Employee Psychological Ownership and Work Engagement: An Extension of the JD-R Model

Abstract

This research explores the linkages between employee psychological ownership and work engagement in a Greek public organisation. Employee psychological ownership entails two distinct types of psychological ownership: the promotive and the preventative type. Promotive psychological ownership consists of self-efficacy, self-identity, accountability and belongingness; whereas, preventative psychological ownership consists of the concept of territoriality. Whilst previous research has demonstrated a number of antecedents leading to work engagement including self-efficacy, the relationship between employee psychological ownership and work engagement has yet to be captured and researchers are being strongly encouraged to identify more possible routes towards the emergence of work engagement.

The present study considers the five dimensions of promotive and preventative psychological ownership in the scope of the Job Demands-Resources Model and Social Exchange Theory. Specifically, these five aspects are introduced here as either job or personal resources - the exchange of which creates work engagement. While different types of job and personal resources have been explored in relation to work engagement, there is still room for improvement as the interplay between job resources and demands is the key to higher work engagement. This literature is extended by conducting the first study exploring the relationship between employee psychological ownership and work engagement. This thesis also contributes to the current literature by suggesting employee psychological ownership as a new way of incorporating personal resources in the JD-R framework. Earlier literature views job and personal resources as two different stages leading to work engagement and, specifically, personal resources mediating the relationship between job resources and work engagement (Xanthopoulou et al., 2007); however, the empirical model of the current research suggests that employee psychological ownership is a combination of job and personal resources, which mutually support the appearance of each other and create work engagement. Subsequently, the model is tested using structural equation modelling of data obtained from a cross-sectional survey of 312 employees, in 13 different departments across the country, in a Greek public organisation. Data analysis assesses the linkages between job demands, promotive psychological ownership (job and personal resources) and work engagement in the JD-R Model and Social Exchange Theory as well as the relationship between promotive psychological ownership (job and personal resources), affective commitment, job satisfaction and perceived supervisor support. A number of demographics are also assessed (age, gender, educational level, post and organisational tenure).

The empirical results indicate that both promotive and preventative psychological ownership are positively and significantly related to work engagement. Promotive psychological ownership also mediates the relationship between job demands (mental demands, emotional demands, positive work-home interference) and work engagement. Particularly,
promotive psychological ownership represents a mixture of job and personal resources (self-efficacy, self-identity, accountability, belongingness); they are mutually related to each other, they are associated with work engagement and mediate the relationship between job demands and work engagement. In addition, the relationship between promotive psychological ownership and work engagement is mediated by affective commitment and job satisfaction. Furthermore, promotive psychological ownership mediates the relationship between perceived supervisor support and work engagement. Therefore, current knowledge is enriched by expanding the known set of attitudes that are related to work engagement.

Moreover, the findings also show that job and personal resources, whilst conceptually distinct, do not necessarily have to be assessed separately. Although in current literature they are measured separately and are considered as different stages towards the creation of work engagement, they could also be seen as interacting at the same level. Therefore, employee psychological ownership by including both types of resources, offers a deeper understanding of the relationship between job and personal resources and enables the incorporation of personal resources in the JD-R Model.

In summary, having applied the JD-R Model and the theoretical framework of Social Exchange Theory to elicit the relationship between employee psychological ownership and work engagement across different departments of a Greek public organisation, this study has contributed to the literature in several ways. First, it embeds the relatively new concept of employee psychological ownership within the framework provided by the JD-R Model by introducing the dimensions of employee psychological ownership as either job or personal resources. Second, it examines the relationship between employee psychological ownership and work engagement and offers an additional explanation of employee psychological ownership that enables the creation of work engagement. Third, it offers a new way of incorporating personal resources in the JD-R Model and extends the JD-R Model and Social Exchange Theory by suggesting the mutual relationship between job and personal resources.

Date of Award	29 Jun 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bath
Supervisor	Bruce Rayton (Supervisor) & Zeynep Yalabik (Supervisor)