An employee engagement instrument and framework building on existing research.

Abstract

Employee engagement is important as it contributes to an organisation’s competitive advantage and improved performance. Despite heightened attention different conceptualisations, measures and explanations of ‘engagement’ exist. Research findings in connection with ‘engagement’ are not unanimous, leaving room for further investigation. Areas of concern include the conceptualisation of the concept and validity of widely used instruments measuring engagement, while cultural differences may influence understanding of items and subsequently impact validity of the measurement instrument. Thus, this study developed an employee engagement instrument and framework, building on existing literature, in particular, Macey and Schneider, measuring engagement concurrently at the organisational and individual levels. This research focusses on the first phase of the development of a new instrument, namely construct validity. Measuring employee engagement at both the individual and organisational levels simultaneously can assist organisations in leveraging their competitive advantage, and improve organisational performance. The researchers conducted an in-depth literature review, thus this research is qualitative, descriptive and conceptual in nature. The proposed engagement framework consists of seven dimensions, each comprising a number of items representing the individual and organisational levels. This framework provides conceptual clarification on employee engagement at the individual, team and organisational levels and, together with the instrument, a basis to leverage competitive advantage. The value of this original research stems from integrating employee engagement at the individual and organisational levels. Furthermore, a clearly defined, theoretical employee engagement measurement framework and instrument for the South African context were developed. Subsequent studies will be undertaken to validate this framework.