Employee engagement antecedents and consequences in Vietnamese businesses

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the antecedents and consequences of employee engagement (EE) in global research and Vietnamese business context.

Design/methodology/approach

This review was conducted in the following order: an integrative review for garnering drivers and outcomes of EE in global research, followed by a narrative review for selecting variables relevant to Vietnamese businesses.

Findings

In EE global research, a 3 × 3 findings framework was devised. Three antecedent clusters included the internal environment, job-related and employee-related factors. EE resulted in three outcome clusters: intra-role behaviors, extra-role behaviors and personal development and growth. In Vietnamese businesses, few studies existed on organizational learning and organizational support as EE antecedents, whereas turnover intention was examined the most as an EE outcome.

Research limitations/implications

The search was limited to EE-related peer-reviewed articles in Business Source Complete and Google Scholar. Literature on Vietnam EE was restricted to ProQuest Dissertations and Theses and Google Scholar because of a lack of literature availability on this topic in Business Source Complete.

Practical implications

Knowing that leadership, HR practices and working environment are important antecedents of EE in Vietnam (Table II) would prompt enterprise leaders and managers to improve the company’s conditions for engaging its employees. This is an important finding because Vietnamese businesses are suffering increasing turnover. Creating favorable organizational support evidenced via career growth opportunities, pay and benefits, company culture, job fit and effective management will stimulate employees to stay and engage.

Originality/value

This study emphasizes the organizational and employee factors in EE research and calls for combined research application to inform EE in Vietnamese businesses, thus providing ground for human resource development researchers and practitioners in their respective work.

Citation

Van, H.T.M. and Nafukho, F.M. (2020), "Employee engagement antecedents and consequences in Vietnamese businesses", European Journal of Training and Development, Vol. 44 No. 2/3, pp. 89-103. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-03-2019-0036