An Assessment of the Influence of the Psychological Consequences of Task Significance on Employee Engagement and Turnover Intentions

Task significance refers to the aspect of job design that allows one to make a positive difference in others’ lives through one’s work. Perceived prosocial impact, affective commitment to beneficiaries and perceived social worth are the psychological outcomes of the task significance aspect of job design. These three psychological mechanisms mediate between task significance and work performance. These variables could be crucial in understanding the problem of high turnover being faced by Indian organizations. The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between perception of prosocial impact of one’s job, affective commitment to beneficiaries and perceived social worth on employee engagement and turnover intentions. The sample consists of participants working in roles with high task significance in various Indian organizations. The findings suggest that perceived prosocial impact and perceived social worth are strong predictors of employee engagement and reduced turnover intentions. Affective commitment to beneficiaries is comparatively weaker in predicting these variables. The managerial and research implications of the findings have been discussed.