Outcomes of job autonomy and its effect on work engagement: A study of the banking industry in Nigeria

Abstract

An individual’s ability to exercise freedom in how he/she plans his/her work is referred to as job autonomy, and this is associated with many positive work outcomes. Work engagement is a positive work outcome that many organizations desire to see in their employees due to its impact on productivity. This study was carried out to examine the extent of job autonomy in ensuring that banking industry employees in Nigeria attain a certain level of work engagement. The study used a mixed investigation method, including both quantitative and qualitative research techniques. The quantitative analysis involved the distribution of 438 copies of the questionnaire, of which 353 copies were retrieved from bank employees. For a qualitative assessment, 15 respondents were randomly selected from among the senior officers of the selected banks. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (PLS). As a result, job autonomy was found to be stronger with cognitive engagement (β = 0.524, Tval = 6.268, P = 0.000) and emotional engagement (β = 0.440, Tval = 4.372, P = 0.000) than with physical engagement (β = 0.341, Tval = 2.485, P = 0.000). This implied that though job autonomy had a significant influence on employee work engagement, the aspects of scheduling work and making decisions were weak areas. This study concludes that there is a need to rethink the decision-making element in the banking system, given that the workplace is tilting to a more dynamic and flexible culture, fueled by digital innovation.

Bank employees’ problems due to the imbalance of work and family demands

“…Category 4 banks in Indonesia are large banks with large income and assets. With the specified qualifications, it is expected to represent objectively the actual http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/bbs.17 (1).2022.15…”

“…It is important to create opportunities for employees to establish good relations with the work environment and create a comfortable atmosphere for employees to work (Judeh, 2021). When employees are comfortable, they will be more active at work (Adeniji et al, 2021).…”

The Relationship Between Job Autonomy and Job Satisfaction in Telecommunication Industry: A Case Study of Telekom Malaysia

“…There have been few studies outside Malaysia on understanding the effect of job autonomy and job satisfaction in the workplace (Sarinah et al, 2018;Malinowska et al, 2018;Muecke & Greenwald, 2020;Ade-Adeniji et al, 2021). These findings concluded that, job autonomy is a key predictor towards job satisfaction.…”

“…Job autonomy is always described as an individual's amount of independence in determining how work is done. This is especially include making decisions in carrying out their jobs (Ade-Adeniji et al, 2021), where having flexibility and discretion to accomplish their duties and responsibilities are crucial (Dodd & Ganster, 1996;Lin & Ping, 2016).…”

Does employee engagement mediate the nexus of job resource and employee turnover intentions?

“…Job autonomy and employee engagement are significantly related. Job autonomy is a major determinant of employee engagement and is positively correlated with employee engagement levels (Zhang et al, 2017;Kenyi and John, 2020;Ade-Adeniji et al, 2021). The pharmaceutical industry would therefore have a keen interest in (re)evaluating job autonomy interventions where employees are able to carry out the work using their own initiative or judgment and have opportunities for independence and creative freedom (Thisera and Wijesundara, 2020;Tummers et al, 2018).…”