Longitudinal profiles of personal work goals associate with work engagement in a six-year study

Abstract

Purpose: The research addresses the impact of personal work goals on work engagement among managers. Goals were investigated with a four-wave longitudinal data (2006-2012) and were classified on the basis of contents into categories of competence, progression, well-being, job change, job security, organisation, and financial goals (Hyvönen et al., 2009). Methodology: The study was conducted among 276 young Finnish managers who were all under 36 years in 2006. Patterns of goal contents were examined using the latent class analysis (LCA). After deciding the best LCA solution, differences in work engagement between the patterns were investigated with ANCOVA. Results: Three longitudinal goal profiles were identified: Development and success (n = 114), Career progression (n = 114), Well-being and stability (n = 68). The profile of Development and success related to significantly higher work engagement at the last measurement. In turn, the profile of Well-being and stability related to the lowest work engagement. Promoting personal work goals related to the professional development and success of employees can have beneficial implication on employees’ occupational health in the long term.