The Impact of Organizational Identification and Moral Identity Centrality on Organizational Engagement of Millennials: The Moderating Effect of Work Values

Abstract

This study investigates the moderating impact of work values of Millennials on their organizational engagement from a social identity perspective. Organizational engagement which is conceptualized as a dimension of engagement has been rather overlooked in literature. The study of Millennials’ work values and their impact on workplace attitudes and behaviour of Millennials is of timely importance given that they are becoming the largest generational cohort in global workforces. Social identity perspective is contemporarily applied in terms of various dimensions of engagement. The survey was conducted involving 285 Millennial MBA students in two of the leading universities in Sri Lanka, using a structured questionnaire. The data was analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results indicated no support for the premise that the work values of Millennials moderated the relationships between organizational identification or moral identity centrality and organizational engagement of Millennials. This study addresses the knowledge gap pertaining to the organizational engagement of Millennials and provides valuable insights into the work values of Millennials, through a social identity perspective. The findings imply that Millennials may not be different from others in terms of the relationships among organizational identification or moral identity centrality and engagement.

Keywords

• organizational engagement
• millennials
• organizational identification
• moral identity centrality
• work values of millennials