There is now considerable doubt about the va ‐
lidity of work engagement measures that are based 
on burnout (Knight, Pa tt erson, & Dawson, 2017), be ‐
cause Kahn (1990) viewed work engagement as pos ‐
i ti ve personal factors that employees bring to the 
workplace; not as the reverse of burnout, which is 
a negati ve result of being overworked. Authors who 
used work engagement as the opposite of burnout 
(Maslach & Leiter, 1997; Schaufeli, Salanova, 
González ‐Romá, & Bakker, 2002) created a dichoto ‐
mous measure, i.e., a person either can be work ‐en ‐
gaged or can experience burnout, but not both. 
However, that idea contradicts the reality of what 
employees’ actually experience (Kim, Shin, & 
Swanger, 2009; Kuok & Taormina, 2017). 
1 INTRODUCTION 
The idea of “work engagement,” originally in ‐
troduced by Kahn (1990), has been a topic of a 
major debate in organiza ti onal behavior for nearly 
three decades. Kahn (1990) defined work engage ‐
ment as “the harnessing of organiza ti onal members’ 
selves to their work roles; in engagement, people 
employ and express themselves physically, cogni ‐
ti vely, and emo ti onally during role performances” 
(p. 694). The debate began when some a tt empts 
(e.g., by Maslach & Leiter, 1997) tried to redefine 
work engagement as the reverse of burnout, which 
resulted in disagreements about what the term re ‐
ally means (Macey & Schneider, 2008).  
Using a measure based on a posi ti vist theory of work engagement, the cogni ti ve, emo ti onal, and physical facets of 
work engagement were tested in rela ti on to (1) a set of work, social, and personality variables, i.e., person–organiza ‐
ti on fit, organiza ti onal socializa ti on, work centrality, job insecurity, and conscien ti ousness; (2) two hypothesized e ffects, 
i.e., regarding subjec ti ve career success and self ‐actualiza ti on; and (3) perceived organiza ti onal support as a moder ‐
ator. Regressions of ques ti onnaire data revealed that cogni ti ve work engagement is the main predictor of work cen ‐
trality, organiza ti onal understanding is the main predictor of emo ti onal work engagement, and person–organiza ti on 
fit is the main predictor of physical work engagement. Structural equa ti on modeling (SEM) tests demonstrated that 
emo ti onal work engagement predicted both subjec ti ve career success and self ‐actualiza ti on, whereas physical work 
engagement predicted subjec ti ve career success. In addi ti on, perceived organiza ti onal support moderated cogni ti ve 
and physical work engagement to increase subjec ti ve career success, and moderated emo ti onal work engagement to 
increase self ‐actualiza ti on. Implica ti ons for management are discussed. 
 
Keywords: work engagement, perceived organizati onal support, organiza ti onal socializa ti on, subjec ti ve career success, 
self ‐actualiza ti on
A POSITIVIST APPROACH TO WORK ENGAGEMENT: MODERATING EFFECTS OF 
PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT 
Angus C.H. Kuok 
University of Saint Joseph 
anguskuok@gmail.com  
Robert J. Taormina 
University of Macau 
taormina@emeritus.um.edu.mo 
Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, May 2022 49
Abstract
Vol. 11, No. 1, 49 ‐67 
doi:10.17708/DRMJ.2022.v11n01a04

Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, May 2022 50
Angus C.H. Kuok, Robert J. Taormina: A Posi ti vist Approach to Work Engagement: Modera ti ng E ffects of Perceived 
Organiza ti onal Support
The problem with using di fferent defini ti ons of 
a concept such as work engagement is that empiri ‐
cal findings rarely coalesce, which requires having a 
more ‐focused, theory ‐based approach. That is why 
Kahn’s (1990) original theory of work engagement 
(which preceded all other a tt empts to explain the 
concept) is the most appropriate, i.e., because it re ‐
flects what many people experience at work. In par ‐
ti cular, Kahn stressed that work engagement reflects 
the posi ti ve input that comes from the employees, 
who bring with them posi ti ve views about their 
work that they express cogni ti vely, emo ti onally, and 
physically. However, those cri ti cal components have 
been missing from other models of work engage ‐
ment. 
Kahn described work engagement as people’s 
internal desire to work, based on the idea that peo ‐
ple enjoy their work. And that idea was confirmed 
by Wellins, Bernthal, and Phelps (2011), who ex ‐
plained that people engage in their work because 
they enjoy their work. Thus, it would not be appro ‐
priate to dismiss Kahn’s posi ti ve theory in favor of 
an alternate view that begins with the nega ti ve idea 
of burnout and then tries to define work engage ‐
ment by taking the components of the nega ti ve 
burnout concept and crea ti ng “an ti podes” (or op ‐
posites) of the burnout factors. Although that is 
what other theories propose, they do not address 
Kahn’s original descrip ti ons of employees’ posi ti ve 
feelings toward their work.  
To solve the problem with regard to the contra ‐
dictory approaches to work engagement, and the 
absence of a measure that captures Kahn’s (1990) 
concepts, a recent study that used Kahn’s original 
theory and also created a new measure from Kahn’s 
factors of work engagement found significant em ‐
pirical support for the theory ‐based measure (Kuok 
& Taormina, 2017). In that study, work engagement 
was found, to coexist with burnout because, theo ‐
re ti cally, they are independent constructs (Kim et 
al., 2009).  
Such findings require research to assess more 
clearly how work engagement relates to organiza ‐
ti onal behavior, social, and personality variables. 
Therefore, this study used the new measure to in ‐
ves ti gate (1) how work engagement relates to orga ‐
niza ti onal socializa ti on, work centrality, person ‐ 
organiza ti on fit, conscien ti ousness, job insecurity, 
organiza ti onal support, career success, and self ‐ac ‐
tualiza ti on; and (2) whether organiza ti onal support 
moderates work engagement’s rela ti onships with 
career success and self ‐actualiza ti on.  
 
2 VARIABLES PROPOSED FOR ASSESSMENT 
OF WORK ENGAGEMENT  
A few variables used in previous studies of work 
engagement were assessed in the present study be ‐
cause similar results would confirm the validity of 
the Kahn ‐based measure and support its usefulness 
in future research. Work centrality, person–organi ‐
za ti on fit, and conscien ti ousness had posi ti ve rela ‐
ti onships with work engagement (e.g., Biswas & 
Bhatnagar, 2013), whereas job insecurity had a neg ‐
a ti ve rela ti onship (De Cuyper & De Wi tt e, 2005). 
Organiza ti onal socializa ti on (Taormina, 1997), 
on the other hand, has not been used in studies of 
work engagement. Thus, its four facets were in ‐
cluded to discover their rela ti onships with work en ‐
gagement. This was deemed important because 
many studies have confirmed that organiza ti onal so ‐
cializa ti on is a cri ti cal human resource concern for 
employee well ‐being. Therefore, its absence in pre ‐
vious work engagement studies represents a re ‐
search gap. 
 
2.1 Work Centrality 
Work centrality is defined as “individual beliefs 
regarding the degree of importance that work plays 
in [employees’] lives’’ (Walsh & Gordon, 2008, p. 
46), i.e., the degree of importance of work in gen ‐
eral. The concept of work centrality is based on the 
idea that people include work in their “life spheres” 
and a tt ribute importance to it (Uçanok, 2009). Em ‐
ployees with high work centrality see work as an im ‐
portant aspect of life (Diefendor, Brown, Kamin, & 
Lord, 2002) and tend to be more engaged at work 
(Ng, Sorensen, & Feldman, 2007). 
 
H1: The greater the employees’ work centrality, the 
more (a) cogni ti ve, (b) emo ti onal, and (c) physical 
work engagement they will have.

Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, May 2022 51
2.2 Person–Organiza ti on Fit 
This is the degree to which a person feels that 
his or her character and values fit the job and orga ‐
niza ti on (Resick, Baltes, & Shantz, 2007). A good fit 
s ti mulates employees’ “cogni ti ve processing,” which 
helps to generate engagement and posi ti ve organi ‐
za ti onal outcomes (Judge & Cable, 1997). Thus, fit 
has been suggested to provide opportuni ti es for em ‐
ployees to be involved in individually meaningful 
work (Kristof ‐Brown, Zimmerman, & Johnson, 2005).  
In theory, employees who feel congruence be ‐
tween their personal characteris ti cs and their jobs 
derive meaningfulness from their work, which gives 
them the emo ti onal and physical resources to per ‐
form their work with enthusiasm and energy. Thus, 
according to Kahn (1992), they would see their roles 
as meaningful and their lives as worthwhile, leading 
them to be fully engaged at work. Furthermore, 
Biswas and Bhatnagar (2013) found a posi ti ve cor ‐
rela ti on between person ‐organiza ti on fit and work 
engagement.  
 
H2: The higher the person–organiza ti on fit between 
the employees’ and the organiza ti on’s values, the 
higher the (a) cogni ti ve, (b) emo ti onal, and (c) phys ‐
ical work engagement they will have.  
 
2.3 Job Insecurity 
Job insecurity is “percep ti on of a poten ti al 
threat to the con ti nuity of the current job” (Heaney, 
Israel, & House, 1994, p. 1431), i.e., employees fear 
they may lose their jobs. Kahn (1990) suggested that 
organiza ti onal norms correspond to psychological 
safety. In other words, predictable, shared expecta ‐
ti ons about the behaviors among employees in an 
organiza ti on are more likely to lead them to feel 
safer about working in an organiza ti on. Uncertainty 
about losing one’s job is a stressful aspect of the 
work situa ti on, and is related to decreased trust, 
lower levels of job involvement, and diminished en ‐
gagement (De Cuyper & De Wi tt e, 2005).  
 
H3: The more job insecurity that employees have, 
the lower the (a) cogni ti ve, (b) emo ti onal, and (c) 
physical work engagement they will have.
2.4 Conscien ti ousness 
Conscien ti ousness is characterized by persis ‐
tence and being careful, thorough, and responsible, 
and is associated with self ‐discipline, achievement 
striving, and a sense of competence (McCrae & 
Costa, 1986). Conscien ti ous people are considered 
to be organized and dependable, both personally 
and in their work. Kim et al. (2009), using a previous 
work ‐engagement measure, found that conscien ‐
ti ous employees displayed high levels of engage ‐
ment. Thus, conscien ti ousness was tested with 
Kahn’s (1990) three facets of work engagement.  
 
H4: The more conscien ti ousness employees have, 
the higher (a) cogni ti ve, (b) emo ti onal, and (c) phys ‐
ical work engagement they will have. 
 
2.5 Organiza ti onal Socializa ti on 
Regarding organiza ti onal socializa ti on, this 
study used Taormina’s (1997) four domains, namely 
(1) the training that employees receive, (2) their un ‐
derstanding of their roles and the company, (3) 
coworker support, and (4) their future prospects in 
the employing organiza ti on. 
 
2.5.1 Training  
Training for one’s job is considered to be cri ti cal 
for adequately performing one’s role and tasks and 
can enhance competence, capability, and work ef ‐
fec ti veness. Nordhaug (1989) found that posi ti ve 
percep ti ons of training enhanced employee self ‐
confidence. According to Kahn (1992), this may for ‐
ti fy employee competence, give them a posi ti ve 
view of their work, and make them more engaged.   
 
H5a: The be tt er training employees have, the more 
(1) cogni ti ve, (2) emo ti onal, and (3) physical work 
engagement they will have. 
 
2.5.2 Understanding 
Understanding refers to “the extent to which 
employees believe they can comprehend their job 
roles, know the goals and values of the company, 
and apply knowledge about the job” (Taormina, 
1997, p. 34). Workers’ good understanding of their 

Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, May 2022 52
job roles and how to perform tasks should provide 
higher levels of self ‐assurance and confidence 
(Taormina & Law, 2000). It also should help employ ‐
ees reduce mistakes, making the employees more 
e ffec ti ve. Thus, by working more willingly, the em ‐
ployees are more likely to be engaged at work.  
 
H5b: The more understanding employees have, the 
more (1) cogni ti ve, (2) emo ti onal, and (3) physical 
work engagement they will have.  
 
2.5.3 Coworker Support 
This refers to “the emo ti onal or instrumental 
sustenance that is provided by other employees 
with the objec ti ve of allevia ti ng worry or doubt” 
(Taormina, 1997, p. 37). That is, when one’s 
coworkers are accep ti ng, the employee integrates 
into the work place more successfully. Thus, favor ‐
able social interac ti on with workmates is cri ti cal for 
employees in organiza ti ons, and this needs to be 
favorable in order for employees to func ti on e ffec ‐
ti vely (Katz, 1988). Research has shown that posi ‐
ti ve coworker interac ti ons are highly and posi ti vely 
related to employees’ organiza ti onal ci ti zenship be ‐
havior (e.g., Taormina & Kuok, 2009). This can gen ‐
erate posi ti ve feelings at work, which may lead to 
greater work engagement.  
 
H5c: The more coworker support employees receive, 
the more (1) cogni ti ve, (2) emo ti onal, and (3) phys ‐
ical work engagement they will have.  
 
2.5.4 Future Prospects 
Future prospects refers to “the extent to 
which an employee anticipates having a rewarding 
future with a company in terms of the acceptability 
of one’s recognition, advancement, benefits, and 
salary increments” (Taormina, 1997, p. 40). Future 
prospects are within ‐company opportunities that 
provide a rewarding future for employees. There ‐
fore, logically, if employees believe that they have 
good opportunities for promotion and rewards in 
their organization, they should be more likely to 
anticipate their success and advancement, which, 
in turn, should lead them to be more work ‐en‐
gaged. 
H5d: The be tt er future prospects employees have, 
the more (1) cogni ti ve, (2) emo ti onal, and (3) phys ‐
ical work engagement they will have.  
 
2.6 Related Criterion Variables  
Subjec ti ve career success and self ‐actualiza ti on, 
were used as criterion variables (i.e., in regressions) 
with work engagement. They were chosen to ad ‐
dress prac ti cal and realis ti c concerns. For example, 
workers who think they are successful in their ca ‐
reers are more likely to remain in their professions 
(Liu, Yang, Yang, & Liu, 2015). That is a prac ti cal ben ‐
efit for employees. because they keep their job, and 
is also good for management, e.g., it eliminates the 
cost of replacing employees who quit because they 
were unsa ti sfied with their jobs.  
Maslow (1943) explained that self ‐actualiza ti on 
is one of the human needs that mo ti vate people in 
their lives, but regarded it as di fficult to sa ti sfy. How ‐
ever, Maslow also suggested that one’s work could 
be a means for sa ti sfying this need. Maslow’s sug ‐
ges ti on was supported by an empirical study by 
Berta et al. (2018), who found that self ‐actualiza ti on 
is a significant component in the quality of work life 
(QWL): “We find support for a three ‐factor model of 
the QWL with factors rela ti ng to needs for self ‐actu ‐
aliza ti on, work ‐life balance, and feelings of value and 
self ‐esteem” (p. 20).   
These two variables were chosen to be tested 
using the three work engagement factors as possible 
predictors to assess the extent to which viewing work 
as important in one’s life might help work ‐engaged 
employees sa ti sfy their need for self ‐actualiza ti on.  
 
2.6.1 Subjec ti ve Career Success 
Ga tti ker and Larwood (1986) regarded subjec ‐
ti ve career success as the employees’ evalua ti ons of 
their careers with reference to self ‐defined standards, 
age/career stage, aspira ti ons, and the opinions of sig ‐
nificant others. Nabi (2001) suggested that it reflects 
people being sa ti sfied with themselves in terms their 
careers. In addi ti on to extrinsic factors of career suc ‐
cess (e.g., salary), Kahn (1990) suggested that intrinsic 
factors (e.g., work sa ti sfac ti on) give people a sense of 
success when they complete a task.  
Angus C.H. Kuok, Robert J. Taormina: A Posi ti vist Approach to Work Engagement: Modera ti ng E ffects of Perceived 
Organiza ti onal Support

Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, May 2022 53
Likewise, Karsan (2011) suggested that work 
engagement is cri ti cal because people work not only 
for money, but also for feelings of personal achieve ‐
ment. Some empirical research has supported this 
idea. For example, Smith, Capu ti , and Cri tt enden 
(2012) found a significant posi ti ve correla ti on be ‐
tween work engagement and career sa ti sfac ti on. 
The present research tested whether Kahn’s (1990) 
three original facets of work engagement have pos ‐
i ti ve rela ti onships with subjec ti ve career success.  
 
H6: The more (a) cogni ti ve, (b) emo ti onal, and (c) 
physical work engagement employees have, the 
higher their subjec ti ve career success will be. 
 
2.6.2 Self ‐Actualiza ti on 
Maslow’s (1954) concept of self ‐actualiza ti on is 
“people’s desire for self ‐fulfillment, namely, the ten ‐
dency for them to become actualized in what they 
are poten ti ally” (p. 22). That is, people want to re ‐
alize their capabili ti es and fulfill their poten ti al, and 
are more confident when they do so. Karsan’s 
(2011) idea that work is a cri ti cal aspect of life that 
includes achievement suggests that reaching one’s 
poten ti al at work can be seen as actualizing one’s 
abili ti es in life. Therefore, employees who feel highly 
work ‐engaged could become self ‐actualized through 
their work.  
 
H7: The more (a) cogni ti ve, (b) emo ti onal, and (c) 
physical work engagement employees have, the 
more self ‐actualiza ti on they will have.  
 
2.7 Perceived Organiza ti onal Support as a 
Moderator Variable 
Perceived organiza ti onal support was selected 
as a moderator because (1) it may represent a way 
to sa ti sfy a need from Maslow’s (1943) theory of 
human needs, i.e., social support could sa ti sfy the 
human need for belongingness; (2) it has been 
found to have a posi ti ve rela ti onship with work en ‐
gagement (Biswas & Bhatnagar, 2013); (3) it is a 
strong predictor of several organiza ti onal behaviors, 
such as organiza ti onal commitment (Rhoades & 
Eisenberger, 2002); and (4) although perceived or ‐
ganiza ti onal support has been tested for its interac ‐
ti ons with other variables on influencing work en ‐
gagement (Zacher & Gabriele, 2011), it has never 
been used as a moderator between Kahn’s (1990) 
three dimensions of work engagement and the two 
targeted criterion variables of subjec ti ve career suc ‐
cess and self ‐actualiza ti on.   
Eisenberger, Hun ti ngton, Hutchinson, and Sowa 
(1986) saw perceived organiza ti onal support as em ‐
ployees’ beliefs about how much management val ‐
ues their contribu ti ons and cares about their 
well ‐being. Furthermore, Kahn (1990) suggested its 
rela ti on to work engagement. That is, in suppor ti ve 
organiza ti ons, employees can feel free to try new 
ways of doing things without fear of cri ti cism, and, 
thus they can be work engaged. In addi ti on, posi ti ve 
correla ti ons have been found between organiza ‐
ti onal support and work engagement, although with 
di fferent engagement scales (Saks, 2006). Thus, per ‐
ceived organiza ti onal support may act as a modera ‐
tor between work engagement and the variables of 
subjec ti ve career success and self ‐actualiza ti on. 
 
2.8 Modera ti on for Subjec ti ve Career Success  
For subjec ti ve career success, organiza ti onal 
support may give employees a sense of success in 
their careers (La ti f & Sher, 2012). Employees’ per ‐
cep ti ons of self ‐development and achievement, 
along with support from the organiza ti on, such as 
praise, are important components of subjec ti ve ca ‐
reer success (Baruch, 2004), which can result in 
long ‐term career sa ti sfac ti on (Judge, Cable, 
Boudreau, & Bretz, 1995). Organiza ti onal support 
may mo ti vate employees to manage their own 
work, which work ‐engaged employees prefer . In ad ‐
di ti on, employees who believe their managers value 
their e fforts are more likely to perceive themselves 
to have successful careers. Hence, it may strengthen 
the rela ti on between work engagement and career 
success. 
 
H8: Work engagement (cogni ti ve, emo ti onal, and 
physical) and perceived organiza ti onal support will 
interact to influence subjec ti ve career success, such 
that the posi ti ve rela ti onship between work engage ‐
ment and subjec ti ve career success will be stronger 
when perceived organiza ti onal support is high than 
when it is low. 

Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, May 2022 54
2.9 Modera ti on for Self ‐Actualiza ti on 
According to Maslow (1954), self ‐actualiza ti on 
refers to the need to be self ‐fulfilled by living up to 
one’s poten ti al and in ways that allow one to have 
what one “idiosyncra ti cally” wishes to achieve. For 
many people, work is a form of self ‐expression. For 
example, carpenters see the houses they build as a 
manifesta ti on of their architectural plans and cre ‐
a ti ve skills, and are work ‐engaged by the e ffort they 
put into their work. Thus, because work can be a 
way for people to express themselves through 
much of their lives, work can be a means of self ‐ac ‐
tualiza ti on. 
Furthermore, because work ‐engaged people 
put significant e ffort into their work, and organiza ‐
ti onal support can increase sa ti sfac ti on at work 
(Ghasemizad & Mohammadkhani, 2013) and foster 
employee enthusiasm for the work, organiza ti onal 
support should help work ‐engaged employees fulfill 
their need for self ‐fulfillment through their work. 
Therefore, perceived organiza ti onal support may 
play a role as a catalyst to strengthen the rela ti on ‐
ship between work engagement and employees’ 
self ‐actualiza ti on.   
H9: Work engagement (cogni ti ve, emo ti onal, and 
physical) and perceived organiza ti onal support will 
interact to influence self ‐actualiza ti on, such that the 
posi ti ve rela ti onship between work engagement and 
self ‐actualiza ti on will be stronger when perceived or ‐
ganiza ti onal support is high than when it is low. 
 
The en ti re research model is shown in Figure 1. 
 
3 METHODOLOGY 
3.1 Par ti cipants 
Par ti cipants were 442 (37.33% male, and 
62.67% female) full‐ti me Chinese workers, aged 19–
65 years [M = 33.36, standard devia ti on (SD) = 8.81]; 
61.09% were single, and 38.91% were married. Re ‐
garding educa ti on, 3.17% had a primary school ed ‐
uca ti on, 20.14% had a secondary school educa ti on, 
66.74% had a bachelor’s degree, and 9.95% a mas ‐
ter’s degree or above. Regarding job level, 69.23% 
were junior employees, and 30.77% were supervi ‐
sorial. Regarding monthly salary (in local currency), 
2.48% earned CNY 8,000 or less, 11.76% earned CNY 
8,001–11,000, 16.75% earned CNY 11,001–14,000, 
Angus C.H. Kuok, Robert J. Taormina: A Posi ti vist Approach to Work Engagement: Modera ti ng E ffects of Perceived 
Organiza ti onal Support
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Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, May 2022 55
15.61% earned CNY 14,001–17,000, 15.16% earned 
CNY 17,001–20,000, 12.22% earned CNY 20,001–
23,000, 12.90% earned CNY 23,001–27,000, and 
13.12% earned CNY 27,001 or more. 
 
3.2 Measures 
All items for the work engagement subscales 
are presented in the Appendix. Because the mea ‐
sures were in English and the respondents Chinese, 
a back ‐transla ti on method was used. Unless other ‐
wise noted, all responses were on a five ‐point Likert 
scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 
(strongly agree) regarding the extent to which the 
statements described the respondents, their a tti ‐
tudes, or their work. Cronbach’s alpha reliabili ti es 
are given along with the descrip ti ons. 
For work engagement, based on Kahn’s (1992) 
descrip ti ons, the three six ‐item facets which were 
created by Kuok and Taormina (2017) were used as 
measures: For cogni ti ve work engagement, a sample 
item was “My mind is o ft en full of ideas about my 
work” (reliability = 0.89); for emo ti onal work engage ‐
ment, a sample item was “I feel strong enthusiasm 
for my work” (reliability = 0.89); and for physical work 
engagement, a sample item was “I am frequently en ‐
ergized by my work” (reliability = 0.81). 
Work Centrality. This variable was assessed 
using Uçanok’s (2009) six ‐item Work Centrality 
Scale. A sample item was “The most important 
things that happen in life involve work.” The relia ‐
bility was 0.88. 
Person–Organiza ti on Fit. This was assessed 
using five items from Resick et al.’s (2007) Person ‐
Organiza ti on ‐Fit scale. A sample item was “The val ‐
ues of this organiza ti on are similar to my own 
values.” The reliability was 0.88. 
Job Insecurity. This variable was assessed using 
eight items about job insecurity adopted from three 
sources. One item, “Layo ffs in the organiza ti on are 
likely to occur in the near future,” was from Brock ‐
ner, Grover, Reed, and Dewi tt ’s (1992) Job Insecurity 
Scale. Five items were from Ashford, Lee, and 
Bobko’s (1989) Job Insecurity Scale; a sample item 
was “I might lose my job by being fired.” Two items 
were from Ashford et al.’s (1989) Job Insecurity 
Scale, e.g., “This company might go out of business.” 
Items from di fferent scales were used to provide a 
variety of reasons for feeling insecure about one’s 
job. The reliability was 0.92. 
Conscien ti ousness. Conscien ti ousness has sev ‐
eral facets, but using them all would have length ‐
ened the ques ti onnaire excessively. Thus, only the 
perfec ti onism facet was used, because it was 
thought to be the most representa ti ve and precise 
measure of the concept. Furthermore, the label 
conscien ti ousness is used in this ar ti cle to enable 
comparisons of the research results in future meta ‐
analy ti c studies. It was assessed with 10 items that 
focused on the perfec ti onism facet. Four items were 
from the HEXACO Personality Inventory (Lee & Ash ‐
ton, 2004), e.g., “I pay a tt en ti on to details.” Two 
items were from the Abridged Big ‐Five Circumplex 
Model (AB5C) (Hofstee, deRaad, & Goldberg, 1992), 
e.g., “I con ti nue un ti l everything is perfect.” One 
item was from the Revised NEO Personality Inven ‐
tory (NEO ‐PI ‐R) (Costa & McCrae, 1992), i.e., “I am 
exac ti ng in my work.” Three items were newly cre ‐
ated, i.e., “I dislike mistakes,” “I like things to be in 
order,” and “I am not bothered by mistakes” (re ‐
verse scored). Not all items were from exis ti ng 
scales because each had mul ti ple facets; new items 
were created to represent the central concept. The 
reliability was 0.78. 
Organiza ti onal Socializa ti on. This was assessed 
using Taormina’s (2004) 20 ‐item Organiza ti onal So ‐
cializa ti on Inventory (OSI). The OSI has four subscales. 
For training, a sample item was “The type of job train ‐
ing given by this organiza ti on is highly e ffec ti ve” 
(scale reliability = 0.92). For understanding, a sample 
item was “I know very well how to get things done in 
this organiza ti on” (scale reliability = 0.79). For 
coworker support, a sample item was “Other workers 
have helped me on the job in various ways” (scale re ‐
liability = 0.86). For future prospects, a sample item 
was “There are many chances for a good career with 
this organiza ti on” (scale reliability = 0.82).  
Subjec ti ve Career Success. This was assessed 
using five items from the Career Sa ti sfac ti on Scale 
created by Greenhaus, Parasuraman, and Wormley 
(1990). A sample item was “I am sa ti sfied with the 
job status achieved through my career.” The scale 
reliability was 0.89. 

Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, May 2022 56
Self ‐Actualiza ti on. This was assessed using the 
12 ‐item Self ‐Actualiza ti on Scale (Taormina & Gao, 
2013), which was based on Maslow’s (1943) theory 
of needs. The items reflect aspects of a self ‐actual ‐
ized person using statements about being true to 
oneself, living life according to one’s wishes, being 
self ‐fulfilled, and enjoying one’s life. A sample item 
was “I am actually living up to all my capabili ti es.” 
Responses were scored on a 5 ‐point Likert scale 
from 1 (completely unsa ti sfied) to 5 (completely sat ‐
isfied). The reliability was 0.89. 
Perceived Organiza ti onal Support. This variable 
was assessed using 10 items from Eisenberger et 
al.’s (1986) 36 ‐item Perceived Organiza ti onal Sup ‐
port scale (only 10 items were used to keep the 
ques ti onnaire to a reasonable length). A sample 
item was “This organiza ti on is willing to help me 
when I need a special favor .” The reliability was 0.91. 
 
3.3 Procedure 
A random sampling data gathering procedure 
was conducted in local business districts because 
obtaining significant e ffects from many organiza ‐
ti ons tends to strengthen the validity of the findings. 
Sampling used the sidewalk interven ti on method, 
i.e., among people walking on sidewalks, every nth 
adult was approached (n was generated randomly). 
Bush and Burns (2005) called this systema ti c ran ‐
dom sampling, and stated that there would be no 
systema ti c order of a tti tude, characteris ti c, or type 
of people in di fferent parts of a city and by selec ti ng 
people who were not in groups, each individual 
would have an equal chance of being selected. 
Poten ti al respondents were approached in the 
late a ft ernoons, when most employees leave their 
workplace. To ensure that the persons were working 
people, they were asked if they were employed. For 
those who answered in the a ffirma ti ve, the re ‐
searcher explained that the study was about a tti ‐
tudes toward work, and asked if they were willing to 
parti cipate. Anyone who agreed was given a ques ‐
ti onnaire, which took about 15 minutes to complete 
(while le ft unobserved), and which was collected on 
site. Of the 561 respondents approached, 442 re ‐
turned usable, completed ques ti onnaires, yielding 
an overall response rate (442/561) of 75.22%. 
3.4 Ethical Considera ti ons 
Ethical approval was obtained from a university 
research ethics commi tt ee before the study was 
conducted, and ethical guidelines of the American 
Psychological Associa ti on were followed. Informed 
consent of the par ti cipants was requested both ver ‐
bally and on the ques ti onnaire, which stated the 
purpose of the survey and provided the researcher’s 
contact informa ti on. Poten ti al respondents were in ‐
formed that their par ti cipa ti on was voluntary, and 
they could stop responding at any ti me. They also 
were told that no personal informa ti on was being 
requested, and their responses would remain con ‐
fiden ti al. They also were informed that the data 
were for academic purposes and would be used 
only in aggregated sta ti s ti cal form.  
 
4 RESULTS 
4.1 Means Comparisons for the Demographics 
For compara ti ve purposes, relevant t ‐tests or 
ANOVAs were run on all demographic measures. 
The only significant di fference was for job level, i.e., 
the mean score of emo ti onal work engagement for 
working at supervisorial level (M = 3.69, SD = 0.72) 
was significantly higher than for working at the line 
level (M = 3.54, SD = 0.59), t(440) = 2.17, p < 0.05. 
 
4.2 Test for Common Method Bias  
Because the data were from a survey, common 
method bias was tested by factor analyzing all vari ‐
ables using the maximum ‐likelihood approach with 
a forced one ‐factor solu ti on. A ra ti o [chi ‐squared di ‐
vided by degrees of freedom (df)] of less than 2.00:1 
would indicate common method bias (Harman, 
1960). The ra ti o was 6.87:1; thus, common method 
bias was not a concern. 
 
4.3 Intercorrela ti ons 
Means, SDs, and intercorrela ti ons (df = 440 for 
all correla ti ons) were computed to test the expected 
rela ti onships. Cogni ti ve, emo ti onal, and physical 
work engagement each were assessed for their cor ‐
rela ti ons with work centrality, person ‐organiza ti on ‐
fit, job insecurity, conscien ti ousness, the socializa ti on 
Angus C.H. Kuok, Robert J. Taormina: A Posi ti vist Approach to Work Engagement: Modera ti ng E ffects of Perceived 
Organiza ti onal Support

Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, May 2022 57
domains (training, understanding, coworker support, 
and future prospects), and the variables of subjec ti ve 
career success and self ‐actualiza ti on. 
For work centrality, predicted correla ti ons were 
supported, i.e., Hypothesis H1a with cogni ti ve work 
engagement (r = 0.39, p < 0.001), Hypothesis H1b 
emo ti onal work engagement (r = 0.28, p < 0.001), 
and Hypothesis H1c physical work engagement (r = 
0.36, p < 0.001). 
For person ‐organiza ti on ‐fit, all the predicted 
posi ti ve correla ti ons were supported, i.e., Hypoth ‐
esis H2a with cogni ti ve work engagement (r = 0.26, 
p < 0.001), Hypothesis H2b with emo ti onal work en ‐
gagement (r = 0.45, p < 0.001) and Hypothesis H2c 
with physical work engagement (r = 0.43, p < 0.001). 
For job insecurity, although the predicted neg ‐
a ti ve correla ti on Hypothesis H3a with cogni ti ve 
work engagement was not supported, the other two 
predicted nega ti ve correla ti ons were supported, 
i.e., Hypothesis H3b with emo ti onal work engage ‐
ment (r = −0.22, p < 0.001), and Hypothesis H3c 
physical work engagement (r = −0.11, p < 0.05). 
For conscien ti ousness, all the predicted posi ti ve 
correla ti ons with the work engagement facets were 
supported, namely Hypothesis H4a with cogni ti ve 
work engagement (r = 0.37, p < 0.001), Hypothesis 
H4b with emo ti onal work engagement (r = 0.28, p < 
0.001), and Hypothesis H4c with physical work en ‐
gagement (r = 0.18, p < 0.001). 
The four hypotheses that predicted posi ti ve 
correla ti ons between the three work engagement 
facets and the four socializa ti on domains were all 
supported (p < 0.001). Training, Hypothesis H5a(1), 
was posi ti vely correlated with cogni ti ve work en ‐
gagement (r = 0.26); Hypothesis H5a(2), with emo ‐
ti onal work engagement (r = 0.42); and Hypothesis 
H5a(3), with physical work engagement (r = 0.35). 
Understanding, Hypothesis H5b(1), was posi ti vely 
correlated with cogni ti ve work engagement (r = 
0.30); Hypothesis H5b(2), with emo ti onal work en ‐
gagement (r = 0.47); and Hypothesis H5b(3), with 
physical work engagement (r = 0.37). Coworker sup ‐
port, Hypothesis H5c(1), was posi ti vely correlated 
with cogni ti ve work engagement (r = 0.21); Hypoth ‐
esis H5c(2), with emo ti onal work engagement (r = 
0.39); and Hypothesis H5c(3), with physical work en ‐
gagement (r = 0.29). Future prospects, Hypothesis 
H5d(1), also had posi ti ve correla ti ons with cogni ti ve 
work engagement (r = 0.34); Hypothesis H5d(2), 
with emo ti onal work engagement (r = 0.46); and Hy ‐
pothesis H5d(3), with physical work engagement (r 
= 0.40). 
For the variable of subjec ti ve career success, all 
the predicted posi ti ve correla ti ons were supported 
(all at p < 0.001)0. Hypothesis H6a predicted a pos ‐
i ti ve correla ti on with cogni ti ve work engagement (r 
= 0.36), Hypothesis H6b with emo ti onal work en ‐
gagement (r = 0.53), and Hypothesis H6c with phys ‐
ical work engagement (r = 0.44).  
For self ‐actualiza ti on, all predicted posi ti ve cor ‐
rela ti ons were supported (all at the p < 0.001 level), 
i0.e0., Hypothesis H7a with cogni ti ve work engage ‐
ment (r = 0.22), Hypothesis H7b with emo ti onal work 
engagement (r = 0.30), and Hypothesis H7c with 
physical work engagement (r = 0.28). The results for 
all the correla ti ons are presented in Table 1.  
 
4.4 Regressions 
To assess further the strengths of the rela ti on ‐
ships among the variables, five hierarchical regres ‐
sions were run. Three were used to iden ti fy 
significant predictors of the work engagement 
facets, and two were used to determine whether 
work engagement could predict the two variables 
of subjec ti ve career success and self ‐actualiza ti on. 
The last two regressions included three interac ti ons 
to test perceived organiza ti onal support as a mod ‐
erator between work engagement and the criterion 
variables of subjec ti ve career success and self ‐actu ‐
aliza ti on.  
For cogni ti ve work engagement, four variables 
entered the regression (all posi ti vely) to explain 28% 
of the variance, F(4,437) = 43.29, p < 0.001. Work 
centrality accounted for 15% of the variance; con ‐
scien ti ousness accounted for 9%; Future prospect 
accounted for 3%; and understanding accounted for 
1%. This was an overall large e ffect size of f
2
 = 0.39 
(Cohen, 1992) for cogni ti ve work engagement.  
For emo ti onal work engagement, six variables 
entered the regression (all posi ti vely) to explain 35% 
of the variance, F(6,435) = 38.07, p < 0.001. Under ‐

Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, May 2022 58
standing accounted for 22% of the variance; per ‐
son–organiza ti on fit accounted for 6%; future 
prospects accounted for 3%; conscien ti ousness for 
2%; work centrality accounted for 1%; and coworker 
support accounted for 1%. Together, the predictors 
produced an overall large e ffect size of f
2
 = 0.54 for 
emo ti onal work engagement.  
For physical work engagement, four variables 
entered the regression (all posi ti vely) to explain 28% 
of the variance, F(4,437) = 42.66, p < 0.001. person– 
organiza ti on fit accounted for 18% of the variance; 
work centrality accounted for 6%; understanding ac ‐
counted for 3%; and future prospects accounted for 
1%. Together, the predictors produced an overall 
large e ffect size of f
2
 = 0.39 for physical work en ‐
gagement. These three regression results are pre ‐
sented in Table 2. 
For the criterion of subjec ti ve career success, 
four variables entered this regression equa ti on 
(with all four predic ti ng variables entering posi ‐
ti vely) to explain a total of 36% of the variance, 
yielding a large e ffect size of f
2
 = 0.56, F(5,436) = 
51.19, p < 0.001. emo ti onal work engagement ac ‐
counted for 28% of the variance; physical work en ‐
gagement for 2%; and perceived organiza ti onal 
support for 4%. Also, the interac ti on between cog ‐
ni ti ve work engagement and perceived organiza ‐
ti onal support (CWE × POS) accounted for another 
Angus C.H. Kuok, Robert J. Taormina: A Posi ti vist Approach to Work Engagement: Modera ti ng E ffects of Perceived 
Organiza ti onal Support
Table 1: Means, SDs, and correla ti ons of the tested variables with work engagement (N = 442)
Work Engagement
Test Variables Mean SD Cogni ti ve Emo ti onal Physical
Cogni ti ve Work Engagement 3.35 0.63 — — —
Emo ti onal Work Engagement 3.59 0.63 0.59
****
— —
Physical Work Engagement 3.31 0.66 0.52
****
0.65
****
—
Work Centrality 2.70 0.76 0.39
****
0.28
****
0.36
****
Person Organiza ti on Fit 3.16 0.64 0.26
****
0.45
****
0.43
****
Job Insecurity 2.05 0.72 −0.05 −0.22
****
−0.11
*
Conscien ti ousness 3.42 0.48 0.37
****
0.28
****
0.18
****
Training 3.16 0.82 0.26
****
0.42
****
0.35
****
Understanding 3.54 0.57 0.30
****
0.47
****
0.37
****
Coworker Support 3.63 0.62 0.21
****
0.39
****
0.29
****
Future Prospects 3.18 0.72 0.34
****
0.46
****
0.40
****
Subjec ti ve Career Success 3.26 0.73 0.36
****
0.53
****
0.44
****
Self ‐Actualiza ti on 3.10 0.61 0.22
****
0.30
****
0.28
****
Perceived Organiza ti onal Support 3.23 0.63 0.29
****
0.52
****
0.51
****
Gender — — 0.02 0.04 0.10*
Age — — 0.09 0.11* 0.14**
Marital Status — — −0.02 0.06 0.08
Educa ti on — — 0.13** 0.11* 0.08
Job Level — — 0.12** 0.09 0.10*
Monthly Income — — 0.05 0.01 0.02
Note. Values for all variables ranged from 1 (low) to 5 (high). Demographics were increasing func ti ons except for gender (female = 0, 
male = 1). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.005, ****p < 0.001. 

Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, May 2022 59
1%, and the interac ti on between physical work en ‐
gagement and perceived organiza ti onal support 
(PWE × POS) accounted for an addi ti onal 1%. The 
results of this regression supported Hypothesis H8a 
and Hypothesis H8c, but not Hypothesis H8b. The 
results are presented in Table 3.
Table 2: Regressions for cogni ti ve, emo ti onal, and physical work engagement (N = 442)
Table 3: Hierarchical stepwise regression for subjec ti ve career success on the three facets of work 
engagement with perceived organiza ti onal support as the moderator (N = 442) 
Work Engagement
Predictors
Cogni ti ve Emo ti onal Physical
β ΔR
2
β ΔR
2
β ΔR
2
Work Centrality 0.23
**
0.15 0.09
*
0.01 0.19
***
0.06
Person–Organiza ti on Fit 0.02 0.17
***
0.06 0.23
***
0.18
Job Insecurity −0.07 −0.05 −0.00
Conscien ti ousness 0.34
**
0.09 0.17
***
0.02 0.04
Training 0.00 0.07 0.04
Understanding 0.11
*
0.01 0.22
***
0.22 0.16
**
0.03
Coworker Support 0.01 0.11
*
0.01 0.03
Future Prospects 0.13
**
0.03 0.13
***
0.03 0.13
*
0.01
To t a l R
2
 0.28 0.35 0.28
Final F 43.29
****
38.07
****
42.66
****
df 4,437 6,435 4,437
*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.005, ****p < 0.001  
Criteria/Predictors β t ‐value ΔR
2
R
2
Subjec ti ve Career Success 0.36
Step 1
  Cogni ti ve Work Engagement (CWE) 0.09 1.81
  Emo ti onal Work Engagement (EWE) 0.35 6.74
****
0.28
  Physical Work Engagement (PWE) 0.09 1.82
*
0.02
Step 2
  Perceived Organiza ti onal Support (POS) 0.26 5.60
****
0.04
Step 3
  CWE × POS 0.15 3.94
****
0.01
  EWE × POS 0.01 0.09
  PWE × POS 0.09 2.30
*
0.01
F = 51.19
****
df = 5,436
*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.005, ****p < 0.001

Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, May 2022 60
Angus C.H. Kuok, Robert J. Taormina: A Posi ti vist Approach to Work Engagement: Modera ti ng E ffects of Perceived 
Organiza ti onal Support
For self ‐actualiza ti on, three variables (entering 
posi ti vely) explained 15% of variance (for a medium 
e ffect size of f
2
 = 0.18), F(3,438) = 20.23, p < 0.001. 
Emo ti onal work engagement explained 9%, per ‐
ceived organiza ti onal support 4%, and the interac ‐
ti on between emoti onal work engagement and 
perceived organiza ti onal support (EWE × POS) 2%. 
This supported Hypothesis H9b, but not Hypothesis 
H9a or Hypothesis H9c. The results are presented in 
Table 4. 
 
4.5 Structural Equa ti on Model 
To gain a clearer picture of the way in which 
perceived organiza ti onal support moderated work 
engagement for subjec ti ve career success and self ‐
actualiza ti on, their significant interac ti ons were cal ‐
culated to show the modera ti ng e ffect between (1) 
cogni ti ve work engagement and subjec ti ve career 
success, (2) physical work engagement and subjec ‐
ti ve career success, and (3) emo ti onal work engage ‐
ment and self ‐actualiza ti on. The interac ti ons o ffer 
further support for H5a, H5c, and H6b; respec ti vely, 
these are shown in Figures 2(a), 2(b), and 2(c).
5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 
5.1 Demographic Di fferences in Work 
Engagement 
Job level was the only demographic that re ‐
vealed a significant di fference. Supervisors had higher 
scores for emo ti onal work engagement. Because 
work engagement refers to a tt achment to the tasks 
that one is doing, this result could reflect feelings of 
accomplishing something that the person feels is im ‐
portant. A possible explana ti on is that supervisors, 
who have decision ‐making authority and greater re ‐
sponsibili ti es than line ‐level employees, may feel that 
the decisions they made were meaningful or substan ‐
ti al. Therefore, they likely would feel good about their 
work because they have opportuni ti es to execute and 
complete tasks that they feel are meaningful.  
 
5.2 Rela ti ng the Three Types of Work 
Engagement to the Tested Variables  
For organiza ti onal socializa ti on, all four do ‐
mains had strong posi ti ve correla ti ons with all 
three facets of work engagement, sugges ti ng that 
Criteria/Predictors β t ‐value ΔR
2
R
2
Self ‐Actualiza ti on 0.15
Step 1
  Cogni ti ve Work Engagement (CWE) 0.03 0.48
  Emo ti onal Work Engagement (EWE) 0.53 3.53
****
0.09
  Physical Work Engagement (PWE) 0.10 1.74
Step 2
  Perceived Organiza ti onal Support (POS) 0.77 4.47
****
0.04
Step 3
  CWE × POS 0.07 0.71
  EWE × POS 0.24 5.16
***
0.02
  PWE × POS 0.10 0.21
F = 20.23
****
df = 3,348
*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.005, ****p < 0.001
Table 4: Hierarchical stepwise regression for self ‐actualiza ti on on the three facets of work engagement 
with perceived organiza ti onal support as the moderator (N = 442) 

Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, May 2022 61
when organiza ti ons provide good socializa ti on, 
their employees will be more work engaged. For ex ‐
ample, future prospects and understanding were 
predictors for all three facets of engagement, indi ‐
ca ti ng that they could promote work engagement. 
A high level of coworker support was a predictor of 
emo ti onal work engagement, indica ti ng the impor ‐
tance of camaraderie at work. Understanding was 
the most powerful predictor of emo ti onal work en ‐
gagement, sugges ti ng its importance in helping em ‐
ployees to feel that they are part of and belong to 
the organiza ti on.  
Figure 2(a): Interac ti on of cogni ti ve work engagement (CWE) and perceived organiza ti onal support on 
subjec ti ve career success
Figure 2(b): Interac ti on of physical work engagement (PWE) and perceived organiza ti onal support on 
subjec ti ve career success

Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, May 2022 62
Angus C.H. Kuok, Robert J. Taormina: A Posi ti vist Approach to Work Engagement: Modera ti ng E ffects of Perceived 
Organiza ti onal Support
For the personality variables, conscien ti ousness 
had strong posi ti ve correla ti ons with all three work 
engagement facets, and was a significant predictor 
of cogni ti ve and emo ti onal work engagement. 
These results confirmed the role of employee con ‐
scien ti ousness according to Kahn’s (1990) original 
three ‐facet theory of work engagement. That is, the 
results suggest that high levels of conscien ti ousness 
may incline people to achieve higher levels of cog ‐
ni ti ve, emo ti onal, and physical work engagement. 
In addi ti on, work centrality was a significant predic ‐
tor of all three facets of work engagement, indicat ‐
ing that employees who value work as a core 
concept in their lives like to perform well and strive 
for success. That is, they are more likely to be cog ‐
ni ti vely, emo ti onally, and physically work ‐engaged. 
Furthermore, person–organiza ti on fit was 
found to be a strong predictor of emo ti onal and 
physical work engagement, sugges ti ng that employ ‐
ees who feel that there is a match between their 
personal goals and those of their organiza ti on may 
be less worried about being scru ti nized regarding 
their work. In other words, the employees’ percep ‐
ti on of their fit with their employing organiza ti on 
creates a sense of trust that s ti mulates employees 
to be work engaged. 
Impact of the Types of Work Engagement on 
the Criterion Variables 
For subjec ti ve career success and self ‐actualiza ‐
ti on, all three work engagement facets were 
strongly and posi ti vely correlated with these vari ‐
ables, and two of the three facets were significant 
predictors. These results suggest that cogni ti vely, 
emo ti onally, and physically work engaged employ ‐
ees think about improving their e ffec ti veness, have 
posi ti ve emo ti ons about and willingly spend e ffort 
at their jobs; and are also more likely to be sa ti sfied 
with their careers (subjec ti ve career success) and to 
reach their personal poten ti als (self ‐actualiza ti on). 
This is the first ti me that subjec ti ve career suc ‐
cess was tested with Kahn’s (1990) three facets of 
work engagement, and the significant results extend 
work engagement theory to the field of employee 
career success. That is, engaged employees are 
more sa ti sfied with their careers, especially when 
they have posi ti ve feelings about work (emo ti onal 
work engagement) and voluntarily spend more ef ‐
fort at work (physical work engagement). 
Self ‐actualiza ti on, which had never been tested 
in research on work engagement, adds knowledge to 
the literature because of its significant posi ti ve rela ‐
Figure 2(c): Interac ti on of emo ti onal work engagement (EWE) and perceived organiza ti onal support on 
self ‐actualiza ti on

Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, May 2022 63
ti onships with the three facets of work engagement. 
It is a promising result, because previous work en ‐
gagement studies rarely examined personal factors. 
The results indicate that when employees are work ‐
engaged, it can enhance their personal growth and 
help them reach their poten ti al through their work. 
To the extent that work is an important part of 
human life, self ‐fulfillment through one’s work could 
contribute to feelings of being self ‐actualized.   
 
5.3 Modera ti ng E ffects of Perceived 
Organiza ti onal Support 
Because perceived organiza ti onal support has 
had highly significant correla ti ons with many vari ‐
ables in past research (Rhoades & Eisenberger, 
2002), it was thought to play a major role in work 
engagement. Thus, it was tested as a moderator be ‐
tween the three facets of work engagement and the 
variables of subjec ti ve career success and self ‐actu ‐
aliza ti on. Three of those six possible interac ti ons 
were found to be significant.  
The first significant interac ti on was between 
cogni ti ve work engagement and perceived organi ‐
za ti onal support (CWE × POS) for subjec ti ve career 
success. These results revealed that when organiza ‐
ti ons reward the contribu ti ons of employees who 
perform tasks with a conscious intent of improving 
their e ffec ti veness, those employees perceive that 
they have significantly more success in their careers.  
The second significant interac ti on was between 
physical work engagement and perceived organiza ‐
ti onal support (PWE × POS), also for subjec ti ve ca ‐
reer success. This result suggests that when 
organiza ti ons value the contribu ti ons of employees 
who voluntarily expend considerable e ffort and en ‐
ergy at work, those employees perceive that they 
have significantly more success in their careers.  
The third significant interac ti on was between 
emo ti onal work engagement and perceived organi ‐
za ti onal support (EWE × POS) for self ‐actualiza ti on. 
This suggests that employees who receive more or ‐
ganiza ti onal support feel that they achieve some ‐
thing important at work, and thus feel be tt er about 
themselves. This strengthens the idea that success 
at work is part of a person’s self ‐fulfillment in life. 
Thus, the results of this study o ffer both theo ‐
re ti cal and empirical contribu ti ons. Empirically, all 
proposed independent variables, namely work cen ‐
trality, person organiza ti onal fit, job insecurity, con ‐
scien ti ousness, and organiza ti onal socializa ti on, 
were found to play an important role in encouraging 
all three of types of work engagement in Kahn’s 
(1990) original explana ti on of the concepts. This is 
a contribu ti on to the literature because the results 
validated the original conceptualiza ti on of work en ‐
gagement.  
Kahn’s (1990) theory of work engagement was 
strongly supported, and was found to be strongly 
related to the theories of organiza ti onal behavior 
and personal development. All three of Kahn’s the ‐
orized facets of work engagement were strongly and 
posi ti vely related to work centrality, person–organi ‐
za ti on fit, and all four organiza ti onal socializa ti on 
domains. Regarding theories of personal develop ‐
ment, all three work engagement facets had signifi ‐
cant posi ti ve correla ti ons with subjec ti ve career 
success and self ‐actualiza ti on. Moreover, interac ‐
ti ons of perceived organiza ti onal support with work 
engagement facilitated employee feelings of career 
success and self ‐actualiza ti on. 
 
5.4 Possible Limita ti ons 
A ques ti onnaire measured employees in a given 
se tti ng at a given ti me, and although it did not trace 
changes over ti me, this method has notable advan ‐
tages. In par ti cular, it assesses the extent to which a 
large number of people are similarly influenced by 
certain variables. It is especially valuable in revealing 
the strengths of certain factors that demonstrate sig ‐
nificant effects across many di fferent employees in 
many di fferent organiza ti ons. When significant ef ‐
fects are found, they strengthen both the validity 
and the generalizability of the findings.  
 
5.5 Implica ti ons for Management 
Organiza ti onal support o ft en is found to be help ‐
ful for employees, and the results confirmed that 
idea. Organiza ti ons also could benefit from this find ‐
ing by making it apparent that they not only appreci ‐
ate hard work, but also care about their workers. That 
is, management could reward employees who o ffer 

Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, May 2022 64
Angus C.H. Kuok, Robert J. Taormina: A Posi ti vist Approach to Work Engagement: Modera ti ng E ffects of Perceived 
Organiza ti onal Support
ideas for improving work e ffec ti veness (cogni ti ve 
work engagement), who express posi ti ve feelings 
about work (emo ti onal work engagement), and who 
set an example by their e ffort and energy in complet ‐
ing their tasks (physical work engagement). 
The results also imply that managers could help 
employees integrate be tt er into the workplace and 
increase subjec ti ve career success by means of or ‐
ganiza ti onal socializa ti on policies. For example, train ‐
ing and future prospects were posi ti ve predictors of 
subjec ti ve career success, which correlated well with 
work engagement, i.e., management could benefit 
by providing training and advancement opportuni ‐
ti es. These results indicate that employees would 
perform well under such arrangements and would 
be more sa ti sfied with their careers. 
Interes ti ngly, perceived organiza ti onal support 
was a significant predictor of both subjec ti ve career 
success and self ‐actualiza ti on, which revealed that 
support from other people at work is cri ti cal for 
human well ‐being. In other words, workers should 
receive support not only from coworkers, but also 
from supervisors. When management appreciates 
its workers’ contribu ti ons and cares about their well ‐
being, such support increases employees’ feelings of 
success. In addi ti on, organiza ti onal support helps 
workers to be self ‐actualized through their work. 
In addi ti on, the modera ti ng e ffect of perceived 
organiza ti onal support also contributed to em ‐
ployee welfare. This is important for management 
to realize because, according to organiza ti onal so ‐
cializa ti on theory (Taormina, 1997), interpersonal 
support at work helps employees to integrate into 
the work place more successfully. They also are 
likely to be involved in organiza ti onal ci ti zenship be ‐
haviors, and to have more a ffec ti ve commitment 
(Kuok & Taormina, 2015) and increased subjec ti ve 
career success.  
Finally, the modera ti ng e ffect of perceived or ‐
ganiza ti onal support can be a type of “interven ti on,” 
i.e., management support for employees could fa ‐
cilitate worker engagement (Knight et al., 2017). It 
also extends work engagement theory to personal 
factors. That is, support from management signifi ‐
cantly helps workers self ‐actualize because work is 
a criti cal aspect of people’s lives. Thus, having one’s 
contribu ti ons at work appreciated can posi ti vely in ‐
fluence self ‐fulfillment. In other words, employees 
are more likely to become self ‐actualized when their 
supervisors care about them and appreciate their 
contribu ti ons at work.
EXTENDED SUMMARY/IZVLE ČEK 
Z merskim instrumentom, ki temelji na pozi ti vis tič ni teoriji delovne zavzetos ti , so bili tes ti rani 
spoznavni, čustveni in fizi čni vidiki delovne zavzetos ti v povezavi z (1) nizom delovnih, socialnih in 
osebnostnih spremenljivk, tj. socializacija, osrednjost dela, negotovost zaposlitve in vestnost; (2) 
dvema hipote ti ziranima u činkoma, in sicer subjek ti vnega kariernega uspeha in samoaktualizacije; in 
(3) zaznavanjem organizacijske podpore kot moderatorja. Regresija podatkov iz vprašalnika je 
pokazala, da je kogni ti vna delovna zavzetost glavni napovedovalec osrednjos ti dela, organizacijsko 
razumevanje je glavni napovedovalec čustvene delovne zavzetos ti , prileganje osebe in organizacije 
pa je glavni napovedovalec fizi čne delovne azavzetos ti . Tes ti modeliranja strukturnih ena čb (angl. 
Structural equa ti on modeling; SEM) so pokazali, da čustvena delovna zavzetost napoveduje tako sub ‐
jek ti vni karierni uspeh kot samoaktualizacijo, medtem ko fizi čna delovna zavzetost napoveduje sub ‐
jek ti vni karierni uspeh. Poleg tega je zaznana organizacijska podpora moderirala vpliv spoznavne in 
fizi čne delovne zavzetos ti , in sicer za pove čanje subjek ti vnega kariernega uspeha, ter moderirala 
vpliv čustvene delovne zavzetos ti za pove čanje samoaktualizacije. V članku se disku ti ra tudi o imp ‐
likacijah za managerje.

Dynamic Rela ti onships Management Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, May 2022 65
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APPENDIX: The Three Facets of Work 
Engagement 
 
Cogni ti ve Work Engagement (six ‐item subscale): 
1. My mind is o ft en full of ideas about my work 
2. Wherever I am, things happen that o ft en remind 
me of my work 
3. My mind is fully engaged with my work 
4. I rarely think about ti me when I am working 
5.My thoughts are fully focused when thinking 
about my work 
6. I give a lot of mental a tt en ti on to my work 
 
Emo ti onal Work Engagement (six ‐item subscale): 
1. I feel very delighted about what I am doing when ‐
ever I am working 
2. I am very eager to do my work 
3. I feel very happy when I am carrying out my re ‐
sponsibili ti es at work 
4. I feel very good about the work that I do 
5. I feel strong enthusiasm for my work 
6. I feel a sense of gra ti fica ti on with my work perfor ‐
mance  
 
Physical Work Engagement (six ‐item subscale): 
1. No ma tt er how much I work, I have a high level of 
energy 
2. I have a great deal of stamina for my work 
3. I always have a lot of energy for my work 
4. I am o ft en physically driven by my work 
5. I am frequently energized by my work  
6. I find my work to be physically invigora ti ng