Browsing by Subject "Employee Engagement"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    The Effects Of Cognitive Reflection Exercises On Employee Engagement: A Positive Intervention And Study Of The Role Of Cognition In Increasing Engagement In The Workplace
    (2020-05) Giddings, Douglas
    The employee engagement literature suggests that in order to increase engagement in the workplace, the number and availability of job resources (e.g., performance feedback, social support, autonomy, etc.) to which employees have access must also increase. This dissertation explores the role of cognition in employee engagement interventions by creating and testing a theoretical model that proposes the relationship between job resources and engagement is mediated by increased cognitive perceptions of those resources (perceptions of resource presence, and perceptions of resource importance). I tested hypotheses by creating a cognitive reflection intervention, similar to those used in the positive organizational scholarship literature, which asked participant to briefly reflect, at the end of each workday, and write about a positive experience they had related to one of five specific job resources. This intervention lasted for five weeks, and included pretest-posttest surveys to analyze overall changes to employee engagement and other key outcomes, as well as five end-of-week surveys to assess within-person changes in outcomes during the intervention period. The active-treatment condition was then compared to results from an active-control condition (who were asked to reflect about positive events more generally, rather than focusing specifically on job resources) and a no-treatment condition. Results revealed no significant changes to engagement for participants assigned to the active-treatment condition, or in differences between the active-treatment group and the other two conditions. Nevertheless, engagement scores for both reflection conditions increased or remained steady during the intervention period, while engagement scores for the no-treatment condition decreased. I conclude with a discussion of findings, theoretical and practical implications, and study limitations.
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    The Engagement of Faculty Members with Disabilities
    (2021-03) Campion, Peter
    Employee engagement has been studied in many contexts, but studies have often failed to consider how a disability affects engagement. A deeper understanding about the engagement of faculty members with disabilities is necessary to ensure that research and practice are inclusive of all scholars’ experiences. This qualitative study explored how disabilities and relationships relate to employee engagement, disclosure, and accommodation seeking. The research was based on 22 interviews with 11 faculty members from 3 public university campuses in the Midwest. Participants included assistant, associate, and full professors who were registered and receiving accommodations from a university resource center as well as some individuals who had not disclosed their disabilities. Findings illustrated how universities can foster organizational cultures and meaningful relationships that support faculty members with disabilities. Initiatives that facilitate employee engagement for faculty members with disabilities are likely to lead to increased disclosure and accommodation-seeking behaviors. Findings also suggested that universities must bolster support by offering resources and training in order to enable faculty members to overcome the stigma that they experience related to their disabilities. Resources should explain how to navigate both the accommodation-seeking and tenure processes as well as how to effectively work with a disability liaison. Finally, they should help faculty members to advocate for themselves and others.
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    Factors Influencing Expatriate Teacher Engagement in K-12 International Schools in China
    (2019-07) Burnside, Peter
    The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that influence expatriate teacher engagement in K-12 international schools in China. Using an exploratory qualitative methodology, 23 teachers and 6 administrators at three different international schools in China were interviewed on site in focus groups and individual interviews. The following research questions guided the inquiry: 1. In what ways do expatriate international-school teachers and administrators describe teacher engagement? 2. In what ways do expatriate international-school teachers exhibit engagement? 3. What are the barriers to expatriate teacher engagement in K-12 international schools? 4. What are the drivers of expatriate teacher engagement in K-12 international schools? Key findings suggest that highly engaged teachers impact student learning directly through their interactions with students and continuous modification of instruction in response to student performance and learning needs. Teachers further support student learning through engagement with colleagues and with the profession. Supportive leadership, meaningful work, and supportive colleagues were seen as key drivers of teacher engagement. Teacher transience, overwhelm, cultural differences, and personal health or family issues were seen as barriers to teacher engagement. Implications for practice include guidelines for developing a school-level teacher-engagement strategy based on embedding key drivers of engagement into the culture of the school and using a transformational leadership approach and the Job-Demands Resources model at the organizational and individual level. The impact of teacher transience is an important area for future research as is expatriate teachers’ intercultural competence as international schools continue to grow and accommodate more host-country students.
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    Predicting Employee Engagement: An Exploration of the Roles of Transformational Leadership, Power Distance Orientation, Psychological Collectivism, and Psychological Empowerment in Korean Organizations
    (2015-12) Park, Chan Kyun
    The purpose of this study was to determine whether the characteristics of transformational leaders influence employee engagement in their jobs within Korean cultural values. To do so, this study first examined the relationship between transformational leadership and employee engagement with data from Korean companies. Then the study investigated whether Korean cultural values, such as power distance orientation and psychological collectivism, moderate the relationship between transformational leadership and employee engagement. In addition, the study examined the effects of transformational leadership on employee engagement, as mediated by psychological empowerment. In sum, the study found a relationship between transformational leadership and employee engagement, and the extent to which this relationship was influenced by (a) power distance, (b) psychological collectivism, and (c) psychological empowerment. Data from a survey were collected and analyzed from 265 employees with at least one year of experience in Korean for-profit organizations in South Korea. The survey instrument was developed by adopting measurement instruments used in previous studies. Statistical techniques including moderated multiple regression, and structural equation modeling were mainly used to test the seven hypotheses. A series of confirmatory factor analyses was also conducted to test the construct validity of the measurement model for the latent variables. The findings of this study indicated that transformational leadership and psychological collectivism positively predicted employee engagement. In addition, psychological empowerment fully mediated the influence of transformational leadership on employee engagement. However, power distance orientation did not significantly affect employee engagement, and both power distance orientation and psychological collectivism did not moderate the relationship between transformational leadership and employee engagement. The findings of this study could provide the conceptual basis for specific programs and HR interventions that are designed to promote employee engagement, transformational leadership, and psychological empowerment in organizations. Implications from both theoretical and practical standpoints were discussed and several recommendations for future research were presented as well.
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    The relationships among organizational service orientation, customer service training, and employee engagement.
    (2011-12) Johnson, Karen Roberto
    In service-related jobs, employee attitudes play a critical role in influencing customers' perceptions of service quality. This study investigated HRD-related organizational strategic practices that could potentially be linked to employee engagement as a means to improve customer satisfaction, service quality, and organizational effectiveness. The organizational strategic practices examined were organizational service orientation and customer service related training (personal motivation for training, benefits of training, and colleague support for training). Within the vast service sector, the tourism and hospitality industry, specifically the hotel sector, provided a unique context for examining the relationships among organizational service orientation, customer service training, and employee engagement. A survey research design was utilized to investigate the relationships. The study relied on previously developed scales related to the variables of interest. Data were collected from 320 frontline employees in 13 large all-inclusive hotels through the use of a self-report paper-based questionnaire. The overall response rate was 67%. A series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses was conducted as the primary method of data analysis to determine the unique contribution of each variable in predicting employee engagement. Overall, the results of the study indicated statistically significant relationships among organizational service orientation, customer service training, and employee engagement. Combined, all variables accounted for 38% of the variance in employee engagement. Service leadership, a subscale of organizational service orientation, was the highest predictor (23%) of employee engagement. Together, the customer service training variables explained 9% of the variation in employee engagement. Human resource management practices and service encounter practices each accounted for 3% of the variance in employee engagement. Service systems practices were found to be non-significantly related to employee engagement. The output generated from the hierarchical multiple regression analysis also revealed that service encounter practices mediate the relationship between human resource management practices and employee engagement. Based on the findings, implications for both research and practice are discussed and recommendations for future research are also detailed.