Weekly work engagement and performance: a study among starting teachers

This study among 54 Dutch teachers tested a model of weekly work engagement. On the basis of theories about the motivational potential of job resources, we predicted that teachers' weekly job resources are positively related to their week-levels of work engagement, and that week-level work engagement is predictive of week-level performance. In addition, we hypothesized that momentary work engagement has a positive, lagged effect on next week's job resources. Teachers were asked to fill in a weekly questionnaire every Friday during 5 consecutive weeks. Results of multi-level analyses largely confirmed our hypotheses, by showing that week-levels of autonomy, exchange with the supervisor, and opportunities for development (but not social support) were positively related to weekly engagement, which, in turn, was positively related to weekly job performance. Moreover, momentary work engagement was positively related to job resources in the subsequent week. These findings show how intra-individual variability in employees' experiences at work can explain weekly job performance.