Beyond the Task: How Meaningful Work and Work Engagement Relate to Employee Engagement among Bank Employees in Jambi, Indonesia

Abstract

Employee engagement is a strategic concern in Indonesian banking, where sales targets, regulatory demands, and service expectations intensify work pressure. This study examined how meaningful work and work engagement relate to employee engagement, defined as engagement directed at the employing organization. In a cross-sectional correlational survey, 83 employees of banks in Jambi City responded, and 74 complete cases were analyzed. Three Likert-type scales were administered, and the data were analyzed with Spearman and partial rank correlations and moderated multiple regression. Meaningful work correlated positively with work engagement (ρ = .36) and employee engagement (ρ = .34), whereas work engagement correlated weakly with employee engagement (ρ = .24). Together, the predictors and their interaction explained 16.7% of the variance in employee engagement, F(3, 70) = 4.69, p = .005, although no individual predictor coefficient was significant and the interaction was negligible (p = .519). With each predictor adjusted for the other, only meaningful work retained a unique association with employee engagement (partial ρ = .28, p = .016). No gender differences emerged. Meaningful work appears to be a more robust correlate of engagement with the organization, whereas mediating and causal claims require longitudinal evidence.