Enhanced Engagement Nurtured by Determination, Efficacy, and Exchange Dimensions (EENDEED): A Nine-Item Instrument for Measuring Traditional Workplace and Remote Employee Engagement

Abstract

With the ongoing pandemic and technological evolutions, remote work has become the new normal. However, existing employee engagement instruments do not take the remote aspect of work into account. This paper proposes a nine-item instrument for assessing employee engagement in general, and remote worker engagement specifically. The instrument was named EENDEED, for enhanced engagement nurtured by determination, efficacy, and exchange dimensions. It was grounded on three theories: (1) self-determination; (2) self-efficacy; and (3) social exchange. After generating the proposed scale grounded on the literature and theory, data were collected from 600 participants in the United States through an online survey. The dataset was split in two random samples of 405 and 195 cases, respectively. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on the larger sample helped discover its two-factor structure, namely PERFORMANCE and SELF-RELIANCE. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed on the second sample, which confirmed the two-factor structure of EENDEED. A final study assessed the reliability and validity of EENDEED. Data were collected through an online survey of 162 employees in the U.S. A CFA was conducted, validating the two-factor structure of the instrument. Construct reliability of the factors and reliability of the scale were ascertained. Face validity, content validity, construct validity, and criterion validity were confirmed. This study fills the gap in current engagement measurements by including the remote worker dimension. Organizations will be better able to identify and address challenges faced by traditional workplace employees and remote workers.

Assessing Employee Engagement in the Communication Organization of a Fortune 500 Financial Service Company in the United States

“…To measure employee engagement, this study used an instrument developed by Lartey and Randall (2022) named EENDEED, which stands for Enhanced Engagement Nurtured by Determination, Efficacy, and Exchange Dimensions. It is a nine-item instrument used for measuring the engagement of remote employees and traditional office workers (Lartey & Randall, 2022). The nine items of EENDEED are statements answered using a five-point Likert scale ranging from (1) Strongly disagree to (5) Strongly agree.…”

“…EENDEED is anchored in the framework of three theoretical perspectives namely, selfdetermination, self-efficacy, and social exchange ( Lartey & Randall, 2022). A view of the relationship between EENDEED and these theories is depicted in Figure 1.…”

Using EENDEED to Measure Remote Employee Engagement: Influence of the Sense of Belonging at Work and the Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) on Virtual Employee Engagement

“…This is generally done through the relationship between the employees and their managers as well as the relationships with their partners and boundary partners, such as human resources, training and development, information technology (IT), and other departments that provide support and guidance to the employees (Tate et al, 2019). Lartey and Randall (2022) view engagement from the perspective of three main theories as shown in Figure 1: self-determination, self-efficacy, and social exchange. Their conceptualization of engagement suggests that employees need intrinsic motivation (self-determination), belief in their abilities to accomplish the expected tasks (self-efficacy), and the expectation of something in return, such as a salary, reward, or promotion (social exchange).…”

“…The name EENDEED stands for Enhanced Engagement Nurtured by Determination, Efficacy, and Exchange Dimensions. Created by Lartey and Randall (2022), EENDEED is a 9-item instrument that measures engagement levels of both remote employees and traditional office employees. It is based on the implementation of three theories, namely 1) self-determination theory;…”

“…EENDEED, the instrument used to measure remote employee engagement, was presented as a two-factor scale by Lartey and Randall (2022). This factor structure was validated in another study by Randall and Lartey (2022), along with its convergent validity and concurrent validity.…”