Investigating the mediating effect of work motivation on work engagement

This study examines the impact of differing social environments within a school setting on teachers’ work motivation and its impacts on work engagement. Self-determination theory (SDT) defines social environment as an important factor in an individual’s motivation and this along with a modified Job Demand-Resource (JD-R) model forms the basis of this investigation into the mediating effect of work motivation on work engagement. A paired questionnaire was distributed to 64 schools in Indonesia. Sixty-four headmasters and 294 teachers took part in the research. Results suggest that some aspects of the social environment within a school can affect teachers’ work motivation and their subsequent work engagement (paternalistic leadership and team relationships), whilst others (pupil related inputs) appear to have little impact on work motivation and engagement