Even though researchers have concentrated on psychology that has to do with work engagement in the workplace for many years, e.g. job involvement (Allport, 1945) or job empowerment (Thomas and Velthouse, 1990), frequent disagreements about the term have been witnessed. The lack of a clear definition about the term has led to significant difficulties in measuring it. Some researchers indicate that work engagement is a single dimensional measure contrary to burnout while others assesses work engagement as a multiple dimensional construct (Thomas and Velthouse, 1990). According to (Allport, 1945), work engagement is a positive work-related state of satisfaction that is featured by dedication, vigor, and absorption. However, factors such as stress can contribute to the depletion of dedication, absorption, and vigor at work.
As opined by Lazarus (1966), an event or situation that is clarified as unwanted or demanding on individual resources may result to psychological stress. In most cases, individuals encounter stress through progressive bombardment of typical day to day hassles such as financial consideration as well as time pressure. Studies have recently turned their attention on automobile driving as the principal source of daily stress. Automobile driving or commuting involves an unavoidable aspect of the everyday life of most working adults.
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Stress can be categorized in either psychological or biological terms. Psychological stress is a particular relationship between individuals and the environment that is judged by individuals as taxing or exceeding their resources as well as endangering their well-being. On the other hand, traffic stress is a subjective, psychological factor that influences the work engagement of workers. Traffic stress is defined as the stress that results when a worker judges the condition of traffic stress and the environment as exhausting and can put his or her life in danger. Traffic congestion and time spent on traffic are objective stressors that can greatly predict traffic stress.
The issue of traffic stress and its effect on work engagement is increasingly gaining ground in academic and employers’ discussions. The rapid traffic congestions that are causing traffic stress in Accra originated from the rapid rural to urban migration in the 1980s when numerous cities began to adopt transformations toward economic liberalization and trade (Schaufeli et al., 2002 and Lazarus, 1966). During the 1980s, Accra had few people who owned vehicles and the traffic congestion was not a problem. Liberalization in Ghana made people import more cars from various countries adding accidents and traffic congestion in urban cities. The state of traffic congestion that is a major cause of traffic stress in Accra has a direct impact on the productivity of employees because it decreases management time of work activities as well as management plans.
As much as stress as a result of commuting has been well documented, little work has been conducted to determine how work engagement is affected by traffic stress. More so, the limited research study on this topic has generated inconsistent outcomes. There is a need for researchers to put more effort into their work to comprehend the distal and proximal effects of traffic stress and methodologies that focus on the daily fluctuations that are prevalent to the commuting experience to shed light on the influence of traffic stress on work engagement.
In the current world, organizations are in dire need to engage workers. According to Macey and Schneider (2008) and Thomas (2009), employee work engagement is a compilation of motivating resources such as recognition and support from fellow workers and supervisors as well as opportunities for learning and development. On the other hand, work engagement is conceived in terms of extra-role behavior and commitment of the employees. This is attributed when employees feel a vested interest in the success of the company and perform highly beyond the stated job requirements.
In the third approach, work engagement is a positive, satisfying, passionate work-related well-being motivational state. Work engagement majorly involves vigor, dedication, and absorption. Vigour is an increased level of energy displayed at work while dedication is characterized by increased meaning for work. Finally, absorption is the complete concentration and happiness of employees at work. Engaged workers are always psychologically present, attentive, connected, focused, and integrated into their role performances. Studies that relate to work engagement show that engaged workers are physically involved in their tasks, emotionally linked to others, and cognitively alert when executing their jobs. In most cases, studies on work engagement improve the insight in firms of effective ways of enhancing vigor, dedication, and absorption among workers.
Workers' well-being is mostly characterized by workers who think themselves to be engaged, developing as well as productive and encounter emotional state of pleasure, joy and energy that assist them to resist depression as well as stress. In the work environment, well-being triggers positive emotions, widens range behavior, and cognitions wellbeing and further develop resources within the individual and the organization. The findings of this study are important because they offer an insight into the impact of traffic stress on employee work engagement.
Congestion in major cities has become part of everyday life and therefore city authorities have to formulate appropriate policies to help manage congestion to relieve commuter’s stress that emanates from traffic congestion. As indicated by Schaufeli, Bakker, and Salanova (2001), traffic congestion in cities such as Accra has put drastic effects on employees. Due to traffic stress, employees are unable to meet organizational expectations because they are facing psychological, physical as well as organizational burnouts. Traffic stress negatively influences female workers which develop dissatisfaction as well as negative emotions towards their work and eventually decrease their performance. Apart from facing psychological burnouts, excess levels of traffic stress are currently causing anxiety, fatigue, social withdrawal, depression, and further disengage workers from their work.
In the US, about 136 million employees commute to work with an overwhelming majority commuting by private vehicles spending an average of 50 minutes traveling to and from their place of work or business (Kanner et al., 1981). For those people that live in urban areas, their average commute time increases tremendously because of greater traffic congestion. This case is not different in Accra, Ghana (Gulian et al., 1990; Hennessy & Wiesenthal, 1997 and Novaco et al., 1990).
Ghana has an escalating economy with a developed public and private transport system that dates back to the colonial period. Public transport is the major mode of transport for a significant population in both urban and rural populations. However, the private mode of transport has started to increase in major cities such as Accra in Ghana. The key reason for the development of this sector is the plummeting economy that is explained in terms of the increasing population. Accra is the capital city of Ghana and urban passenger transport is provided majorly by minibuses that are owned by people that collect passengers from specified locations.
With the increase of both public and private modes of transport, traffic congestion has been on the rise in Accra, particularly in market centers that have resulted in the reduction in productivity, massive delays as sales reduction. Traffic congestion in the city caused is caused by population growth and the rising rates of car ownership in the city. Under the prevailing conditions, approximately 5 percent of the Ghana population own private motor vehicles. In Accra, studies indicate that over 50, 000 vehicles make approximately 270,000 daily trips. According to Taylor (1997), an average of 2.5 million passengers per day are estimated to enter or leave streets that lead to Tema motorway extension, Accra Ring Road, or Tema motorway itself alone. In terms of the road space used and the congestion experienced, the vehicle used for transportation of people seems inefficient. This paper therefore seeks to examine the influence of traffic stress on work engagement to fill the existing gaps that other studies have not tackled.
Statement of the Problem
Studies reveal that traffic stress and work engagement concepts share a significant relationship with organizational as well as performance outcome variables such as non-compulsory effort and intention to turn-over as well as general work performance. Contrary to the findings of the attractive advantages for companies that successfully create engaged employees, recent studies reveal that about 30 percent of the global workforce is engaged. Spending long hours in traffic can consequently have effects on an individual. As mentioned by Amponsah-Tawiah, et al. (2016), spending long hours in traffic can lead to health problems. Additionally, spending long hours in traffic can heighten individual stress levels and further affect the productivity of an individual at work.
Traffic stress makes workers not note time management in the work completion which ultimately affects the progress of their work in an institution. Even though various studies have extensively explored the general effects of traffic stress that result from congestion, little study has been done to traffic stress on work engagement in the organization. This implies that there are gaps in knowledge of the effects of traffic stress on work engagement in Accra. This filled the existing gaps in the previous studies by completing this study. The aim of this study is to examine the different traffic circumstances that influence the work engagement of a person which is seen today as a positive state of work-related satisfaction that is characterized by dedication, vigor as well as absorption.
Aim and Objective of the Study
Due to dramatic increase of the impacts of traffic stress on work engagement, the paper examined if traffic stress can significantly predict work engagement. It further explored the relationship between traffic stress and work engagement and assessed the gender differences in traffic stress. Lastly, the paper compared traffic stress and work engagement across potential demographic variables.
The Relevance of the Study
Congestion has caused a major problem with more than 70 percent of major roads in Accra operating at unacceptable service levels at some time during the day. Traffic congestion has caused traffic stress that has adversely impacted the quality of people’s life. It influences the efficiency, satisfaction, effectiveness, innovation, and development of work in their organization. As argued by Maslach and Leiter (1997), higher traffic congestion results to fatigue and stress among the people, which has a paramount influence on the wellbeing and engagement of employees.
It is worth noting that traffic stress caused by traffic circumstances such as congestion and accident is a latent problem among workers or employees in the city of Accra. This is because traffic stress has impacted the work engagement of people in Accra. Since the immediate impact of traffic stress is a delay in the productivity of employees, this paper demonstrates the impact of traffic stress on work engagement and further tries to compare traffic stress and work engagement across significant demographic variables. This study also allows people to know the gender differences in traffic stress and further explores the relationship between traffic stress and work engagement. Most importantly, the research has recommends solutions that can be used to mitigate traffic stress to further improve work engagement.
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