Economic Individualism and Job Engagement: Examining the Roles of Work Motivation and Growth Need Strength

Jinkyo Shin, Nicholas A. Moon, Jesse Caylor, Patrick D. Converse, Okja Park and Kyunghwan Yeo
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Jinkyo Shin: College of Business, Keimyung University, Daegu 42601, Korea
Nicholas A. Moon: School of Psychology, Florida Institute of Technology, 150 W. University Blvd., Melbourne, FL 32901, USA
Jesse Caylor: School of Psychology, Florida Institute of Technology, 150 W. University Blvd., Melbourne, FL 32901, USA
Patrick D. Converse: School of Psychology, Florida Institute of Technology, 150 W. University Blvd., Melbourne, FL 32901, USA
Okja Park: School of Psychology, Sunmoon University, Asan-si 31460, Korea
Kyunghwan Yeo: HR Institute for University-Industry Cooperation, Keimyung University, Daegu 42601, Korea

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 2, 1-14

Abstract: Economic individualism—involving a belief that the individual should be in control of his/her own economic decisions and an increased emphasis on competition and achievement—is becoming more prominent in several areas of the world, but little is known about the implications of this characteristic for employee attitudes and behavior. Our study investigated the impact of economic individualism on job engagement. More specifically, the research developed and examined a model involving work motivation as a mediator and growth need strength as a moderator. Employees ( N = 235, 58.3% male, 33.6% 20–29 years old, 53.2% with a bachelor’s degree) from several companies in South Korea completed survey measures of economic individualism, job engagement, work motivation, and growth need strength. Findings supported work motivation as a mediator and indicated that the indirect effect through work motivation was significant at high levels of growth need strength although not at low levels. These findings provide new insights regarding the individual-level engagement implications of economic individualism and when and why these implications hold, as prior research on economic individualism has focused on the organizational and societal levels.

Keywords: economic individualism; job engagement; work motivation; growth need strength (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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