Job engagement trajectories: Their associations with leader-member exchange and their implications for employees

The present study seeks to achieve a dynamic understanding of employees' job engagement trajectories, and of their time-structured associations with leader-member exchange (LMX) and outcomes related to psychological adaptation (turnover intentions, emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction and life satisfaction). A sample of 285 employees was surveyed three times (6 months apart) over a 1-year period. Results revealed that employees' global job engagement followed high and stable trajectories, their specific cognitive and emotional job engagement followed slightly decreasing trajectories, and their specific physical engagement displayed non-linear trajectories characterized by an initial decrease followed by a slight increase. Specific LMX contribution and LMX professional respect were associated with positive fluctuations in global job engagement, whereas global LMX was associated with positive fluctuations in specific emotional engagement. Specific LMX loyalty and LMX affect (at Time 1 only) were associated with positive fluctuations in specific physical engagement, whereas global LMX was negatively associated with these fluctuations. Higher global job engagement and specific emotional engagement were associated with negative fluctuations in turnover intentions and emotional exhaustion and with positive fluctuations in job satisfaction. Higher specific physical engagement was associated with negative fluctuations in job satisfaction, whereas higher specific cognitive engagement was associated with lower life satisfaction.