The Relationship Between Work Engagement and Work-Family Enrichment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

The aim of this study is to systematically summarize and analyze the relationship between work engagement and work-family enrichment. The study focuses on two aspects: the empirical direction of the relationship and the examination of mediators and moderators. A systematic literature review procedure was applied to search and review articles in four databases. Forty–six studies were included. The systematic literature review revealed that work engagement is more often considered as a predictor of work-family enrichment, rather than vice versa. However, only a few studies analyzed and found evidence of a bidirectional relationship. Additionally, only 11 studies examined the constructs that mediate or moderate the relationship. To provide a summary of the results, a random effects model was employed for meta-analytical investigation. The meta-analytic results revealed a moderate positive relationship between work engagement and work-family enrichment, as well as between work engagement and family-work enrichment. Furthermore, the results indicated that age, gender, and the region where the study was conducted did not moderate these relationships. These findings suggest that human resource specialists should consider investing more in promoting work-family enrichment, which in turn could increase employees’ work engagement and vice versa, given the reciprocal nature of the relationship. It is important to note that the main limitation of this review is the use of only general scores of work engagement and work-family enrichment.