Measuring work engagement and positive accountability and exploring their relationships with other constructs

"This thesis provides an empirical investigation of work engagement and positive accountability. The research was conducted within the context of the Australian mining industry using cross-sectional survey data. The research had two main focuses. The first was to bring further clarity to the concepts by drawing on well established theories of work to test their relationships with other variables. The second was the development and testing of the Work Engagement Scale (WES) and Positive Accountability Scale (PAS). The research presents work engagement as a motivational state characterised by vigor, dedication and absorption. Positive accountability was studied as a work environment construct that is embedded within the social structures of work. It was operationalised in terms of four core characteristics of the work environment: expectations, feedback, discipline, and salience. The results provided strong theoretical and empirical support for the reliability and construct validity of the WES and PAS. Their practical utility and nomological validity was demonstrated via substantial relationships with a range of important work-related variables."--Abstract.