Personality and psychological conditions in relation to job engagement amongst municipal workers in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa

Abstract

Orientation: Increasing job engagement in a sustainable way remains a challenge and the question remains as to why employees, when working under comparable conditions display signs of job engagement whereas others display a few or no signs of job engagement.

Research purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate the linear relationships and establish usable models for the big five personality traits and psychological conditions on job engagement amongst municipal workers.

Motivation for the study: The motivation of this study is to examine the relationship between personality and psychological conditions on job engagement.

Research approach/design and method: The study employed a quantitative, cross- sectional research design using a questionnaire on a sample of 403 district municipal workers in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa.

Main findings: Findings show that conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, intellect and all psychological conditions had a positive relationship with job engagement while neuroticism has a negative relationship with job engagement. Hierarchical regression models revealed that psychological conditions add unique variance in predicting job engagement above and beyond that which is predicted by the personality traits.

Practical/managerial implications: Job engagement can be enhanced through the hiring employees with certain personality traits and enhancing meaningfulness, safety and availability of psychological resources in the workplace.

Contribution/value-add: The study findings support a relatively rich literature which suggests that employees with certain personality traits such as conscientiousness, agreeableness, intellect and perceives that all psychological conditions are being met tend to be more engaged in their job.