State Work Engagement: The Significance of Within-Person Fluctuations

The concept of work engagement was initially developed to capture an enduring, affective-motivational state of employees regarding their job. Schaufeli, Salanova, González-Romá, and Bakker (2002) indicated that “rather than a momentary and specific state, engagement refers to a more persistent and pervasive affectivecognitive state” (p. 74). Later, Sonnentag (2003) challenged this view by proposing that work engagement should not only be seen as an enduring experience. Rather, she argued and showed that levels of work engagement may vary within the same employee from one day to another, in response to specific situational and personal conditions (see also Sonnentag et al., 2010). Thus, state work engagement (SWE) was introduced as complementary to enduring work engagement.