Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / Discretionary effort (DE) is energy over which an individual has control, beyond that which is minimally required by the organization, expended pro-organizationally (to benefit the organization), consistent with organizational goals and requiring both a behavioral as well as a cognitive expenditure by the individual. The major question motivating this study was, "what relationships exist between DE and the previously established measures of organizational commitment (OC), psychological attachment (PA) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)?" A Discretionary Effort Scale (DES) was developed and integrated into a larger, 64-item Workplace Questionnaire (consisting of items from established measurement tools for OC, PA and OCB) and administered to 212 members of three business organizations (using both paper-and-pencil and electronic versions of the Questionnaire). Using principal components analyses, the original 15-item DES was reduced to a 10-item scale loading on two, key factors: In Role DE (IRDE) and Extra Role DE (ERDE). Analysis of results generally supported positive correlations between DE and OC, DE and PA, and DE and OCB. Analyses of relationships between IRDE (and ERDE) and specific components of the other dimensions (OC, PA, OCB) yielded pattems and results consistent with the nature of the constructs. The ve:ry early, rudimentary findings (1983) regarding levels of DE exhibited by workplace members were replicated in this study. The construct of DE does appear to merit further attention as one that may offer researchers and organizational managers opportunity for a better understanding of the relationship between organizational members and their organizations.

This nonexperimental, correlational study (N = 283) examined the relation among job fit, affective commitment, psychological climate, discretionary effort, intention to turnover, and employee engagement. An internet-based self-report survey battery of six scales were administered to a heterogeneous sampling of organizations from the fields of service, technology, healthcare, retail, banking, nonprofit, and hospitality. Hypotheses were tested through correlational and hierarchical regression analytic procedures. Job fit, affective commitment, and psychological climate were all significantly related to employee engagement and employee engagement was significantly related to both discretionary effort and intention to turnover. For the discretionary effort model, the hierarchical regression analysis results suggested that the employees who reported experiencing a positive psychological climate were more likely to report higher levels of discretionary effort. As for the intention to turnover model, the hierarchical regression analysis results indicated that affective commitment and employee engagement predicted lower levels of an employee’s intention to turnover. The regression beta weights ranged from to .43 to .78, supporting the theoretical, empirical, and practical relevance of understanding the impact of employee engagement on organizational outcomes. Implications for HRD theory, research, and practice are highlighted as possible strategic leverage points for creating conditions that facilitate the development of employee engagement as a means for improving organizational performance.