Engagement as a Privilege and Disengagement as a Pathology

Abstract

Employee engagement research to date has proliferated on the conceptualization that engagement is driven by mutable job design characteristics and related socioemotional resources. This essay explores concerns with that conceptualization. For instance, modern engagement research has defined a “work role” with an almost exclusive focus on employees occupying professional roles, largely ignoring broad swaths of population who hold blue- or pink-collar jobs. These concerns are set forth in a discussion of broadening the definition of engagement. We start by describing the key components of the construct of engagement, followed by a discussion of how changes in the modern work role restrict engagement in ways that do not comport with the traditional view. Next, this essay explores three assumptions inherent in engagement’s research stream: possibility, availability, and directionality. Finally, key research directions and questions are presented in an attempt to focus research attention on studying engagement from a more inclusive lens.