17082: The Nomological Network of Daily Work Engagement: A Meta-Analysis of Diary Studies (session 25582)

Work engagement has garnered significant attention from researchers and practitioners over recent decades, with many meta-analyses examining its stable, between-person correlates. However, work engagement also has a dynamic component, meaning that it fluctuates substantially within individuals. Despite the growing interest, the strength and directionality of many associations within the nomological network of daily work engagement, and their alignment with relations of stable manifestations of work engagement remain ambiguous. In the present study, we meta-analyze within-person correlations of work engagement from daily diary studies (k = 230) and compare them to (a) meta-analytic between-person correlations based on aggregated daily scores and (b) true between-person correlations from earlier meta-analyses. Our findings reveal important similarities and differences in the nomological networks of daily and stable work engagement, showing that within-person relations are, on average, weaker. These findings enrich the work engagement literature by advancing our understanding of the nomological network of daily work engagement and by contributing insights about the homology of relevant theories, while also informing evidence-based practical recommendations and stimulating new avenues for future research.

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