Eureka! Institutional Repository

The current survey sought to examine the relationship between work engagement and job performance in secondary school teachers, through a Self – Determination Theory (SDT) approach. The main purpose of the study was to confirm the positive effect that work engagement has on job performance, by investigating intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as well as amotivation in the SDT framework. This theory predicts that the more autonomous the forms of motivation are, the higher the association with engagement is. Thus, the link between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, as well as amotivation and work engagement’s core dimensions (vigor, dedication and absorption) was explored. The sample was composed of 174 secondary school teachers, based in Thessaloniki, working in both private and public sector. For the data collection Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), Goodman and Svyantek' s (1999) scale and the Work Motivation Inventory – Greek version (WMI-G) introduced by Christodoulidis and Papaioannou (2002), were used. Regarding the hypotheses, we proposed that there is a a) positive and b) negative correlation between a) intrinsic and b) extrinsic motivation and teachers’ work engagement. A negative correlation between amotivation and work engagement was expected. Additionally, we assumed that work engagement would have a positive effect on job performance(task and contextual) , whereas a) intrinsic and b) extrinsic motivation would have a a) positive and b) negative correlation on performance as well. Lastly, the role of work engagement as a moderator between intrinsic motivation and job performance was examined. Results of spss analysis showed that the correlation between performance (task and contextual) and work engagement was positive, but negative when either of them were related to amotivation. Furthermore, motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic) was found to be positively related to work engagement and to task performance. Finally, only intrinsic motivation was positively correlated with contextual performance, while the moderate role of work engagement between intrinsic motivation and job performance was not validated.