When Does Future Work Self Predict Work Engagement: the Boundary Conditions of Person-Vocation Fit and Trust in Supervisor

Work engagement is a crucial positive psychological construct related to mental health. However, current self-directed and boundaryless career trend brings unprecedented challenges for organizations to foster employee engagement using traditional means. From an integrative perspective of the engagement theory and the career boundaryless theory, we built a model to test the moderating effect of person-vocation fit and trust in supervisor on the relationship between future work self and work engagement. After conducting a two-wave study with a sample of 231 employees, we found that future work-self was positively related to work engagement; and both person-vocation fit and trust in supervisor independently moderated the relationship between future work self and work engagement. Furthermore, the three-way interacting effect of future work self, person-vocation fit and trust in supervisor on work engagement was significant, and when person-vocation fit and trust in supervisor were both at high levels, future work self had a strongest positive impact on work engagement. These results provided guidance to engagement management at work from a career development perspective.