When it comes to theories, researchers met the same problem as definition of engagement that there are also several models and theories of engagement (Saks & Gruman, 2014). The root of these theories and models are from two primary areas of research: job burnout and employee well-being (Maslach & Leiter, 1997) and an ethnographic study done by Kahn in 1990 focusing on personal engagement and dis engagement.
The first theory of work engagement can be found in the ethnographic study of Kahn (1990). His participants were summer camp counselors and members of an architecture firm and were interviewed about their moments of engagement and disengagement at work. The study found that an individual’s degree of engagement was related to the experience of three psychological conditions: meaningfulness, safety, and availability and that the greater these three conditions are, the more engaged employees will be in their work role (Saks & Gruman, 2014). The theory of Kahn was tested by May et al. (2004) and found that three psychological conditions meaningfulness, safety, and availability were significantly related to engagement.
They also found separately predictors toward three conditions: job enrichment and role fit have positive relationship with meaningfulness; rewarding co-worker and supportive supervisor relations were positively related to safety whereas adherence to co-work norms and
self-consciousness were negative predictors of safety; and resources available had positive relationship with availability while participation in outside activities was a negative predictor.
The second theory of engagement is derived in the literature from burnout literature which describes engagement as the positive antithesis of burnout (Saks, 2006). According to Maslach et al. (2001), burnout and engagement are related to six areas of work-life: workload, control, rewards and recognition, community and social support, perceived fairness, and values. The closer the individual gets to these six areas of work-life, the more engagement the individual would get, and vice versa. Another theory which also has its basis in the burnout literature is the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). JD-R model was originally used as the model of burnout by Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, and Schaufeli (2001). In the model, high job demands result in burnout, which leads to exhaustion. And, a lack of job resources causes withdrawal behavior from work.
Figure 2.1. The JD-R model of work engagement. Adapted from “An evidence-based model of work engagement,” by A. B. Bakker, 2011, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(4), p.267. Copyright 2011 by Association for Psychological Science.
The JD-R model as figure 2.1 showed can divide working conditions into two categories:
job demands and job resources. Job demands refer to represent characteristics of the job that
potentially results in strain, in case they exceed the employee’s adaptive capability (Bakker et al., 2007). Usual types of job demands are work overload, job insecurity, role ambiguity, role ambiguity, time pressure, and role conflict. On the other hand, job resources refer to “physical, psychological, social or organizational aspects of the job that are functional in achieving work goals, stimulate personal growth and development” (Mauno et al., 2007, p. 152). Employees can obtain job resources from the organization (e.g. pay, career opportunities, job security), social relations such as supervisor and coworker support (Saks & Gruman, 2014), and from the task itself, for instance, skill variety, task identity task significance, autonomy, performance feedback (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007).
Social exchange theory (SET) is a stronger theoretical rationale for explaining work engagement, which supplement to “explain why individuals will respond to these conditions with varying degrees of engagement” (Saks, 2006). Relationships between parties are based on a state of reciprocal interdependence. It means that there are certain “rules” of exchange, usually involving reciprocity or repayment rules; for example, the actions of A party lead to a response by B party (Cropanzano & Mictchell, 2005, Saks, 2006). The concept of SET is consistent with the description of engagement in the study of Robinson, Perryman, and Hayday (2004) that it’s a two-way relationship between the employer and employee.
Self-determination theory (SDT) is a theory of two overarching forms of motivations:
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation meant that the individuals devote to doing an activity based on their own enjoyment and interest. While extrinsic motivation referred to the individuals do a thing for instrumental reasons such as gaining rewards, avoiding punishment, boosting one’s ego and many other things. SDT has been in place for 30 years and has been applicate to numbers of fields such as education, healthcare, relationships, organizations and so forth. Also, SDT is multidimensional concept that can help the individual to distinguish different forms of motivation, which has been said to be a guide for future
research (Meyer & Gagne, 2008).
From SDT perspective, it referred work engagement to “a marker of intrinsic motivation and is related to positive outcomes for teachers and students” (Bakker, & Bal, 2010;
Klassen et al., 2012, p.319). Teacher filled with engagement are able to deal with complex demands with energy, motivation and effectiveness. Engagement; hence, has been shown to lead to higher calibers of performance, sedulous assiduousness, and ingeniousness.
When individual devote to a task they are interested in, which is called intrinsic motivation, triggered their desire either to boost their ego or gain reward, that is, the extrinsic motivation.
When the concept of SDT combines with both JD-R model and SET can strengthen work engagement. Because JD-R model interacts with SET that when people receive supports either from the organization or from colleagues, they are more willing to devote to their work and organization. The researcher regarded that if one does one thing they enjoyed with support will have more chance to success and possibility to enhance engagement.