Employees’ work engagement and job commitment: the moderating role of career anchors.

Abstract

Orientation: Organisations continue to focus on human resource initiatives for enhancing employee commitment, satisfaction and engagement in order to gain a competitive edge in a dynamic and fast-changing marketplace. Research purpose: The objective of the present study was to assess whether individuals’ career anchors (measured by the career orientations inventory) significantly moderate the relationship between their work engagement (measured by the Utrecht work engagement scale) and job commitment (measured by the organisation-related commitment scale).Motivation for the study: Although the literature review suggests that people’s work engagement and job commitment may be influenced by their career anchors, there seems to be a paucity of research examining the interaction effects between these three variables. Research approach, design and method: A cross-sectional quantitative survey approach was used. A non-probability purposive sample of adults (N = 318) employed in a human resource capacity in the South African service industry participated in the study. Stepwise hierarchical moderated regression analysis was performed to achieve the objective of the study. Main findings: The results showed that the work engagement-job commitment relationship was generally stronger for high career anchor preferences than for low career anchor preferences. Practical/managerial implications: The results of the study can be useful when human resource interventions for enhancing employees’ engagement and commitment are developed. Contribution: The results of the study add new insights to the career literature by showing that people’s career self-concepts (as reflected by their career anchors) are important to consider in enhancing their work engagement and job commitment