What Is a Resource: Toward a Taxonomy of Resources for Employee Engagement

Abstract

Research detailing employee engagement has reliably stated that resources are significant to fostering engagement. Notwithstanding, no previous work has attempted to make meaning of those resources through a review of the existing literature. To better understand how the engagement literature positions and defines resources, we reviewed the resources term across 137 articles. The results of our structured literature review revealed that 216 distinct resources were mentioned across literature streams, and five distinct categories from macro to micro levels could be identified. The categories include (a) organizational resources, (b) social resources, (c) job resources, (d) home resources, and (e) personal resources. In addition to detailing our method and each category of resources, we explore implications for human resource development theory and practice.