Vägen till engagerade medarbetare: effekten av självledarskap i samspel med socialt stöd

Sammanfattning: Today’s modern workplace is one of constant change, which continuously places new demands on both individuals and organizations. The need for engaged employees with the ability to develop and lead themselves is a prerequisite for success, all the while social relationships have become increasingly more important in the workplace. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the relationship between self-leadership, social support and work engagement. In a secondary part of the study, differences between three categories of self-leadership strategies are also investigated in relation to work engagement: behavior-focused strategies, constructive thought patterns and natural rewards. The participants consisted of 214 employees at a Swedish company within the private sector, and data were collected via a web survey. A correlation analysis showed that self-leadership, social support and work engagement were positively related to each other. A hierarchical regression analysis provided support for all three hypotheses of the study; 1) that self-leadership predicts work engagement, 2) that social support predicts work engagement and 3) that self-leadership together with social support strengthens the explained variance of work engagement. No noteworthy differences could be demonstrated between the different self-leadership strategies in relation to work engagement. The results were discussed with reference to the Job Demands-Resources model, self-determination theory and social exchange theory. This paper contributes to the current body of research by deepening the knowledge of a relatively unexplored relationship between variables, and implicates ways to create an engaging work environment by developing self-leadership skills and promoting positive social interactions between employees.