A task-level perspective on work engagement: A new approach that helps to differentiate the concepts of engagement and burnout

•Work engagement emerges during the process of working, whereas burnout is a chronic state in which people come to work.•Work engagement varies from task to task, whereas exhaustion does not fluctuate substantially from task to task.•Work engagement can be predicted by task features.•Social and personal resources interact with task features when predicting work engagement.

This theoretical paper differentiates work engagement from the burnout concept by using a task-level perspective. Specifically, I argue that work engagement (i.e., the experience of vigor, dedication and absorption, Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004) emerges during the process of working. It does not only differ between persons and does not only fluctuate from one day to the other (or even within the course of a day), but can vary largely between different work tasks. Burnout (and particularly exhaustion) as a chronic state does not differ from one work task to the other. I describe task features derived from the job characteristics model (Hackman & Oldham, 1976) as predictors of task-specific work engagement and discuss interaction effects between task features on the one hand and job-level social and personal resources on the other hand. I outline possible avenues for future research and address practical implications, including task design and employee's energy management throughout the workday.