How work engagement relates to performance and absenteeism: a meta-analysis
verifiedrich profile · European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology · 2021
Neuber, Lina; Englitz, Colinda; Schulte, Niklas; Forthmann, Boris; Holling, Heinz
How this was studied
A meta-analytic synthesis — it pools many primary studies rather than running a single design, so there is no single-study diagram.
What this article reports
The findings we extracted from this work, normalized into Principia’s relationship form (X → Y). Each feeds the synthesized models below.
work engagement → task performance
work engagement → absenteeism
work engagement → absenteeism
work engagement → absenteeism
Models this article informs
The meta-analytic priors this article contributes evidence to — its place in the broader synthesis.
In the authors’ words
The article’s own abstract.
Both researchers and practitioners agree that having highly engaged employees results in individuals and organizations reaping various positive consequences related to performance and absenteeism. However, available research syntheses date from the early years of this line of research, thus cover only a small fraction (under 10%) of the available studies. The present meta-analysis updates the results of work engagement and its three facets (vigour, dedication, and absorption) on task performance and includes a substantial number of studies on absenteeism with separate analyses of longitudinal studies. A total of 179 unique correlations representing an overall sample size of N = 139,182 was examined, confirming and enhancing a positive association between work engagement and task performance (ρ = .483) and a negative association between work engagement and absenteeism (ρ = −.171). The three facets of engagement had similar effects on performance, but only vigour and dedication correlated significantly negatively with absenteeism. Work engagement is linked positively to future task performance and negatively to future absenteeism. The influence of several methodical moderators is examined. Finally, we discuss how these findings can inform research and practice in order to contribute to a more effective and healthy work environment for employees.
What the literature says about it
Attributed, open-access quotes from other works that cite this article, plus the citation-graph verdict tally. Corroborations and disputes, in one place — the honest-broker view.
supports “Positive implications of work engagement result in improved task performance and contextual performance (Juyumaya, 2022; Neuber, et al., 2022), reducing the negative effects of counterproductive work behavior (Chen, et al., 2020).”
supports “For example, engagement is negatively associated with absenteeism; engaged employees are less likely to be absent from work, exhibiting greater vigor and dedication (Neuber et al., 2021).”
supports “Goal-oriented practices at workplace and work engagement have positive association with each other and work engagement is negatively associated with absenteeism (Neuber et al., 2022).”
supports “Despite recent meta-analyses confirming the positive influence of engagement on job performance and absenteeism (Neuber et al. 2022), there is a scarcity of new instruments available for organizations to enhance employee engagement levels.”
supports “Among the organizational outcomes of work engagement, one can mention enhanced organizational citizenship [27], better job satisfaction and job commitment [28], extra role performance [29] and last but not least, increased job performance [30].”
supports “There are also possible correlations between engagement and absenteeism, satisfaction, and job performance [26].”
supports “There are also possible correlations between engagement and absenteeism, satisfaction, and job performance [26].”
Ancillary research
Neighbouring works in the citation graph around this article.
- 10.2478/fman-2025-0024
- 10.1002/job.2862
- 10.3390/bs15020131
- 10.56536/70n7rg19
- 10.3390/admsci14060121
- 10.13075/ijomeh.1896.02434
- 10.1007/s42979-025-03772-1
Assembled from Principia’s registry — bibliographic record, extracted effect sizes, the models they inform, and open-access citing literature.