A job resources-based intervention to boost work engagement and team innovativeness during organizational restructuring: For whom does it work?

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of a job resources-based intervention aimed at proactively increasing work engagement and team innovativeness during organizational restructuring using a person-centered approach.

Design/methodology/approach

The intervention was conducted in two organizations: two departments served as participants (n=82) and two as controls (n=52). The aim was to first identify sub-groups of employees with different developmental patterns of work engagement, and then to determine whether these sub-groups benefited differently from the intervention with respect to team innovativeness and work engagement.

Findings

Latent profile analysis identified three different patterns of work engagement among the participants: high and stable (n=64), moderate and decreasing (n=13), and low and decreasing (n=5). The χ²-test yielded no significant difference between participants and controls (n=52) with respect to team innovativeness over time. However, t-tests showed that team innovativeness increased in the high work engagement class and somewhat decreased in the moderate and low work engagement classes.

Practical implications

During organizational changes, those initially work-engaged seem to be able to proactively build their team innovativeness via a job resources-based intervention and remain engaged; whereas those initially not work-engaged may not, and their work engagement may even decrease.

Originality/value

This study reveals that an initial level of work engagement is a prerequisite why some employees profit more from a job resources-based intervention than others and provides tailored knowledge on the effectiveness of the intervention.

Citation

Seppälä, P., Hakanen, J.J., Tolvanen, A. and Demerouti, E. (2018), "A job resources-based intervention to boost work engagement and team innovativeness during organizational restructuring: For whom does it work?", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 31 No. 7, pp. 1419-1437. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-11-2017-0448