PDF (PhD Thesis for Aamir Chughtai) - DORAS

400 Pages·2010·2.22 MB·English

Fostering Work Engagement through State and Trait
Trust: Evidence from Irish University Research
Centres

Aamir Ali Chughtai
MPhil, MBA, MA

Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Dublin City University Business School
Supervisor: Dr. Finian Buckley
th
8 January 2010
DECLARATION

I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on
the programme of study leading to the award of PhD is entirely my own work,
that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does
not to the best of my knowledge breach any law of copyright, and has not been
taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been
cited and acknowledged within the text of my work.

Signed: Aamir Ali Chughtai ID No.: 55155201

Date: March 24, 2010

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First, I wish to thank my supervisor, Dr. Finian Buckley for his patience, professional
supervision, and constant encouragement and support during the PhD process. I would
also like to thank Professor Kathy Monks, Professor Patrick Flood and Dr. Edel
Conway for their continued help and support during this amazing journey.

Furthermore, I want to extend my thanks to the management personnel of the
university research centres for their cooperation in the data collection process. I also
wish to thank all the research scientists who participated in this study by taking time
out of their busy schedules to fill out my questionnaires.

Finally, I wish to thank my family members, who have always supported me and
stood by me. First, I want to thank my parents for their love, prayers and constant
encouragement. Secondly, I would like to thank my wife Naila, who put her own
career on hold for me and has been with me through thick and thin. Without her
support, I may not have been able to complete this degree. Last but not the least, I
wish to thank my son Saif, whose presence in our lives has been a constant source of
inspiration and joy.

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ABSTRACT

The central aim of this research was to examine the impact of state and trait
trust on employees’ levels of work engagement. More specifically, in this study, the
three forms of state trust - trust in top management, trust in direct supervisor and trust
in team members, as well as trait trust (trust propensity) - were hypothesised as
antecedents of work engagement. Furthermore, it was proposed that organizational
identification, affective commitment to the supervisor and team psychological safety
will mediate the effects of trust in top management, trust in direct supervisor and trust
in team members on work engagement respectively. Finally, the relationship of work
engagement with a variety of work outcomes such as, in-role job performance,
innovative work behaviour, feedback seeking, error communication and
organizational commitment, as well as the mediating effects of learning goal
orientation on these relationships were investigated. Using survey data from 152
research scientists, drawn from six university science research centres operating in
Ireland, the hypotheses were tested through hierarchical multiple regression analyses.
The results of this study showed that as hypothesised, organizational identification,
affective commitment to the supervisor, and team psychological safety fully mediated
the effects of trust in top management, trust in direct supervisor, and trust in team
members on work engagement respectively. Moreover, the findings of this study
indicated that trust propensity was also positively and significantly related to work
engagement. Additionally, it was found that learning goal orientation partially
mediated the effects of work engagement on in-role job performance, innovative work
behaviour, feedback seeking and error communication, while it did not mediate the
relationship between work engagement and organizational commitment. On the basis
of these findings, recommendations were made for the management of research
centres and for future research directions.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
List of Tables viii
List of Figures ix
List of Abbreviations x

Chapter 1: Overview of the Research

1.1 Background 1
1.2 Importance of Work Engagement 2
1.3 Drivers of Work Engagement 2
1.4 The Role of Trust in Work Engagement 3
1.5 Statement of the Problem 4
1.6 Aims & Objectives of the Study 6
1.7 Research Hypotheses 8
1.8 Definition of Key Terms & Concepts 10
1.9 Thesis Structure 12
1.10 Summary 12

Chapter 2: Work Engagement: Conceptualization & Measurement

2.1 Introduction 13
2.2 Evolution of Work Engagement 13
2.3 Different Approaches to Work Engagement 14
2.4 Comparison between different Approaches 24
2.5 Measurement of Work Engagement 27
2.6 The Relationship between Burnout and Work Engagement 31
2.7 Summary 33

Chapter 3: Work Engagement: Empirical Developments &
Advancements

3.1 Introduction 34
3.2 Job Demands-Resources Model 35
3.3 Evidence for the JD-R Model 38
3.4 Drivers of Work Engagement 41
3.5 Consequences of Work Engagement 50
3.6 Daily Engagement 54
3.7 Crossover of Work Engagement 55
3.8 Can Work Engagement be differentiated from other
Established Concepts? 57
3.9 Dark Side of Work Engagement 60
3.10 Summary 61
3.11 Potential Gaps in the Engagement Literature 62

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Chapter 4: Organizational Trust: Theoretical Developments and Debates
4.1 Introduction 66
4.2 Approaches to Trust 67
4.3 Definition of Trust for the Present Study 76
4.4 Factors of Trustworthiness 78
4.5 Bases / Stages of Trust 81
4.6 High Levels of Initial Trust 84
4.7 Trust and Distrust 86
4.8 Foci of Trust 88
4.9 Summary 93

Chapter 5: Organizational Trust: Measurement, Antecedents & Consequences

5.1 Introduction 95
5.2 Measurement of Trust 95
5.3 Determinants of Trust 99
5.4 Positive Consequences of Trust 103
5.5 Downside of Trust – The Concept of Optimal Trust 109
5.6 The Costs of Distrust 111
5.7 Summary 111

Chapter 6: Organizational Identification, Affective Commitment to the
Supervisor and Team Psychological Safety

6.1 Chapter Overview 114

6.2 Organizational Identification: An Introduction 115
6.3 The Social Identity Approach 116
6.4 Organizational Identification and Organizational Commitment 117
6.5 Antecedents of Organizational Identification 119
6.6 Consequences of Organizational Identification 122
6.7 Foci of Organizational Identification 123

6.8 Affective Commitment to the Supervisor: An Introduction 125
6.9 Definition of Commitment to the Supervisor 127
6.10 The Relationship between Organizational Commitment and
Supervisor Commitment 129
6.11 Antecedents of Supervisory Commitment 132
6.12 Consequences of Supervisory Commitment 133

6.13 Team Psychological Safety: An Introduction 134
6.14 Psychological Safety and Trust 135
6.15 Antecedents of Psychological Safety 136
6.16 Consequences of Psychological Safety 138
6.17 Limitations of Psychological Safety 141
6.18 Justification for Using Organizational Identification, Affective
Commitment to the Supervisor and Team Psychological Safety as
Mediating Variables 142
6.19 Summary 143

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Chapter 7: The Outcome Variables

7.1 Introduction 145
7.2 Learning Goal Orientation 148
7.3 In-Role Job Performance 151
7.4 Innovative Work Behaviour 153
7.5 Learning Behaviour 157
7.6 Affective Organizational Commitment 161
7.7 Summary 163

Chapter 8: The Context – University Research Centres

8.1 Introduction 164
8.2 The Emergence of University Research Centres 164
8.3 The Definition and Types of University Research Centres 165
8.4 Purpose and Importance of Research Centres 170
8.5 The Role of the Research Director 175
8.6 Critique of Research Centres 176
8.7 The Importance of the Context for the Current Study 179
8.8 Summary 181

Chapter 9: Theory Development and Hypotheses

9.1 Introduction 182
9.2 Work Engagement and Trust in Top Management 184
9.3 Organizational Identification as a Mediating Link between Trust in Top
Management and Work Engagement 186
9.4 Trust in Supervisor and Work Engagement 188
9.5 Affective Commitment to the Supervisor as a Mediating Link
between Trust in Supervisor and Work Engagement 189
9.6 Work Engagement and Trust in Team Members 190
9.7 Team Psychological Safety as a Mediating Link between Trust in Team
Members and Work Engagement 192
9.8 Trust Propensity and Work Engagement 193
9.9 Work Engagement and Organizational Outcomes 194
9.10 The Mediating Role of Learning Goal Orientation 197
9.11 Summary 200

Chapter 10: Research Methodology

10.1 Introduction 201
10.2 Philosophical Foundations of this Research 202
10.3 Research Design: Quantitative Survey 204
10.4 Participants of the Study 208
10.5 Data Collection Procedure 209
10.6 Handling Missing Responses 214
10.7 Measurement of Variables 219
10.8 Structure of the Questionnaire 231
10.9 Pilot Study 232
10.10 Data Analysis 236
10.11 Summary 244

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Chapter 11: Results and Data Analysis

11.1 Introduction 245
11.2 Factor Structure or the Construct Validity of the Study Variables 245
11.3 Discriminant Validity among Study Variables 256
11.4 Descriptive Statistics 257
11.5 Reliability of Study Variables 263
11.6 Common Method Variance 265
11.7 Correlation Analysis 265
11.8 Testing the Assumptions of the Regression Analysis 268
11.9 Test of Research Hypothesis 270
11.10 Impact of State and Trait Trust on Work Engagement 271
11.11 The Mediating Effects of Organizational Identification, Affective
Commitment to the Supervisor and Team Psychological Safety 273
11.12 The Effects of Work Engagement on Organizational Outcomes 279
11.13 The Mediating Role of Learning Goal Orientation in the Work
Engagement – Organizational Outcomes Relationship 282
11.14 Summary 289

Chapter 12: Discussion, Implications and Conclusions

12.1 Introduction 294
12.2 Summary of the Research Findings 297
12.3 Discussion of the Research Findings 299
12.4 Organizational & Managerial Implications 311
12.5 Public Policy Implications 319
12.6 Contributions of the Study 321
12.7 Limitations of the Study 322
12.8 Future Research Directions 327
12.9 Conclusion 333

REFERENCES 335

APPENDIX A: 367
APPENDIX B: 374
APPENDIX C: 381
APPENDIX D: 383
APPENDIX E: 385

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LIST OF TABLES

TABLE 1.1 Definition of Key Terms & Concepts 11
TABLE 2.1 Comparison of Engagement Models 25
TABLE 2.2 Various Measures of Work Engagement 31
TABLE 4.1 Theoretical Approaches to Trust 75
TABLE 8.1 Taxonomy of University Research Centres 167
TABLE 10.1 Total Population of Researchers in each Research Centre 208
TABLE 10.2 Demographic Characteristics of the Sample 212
TABLE10.3 Comparison of the Demographic Characteristics of Respondents and 213
Overall Population
TABLE 10.4 Sample Size for Medium Effect Size 217
TABLE 10.5 Comparison of the Demographic Characteristics of the Retained and 218
Discarded Cases
TABLE 11.1 Results of Principal Components Analysis of the Work Engagement 246
Scale
TABLE 11.2 Results of Principal Components Analysis of the Trust in Top 247
Management Scale
TABLE 11.3 Results of Principal Components Analysis of the Trust in Supervisor 248
Scale
TABLE 11.4 Results of Principal Components Analysis of the Trust in Team Members 249
Scale
TABLE 11.5 Results of Principal Components Analysis of the Trust Propensity Scale 250
TABLE 11.6 Results of Principal Components Analysis of the Organizational 250
Identification Scale
TABLE 11.7 Results of Principal Components Analysis of the Affective Commitment 251
to the Supervisor Scale
TABLE 11.8 Results of Principal Components Analysis of the Team Psychological 252
Safety Scale
TABLE 11.9 Results of Principal Components Analysis of the Learning Goal 253
Orientation Scale
TABLE 11.10 Results of Principal Components Analysis of the In-Role Job 253
Performance Scale
TABLE 11.11 Results of Principal Components Analysis of the Innovative Work 254
Behaviour Scale
TABLE 11.12 Results of Principal Components Analysis of the Learning Behaviour 255
Scales
TABLE 11.13 Results of Principal Components Analysis of the Organizational 256
Commitment Scale
TABLE 11.14 Descriptive Statistics of Study Variables 258
TABLE 11.15 A Comparison of the Levels of Work Engagement between the Current 259
Sample and the Dutch Samples
TABLE 11.16 A Comparison of Trust Scores between Current and the US samples 259
TABLE 11.17 Skewness and Kurtosis for Transformed and Non-Transformed Variables 262
TABLE 11.18 Cronbach’s Alpha for the Study Variables 263
TABLE 11.19 Correlation among Study Variables 267
TABLE 11.20 Results of Regression Examining the Effects of Trust on 273
Work Engagement
TABLE 11.21 Results of Regression Predicting Organizational Identification, Affective 275
Commitment to the Supervisor and Team Psychological Safety
TABLE 11.22 Results of Regression Examining the Effects of Mediators on Work 276
Engagement

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TABLE 11.23 Results of Regression Examining the Mediating Effects of Affective 278
Commitment to the Supervisor
TABLE 11.24 Results of Regression Examining the Mediating Effects of Team 279
Psychological Safety
TABLE 11.25 Results of Regression Examining the Effects of Work Engagement on 281
Organizational Outcomes
TABLE 11.26 Results of Regression Examining the Effects of Work Engagement on 283
Learning Goal Orientation
TABLE 11.27 Results of Regression Examining the Effects of Learning Goal 284
Orientation on Organizational Outcomes
TABLE 11.28 Results of Regression Examining the Mediating Effects of Learning Goal 286
Orientation
TABLE 11.29 Results of Regression Examining the Mediating Effects of Learning Goal 288
Orientation
TABLE A1 Results of the Principal Components Analysis of the Trust Scales 381
TABLE A2 Results of the Principal Components Analysis of the Study Variables 383
TABLE A3 Results of the Principal Components Analysis for the Engagement and 385
Organizational Commitment Scales

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE 1.1 Research Model 8
FIGURE 3.1 The Job Demands-Resources Model 38
FIGURE 3.2 Overall Model of Work Engagement 47
FIGURE 3.3 Research Model 65
FIGURE 4.1 Relationship between Trust and Work Engagement 93
FIGURE 5.1 General Model of Antecedents & Consequences of Trust 109
FIGURE 6.1 Position of Mediators in the Research Model 115
FIGURE 7.1 Relationship between Work Engagement and Outcome Variables 146
FIGURE 7.2 The Mediating Role of Learning Goal Orientation 147
FIGURE 8.1 The Triple Helix Model of University-Industry-Government relations 172
FIGURE 9.1 Research Hypotheses 1 (a to d) 182
FIGURE 9.2 Research Hypotheses 2 (a to c) 183
FIGURE 9.3 Research Hypotheses 3 (a to e) 183
FIGURE 9.4 Research Hypotheses 4 (a to e) 184
FIGURE 10.1 Model for the Pilot Study 234
FIGURE 11.1 Research Hypotheses 1 (a to d) 290
FIGURE 11.2 Research Hypotheses 2 (a to c) 291
FIGURE 11.3 Research Hypotheses 3 (a to e) 292
FIGURE 11.4 Research Hypotheses 4 (a to e) 293
FIGURE 12.1 Research Model 296

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