From Engagement to Attachment: Rethinking Employee Commitment in Gig–Hybrid Work Systems

Contemporary organizations increasingly rely on non-traditional employment arrangements such as project-based assignments, contractual roles, and hybrid work models. While employee engagement has long been treated as a key indicator of organizational effectiveness, its relevance appears constrained in gig–hybrid contexts. Individuals working under such arrangements often demonstrate strong task involvement without developing a lasting psychological connection with the organization. This paper contends that employee engagement alone is insufficient to explain commitment in flexible employment structures and proposes employee attachment as a more comprehensive construct. Employee attachment reflects emotional bonding, organizational identification, and perceived psychological ownership that extend beyond task performance. Using a mixed-method approach, data were collected from gig–hybrid employees in the IT, education, and service sectors. The findings reveal that engagement is largely transactional in nature, whereas attachment exhibits a stronger relationship with retention intentions and sustained loyalty. The study advances HR literature by emphasizing employee attachment as a critical driver of long-term commitment in evolving work arrangements and provides actionable insights for strengthening workforce stability.