A BRIEF REVIEW OF ROLES STRESSORS, WORK ENGAGEMENT, AND CAREER TRANSITION

In continuation of the previous articles on role stressors, work engagement, (role stressors), and career transition intentions (employee turnover), let us have a brief overview of them concerning their co-relationships.

Effect of Role Stressors on Work Engagement

In the world of research studies, the relationship between role stressors and engagement of employees at work has been analyzed from various perspectives. Role stresses such as role ambiguity and role conflict, along with job resources greatly impact employee engagement levels (Moura, 2014; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004). Organizations have a strong causal link between various characteristics of job tasks and work engagement along with the mediating roles of role ambiguity and role conflict. One of the major causes of role ambiguity and role conflict is the level of poor inter-organizational and intra-organizational communications. Role stressors are found to be negatively related to work engagement.

Effect of Work Engagement on Career Transition Intentions

During a career transition, employees adopt a different job role and change their orientation within their organizations. These intentions of career change arise when the level of satisfaction is lowered. Job satisfaction is usually attained through higher levels of employee engagement, which ultimately lowers turnover intent. Employees’ level of satisfaction, enthusiasm about work, and level of involvement define the extent of both work engagement and turnover intentions. Rhodes and Doering (1993) proposed an inverse relationship of job satisfaction with thoughts of changing careers, which in turn positively relates to the intention to go for a job search. The subsequent intention to begin a job search on the other hand has been proven to trigger the intention to change careers. Hence, a negative co-relationship between job satisfaction and intention to change careers has been found to exist in organizations. With the inclusion of many internal and external factors, the relationship between engagement and turnover intentions has been widely researched (Takawira et al., 2014; Dane & Brummel, 2013; Juhdi et al., 2013; Klerk et al., 2014; Tims et al., 2014; Berry & Morris, 2008; Bal et al., 2011). Career transition involves a worker disengaging from his previous state of affairs and engaging in new circumstances. The mediating role of engagement in predicting turnover intentions has also been determined by several research studies predicting a negative relationship between engagement and turnover intentions (Memon et al., 2014; Alfes et al., 2012).