Do new ways of working increase work engagement?
| Pages | 517-534 |
| Published date | 05 March 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-02-2017-0050 |
| Date | 05 March 2018 |
| Author | Ruud Gerards,Andries de Grip,Claudia Baudewijns |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
Do new ways of working increase
work engagement?
Ruud Gerards, Andries de Grip and Claudia Baudewijns
Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market, Maastricht University,
Maastricht, The Netherlands
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to shed more light on the impact of the various facets of new ways of
working (NWW) on employee work engagement, taking into account multiple sectors and occupational fields.
Design/methodology/approach –Insights from the literature and the job demands-resources model
underpin the hypotheses on how NWW would affect work engagement. The hypotheses were tested using the
Preacher and Hayes’(2008) bootstrap method for multiple mediation and controls, taking into account two
potential mediators between ( facets of) NWW and work engagement: social interaction in the workplace and
transformational leadership.
Findings –The analyses show that three facets of NWW –management of output, access to organizational
knowledge, and a freely accessible open workplace –positively affect employees’work engagement.
The latter two facets appear to be fully mediated by social interaction and transformational leadership.
Practical implications –The results imply that firms should foster transformational leadership styles
among their line managers, and social interaction in the workplaces,to maximize the positive impact of NWW
on work engagement.
Originality/value –This empirical paper draws on a unique data set on the Dutch working population to
provide novel insights with a substantial degree of generalizability into the relation between NWW and work
engagement, whilst applying a more comprehensive definition of NWW than previously applied, while
incorporating two potential mediators.
Keywords Quantitative, Work engagement, New ways of working, Social interaction,
Transformational leadership (TL), Multiple mediation
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Enabled by rapid advances in information and communications technology, human
resource management practices associated with new ways of working (NWW) are a recent
phenomenon that consists of a large variety of human resource management practices such
as management of output, teleworking, and flexibility in time and location of work.
However, there are few studies on the effects of NWW on employee outcomes and little is
known about the impact of NWW on employee work engagement. Yet, there are some
notable exceptions. Peters et al. (2014) relate NWW practices to work enjoyment,
conceptualized as “work-related flow.”In a Dutch study, Peters et al. (2013) conclude that
NWW has the potential to increase work engagement through increased worker autonomy
and access to teleworking, whereas Ten Brummelhuis et al. (2012) conclude that NWW has
the potential to boost work engagement by increasing employee process control and
facilitating more efficient communication among colleagues. However, the latter study is
based on employees in a single firm, which leads the authors to recommend future research
to study the generalizability of the relationship between NWW and work engagement.
The present paper answers their call and adds new insights to the emerging literature on
the effects of NWW on work engagement. This paper makes four contributions to the
Personnel Review
Vol. 47 No. 2, 2018
pp. 517-534
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-02-2017-0050
Received 17 February 2017
Revised 22 August 2017
6 October 2017
Accepted 28 October 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
The authors thank Evert Webers, Roger Schils and Eric Schlösser of RMI/IBC for their assistance in
the survey design, and Marion Collewet and Jol Stoffers for their helpful comments on an earlier
version of this paper. The authors also thank participants of the 2015 International Conference of the
Dutch HRM Network and the 2013 INSCOPE Annual Conference for their comments.
517
New ways
of working
literature. First, we examine the impact of several facets of NWW on work engagement of
employees in 12 occupational fields in all sectors of the Dutch economy. Here, we build on
Peters et al. (2014), who investigate the impact of NWW on work-related flow in a few
specific job categories across multiple organizations.
Second, current studies in the work engagement literature include only single facets or a
less comprehensive bundle of NWW practices, such as increased levels of autonomy or
management of output (Bakker and Bal, 2010), flexible work time and location, new media
technologies (Ten Brummelhuis et al., 2012), or flexibility in working relations ( Bal and
De Lange, 2015). Building on this literature, we use a more comprehensive definition of NWW,
includingfive facets of NWW[1]: time-and location-independent work,management of output,
free accessibility and use of knowledge and ideas (access to organizational knowledge),
flexibility in working relations, and freely accessible open workplace (Graham, 2004;
Halford, 2005; Baane et al., 2010). We estimate models that distinguish the individual facets.
These models enable us to disentangle in which positive or negative direction each facet of
NWW contributes to the overall effect of NWW on work engagement.
Third, building on Kelley and Kelloway (2012), Ten Brummelhuis et al. (2012), and
De Leede and Kraijenbrink (2014), we take account of two potential mediators between
( facets of) NWW and work engagement: social interaction in the workplace and the extent
to which management is characterized by transformational leadership. Although De Leede
and Kraijenbrink (2014) acknowledge that leadership needs to be taken into account when
studying the effects of NWW, and some authors even incorporate it into their analyses
(e.g. Peters et al., 2014, who include “supportive leadership”), we are the first to consider
“transformational leadership”as a mediator between NWW and work engagement.
Fourth, we add to the literature on the effects of human resource practices on work
engagement. Despite a vast body of literature on work engagement, including many studies
on the definition and foundations of the concept itself, as well as studies on its consequences
or antecedents (e.g. Bakker et al., 2008; Rana et al., 2014), the relation between specific human
resource management practices (such as the various facets of NWW) and work engagement
has gained attention only more recently (Maden, 2015). Saks (2006) finds that employee
engagement, which Schaufeli et al. (2002, p. 74) characterize as having a “positive, fulfilling,
work-related state of mind characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption,”is enhanced
by jobs that offer challenging work and variety, that allow for the use of a variety of skills
and personal discretion, and that afford the opportunity to meaningfully contribute to the
firm and/or society. Maden (2015) finds that empowerment increases employee work
engagement. As shown in the next section, NWW includes several human resource
management practices that may affect work engagement.
This paper proceeds as follows. The next section discusses the literature on the five
facets of NWW we identify, along with social interaction at work and transformational
leadership. From this literature, we derive our empirical model and hypotheses. The next
section describes our data and variables of interest. This is followed by a section in which
we present our estimation results. The final four sections summarize our findings and
discuss the contributions, practical implications, and limitations of our paper and its
recommendations for future research, respectively.
Literature
NWW
Several authors note that the scientific literature on NWW remains limited. De Leede and
Kraijenbrink (2014) disentangle NWW into three facets: flexibility, working at home, and
working together at a distance, whereas Peters et al. (2013) define NWW as a bundle of
access to teleworking, worker autonomy, and management of output. Baane et al. (2010)
disentangle NWW even further into four facets: time- and location-independent work,
518
PR
47,2
To continue reading
Request your trial