Article
Definitional and Conceptual Muddling: Identifying the Positionality of Employee Engagement and Defining the Construct:
Human Resource Development Review
(2017)
Abstract
Numerous entangled definitions, words, measurements, and frameworks have been proposed when referring to employee engagement, as well as other engagement typologies. Consequently, researchers have routinely drawn atheoretical conclusions about the meaning of employee engagement, limiting the applicability of employee engagement in theory building and practice. The focal point of our work was to detail an explicit definition of employee engagement and juxtapose our definition alongside several existing frameworks and definitions. First, we detail and position an operational definition of employee engagement ground in seminal literature. Second, we systematically examine the engagement literature, highlighting both dominant types of engagement and alternative typologies. Third, we conclude by making meaning for the human resource development field, distinguishing the use of employee engagement in the literature as an outcome, psychological state, and process, and synthesize our findings through a brief discussion of implications for research and practice.
Keywords
- employee engagement,
- work engagement,
- job engagement,
- organizational engagement,
- personal engagement,
- definition
Disciplines
Publication Date
September 1, 2017
DOI
10.1177/1534484317720622
Citation Information
Brad Shuck, Kobena Osam, Drea Zigarmi and Kim Nimon. "Definitional and Conceptual Muddling: Identifying the Positionality of Employee Engagement and Defining the Construct:" Human Resource Development Review Vol. 16 Iss. 3 (2017) p. 263 - 293 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/kim-nimon/20/