“Smooth Sailing”: Playful Work Design on Monotonous Days

Abstract

Studies have consistently highlighted the individual and organisational benefits of work engagement, including increased employee motivation, satisfaction, and performance (Bakker et al., 2014). However, organisations may struggle to protect work engagement in employees who are dealt monotonous work tasks (Scharp et al., 2021). This study aimed to explore whether playful work design (PWD) could be a proactive behavioural strategy for employees to use in order to protect their work engagement in the face of such tasks. Using the Job Demands-Resources model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017) as a theoretical framework, this study examined the impact of daily monotony and PWD on daily work engagement in a maritime and operational work context, as well as the moderating role of PWD in the form of fun and competition on the relationship between daily monotony and daily work engagement. We collected data from 27 Royal Norwegian Naval Academy cadets, who answered a daily questionnaire for 28 consecutive days during a voyage from Cape Town to Bergen. The results from the multilevel analyses supported our prediction that daily monotony negatively correlates with daily work engagement. Similarly, the results supported our predictions that daily PWD in the form of a) fun and b) competition positively correlated with daily work engagement. While daily PWD in the form of fun was found to have a buffering effect on the negative relationship between daily monotony and daily work engagement, daily PWD in the form of competition did not. The findings of this study make several theoretical and practical contributions, underscoring the potential mitigating effect of incorporating fun and playful elements into the work situation on days when monotonous work may harm work engagement.