Search results

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to investigate the influence of time on the results of the dimensions of employee engagement; and second, to determine whether there are any significant differences between the levels of engagement of the different demographic groups, so as to determine specific future interventions to improve employee engagement.

This study adopted a quantitative approach employing a survey which used a questionnaire to collect data from the same convenience sample, over a three-year period. The differences were tested by measuring change through an analysis of variance.

Three dimensions, namely, team commitment, team orientation and organisational strategy and implementation were significantly higher in the third than first period. Africans and respondents on lower job grades reported significantly lower levels of engagement than white respondents and top management.

The limitation of the study is the low participation rate of some groups.

Top management can foster engagement in addition to introducing effective interventions, based on sound measurement, to improve employees’ engagement levels.

Engaged employees are happy/healthy, which can be expected to spill over to their lives outside of the workplace and thus favourably influence society.

Limited longitudinal research in connection with employee engagement is published. This study provides evidence of a valid barometer for a multicultural, developing economy, against which employee engagement can be measured.

Employee engagement recently emerged as a promising mechanism to improve organisational effectiveness and accordingly reduce the performance gap. This paper empirically demonstrates which employee engagement dimension(s) act as the strongest dimension to enhance the levels of employee engagement and consequently organisational effectiveness.

This study used a quantitative approach, specifically a survey design, using a questionnaire to collect data. Regression analysis was applied to predict the impact of the employee engagement dimensions on the level of employee engagement in organisations and the impact of online/social media, as part of communication, on employee engagement.

The statistical analyses indicate that the dimensions organisational strategy and implementation, organisational commitment and team commitment are significant predictors of employee engagement. On-line/social media has a negative effect on employee engagement. However, according to the results, communication in organisations can be improved, especially by using online/social media more effectively.

This includes low response rate from some groups.

The importance of secondary general management tasks, particularly motivation and communication, in mobilising employees to cooperate in pursuing organisational goals, became apparent. This study reflects the adverse effect of a lack of leadership and management skills, and ineffective use of online/social media on organisational performance, as reported in academic and practitioner research. Regardless, practitioners can apply the levers of motivation, via structural dimensions of organisation, to activate psychological presence which drives employee engagement and in turn facilitates strategy implementation and consequently organisational effectiveness. Scholars can modify their research agendas by investigating the “(un)availability” of human resources to improve organisational effectiveness.

The costs of disengaged employees are high, in terms of productivity losses and the performance gap, with adverse consequences for society.

Employee engagement as a driver of strategy implementation is an overlooked area of research. This study offers a better explanation of employee engagement as a mechanism to improve strategy implementation, thus reducing the performance gap, and consequently waste. Employee engagement engenders employee support to pursue organisational goals, in a coordinated system of cooperation, and is produced by the structural dimensions of organisation, the parameters within which psychological presence is activated. Psychological presence drives employee engagement which enables employees to be available to implement strategy to achieve organisational goals and thus organisational effectiveness. Engagement at a broader level than individual is significant.

The testing of measurement invariance is important in cross-cultural research to establish whether the psychometric properties of an instrument remain valid and reliable across different sample groups as these assumptions are rarely tested statistically. The purpose of this paper is to determine the factorial invariance of the employee engagement questionnaire across the various race groups by means of structural equation modelling.

Cross-sectional and descriptive research designs were followed in this study in the form of non-probability, convenience sampling to attract a sample of 1,175 employees in financial institutions. The employee engagement instrument (EEI) was electronically administered to 285,000 people who form part of a research database.

The results confirmed the reliability and validity of the instrument as determined by the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Lastly, the results indicated that invariance can be assumed across race groups for financial institutions.

It is important for organisations to take cognisance of how specific socio-demographic variables influence the measurement of employee engagement, in this case race. The conclusion reached was that the EEI can be used with confidence in the financial sector for future employee engagement assessments.

These findings add to the current body of literature that exists on employee engagement and race in the South African work context and addresses one of the complexities assessment practitioners might have to comply with regarding questionnaire validity across race groups.

In some organizations action is taken to stimulate creativity and innovation. The right steps may have been taken, such as involving employees in decision making, recruiting and appointing employees who evidence characteristics of creativity, setting standards for work performance and giving regular feedback, yet creativity and innovation are hampered in some way. The culture of an organization may be a factor contributing to the extent to which creativity and innovation occur in an organization (Johnson, 1996; Judge et al., 1997; Pienaar, 1994; Shaughnessy, 1988; Tesluk et al., 1997; Tushman & O’Reilly, 1997 in Martins & Terblanche, 2003). The current organizational culture and the demands of creativity and innovation may lead to a conflict situation.

This study aims to conduct a survey in a bank to measure the perception of employees towards the effective governance of information privacy and at the same time validating the information privacy governance questionnaire (IPGQ) used in this study.

A quantitative research approach was followed using an online survey questionnaire to collect data in a bank in South Africa.

The survey results showed that employees perceived the governance of privacy in the organisation in a positive way. Three significant differences were identified, namely, Generation-Y being significantly more positive than Generation-X regarding privacy control assessment. Also, that the contractor/vendor group was significantly more positive than permanent employees regarding organisational commitment and privacy control assessment. Exploratory factor analysis was used to validate the IPGQ and four factors were identified: privacy control assessment, personal information awareness assessment, privacy governance reporting and organisational commitment towards privacy. Cronbach’s alpha was used to establish the internal reliability of the factors and indicated good internal consistency.

One of the potential empirical research limitations for this study is that the study was conducted in a single organisation; therefore, when generalising the results, caution must be taken.

Organisations, academics and the industry may find the questionnaire useful to determine employee perception towards privacy governance and to identify recommendations that could be used to improve their privacy policies, privacy programme controls and organisational commitment towards privacy. In this study, it was identified that for Generation-X employees to be more accepting towards the privacy controls, the organisation needs to implement focussed awareness training for them. To ensure permanent employees’ commitment and accountability, internal audits, monitoring and risk assessment measures need to be implemented. These can be directed through the outcomes of the survey.

The IPGQ can aid organisations in determining if they are governing privacy effectively, and thus assist them in meeting the accountability condition of data protection regulation.

The study, representing 6,528 employees, investigates the relationship of the “big five” personality dimensions and managerial practices to the dimension of trust relationships between managers and employees, and also the relationship between the “big five” and managerial practices. Results indicate that managerial practices have an influence on the trust relationships between managers and employees. A weaker relationship with the dimension of trust was obtained for the “big five” personality dimensions. Although there appears to be a weaker relationship between the “big five” and the dimension of trust, the relatively good fit of the model indicates that an overall implication of the model is that both managerial practices and the “big five” personality aspects of the manager might influence his/her subordinates indirectly. The results indicate that although managers perceived it to be a good instrument to use, future research is needed to expand other anecdotes of trust.

The authors set out to assess the invariance of the employee engagement instrument (EEI) used to assess engagement in the financial sector in South Africa. The sector faces a recruitment crisis and is also multi-racial.

The authors used the database of a research company that contained 285,000 business people from various backgrounds. They attracted a sample of 1,175 respondents from financial institutions. The majority were white (62.2 per cent), but 16.8 per cent were African, 8.5 per cent were colored, and 9.9 per cent were Indian. A five-point Likert EEI was used to measure employee engagement at individual, team, and organizational levels.

The authors concluded that the EEI demonstrated multi-group invariance across different race groups, as any deviation was statistically insignificant. The implication was that the instrument could be used with confidence across all four racial groups in the financial sector in South Africa to measure employee engagement.

The authors place their research in the context of the modern world’s “war for talent.” The increasing mobility of workforces and the retirement of baby boomers have put employers under pressure to develop strategies that prevent the best workers from quitting. Employee engagement becomes an important tool in reducing departures. But research suggests it has been decreasing for some years.