A Multilevel Model of Team-Level Work Engagement Emergence

Abstract

This article develops a multilevel theoretical model explaining how teamwork engagement (TWE), a team state grounded in compatible cognitive representations of vigor and dedication, emerges and shapes team performance and viability. Integrating Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory, team and multilevel emergence literature, we specify how team structural conditions (e.g., autonomy) influence members’ perceptions of job demands-resources optimal balance. These perceptions activate individual work engagement and through intra and inter-personal mechanisms, foster the emergence of TWE. We conceptualize TWE as compilational emergence arising from the functional alignment of members’ differentiated engagement levels, which are unevenly distributed within teams. The model further posits TWE as a dynamic team state that moderates how structural conditions are translated into balance perceptions and contributes to team performance and viability by shaping goal setting and striving. Across eight propositions, we articulate key explanatory mechanisms, research directions, and practical implications for designing and sustaining work-engaged teams.