All for one, one for all: Compassionate goal orientation, social support, and work engagement

Abstract

Though social support plays a critical role in worker well-being and engagement, its mechanisms of action for motivating work engagement remain unclear. Further, literature to date has primarily examined internally-focused personal resources (e.g., confidence, optimism) as a consequence and predictor of job resources such as perceived social support, yet relationally-focused personal resources (e.g., orientation toward others) may have greater relevance in this social context. Extrapolating from associations posited within an expanded job demands-resources model and the egosystem-ecosystem theory of social motivation, this study used a random-intercepts cross-lagged panel model to examine whether a compassionate goal orientation, a novel personal resource, may be a mechanism through which social support at work facilitates work engagement. Using three waves of survey data from 850 working U.S. adults, we demonstrated a reciprocal relationship between a compassionate goal orientation and perceived co-worker support, providing initial evidence for the importance of interpersonal goal orientation in fostering workplace support among colleagues. Yet, we did not find support for a reciprocal relationship between co-worker or supervisor support and work engagement. Our study provides preliminary evidence supporting the importance of a compassionate goal orientation. Insights gained through this work represent a valuable contribution toward a better understanding of factors that promote effective collaboration in the workplace in service of shared organizational goals.