Supervisor feedback as a source of work engagement? The contribution of day-to-day feedback to job resources and work engagement

Abstract

Work engagement of employees is crucial in today’s working life that is increasingly characterized by virtual, flexible, and self-determined work arrangements. In such working environments, day-to-day supervisor feedback is gaining in importance, as feedback can be a powerful job resource and thus a key driver of work engagement. In flexible and agile working environments, leaders should also look into new ways of giving feedback to their followers. In this paper, we present a diary study that examines the contribution of supervisory feedback to job resources and work engagement, and thereby, differentiate between face-to-face feedback and computer-mediated feedback. The results substantiate the effectiveness of supervisor feedback on job resources, which in turn, contribute to work engagement. Furthermore, job resources moderated the influence of job demands on work engagement. This result clearly underlines the importance of job resources, as they may unleash the challenging potential of high demands.