A job resources-based intervention to boost work engagement and team innovativeness during organizational restructuring:for whom does it work?

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of a job resources-based intervention aimed at proactively increasing work engagement and team innovativeness during organizational restructuring using a person-centered approach. Design/methodology/approach: The intervention was conducted in two organizations: two departments served as participants (n=82) and two as controls (n=52). The aim was to first identify sub-groups of employees with different developmental patterns of work engagement, and then to determine whether these sub-groups benefited differently from the intervention with respect to team innovativeness and work engagement. Findings: Latent profile analysis identified three different patterns of work engagement among the participants: high and stable (n=64), moderate and decreasing (n=13), and low and decreasing (n=5). The χ²-test yielded no significant difference between participants and controls (n=52) with respect to team innovativeness over time. However, t-tests showed that team innovativeness increased in the high work engagement class and somewhat decreased in the moderate and low work engagement classes. Practical implications: During organizational changes, those initially work-engaged seem to be able to proactively build their team innovativeness via a job resources-based intervention and remain engaged; whereas those initially not work-engaged may not, and their work engagement may even decrease. Originality/value: This study reveals that an initial level of work engagement is a prerequisite why some employees profit more from a job resources-based intervention than others and provides tailored knowledge on the effectiveness of the intervention.