Exploring the antecedents of employee engagement

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between employee engagement and general management, performance management, reward management and transformational leadership. Design/methodology/approach A survey was distributed to a mid-sized energy company based in North America. A two-stage hierarchical multiple regression was performed. Employee engagement was the dependent variable, and the control variables of age and education were entered at stage one. In stage two, the four variables of general management, performance management, reward management and transformational leadership were included. Findings The findings revealed that the factors most predictive of employee engagement were reward management, followed by performance management, general management and transformational leadership. The only control variable predictive of engagement was age, where older employees reported greater engagement. Practical implications The study can offer practitioners more insight into employee engagement which in turn can help with employee related decision-making in their own individual workplaces. Originality/value The study contributes to the existing literature on human resource management by providing insights into the factors that contribute to employee engagement and corroboration that age is a contributing factor.

Evolving approaches to employee engagement: comparing antecedents in remote work and traditional workplaces

“…Other studies found a positive relationship between leadership and employee engagement (Carasco-Saul et al , 2015). Leadership styles that were associated with improving employee engagement include transformational (Alam et al , 2022), authentic, charismatic, ethical (Bailey et al , 2015) and servant leadership (Lee et al , 2017). Additionally, previous studies identified the role of manager self-efficacy (Wollard and Shuck, 2011), supervisory coaching and leader empowering behavior in improving employee engagement (Bailey et al , 2015).…”

“…At the organizational level, research shows that factors such as HRD positively influence employee engagement. For example, HRD practices that can boost employee engagement include opportunities for training and development (Lee et al , 2017), talent management (Wollard and Shuck, 2011), rewards and recognition (Basbous and Malkawi, 2017; Kossyva et al , 2022), coaching (Lyons and Bandura, 2021) and performance management (Alam et al , 2022). Also, existing literature supported other factors such as a climate of psychological safety (Bailey et al , 2015), team and coworkers support (Lee et al , 2017) and connection to mission and values (Akingbola and van den Berg, 2019).…”

“…Individual spirituality (Kossyva et al , 2022), mission attachment (Svensson et al , 2021) and work/life balance (Wollard and Shuck, 2011) were also considered positive predictors of employee engagement. Other studies considered factors such as age as an individual antecedent to employee engagement, with older employees tending to be more engaged than younger employees (Alam et al , 2022).…”

Hire Ambitious People

“…In this study, we examine five different correlates of WE. First, we examine sex, age, and education, as many other studies have found a relationship (Alam et al, 2022; Banihani et al, 2013). We predict that older people would express more WE (H1) because age is usually correlated with organizational rank, which is always correlated with job satisfaction (Oshagbemi, 1997).…”

Impact of Employee Engagement on Company Performance: The Four-Box Business Model as a Moderator: Perspectives from the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Then, as a result of improved employee performance, organisational performance improves (Wijayati et al, 2022). The top two predictors of employee engagement are remuneration and performance management (Alam et al, 2022). Employee engagement leads to increased productivity and profit for the company (Chanana, 2021).…”