Abstract

The present study combined literature in task significance (Hackman and Oldham, 1976; 2010) and social perceptions (Grant, 2008) in order to help explain employee engagement in its two dimensions: job and organization engagement (Saks, 2006). The study further investigated the mediating effects of challenge and hindrance stressors (Cavanaugh, Boswell, Roehling, & Boudreau, 2000) between task significance and employee engagement. A total of 337 faculty members at Concordia and McGill universities participated in this study. A moderated mediation and a multiple mediation analyses were performed which showed that task significance is a predictor of job and organization engagement. Additionally, the multiple mediation analysis showed that challenge stressors mediate the relationship between task significance and job engagement whereas hindrance stressors are negatively related to organization engagement. Moreover, the interaction between task significance and perceived social impact and worth explained the variance in hindrance stressors as demonstrated by the moderated mediation analyses. The results fill a gap in the literature when it comes to explaining the direct and indirect effects of task significance in explaining employee engagement. The major contribution of the study is that it showed that task significance on its own predicts employee engagement regardless of the other job characteristics, it also supported the dual dimension of employee engagement, and it emphasized the importance of challenge stressors in explaining job engagement. Practical implications and directions for future research are highlighted.

Keywords: task significance, perceived social impact, perceived social worth, challenge stressors, hindrance stressors, job and organization engagement