flourishing through identification and engagement: sustaining employee dro....

Flourishing through identification and engagement: Sustaining employee health and effectiveness

by

Sean Peter Tinker B App Sci, Health Promotion

B App Sci, Psychology (Honours)

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Deakin University

November 2014

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Acknowledgements

My deepest gratitude goes to my family for believing in me. Your unqualified support at all times allowed me to break through each and every obstacle

along the way. Please share in this achievement with me.

To my son Jackson, you are a source of infinite pride and happiness. You brought light to bear whenever I could not see my way ahead.

Life after this thesis awaits both of us.

To my beautiful wife Soranee, you have been so generous with your love. Your strength and wisdom has brought peace to my life.

My heartfelt thanks and deepest love goes to you.

To my Mum and Dad, the support and love you have shown me will never be forgotten.

My aspiration is to be like you.

To my supervisor Professor Joe Graffam, thank you for your guidance and wisdom, but most of all, thank you for your faith.

This thesis is dedicated to my late grandmother, Elsie Tinker.

You taught me to be myself.

Sean Tinker – Thesis: Flourishing through Identification and Engagement

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Table of Contents Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................. 15 Flourishing Workforces and Organisational Effectiveness ............................................ 15

1.1. Workforce as a sustainable, self-generating organisational resource .........16 1.2. Flourishing as Eudaimonic and Hedonic Well-being.................................33 1.3. Flourishing Workforces in Organisations...................................................42 1.4. Conclusion ..................................................................................................47

Chapter 2 ............................................................................................................................. 49 Workplace Identification and Resource Accumulation .................................................. 49

2.1. Introduction.................................................................................................49 2.2. Theories of Identification ...........................................................................51

Social Identity Theory .......................................................................................55 Self-Categorisation Theory ...............................................................................58

2.3. Identification in Organisations ...................................................................61 2.4. Resource Accumulation Related to Identification and Circumstances at Work 65 2.5. Conclusion ..................................................................................................69

Chapter 3 ............................................................................................................................. 73 Employee Health as a Sustainable Outcome of Identification and Flourishing............ 73

3.1. Introduction.................................................................................................73 3.2. Employee Health and the Relationship to Identification and Flourishing..77 3.3. Conclusion ..................................................................................................90

Chapter 4 ............................................................................................................................. 93 Study 1: A Model of Workforce Flourishing.................................................................... 93

4.1. Work Identification and Flourishing ..........................................................93 4.2. Identification and the Capacity to Flourish ................................................96 4.3. Exploring Two Model Variants of Workforce Flourishing......................103 4.4. Method......................................................................................................105

Workforce Flourishing Measures ....................................................................108 Employee Health Measures.............................................................................111 Work identification..........................................................................................112

4.5. Results.......................................................................................................115 4.6. Discussion.................................................................................................123 4.7. Conclusion ................................................................................................132

Chapter 5 ........................................................................................................................... 134 Study Two: Employee Engagement and the Construct of Engagement Climate........ 134

Sean Tinker – Thesis: Flourishing through Identification and Engagement

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5.1. Employee Engagement .............................................................................135 5.2. Work Climate and Defining Engagement Climate...................................140 5.3. Engagement Climate Characteristics ........................................................142 5.4. Qualitative Study: Refining the Characteristics of Engagement Climate 145 5.5. Method......................................................................................................146 5.6. Results.......................................................................................................150 5.7. Qualitative Study Discussion....................................................................153 5.8. Quantitative Study: Further Examination of the Construct of Engagement Climate ................................................................................................................156 5.9. Method......................................................................................................157 5.10. Results...................................................................................................163 5.11. Quantitative Study Discussion ..............................................................168 5.12. General Discussion ...............................................................................169 5.13. Conclusion ............................................................................................172

Chapter 6 ........................................................................................................................... 174 Study 3: The Relationship between Engagement Climate, Identification, and Workforce Flourishing..................................................................................................... 174

6.1. Introduction...............................................................................................174 6.2. Method......................................................................................................178

Engagement Climate .......................................................................................179 Identification ...................................................................................................180 Workforce Flourishing Measures ....................................................................181

6.3. Results.......................................................................................................184 CFA of Workforce Flourishing .......................................................................189

6.4. Discussion.................................................................................................194 6.5. Conclusion ................................................................................................208

Chapter 7 ........................................................................................................................... 210 Thesis Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 210

7.1. Summary of Theoretical Implications ......................................................212 7.2. Workforce Flourishing through Work Identification ...............................218 7.3. Engagement Climate as Effective Organisation Practice .........................221 7.4. Final Comments........................................................................................223

References.......................................................................................................................... 226 Appendix A........................................................................................................................ 263 Appendix B ........................................................................................................................ 272

Sean Tinker – Thesis: Flourishing through Identification and Engagement

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Table of Tables

Table 4.1. Factor Analysis Fit Indices for Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) of the Latent Factor of Workforce Flourishing..................................................115

Table 4.2. Confirmatory Factor Analysis Fit Indices