2013 Awards for Excellence

Citation

(2014), "2013 Awards for Excellence", Career Development International, Vol. 19 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI.13719aaa.002

2013 Awards for Excellence

Article Type: 2013 Awards for Excellence From: Career Development International, Volume 19, Issue 1

The following article was selected for this year’s Outstanding Paper Award for Career Development International

‘‘Don’t leave your heart at home: gain cycles of positive emotions, resources, and engagement at work’’

Else Ouweneel
Work and Organizational Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Pascale M. Le Blanc
Human Performance Management Group, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Wilmar B. Schaufeli
Work and Organizational Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Purpose – The main objective of this study is to apply broaden-and-build theory to occupational wellbeing. More specifically, it seeks to test whether positive emotions ‘‘build’’ resources and to what extent they contribute to work engagement through an increase in personal or job resources. Additionally, it aims to hypothesize that positive emotions, resources, and work engagement are reciprocally related to each other in a way akin to a gain cycle.
Design/methodology/approach – In order to test whether positive emotions, personal and job resources, and work engagement are related over time, a structural equation model was constructed. The model was based on two waves of data, with a time lag of six months.
Findings – Results show a reciprocal relationship between positive emotions and personal resources. Furthermore, there is a causal effect of personal resources on work engagement and a reversed causal effect of work engagement on positive emotions. Most surprising is the fact that no relationships with job resources are found to be significant.
Research limitations/implications – Because the authors exclusively used self-report measures to assess positive emotions, resources, and work engagement, the cross-paths might have been inflated.
Practical implications – The results underline the importance of increasing both positive emotions and the level of personal resources in order to create an engaged workforce.
Originality/value – The study adds to the existing literature in the sense that the research model entailed positive emotions as a ‘‘novel’’ variable in the context of resources and work engagement. The model recognized the building capacity of positive emotions as well as the potential of personal resources in predicting work engagement.

Keywords Broaden-and-build theory, Gain cycles, Job resources, Personal resources, Positive emotions, Quality of life, Work engagement, Workplace

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/13620431211280123

This article originally appeared in Volume 17 Number 6, 2012, Career Development International

The following articles were selected for this year’s Highly Commended Award

‘‘The relationship between networking behaviors and the Big Five personality dimensions’’

Hans-Georg Wolff, Sowon Kim

This article originally appeared in Volume 17 Number 1, 2012, Career Development International

‘‘Individual differences in job-related relocation readiness: the impact of personality dispositions and social orientations’’

Kathleen Otto, Claudia Dalbert

This article originally appeared in Volume 17 Number 2, 2012, Career Development International

‘‘Comparing apples to apples: a qualitative investigation of career mobility patterns across four generations’’

Sean T. Lyons, Linda Schweitzer, Eddy S.W. Ng, Lisa K.J. Kuron

This article originally appeared in Volume 17 Number 4, 2012, Career Development International

Outstanding Reviewers

Claudia Holtschlag
Kathleen Buse