Task Characteristics and Work Engagement: Exploring Effects of Role Ambiguity and ICT Presenteeism

Sang-Hoon Lee, Yuhyung Shin and Seung Ik Baek
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Sang-Hoon Lee: School of Labor and Employment Relations, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820, USA
Yuhyung Shin: School of Business, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Korea
Seung Ik Baek: School of Business, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Korea

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: In order to secure organizational sustainability in a rapidly changing environment, it is necessary to implement a decentralized and flexible work environment. In such work environments, normally individuals are provided with autonomy and independence in performing tasks, thus allowing them to further engage in their given work. This study investigated task antecedents of work engagement, and further explored the process of how task characteristics affect work engagement. It focused on examining the mediating effect of role ambiguity on the task characteristics-work engagement relationship and the moderating effect of information and communication technology (ICT) presenteeism on the task characteristics–role ambiguity relationship through multiple regression analyses and a bootstrapping procedure on survey data collected from 202 South Korean employees. It found that task interdependence and autonomy were negatively associated with role ambiguity. Of the two task characteristics, only task interdependence had a negative relationship with role ambiguity, and this relationship was significantly moderated by ICT presenteeism such that the negative association between task interdependence and role ambiguity was more pronounced when ICT presenteeism was high than when it was low.

Keywords: work engagement; task interdependence; task autonomy; role ambiguity; ICT presenteeism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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