Work Engagement: Antecedents and Effects on Student Employee Academic Engagement

Drawing on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, this study explores the effect of the resources student employees receive from management and from the nature of their work on their engagement at work and their engagement in academic pursuits. Student workers make up a significant pool of workers in our institutions of higher education and supporting academic achievement of student workers is consistent with our institutions\u27 missions. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to examine the antecedents (supervisory support, supervisory feedback, person-organization fit, and person-job fit) that affect levels of work engagement of students employed in educationally-situated work environments, and the impact this work engagement has on academic engagement. Further, the model examines the moderating role of perceived autonomy on the impact of supervisory support and feedback. Ninety-seven student workers within eleven departments of the Division of Student Affairs at a large public university participated in the study. Analyses found support for the relationship between both person-organization fit and person-job fit and work engagement. The analyses further found support for the relationship between person-organization fit and academic engagement, with work engagement being a moderator of this relationship. Implications for research and practice are discussed