Work Engagement: A Study Among Civil Servants Of Romania State’S Public Administration

The present research aims to analyze civil servants’ work engagement in the Romanian state's public administration, meaning the central and territorial public administration’s organizations. The purpose of the study is to create a comprehensive image regarding the level of civil servants’ work engagement in the Romanian state’s public administration, taking into consideration the major importance of these institutions in the successful implementation of governmental reforms and crisis management, such as the Coronavirus pandemic and its economic and social impact. In order to better understand civil servants' attitudes and behaviors that reveal their level of work engagement, the items used in the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale developed by Schaufeli and Bakker (2004) were chosen, as well as three new items, based on the studies identified in the literature review process. A total of 646 respondents (civil servants) participated in the study. Findings suggest that civil servants in Romania's public administration have a high degree of work engagement, stating that they have a high level of energy and mental resistance during their work, are eager to put out effort in their work, and are persistent in the face of adversity. In comparison to female civil servants, men declared they adopted behaviors particular to a higher level of dedication, indicating that gender is a variable impacting work engagement. The occupied position, as well as the administrative level of the organization where the respondents worked, have no bearing on job engagement. The study adds new insights to the scarce literature on work engagement by examining the level of engagement among civil servants in the state's public administration and how it differs with respect to various sociodemographic and job-related variables. This is especially true in the Romanian context, where little research has been conducted in this direction.