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Within the context of eHealth interventions, a shared understanding of what constitutes engagement in and with eHealth technologies is missing. A clearer understanding of engagement could provide a valuable starting point for guidelines relating to the design and development of eHealth technologies. Given the cross-disciplinary use of the term “engagement,” investigating how engagement (and its components) is conceptualized in different domains could lead to determining common components that are deemed important for eHealth technological design. As such, the aim of this paper was 3-fold: (a) to investigate in which domains engagement features, (b) to determine what constitutes engagement in these different domains, and (c) to determine whether there are any common components that seem to be important. A comprehensive systematic scoping review of the existing literature was conducted in order to identify the domains in which engagement is used, to extract the associated definitions of engagement, and to identify the dimensionality or components thereof. A search of five bibliographic databases yielded 1,231 unique records. All titles, abstracts, and full texts were screened based on specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. This led to 69 articles being included for further analyses. The results showed that engagement is used in seven functional domains, categorized as follows: student (n = 18), customer (n = 12), health (n = 11), society (n = 10), work (n = 9), digital (n = 8), and transdisciplinary (n = 1) domains. It seems that some domains are more mature regarding their conceptualization and theorizing on engagement than others. Further, engagement was found to be predominantly conceptualized as a multidimensional construct with three common components (behavior, cognition, and affective) shared between domains. Although engagement is prolifically used in different disciplines, it is evident that little shared consensus as to its conceptualization within and between domains exists. Despite this, engagement is foremost seen as a state of being engaged in/with something, which is part of, but should not be confused with, the process of engagement. Behavior, cognition, and affect are important components of engagement and should be specified for each new context.
Orientation: The work of industrial/organisational (I/O) psychologists presents an interesting and relevant context for studying meaning and engagement as components of happiness. Research purpose: The aim of this study was to determine how I/O psychologists experience the meaning of their work and to investigate the relationships between their experiences of work-role fit, meaning of work, psychological meaningfulness and work engagement, utilising the happiness framework proposed by Seligman (2002). Motivation for the study: I/O psychologists spend more than 88% of their working day with people, and they are primary role models for happiness in the workplace. Information about their work engagement and experiences of meaning is therefore needed. Research design, approach and method: A survey design was used. A convenience sample (n = 106) was taken of I/O psychologists in South Africa. A biographical questionnaire, the Work-Role Fit Scale, the Work-Life Questionnaire, the Psychological Meaningfulness Scale, the Work Engagement Scale and a survey measuring the actual and desired time spent on six broad categories of work were administered. Main findings: Work-role fit predicted psychological meaningfulness and work engagement. The calling orientation to work predicted both psychological meaningfulness and work engagement. Work-role fit mediated the relationship between the meaning of work and psychological meaningfulness. Work-role fit partially mediated the relationship between a calling orientation to work and work engagement. Practical implications: A calling orientation to work should be fostered in I/O psychologists because it contributes to experiences of work-role fit, psychological meaningfulness and work engagement. Contribution/value-add: The results of this study contribute to scientific knowledge about work-role fit, engagement and meaning as components of happiness of I/O psychologists.