Empirical Analysis of Work Engagement for Regular Employees in Japan

         
Author Name KUME Koichi (Toyo University) / TSURU Kotaro (Faculty Fellow, RIETI) / SANO Shinpei (Kobe University) / YASUI Kengo (Aoyama Gakuin University)
Creation Date/NO. September 2021 21-J-045
Research Project Employment and Educational Reform in the AI era
Download / Links

Abstract

Using the individual data of an online questionnaire survey conducted by the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry, we analyzed the leading factors of regular (fulltime and permanent) employees' work engagement in Japan.

First, we confirmed that work engagement is positively correlated with wages, job satisfaction, organizational citizenship behaviors and negative turnover intention, through which we concluded that work engagement is desirable for both full-time employees and their employers.

Next, we analyzed the leading factors of work engagement. Personality traits such as extraversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience, self-esteem and locus of control, and positive reciprocity are positively correlated with work engagement. Those who experience overtime work, opportunities to engage in various types of work, skill-enhancing, human-related work, work autonomy, and who receive advice and consultations have higher work engagement. In addition, positive correlations were seen between job characteristics (skill diversity, task importance, etc.) and work engagement.

These results suggest that, for regular employees, providing work opportunities that lead to improved work engagement is important in realizing autonomous and diverse work styles.