A global study of employee engagement showed that only about 16% of employees worldwide are fully engaged, and China observed the largest decrease over the study period from 19% in 2015 to 6% in 2018 (Hayes et al., 2018). The issue of how to enhance employees’ engagement has thus become a prime concern for many organizations in China. Meanwhile, work engagement has gained considerable interest among researchers because of claims that it contributes toward crucial individual and organizational outcomes, such as employee well-being and performance (Knight et al., 2017, 2019). Schaufeli et al. (2006) indicated that work engagement refers to a positive working psychological state characterized by feelings of vigor, dedication, and absorption. Interest has increased over the past several decades in the antecedents of work engagement, mainly emphasizing personal resources, such as self-efficacy and optimism, and job resources, such as autonomy and social support (Knight et al., 2017, 2019). However, there are still some research gaps relating to the antecedents of work engagement that can be further investigated; in particular, very little is known about which other resources might boost work engagement (Knight et al., 2019).

Workplace fun, which refers to social, interpersonal, or task activities at work of a playful nature that provide individuals with enjoyment and amusement (Lamm & Meeks, 2009), is seen as a job resource and influences work engagement positively (Georganta & Montgomery, 2016). Tsaur et al. (2019) explored the relationship of workplace fun with work engagement in the tourism and hospitality context and found a positive link between these variables, and further noted that psychological capital played mediating and moderating roles in this connection. Tetteh et al. (2022) examined the relationship between workplace fun and turnover intention in the context of hospitality work and revealed that work engagement mediated this relationship.

Although researchers have supported the positive link between workplace fun and work engagement, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain essentially unresolved. We aimed to examine the connection between workplace fun and work engagement in the Chinese context, focusing in particular on the mediating role of workplace guanxi, a Chinese indigenous concept. Guan and Frenkel (2019) defined workplace guanxi as personal connections developed from non-work-related social interactions that may extend into the workplace. To our knowledge, no studies have explored the workplace fun–work engagement link with workplace guanxi functioning as a mediator. Guanxi is important for individual and business success in Chinese societies. Prior research has suggested that workplace guanxi is a crucial precursor of employees’ work engagement (Hu et al., 2016). Ding and Yu (2020) revealed that a supportive work environment affects employee work outcomes through workplace guanxi, implying that workplace guanxi is a mediating mechanism. Thus, it is plausible to expect that a fun work environment will be positively related to work engagement and that this relationship will be mediated by workplace guanxi. Our research model is illustrated in Figure 1.

Method

Participants and Procedure

This study was approved by the ethics committee of Xi’an University of Finance and Economics. We collected data from Master of Business Administration students at a university in south China, who were working in various enterprises including hospitality/tourism, retail, banking/insurance, and manufacturing. The purpose of the survey was clearly explained and informed consent was obtained from the participants before data collection. We assured them of anonymity in participation and that they had the right to withdraw from the survey at any time. A paper-and-pencil questionnaire was distributed to 357 participants and we received 272 responses (response rate = 76.19%).

Among the participants, 163 (59.93%) were women and 109 (40.07%) were men. In terms of age, 39 (14.34%) were aged 25–30 years, 172 (63.23%) were 31–40 years, and 61 (22.43%) were 41–50 years (M_age = 37.54 years, SD = 8.73). The average organizational tenure of the participants was 9.39 years (SD = 5.96, range = 3–22). As regards industry type, 55 (20.22%) worked in hospitality/tourism, 41 (15.07%) worked in retail, 52 (19.12%) worked in banking/insurance, and 124 (45.59%) worked in manufacturing.

Measures

An English teacher at a Chinese university translated the measures into Chinese and then back into English. Items were rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree.

Workplace Fun

We used Chan and Mak’s (2016) five-item scale, which was originally developed by Karl et al. (2005), to measure workplace fun. A sample item is “I prefer to work with people who like to have fun.” Cronbach’s alpha in our study was .90.

Workplace Guanxi

Wong et al.’s (2010) eight-item scale was used to measure workplace guanxi. A sample item is “I have a high degree of mutual interests with my immediate supervisor after work.” The item “I am willing to use my personal network to help my immediate supervisor” was deleted because of its low item–scale correlation (.43), resulting in a seven-item scale. Cronbach’s alpha for the remaining seven items in our study was .85.

Work Engagement

Schaufeli et al.’s (2006) Work Engagement Scale–Short form, which comprises nine items, was used to measure the three dimensions of work engagement. Sample items are “At my work, I feel bursting with energy” (vigor), “I am enthusiastic about my job” (dedication), and “I am immersed in my work” (absorption). Cronbach’s alpha values in our study were .89 overall and .87, .90, and .90 for the vigor, dedication, and absorption dimensions, respectively.

Results

Table 1 reports the means, standard deviations, and correlation matrix of study variables, along with Cronbach’s alpha reliability, composite reliability (CR), and average variance extracted (AVE) values. Pearson’s correlation coefficients among the variables were positive and significant (p < .01), thus providing the necessary conditions for hypothesis testing. We conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to evaluate the model fit through chi square/degrees of freedom (χ²/df), comparative fit index (CFI), normed fit index (NFI), and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) before testing the hypotheses. The three-factor model showed a good fit to the data, χ²/df = 1.20, CFI = .99, NFI = .94, RMSEA = .03. All CR values were greater than .70, all AVE values were above .50, and all factor loadings were significant (p < .01) and greater than .70. Considering the potential for common method variance (CMV) from self-reported data, we conducted another CFA to test a measurement model combining all items into one factor. The CFA results showed that the fit indices for the one-factor model had a poor fit to the data, χ²/df = 6.95, CFI = .67, NFI = .64, RMSEA = .15, indicating that CMV was not a serious concern for our study.

We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the proposed hypotheses. The SEM results showed that the standardized path coefficients from workplace fun to work engagement, .32, p < .01, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.17, 0.46], and from workplace fun to workplace guanxi, .40, p < .01, 95% CI [0.27, 0.52], were positive and significant, indicating that workplace fun was positively related to both work engagement and workplace guanxi. Therefore, Hypotheses 1 and 2 were supported. Additionally, the relationship between workplace guanxi and work engagement was positive and significant, .37, p < .01, 95% CI [0.21, 0.49], supporting Hypothesis 3. To test the mediating effect, we used bias-corrected bootstrapping with 2,000 resamples. The results revealed that the indirect effect of workplace fun on work engagement through workplace guanxi was 0.15, p < .01, 95% CI [0.09, 0.23]. Thus, Hypothesis 4 was supported.

Discussion

In this study we explored why and how workplace fun is related to work engagement with a data set comprising 272 Master of Business Administration students working in various Chinese enterprises. Specifically, our findings showed that workplace fun was positively related to work engagement and that workplace guanxi mediated this association. Our results have several theoretical and practical implications.

Theoretical Implications

Our results lend support to the findings of prior studies regarding the positive relationship of workplace fun with work engagement, which were conducted in other contexts (Tetteh et al., 2022; Tsaur et al., 2019). This underlines the importance of this type of job resource in fostering work engagement in China. Our study also supports prior findings regarding the positive relationship between workplace guanxi and work engagement (Hu et al., 2016), which indicates that workplace guanxi contributes to work engagement in the Chinese context. China is a relational society where management relies largely on guanxi (Hu et al., 2016) and employees’ attitudes and behaviors are subject to workplace guanxi (Miao et al., 2020). Thus, when employees experience high-quality workplace guanxi, they invest time and effort in their work.

This study found a new linkage between workplace fun and workplace guanxi. To our knowledge, no prior empirical studies have explored the relationship of workplace fun and workplace guanxi, although previous research has examined the relationship of workplace fun with LMX (Zhang et al., 2021). Different from LMX, which emphasizes work ties, workplace guanxi is a special personal relationship in China that emphasizes nonwork ties (Miao et al., 2020), and this study was the first to find support for workplace fun being positively correlated with workplace guanxi. This implies that a fun work environment is important to promoting high-quality nonwork connections between supervisors and subordinates.

Finally, by linking workplace fun with workplace guanxi and work engagement, we have shed light on the process that explains the relationship between workplace fun and work engagement. This is the first study to examine the mediating mechanism of workplace guanxi in the relationship between workplace fun and work engagement. Our results demonstrate that the effect of workplace fun on work engagement was indirectly transmitted through workplace guanxi, which gives important insight into the complex nature of the link between workplace fun and work engagement.

Practical Implications

On the basis of our findings, organizations should pay attention to the important role of workplace fun in fostering work engagement. We suggest that organizations aiming to enhance employees’ work engagement should create a work environment based on play, enjoyment, and fun, such as organizing activities including celebrations, birthday parties, and games. The results of the mediating effects test suggest that organizations should establish high-quality guanxi between supervisors and subordinates to evoke employees’ work engagement.

Limitations and Directions for Future Research

This study has several limitations. First, the use of a cross-sectional research design prevents us from drawing causal inferences. Future research could use longitudinal designs to allow for drawing inferences around the causality of relationships. Another limitation is that we examined only one mediating mechanism: the role of workplace guanxi linking workplace fun to work engagement. Knowledge of the relationship between workplace fun and work engagement thus remains limited and future research could test other mediating mechanisms linking these two variables.

Yaowen Zhang, School of Economics, Xi’an University of Finance and Economics, No. 360, Changning Street, Chang’an District, Xi’an, Shanxi, 710100, People’s Republic of China. Email: [email protected]