the gendered constraints on women’s entrepreneurial activities and their reproduction through social norms, codes of behaviour and practices in specific socio-cultural contexts and the barriers to women’s sustainable economic activity through formalisation. n nWhile IE and women entrepreneurship (WE) have both received separate prior attention, we believe their insights are valuable in widening the theoretical lens on the perceived value of formalisation by placing centre-stage the tensions inherent in, and the institutional dynamics affecting women’s choices in developing contexts. The data available about the drivers and barriers to formalisation in relation to gender is scant with the few existing studies often being narrowly conceptualised, fragmented or lacking in rigour (Chant and Pedwell 2008). This is partly related to contrasting emphases on women’s entrepreneurial activities in IE and WE literature as we succinctly summarise below.

A Review of the Empirical Literature on Meaningful Work: Progress and Research Agenda:

Meaningful work is a topic of importance in core domains of human resource development (HRD) such as employee engagement, motivation, and personal development. However, there is little consensus over what comprises meaningful work or concerning the antecedent and outcome factors associated with meaningfulness. Prior theorizing has tended to conflate conceptual and empirical arguments, and hence, we lack clear insight into factors related to employees’ experience of meaningfulness. To address these gaps, we undertook an analysis of the empirical literature relating to meaningful work. In all, 71 studies met the inclusion criteria. We focused on the question, “What is the empirical evidence base concerning meaningful work, and how can this inform theory and practice in HRD?” The synthesis revealed dominant trends alongside significant gaps in understanding. We highlight the practical implications of our analysis for the HRD field and propose avenues for future research on meaningfulness within HRD.