THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK SAMPLE

It is the assumption of the study that the level of work engagement of academic unit
heads is significantly associated with their level of received organizational support and
organization-based self-esteem – an assumption hinged on the following theories or concepts:
social cognitive by Bandura; work engagement by Schaufeli, Salanova, González-Romá, and
Bakker (2001); organizational support by Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchinson, & Sowa1 (986);
and organization-based self-esteem by Pierce, Gardner, Cummings and Dunham (1993).
The overarching theory of the study is that of Bandura’s social cognitive theory that
explains how human behavior is shaped. Bandura (1986) articulated his theory of human
behavior in a three-way dynamic model; that is, personal factors, environmental influences, and
human behavior interact continually. Plainly put, human behavior is influenced by both personal
and environmental factors. Personal factors may include knowledge, skills, attitude, self-
efficacy, and self-esteem, among others. On the other hand, environmental factors may pertain to
social influences or organizational factors that may include organizational support, interpersonal
relationship, and organizational culture. This present study, however, limits its independent
variables to organizational support and organization-based self-esteem in relation to work
engagement (human behavior), which is the dependent variable.
On work engagement, the study considers the concept of Schaufeli et al. (2001). As
defined, work engagement is a fulfilling and positive state of mind that is related to work and is
characterized by three dimensions as follows: vigor, dedication, and absorption. Vigor refers to a
high level of mental resilience and energy during work. Also, vigor is defined as the individuals’
willingness to invest much effort in their work and their high persistence even when faced by
difficulties at work. Dedication is the individuals’ strong involvement in their work and their
experience of having a sense of enthusiasm, significance, pride, inspiration, and challenge.
Absorption is referred to as the individuals’ full concentration and happy engrossment in their
work so that they become oblivious of time and have difficulties detaching themselves from their
work.
Complementing the above postulation is that of Kahn (1990) defining the term
‘engagement’ as employees’ involvement in tasks assigned to them. He posited that employees
are personally engaged in their tasks by putting positive, emotional and cognitive energy in what
they do (Truss et al., 2014). Further, he argued that work engagement is a psychological and
emotional state that is shaped by the forces within the employees’ work environment. That is,
environmental forces do shape employees’ psychological state to engage or to disengage. These
environmental forces include the job itself, the peers and superiors, and the organization itself.
According to Gruman and Saks (2011), employees’ level of engagement largely depends on the
people, nature of the job, procedures, work life quality, and support of the organization.
Moreover, Maslach, Schaufeli & Leiter (2001) and Shirom (2002) contended that
individuals with high score on vigor usually have high energy, stamina, and zest when they are
working. On the other hand, those with low score on vigor have low energy, stamina, and zest
when working. On dedication, individuals with high score identify themselves strongly with
their work that is attributed to having a meaningful, challenging, and inspiriting experiences at
work, thus feeling proud and enthusiastic about their work. The opposite is true among
individuals with low score on dedication. As to absorption, individuals with high score are
engrossed highly and happily in what they do. They are so immersed and get so carried away in
their work, thus finding it hard to detach themselves from what they do. Consequently, they tend
to forget about time and find time seems to fly.
Lockwood (2007) contended that employees who are highly engaged work hard and are
very likely to perform beyond the expectations or the minimum requirements set by the
organization. Highly engaged employees have the belief or perception that their work is crucial
to their physical and psychological well-being as well as to the achievement of the organization’s
goals (Crabtree, 2005). Hence, highly engaged employees manifest high levels of physical and
mental energy. As such, highly engaged employees become very resilient in task performance
and put their hearts and minds in their work, thus showing persistence and willingness in
investing effort.
Work engagement is caused by several factors that can be either personal or
organizational. Work engagement is found to be positively correlated with job-related factors
such as resources, motivators such as social support of co-workers and of one's superior,
performance evaluation and feedback, mentoring or coaching, task variety, job autonomy, and
provision of training facilities (Demerouti et al., 2001; Schaufeli, Taris & Van Rhenen, 2003;
Salanova et al., 2001, 2003). This study, however, focuses on organizational support. Most of
these job-related factors constitute organizational support, which comes from three sources or
levels: support from organization (in shape of reward, participation in decision making etc.),
support from supervisor or seniors, and support from coworkers/peers (Woo, 2009).
Perceived organizational support as a construct explored in this study is defined as the
employees’ perceptions that their organization do value their contribution and care about their
well-being (Eisenberger et al., 1986). Likewise, Erdogan and Enders (2007) defined perceived
organizational support as the degree to which employees believe that the organization cares
about them, values their input, and provide them with help and support as needed. On the other
hand, organizational support is the commitment the organization shows towards its employees.
In the social exchange theory of Blau as cited by Ahmed, Ismail, Amin, and Ramzan (2011), it is
postulated that employees who feel being supported by the organization will reciprocate such
support with valuable returns such as increased level of work commitment, high productivity, job
satisfaction, and loyalty. The opposite is true when they feel not being supported by the
organization. The theory further contends that the organization must identify its employees’
needs and then fulfil such needs so that its employees may think they are being supported by the
organization. That way, the employees will reciprocate the perceived organizational support. In
fact, according to Eisenberger et al. (2001), perceived organizational support is a strong
determinant of organizational commitment, which is translated into work engagement.
There are several literature and studies that provide evidence that organizational support
has significant bearing on job-related outcomes that include work engagement. For example,
Allen, Shore, and Griffeth (2003) found a strong positive correlation between supportive and
productive human resource and high perceived organizational support; Walters and Raybould
(2007) found that employees having high POS had less symptoms of burnout and were less
exhausted and cynical; Aselange & Eisenberger (2003) found that employees strove to pay back
the received organizational support through increased work efforts; and Eisenberger &
Stinghamber (2011) found that employees with high perceived organizational support had
increased felt obligation to help the organization reach its goals.
 Another determinant of work engagement is a personal factor – organization-based self-
esteem. As defined by Pierce, Gardner, Cummings and Dunham (1989), organization-based self-
esteem is the extent to which employees believe themselves able to provide a valuable
contribution to the organization they are working for. That is, employees with high organization-
based self-esteem have the opinion that they adequately fulfil the tasks assigned to them by the
organization (Pierce and Gardner, 2004). They perceive themselves as important and effective
with respect to the achievement of the goals of the organization.
The importance of organization-based self-esteem in relation to job-related outcomes has
also been shown in studies. Positive correlations were found between employees’ organization-
based self-esteem and their intrinsic performance motivation, work performance, job satisfaction,
and organizational identification and commitment (Kanning and Schnitker, 2004; Lee, 2003;
Vecchio, 2000; Chattopadhyay and George, 2001). Moreover, Pierce & Gardner (2004) showed
that organization-based self-esteem serves as a “buffer” against the conditions at the workplace.
As found in their study, company employees with high organization-based self-esteem were less
affected by role conflict and overwork.
The foregoing theoretical discussions provide bases for the conceptualization of this
study as depicted in Figure 1 below. As shown, the present study determines the level of
perceived organizational support and organization-based self-esteem of the academic unit heads
of small private schools. These organizational and personal factors are the study’s independent
variables assumed to be associated with the academic unit heads’ work engagement, which is the
dependent variable of this study. Work engagement is determined by the academic unit heads’
level of vigor, dedication, and absorption.