A study of the relationships among perceived job context factors, information-seeking behaviors, work engagement, and future role intent among Korean project managers

ii Abstract Projects are used pervasively in today’s organizations in various industries. Accordingly, a growing number of employees are taking on the project management role as part of their jobs. The adaptability exhibited by those employees makes them valuable assets for many organizations that use projects as a growing part of their operations. Thus, developing human resource development policies and strategies to engage, motivate, and retain the employees in project management roles is a high priority. However, little knowledge is available with regards to the organizational factors and individual characteristics that enable employees to effectively cope with changing job demands and remain engaged with the project management role. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among perceived job context factors (coworker trust and job autonomy), role breadth self-efficacy, information- seeking behavior, work engagement, and future role intent among employees in project management roles. The conceptual model identified coworker trust, job autonomy, and role breadth self-efficacy as antecedents of information-seeking behavior and work engagement of the employees in project management roles. It was also proposed that information-seeking behavior and work engagement in turn affect future role intent that represents the employee’s desire to stay in the project management role in the future. A two-part web-based survey was utilized to collect the main study data from Korean employees in 6 participant organizations. 174 respondents who identified themselves as serving a project management role participated in the study. The data was examined in terms of missing data, outliers, the statistical assumptions of regression analysis, and common method bias. As a result, a total of 168 responses were available for the final analysis. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s alpha estimates for reliability, correlation analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis were the analysis methods used in the study. The result of this study indicated that the information-seeking behavior of the employees in project management roles significantly changed across the project phases. The extent of information seeking was higher during the planning and closing phases and lower in the implementation phase. Although no empirical evidence was found to suggest that two job context factors, coworker trust and job autonomy, influenced information-seeking behavior or work engagement, role breadth self-efficacy had a positive and significant impact on both information-seeking behavior and work engagement. Yet role breadth self-efficacy did not moderate the effects of job context factors on information-seeking behavior and work engagement. Finally, the results indicated that work engagement had a significant and positive effect on future role intent. Additional analyses of mediation effects revealed that work engagement partially mediated the effects of job context factors on future role intent. Also, role breadth self-efficacy was found to fully mediate the effects of job context factors on work engagement. The results of this study are valuable in providing empirical evidence that the employees’ work engagement is directly connected with their intent to stay in the project management role, and that their efficacy beliefs about flexible performance are an important condition for successful coping with changing job demands, which in turn, motivates them to stay in the project management roles in the future.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Human Resource Education

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Hong, Seung Won

Contributors dc:contributor

• Jacobs, Ronald L.
• Cordova-Wentling, Rose Mary
• Huang, Wen-Hao
• Gajendran, Ravi S.

• work engagement
• project manager
• information seeking behavior

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2014 Seung Won Hong

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/49848

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/49848