Affective-cognitive nature of engagement: correlating psychological capital and core-self-evaluations to work engagement via positive affects

The objective of this paper is primarily to hypothesise that personal resources, positive affects and work engagement are reciprocally associated with each other. In particular, by applying broaden-and-build theory, it seeks to demonstrate the predictive value of positive affects and individual resources for engagement by incorporating both core-self-evaluations and psychological capital as individual-level determinants of engagement. The research methodology is qualitative with the empirical field. The qualitative data analysis was conducted using content analysis. Hence, it is developmental at result and applicable from goal perspective. With reference to empirical studies and existing research on engagement, the proposed conceptual models through three gain spirals confirms the reciprocal relationships of personal resources-positive affects, positive affects-work engagement, and finally work engagement-personal resources, which is in accordance with the cognitive-affective state of engagement. The study can deepen the insights on how individual resources and positive affects interact in their contribution to work engagement. More importantly, this paper is the first to elucidate the cognitive-emotional nature of work engagement via presenting a comprehensive gain cycle considering individual resources as a cognitive representative, on the one hand, and positive emotions as an affective representative on the other hand.