242 Int. J. Business Excellence, Vol. 20, No.

2, 2020

A study on the interrelationships between employee

engagement, employee engagement initiatives and
job satisfaction

G. Delina*
School of Management,
SASTRA (Deemed to be University),
Thanjavur, India
Email: [email protected]
*Corresponding author

Priya Esther Samuel

Email: [email protected]

Abstract: The concept of ‘employee engagement’ has streamlined with

management school of thought since recent past as it helps achieve improved
organisational performance and business excellence. This study attempts to
examine the employee engagement levels of IT professionals in South India
across different dimensions of engagement namely, vigour, dedication and
absorption based on UWES scale. Differences in engagement levels based on
demographic characteristics are presented. This paper further, presents the
influence of satisfaction towards employee engagement initiatives on employee
engagement levels and job satisfaction. This study also highlights the various
employee engagement initiatives in IT companies and the respondents’
satisfaction about the same. The research outlook of this paper is that “when
employees are satisfied with the employee engagement initiatives practiced by
their organisations, they are more engaged with their jobs and it subsequently,
contributes to their job satisfaction as well.”

Keywords: employee engagement; employee engagement initiatives; job

satisfaction; JS; IT professionals; South India.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Delina, G. and

Samuel, P.E. (2020) ‘A study on the interrelationships between employee
engagement, employee engagement initiatives and job satisfaction’, Int. J.
Business Excellence, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp.242–268.

Biographical notes: G. Delina is an Assistant Professor in the School of

Management, SASTRA Deemed to be University in Thanjavur, India. She had
completed her PhD (full-time) from the Department of Management Studies,
Pondicherry (Central) University. She also holds a Master’s in Management.
Her research interests are in the areas of human resource management,
organisation behaviour, quality of life, quality of work life and work life
balance. She is a regular participant and has presented papers in both national
and international conferences. Two of her research papers have been adjudged
as the best paper in national/international conferences.

Copyright © 2020 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

 A study on the interrelationships 243

Priya Esther Samuel holds a Master’s in Science and Management from the
Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani. She also has a PG Diploma in
Human Resource Management from the Symbiosis Institute. She is currently a
freelancer. She formerly worked as a HR and Marketing Executive in XLabz
Technologies and Senior HR Executive in SysInformation Healthcare India
Pvt. Ltd., Mysore. Her research interests are in the areas of human resource
management and employee relations. She has undertaken research projects
during her academic courses.

1 Introduction

The most vital resource for the success of an organisation is its human resources. In this
knowledge era, the workforce creates sustainable competitive advantage for companies
and are hence, are important assets of the company. With regard to people resources,
research studies have reiterated that employee engagement contributes to job
performance (Demerouti and Cropanzano, 2010). Most, if not all, the key measures that
reflect and drive organisational performance (customer satisfaction, innovation,
profitability, productivity, loyalty and quality) are products of committed and engaged
employees. Thus, engagement and retention of employees has become one of the topmost
priorities of successful businesses. Wah (1999) asserts employee engagement as the
fourth most important management challenge classifying the other three as creating
customer loyalty, managing mergers and alliances and reducing costs. In today’s business
scenario, companies are trying to increase their performance in order to have a
competitive advantage over their rivals in the market and achieve business excellence.
Various factors like better products, services, strategies and technologies contribute to
superior performance but employee engagement as an emotional phenomenon has gained
much importance with the advent of knowledge workers and emphasis on individual
talent management. Understanding the essence of employee engagement has hence,
become more relevant and vital than ever.
Employee engagement can be defined as an individual’s degree of emotional
attachment to their organisation, their job and their colleagues. However, the attachment
can be positive or negative. MacLeod and Clarke (2009) define employee engagement as
“a workplace approach designed to ensure that employees are committed to their
organization’s goals and values, motivated to contribute to organizational success, and
are able at the same time to enhance their own sense of well-being.”
Kahn (1990, 1992) refers to engagement as the psychological presence of an
employee while occupying and performing an organisational role. Rothbard (2001) also
delineates engagement as a psychological presence but further states that it involves two
critical components: attention and absorption. Attention refers to “cognitive ability and
the amount of time one spends thinking about a role” while absorption means “being
engrossed in a role and refers to the intensity of one’s focus on a role.” Schaufeli et al.
(2002) defined engagement as “a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is
characterized by vigor, dedication and absorption.”
244 G. Delina and P.E. Samuel

Engagement has become one of the most sought-after phenomena as it is related to

meaningful business outcomes that are of significant importance to business
organisations (Harter et al., 2002). Few other studies have also reasoned out the
contributions of employee engagement towards business excellence (Bakker and
Schaufeli, 2008; MacLeod and Clarke, 2009; Attridge, 2009; Anitha, 2014; Teimouri
et al., 2016). Hence, researching on employee engagement and employee engagement
initiatives is in vogue.
A few studies have been conducted on employee engagement across various sectors
in India. Bhatnagar (2007) conducted a study to investigate talent management and its
relationship to levels of employee engagement in Indian ITES employees, using the
Gallup Workplace Audit © or the Gallup Q12 ©. The results of the study indicated that a
good level of engagement may lead to high retention in the ITES sector for a limited
time.
Singh et al. (2007) carried out a study to analyse the engagement levels and the
factors that affected engagement in three different organisations in India, representing
private, public and non-profit organisations. They investigated the relationships between
various factors of engagement and its impact on engagement. Das et al. (2013) conducted
a study to analyse the drivers of employee engagement in the Indian manufacturing
sector. Goel et al. (2013) examined the key drivers for employee engagement by
performing a study on a leading Indian automobile manufacturer. Pandey and David
(2013) in their study on the job characteristics that lead to high employee engagement in
the pharma and IT sector, concluded that three factors, i.e., satisfactory work
environment, career growth opportunities and job enrichment were responsible for
bringing employee engagement at work places.
This research article is predicated on the prominence that ‘employee engagement’ has
garnered in the recent times owing to its contribution to business excellence. This
research highlights the effect of employee engagement on job satisfaction (JS) and
intends to show how employee engagement initiatives of an organisation affect the
dimensions of employee engagement. More so, talent management and talent retention
are major challenges in the Indian IT industry for which employee engagement seems to
provide a credible solution. This article, hence identified the substantial need for
employee engagement studies in India among IT organisations with the help of earlier
research (Kamalanabhan et al., 2009; Bhatnagar, 2007) and has attempted to explore the
interrelationships between employee engagement, employee engagement initiatives and
JS.

2 Theoretical perspective

2.1 Birth of the concept of employee engagement

Kahn (1990, 1992) is often recognised as the first scholar to apply the concept of
engagement to work. Kahn found that there were three psychological conditions related
with engagement or disengagement at work: meaningfulness, safety, and availability. He
suggested that people asked themselves the following three fundamental questions in
each role situation:
 A study on the interrelationships 245

1 How meaningful is it for me to bring myself into this performance?

2 How safe is it to do so?
3 How available am I to do so?
Saks (2006) provides a stronger theoretical rationale for describing employee engagement
with social exchange theory (SET). SET proposes that a series of interactions between
parties that are reciprocally interdependent results in obligations. For example,
individuals feel obliged to the organisation, when they receive interactions from their
organisation in economic, social and emotional terms.

2.2 Defining employee engagement

Kahn (1990, 1992) defines job engagement as “the simultaneous employment and
expression of a person’s ‘preferred self’ in task behaviours that promote connections to
work and to others’ personal presence (physical, cognitive, and emotional) and active,
full performances.” Maslach and Leiter (1997) considered ‘engagement’ as the polar
opposite of burnout and defined it in terms of energy, involvement and efficacy. Work
engagement is defined by Schaufeli et al. (2002) as follows: “engagement is a positive,
fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and
absorption. Rather than a momentary and specific state, engagement refers to object,
event, individual, or behaviour. Vigor is characterized by high levels of energy and
mental resilience while working, the willingness to invest effort in one’s work, and
persistence even in the face of difficulties. Dedication refers to being strongly involved in
one’s work and experiencing a sense of significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, pride, and
challenge. Absorption, is characterized by being fully concentrated and happily engrossed
in one’s work, whereby time passes quickly and one has difficulties with detaching
oneself from work.”

2.3 Approaches to employee engagement

Employee engagement has been approached in different ways by behavioural scientists
and research. Five of the prominent approaches in the field of employee engagement are
in Table 1.

2.4 Approach for this study

This study adopted the approach of Schaufeli et al. (2002) Utrecht work engagement
scale (UWES) (with vigour, absorption and dedication as dimensions) based on the
conceptualisation of engagement made by Maslach and Leiter (1997) in terms of energy,
involvement and efficacy. Though UWES approach retains elements of burnout, it
considers ‘burnout’ as a distinct separate construct. Initial research included UWES to
study stress-related outcomes but recently, it has been used to study the relationship of
work engagement with related constructs. UWES approach has been extensively used to
assess the relationship of work engagement with various constructs, that includes among
246 G. Delina and P.E. Samuel

others, efficacy (Schaufeli and Salanova, 2007); proactive behaviour (Warshawsky et al.,
2012; Salanova and Schaufeli, 2008); turnover intention (Hallberg and Schaufeli, 2006),
JS (Alarcon and Edwards, 2011; Alarcon and Lyons, 2011), organisational commitment
and happiness (Field and Buitendach, 2011).

Table 1 Synthesis of literature on the conceptual definition of employee engagement

Name of the
Key perspectives Dimensions
approach
Kahn’s (1990)  Takes lead from role theory (Graen, 1976)  Physical
approach and Kahn (1990).
 Cognitive
 Engagement levels differentiated by
employees’ attachments to and absorption  Emotional
in roles.
Maslach and  Work-related well-being is a continuum. Engagement dimensions:
Leiter’s (1997)
approach  Engagement and burnout are opposite  Energy
poles-engagement indicates positive pole
and burnout indicates negative pole.  Involvement

 Three engagement aspects are the  Efficacy

opposites of the three corresponding As polar opposite of
burnout aspects. burnout dimensions –
exhaustion, cynicism and
reduced professional
efficacy.
Schaufeli and  Burnout and work engagement should be Continuum of vigour and
Bakker’s (2001) defined as two distinct concepts and are exhaustion labelled as:
approach (as cited to be assessed independently.
in Schaufeli and  energy or activation
Bakker, 2003)  Vigour and dedication are direct opposites
Continuum of dedication
of exhaustion and cynicism.
and cynicism has been
 Professional inefficiency considered as labelled as:
direct opposite of the third aspect of
 identification
burnout is not included in the engagement
concept.
Rich’s et al.  The physical dimension of engagement is  Physical dimension
(2010) approach exhibited by the amount of effort exerted
by an individual in the job.  Cognitive dimension

 Attention and absorption constitute  Emotional dimension

cognitive labours (Gardner et al., 1989;
Kahn, 1990; Rothbard, 2001): attention –
the amount of time an individual spends
thinking about the role task. Absorption –
the level of engrossment or intensity of
focus that an individual has on the role
task.
 Role attachment is demonstrated by
investment of emotions into one’s role
performance (Kelman, 1958).
 A study on the interrelationships 247

2.5 Outcomes of employee engagement

Employee engagement is believed to do a lot of good to both organisations as well as
individuals who work in them. One of the pioneer researchers of employee engagement
had earlier proposed that it can lead to both organisational and individual consequences
(Kahn, 1992). Since then several studies have attempted to study the outcomes of
employee engagement (Demerouti et al., 2001; Sonnentag, 2003; Xanthopoulou et al.,
2009).

2.5.1 On organisations
Employee engagement has been found to result in work-related outcomes that benefit the
organisation. Employee engagement significantly explained the variance in JS,
organisational citizenship behaviour directed to the organisation, organisational
commitment and intention to quit (Saks, 2006).
In his article, Rick (2012) highlighted the significance of employee engagement based
on several important studies conducted by research firms such as Towers Perrin, Towers
Watson, Gallup, The Conference Board and others. He underscored that businesses with
more engaged employees and higher engaged levels resulted in higher productivity,
operating incomes and shareholder returns. He also spotlighted that engaged employees
outperform disengaged employees by 20–28%.
Levels of engagement are very crucial as employee engagement can correlate with
performance. More importantly, there is accumulating evidence that ‘improving
engagement’ correlates with ‘improving performance’. Macleod and Clarke (2009) in
their report titled ‘Engaging for success: enhancing performance through employee
engagement’, summarised few research findings to illustrate this.
The meta-analysis of Gallup studies in 2012 examined the relationship of employee
engagement with nine performance outcomes. They found lower engagement scores
being linked to higher employee turnover, higher inventory shrinkage and more
accidents. They also observed that higher engagement scores were associated with higher
customer ratings, higher productivity and higher profitability. Gallup’s research has also
proven that earnings per share (EPS) growth rate of organisations with engagement
scores in the top quartile performed better than their competitors with lower engagement
scores (Sorenson, 2013).

2.5.2 On individuals
Engagement also brings a host of benefits for the individual employees. Engagement is
likely to impact positively on employees’ well-being, which is achieved by making
changes that have a positive effect on how employees think and feel about what they
experience at work. Significant individual work-related outcomes like positive state of
mind and good health have been observed as a result of employee engagement (Schaufeli
and Bakker, 2004; Sonnentag, 2003).
According to a study done by Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
(CIPD), it was found that those who were absorbed in their work (cognitively engaged)
were almost three times as likely to have six key positive emotions at work (enthusiasm,
cheerfulness, optimism, contentment, to feel calm and relaxed) as negative ones (feeling
miserable, worried, depressed, gloomy, tense or uneasy). And those who were physically
248 G. Delina and P.E. Samuel

engaged (committed to completing work tasks) were more than ten times likelier to feel
those positive emotions than the negative ones (as cited in MacLeod and Clarke, 2009).
In their HR directors’ guide to employee engagement, the CIPD also states that
“engaged employees will have a greater sense of well-being than those who are less
engaged. They are more likely to be satisfied with their work, less likely to be sick and
less likely to leave the organization” (as cited in MacLeod and Clarke, 2009).
A study by Soane et al. (2013) found that emotional engagement was related quite
strongly with perceived meaningfulness at work and also with low levels of absenteeism.
It is also seen that individuals who are engaged in meaningful work that provides positive
emotional experiences, will maximise their psychological well-being.

2.5.3 JS as a significant outcome

JS refers to the employees’ overall satisfaction about the job. Macey and Schneider
(2008) considered job engagement and JS to be the same constructs. However, previous
literature by Hallberg and Schaufeli (2006) substantiates the distinctiveness of the two
constructs. Job engagement has been found to be significantly positively related to JS
(Saks, 2006). Another study by Yeh (2013) among 336 frontline employees of 20
international hotels in Taiwan also found that job engagement is positively related to JS.
Employee engagement is more like a predictor of JS which in turn, results in a range of
positive organisational outcomes. Employee engagement initiatives provide a great
platform for enhancing employee engagement. The relationship between job engagement
and JS and its contribution to business level outcomes such as productivity, profit,
employee turnover, and accidents have been evidenced (Harter et al., 2002).
Based on the above discussed research findings, this research proposes that employee
engagement will influence JS and the following hypothesis tests the proposed
relationship:
Hypothesis 1 The three dimensions of employee engagement (vigour, dedication and
absorption) positively influences JS.

2.6 Employee engagement initiatives

Employee engagement initiatives undertaken by organisations can give increased tangible
and intangible benefits to the organisations and its employees. Every organisation needs
well-integrated and connected practices and programs that focus on developing and
measuring employee engagement (Gruman and Saks, 2011). Employee engagement
initiatives in most leading organisations are centred around rewards and recognition, fun
activities at the workplace, forging strong relationships between top level management
and junior managers, seeking ideas and feedback from employees to encourage
innovation, educational programs to train and develop employees, health, fitness and
sports activities, cultural events and celebrations etc. Creating an engaging work
environment is crucial in building the morale of employees, in making sure that
employees find fulfilment in their current jobs and to make them more committed and
loyal to their organisations. Every organisation should thus strive to implement sound
employee engagement practices, so that they can not only reduce staff turnover but also
become ‘employers of choice’ for every prospective employee.
The second hypothesis of this research work is framed based on the arguments
discussed above with respect to employee engagement initiatives:
 A study on the interrelationships 249

Hypothesis 2 Employees’ satisfaction towards employee engagement initiatives in their

organisations positively influences their employee engagement levels.

2.6.1 Satisfaction towards employee engagement initiatives (EE initiatives) and

JS
Research studies have dealt with employee engagement initiatives adopted by
organisations to have engaged employees who will be more productive (McBain, 2007).
Seijts and Crim (2006) advocated the need for employee focussed initiatives to have
significant outcomes. The research study by Abraham (2012) asserts, “the trend is
towards designing programmes to enhance the level of employee engagement through
satisfied employees.”
The reasoning made about the linkage between satisfaction towards employee
engagement initiatives and JS resulted in the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 3 Employees’ satisfaction towards employee engagement initiatives
positively influences their JS.

3 Research objectives, model and purpose

3.1 Objectives of the study

1 To study the employee engagement levels among IT professionals in South India.
2 To analyse the effect of demographic characteristics of respondents based on
employee engagement levels.
3 To examine the employee engagement initiatives practiced among IT companies in
South India and study employees’ satisfaction towards the initiatives.
4 To analyse the influence of employees’ satisfaction towards employee engagement
initiatives on JS of employees.
5 To analyse the influence of the three dimensions of employee engagement on
employees’ JS.
6 To analyse the influence of employees’ satisfaction towards employee engagement
initiatives on the three dimensions of employee engagement.

3.2 Conceptual model of the study

Based on extensive review of literature, this study proposes to consider Schaufeli and
Bakker’s approach of employee engagement as a variable with three components-vigour,
absorption and dedication. This study attempts to validate the model of employee
engagement and also analyses the relationship of the three components on JS. The
influence of employees’ satisfaction towards employee engagement initiatives on the
three components of employee engagement is assessed. Further, it explores the
relationship between respondents’ satisfaction towards employee engagement initiatives
and JS.
250 G. Delina and P.E. Samuel

Figure 1 Conceptual model of the study

Job
satisfaction
Vigour

Employee
Absorption
engagement

Dedication

EE
initiatives
satisfaction

3.3 Statement of the research purposes

This research work is an attempt to understand the prevalence of employee engagement
among the employees of IT companies based in South India. The researchers have also
investigated the employee engagement initiatives followed by the IT companies and their
employees’ satisfaction towards the same.

3.4 Significance of the study and need for the study

Literature suggests employee engagement as a determinant of an organisation’s
competitive advantage (Macey et al., 2009). As discussed earlier, studies have also found
employee engagement to be a key to employee performance and organisational success
(Harter et al., 2002; Bates, 2004). This is mainly because a strong correlation has been
found between employee engagement and high organisational productivity and
performance, across all sectors of the economy (Rayton et al., 2012). This has been an
important reason behind aroused interest among researchers on employee engagement.
However, in the Indian context, it has been observed that there is a scarcity of
research in the area of employee engagement (Jose and Mampilly, 2012). Very few
studies (Bhatnagar, 2007; Pandey and David, 2013) have been conducted in the field of
employee engagement in Indian organisations, particularly in the IT sector. Furthermore,
there has been an absolute dearth in Indian studies that deals with employees’ satisfaction
towards the employee engagement initiatives in their organisations.

4 Research methodology

4.1 Research design

The adopted research design is ‘descriptive research’ as it attempts to explore the
characteristics of the population.
 A study on the interrelationships 251

4.2 Population
The study was conducted among IT professionals based in South India. The career level
hierarchy of IT professionals based in South India are broadly classified as senior level,
middle level and lower level.

4.3 Description of sample

A sample of 124 IT professionals from middle and lower levels of hierarchy in
management constituted the sample for the study. Convenience sampling method was
employed to choose the sample. These respondents were from various IT companies in
South India.

4.4 Description of the tool used

The major tool used in the study was the Utrecht work engagement scale (UWES-17). It
consists of 17 statements to assess employee engagement based on three dimensions
namely: vigour, dedication and absorption – where the options on the Likert scale ranged
from 0 = never, 1 = almost never, 2 = rarely, 3 = sometimes, 4 = often, 5 = very often to
6 = always.

4.4.1 The UWES

The UWES was used to measure employee engagement in this study. Shuck (2011) found
UWES to be the most commonly used assessment tool to measure engagement with
work. The three dimensions of engagement assessed through UWES are vigour,
dedication and absorption.
Vigour is assessed by six items that refer to high levels of energy and resilience, the
willingness to invest effort, not being easily fatigued, and persistence in the face of
difficulties. People who score high on vigour usually have much energy, stamina and zest
when working, while those who score low on vigour have less energy, zest and stamina
as far as their work is concerned.
Dedication is measured by five items that refer to deriving a sense of significance
from one’s work, feeling enthusiastic and proud about one’s job, and feeling inspired and
challenged by it. People who score high on dedication strongly identify with their work
as it is experienced as meaningful, challenging and inspiring. Those who score low do not
identify with their work because they do not experience it to be meaningful, inspiring, or
challenging.
Absorption is assessed by six items that refer to being totally and happily immersed in
one’s work and having difficulties detaching oneself from it so that time passes quickly
and one forgets everything else that is around. Those who score high on absorption feel
that they usually are happily engrossed in their work, they feel immersed by their work
and have difficulties detaching from it because it carries them away. Those who score
low on absorption do not feel engrossed or immersed in their work, they do neither have
difficulties detaching from it, nor do they forget everything around them, including time.
The descriptive analysis of UWES suggests that it is a good measure to assess
employee engagement and more strongly related to stress-related criterion (Drake, 2012).
252 G. Delina and P.E. Samuel

4.4.2 Single item JS scale

The commonly used single item JS scale “taking everything into consideration, how do
you feel about your job as a whole?” was included and rated on a five-point Likert scale
with 5 = highly satisfied, 4 = satisfied, 3 = neither satisfied nor dissatisfied,
2 = dissatisfied and 1 = highly dissatisfied. The single item measure of JS has been found
to be a psychometrically sound instrument (Dolbier et al., 2005).
In addition to the use of UWES Scale and the single item JS scale, few added
statements also constituted the survey tool to get a better clarity with respect to the
purpose of the study. The details of added questions/statements are as follows:
1 Please specify the employee engagement initiatives in your organisation
(an open-ended question).
2 How satisfied are you with the employee engagement initiatives at your
organisation? (With the options 5 = highly satisfied, 4 = satisfied, 3 = neither
satisfied nor dissatisfied, 2 = dissatisfied and 1 = highly dissatisfied to answer).
Demographic inquiry was sought on the following characteristics viz., gender, age group,
marital status, tenure with the current company and overall experience.

4.5 Data collection

The questionnaire was administered online to 200 IT professionals in South India and
124 completely filled questionnaires were received, giving an overall response rate of
62%.

4.6 Scope
The scope of the study was limited to IT professionals working in South India to study
the employee engagement levels based on the parameters as mentioned in the objectives.

5 Analysis and interpretation

In order to subject the data to statistical testing, the collected data were coded and
analysed using SPSS (originally Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) version 23
for windows. The data were also subjected to structural equation modelling (SEM) using
SmartPLS 2.0. SEM was employed to test and validate the conceptual model.
Testing of hypotheses: Hypotheses 1 and 2 were tested using path relationships in
SmartPLS 2.0 while Hypothesis 3 was tested using multiple regression in SPSS 23 for
windows.

5.1 Demographic profile of the respondents

The demographic profile of the respondents who participated in the study is as follows:
 A study on the interrelationships 253

Table 2 Demographic characteristics of the respondents

S. no Category Frequency Percent

1 Age group
Below 25 years 47 37.90
25–30 years 44 35.48
30–35 years 14 11.29
35–40 years 11 8.87
Above 40 years 8 6.45
Total 124 100.00
2 Gender
Male 62 50.00
Female 62 50.00
Total 124 100.00
3 Tenure
Below 2 years 56 45.16
2–4 years 30 24.19
4–6 years 18 14.52
6–8 years 12 9.68
8–10 years 6 4.84
Above 10 years 2 1.61
Total 124 100.00
4 Overall experience
Below 2 years 10 8.06
2–4 years 22 17.74
4–6 years 28 22.58
6–8 years 26 20.97
8–10 years 22 17.74
Above 10 years 16 12.90
Total 124 100.00

5.2 Descriptive statistics to study the employee engagement levels among

IT professionals in South India
Descriptive statistics with the measures of central tendency such as mean and standard
deviation were performed using SPSS 23 for windows to examine the employee
engagement levels among IT professionals based on the three dimensions of employee
engagement. The three dimensions of employee engagement-vigour, dedication and
absorption are examined separately and the results obtained are tabulated in Table 3.
254 G. Delina and P.E. Samuel

Among all of the UWES items, the item in dedication dimension “I am proud of the
work that I do” was rated the highest with a mean score of 4.07 closely followed by the
item in absorption dimension “I feel happy when I am working intensely” with a mean
score of 4.05. On the other hand, the item in vigour dimension “when I get up in the
morning, I feel like going to work” was rated the lowest with a mean score of 3.10.
Table 3 Descriptive statistics of the UWES items

S.
UWES items N Mean Std. deviation
no.
Vigour:
1 At my work, I feel bursting with energy. 124 3.30 1.243
2 At my job, I feel strong and vigorous. 124 3.64 1.296
3 When I get up in the morning, I feel like going to work. 124 3.10 1.556
4 I can continue working for very long periods at a time. 124 3.36 1.296
5 At my job, I am very resilient, mentally. 124 3.22 1.285
6 At my work I always persevere, even when things do not 124 3.60 1.175
go well.
Dedication:
1 I find the work that I do full of meaning and purpose. 124 3.74 1.331
2 I am enthusiastic about my job. 124 3.87 1.379
3 My job inspires me. 124 3.46 1.428
4 I am proud of the work that I do. 124 4.07 1.357
5 To me, my job is challenging. 124 3.43 1.427
Absorption:
1 Time flies when I’m working. 124 3.99 1.172
2 When I am working, I forget everything else around me. 124 3.45 1.456
3 I feel happy when I am working intensely. 124 4.05 1.413
4 I am immersed in my work. 124 3.93 1.163
5 I get carried away when I’m working. 124 3.27 1.320
6 It is difficult to detach myself from my job. 124 3.26 1.470

Among all the vigour items, the item “at my job, I feel strong and vigorous” had the
highest mean score of 3.64, while “when I get up in the morning, I feel like going to
work” scored the lowest with a mean score of 3.10.
Among all the dedication items, the item “I am proud of the work that I do” scored
the highest mean score of 4.07, while on the other hand, “to me, my job is challenging”
had the lowest mean score of 3.43.
Among all the absorption items, the item “I feel happy when I am working intensely”
was rated the highest with a mean score of 4.05 while “it is difficult to detach myself
from my job” was rated the lowest with a mean score of 3.26 with the next lowest mean
score being closest with 3.26 for the item “I get carried away when I’m working.”
The engagement levels of the respondents based on the three dimensions of
engagement namely, vigour, absorption and dedication can further be interpreted with the
norm scores found in the UWES manual version 1.1 as reference.
 A study on the interrelationships 255

The overall mean scores for all the three dimensions are as shown in Table 4.
Table 4 Norm scores for the UWES-17

Vigour Dedication Absorption Total score

Very low ≤ 2.17 ≤ 1.60 ≤ 1.60 ≤ 1.93
Low 2.18–3.20 1.61–3.00 1.61–2.75 1.94–3.06
Average 3.21–4.80 3.01–4.90 2.76–4.40 3.07–4.66
High 4.81–5.60 4.91–5.79 4.41–5.35 4.67–5.53
Very high ≥ 5.61 ≥ 5.80 ≥ 5.36 ≥ 5.54
Source: UWES manual version 1.1
Table 5 Overall mean scores for vigour, absorption and dedication with norm score for UWES

Overall mean N Mean Norm score inference

Mean of vigour 124 3.37 Average
Mean of dedication 124 3.71 Average
Mean of absorption 124 3.66 Average
Overall mean of vigour, dedication and absorption 124 3.58 Average

From Table 5, it can be seen that the overall mean scores for vigour, dedication and
absorption are 3.37, 3.71 and 3.66 respectively. The mean of overall engagement score in
terms of vigour, dedication and absorption is 3.58 which corresponds to ‘average’ based
on norm score for UWES. These mean scores of 3.66 and 3.71 are relatively closer to 4
which corresponds to ‘often’ on the UWES. This signifies the fact that employees are
often engaged in their work in terms of dedication and absorption. In terms of vigour, the
mean score is 3.37 which is closer to 3 which corresponds to ‘sometimes’ on the UWES
signifying that employees are engaged in their work only sometimes with respect to
vigour.
The ‘average’ range according to the norm scores for the three dimensions of
engagement, i.e., vigour, absorption and dedication are between 3.21–4.80, 3.01–4.90 and
2.76–4.40 respectively. While comparing the mean scores obtained in the study (3.91,
4.16 and 4.28) alongside the norm scores in the UWES manual version 1.1, it is observed
that the employee engagement levels of employees is in the ‘average range’ which is
predicted based on the norm scores specified in UWES manual version 1.1.

5.3 Effect of respondents’ demographic characteristics on their employee

engagement levels
Independent sample T-tests were performed with the demographics namely, gender and
marital status that consisted of only two groups. One-way ANOVA was run for the
demographics that had more than two groups, i.e., respondents’ age group, tenure with
current company and overall work experience. Independent sample t-tests and ANOVA
tests were performed to find out if the demographic characteristics had any effect on
employee engagement levels of respondents. The results of the independent sample T-test
and one-way ANOVA are summarised in Table 6.
 256

Table 6

Demographics Statistical test Sig. (two-tailed) value (greater/lesser than 0.05) Statistical significance Interpretation
Gender Independent Vigour 0.05 < 0.561 Not significant Gender of respondents does not have a statistically
samples t-test Dedication 0.05 < 0.763 Not significant significant effect on all the three dimensions of
employee engagement.
Absorption 0.05 < 0.425 Not significant
Marital status Independent Vigour 0.05 < 0.089 Not significant Marital status of respondents does not have a
G. Delina and P.E. Samuel

samples t-test Dedication 0.05 < 0.565 Not significant statistically significant effect on all the three
dimensions of employee engagement.
Absorption 0.05 < 0.106 Not significant
Age group One-way Vigour 0.05 < 0.168 Not significant Age group of respondents does not have a statistically
ANOVA Dedication 0.05 < 0.415 Not significant significant effect on all the three dimensions of
employee engagement.
Absorption 0.05 < 0.133 Not significant
Tenure with One-way Vigour 0.05 < 0.856 Not significant Respondents’ tenure with the current company does
current company ANOVA Dedication 0.05 > 0.047 Significant not have a statistically significant effect on their vigour
and absorption while it has a significant effect on the
Absorption 0.05 < 0.279 Not significant dedication dimension of employee engagement.
Overall work One-way Vigour 0.05 < 0.723 Not significant Overall work experience of respondents does not have
experience ANOVA Dedication 0.05 > 0.879 Not significant a statistically significant effect on all the three
dimensions of employee engagement.
Absorption 0.05 < 0.882 Not significant
Effect of demographic characteristics on employee engagement levels of respondents
 A study on the interrelationships 257

From Table 6, we can see that the group means are not significantly different for the
demographic characteristics of respondents (gender, age group, marital status and overall
work experience) for employee engagement in terms of their vigour, dedication and
absorption. With regard to the demographic characteristic (tenure with the current
company), it is found that there is a significant difference in terms of respondents’
dedication aspect in employee engagement. However, for the other two dimensions –
vigour and absorption, it is evident that there is no significant difference in the group
means in terms of their engagement levels.

5.4 Employee engagement initiatives among IT companies in South India and

respondents’ satisfaction towards the employee engagement initiatives

The respondents were asked to specify the employee engagement initiatives in their
respective workplace by means of an open-ended question. Open-ended questions
allow respondents to respond to a question as they please and gives qualitative data
to the researcher (Singer and Couper, 2017). The qualitative data obtained were
categorised into few broad themes after an extensive analysis of the responses. The
frequency of responses that emerged under each theme were tabulated and subjected to
frequency analysis in SPSS. The frequencies and percentages of the employee
engagement initiatives along with a pie chart of the employee responses are shown
Table 7.

Table 7 Employee engagement initiatives in the respondents’ organisations

S. no. Employee engagement initiatives Frequency Percentage

1 Team activities 44 26.83
2 Fun at workplace 44 26.83
3 Meetings 32 19.51
4 Sports events 20 12.19
5 Employee engagement survey 8 4.88
6 CSR 8 4.88
7 Rewards/recognition 8 4.88
Total 124 100

In terms of employee engagement initiatives, it is observed that 26.83% of respondents

cited team centric activities like team building, team outings and lunches, team meetings,
etc., and an equal percentage of respondents cited fun activities at the workplace such as
birthday celebrations, festive celebrations, cultural events, food festivals, competitive
events, etc., which shows that these two initiatives are the most popular ones in the IT
companies in South India. Meetings and sports events seem to be next in line after the
above two activities. 4.88% of respondents listed employee engagement surveys and an
equal percentage of respondents listed CSR activities and rewards/recognition as the
employee engagement initiatives in their organisations.
258 G. Delina and P.E. Samuel

Table 8 Satisfaction with employee engagement initiatives

Satisfaction level with the employee engagement initiatives at my organisation

Frequency Percent
Highly dissatisfied 2 1.6
Dissatisfied 16 12.9
Neither dissatisfied nor satisfied 54 43.5
Satisfied 38 30.6
Highly satisfied 14 11.3
Total 124 100.0

It is found that majority of the respondents (58 %) are happy with the employee
engagement initiatives practiced by their companies as they have rated highly
satisfied/satisfied. Less than one fourth of respondents (14.5%) are only not happy with
the employee engagement initiatives in their companies as they have rated
dissatisfied/highly dissatisfied for the employee engagement initiatives. A fair percentage
(54%) chose to be neutral in expressing their satisfaction towards the employee
engagement initiatives in their organisation for which the reason might be that
respondents were unmotivated to answer this question. Garland (1991) and Johns (2005)
have reasoned that respondents can choose a neutral option when unmotivated.

5.5 Influence of satisfaction towards employee engagement initiatives on JS

Linear regression was run to understand the influence of the level of satisfaction towards
EE initiatives (independent variable) on JS (dependent variable). The results obtained
through SPSS are presented in the following tables and the corresponding interpretations
are presented in Tables 9a, 9b and 9c.

Table 9a Model summary

Model R R-square Adjusted R-square Std. error of the estimate

a
1 0.712 0.507 0.503 0.707
a
Note: Predictors: (constant), satisfaction level with the employee engagement initiatives
at my organisation.

Table 9b ANOVAa

Model Sum of squares Df Mean square F Sig.

1 Regression 62.744 1 62.744 125.425 0.000b
Residual 61.030 122 0.500
Total 123.774 123
a
Notes: Dependent variable: taking everything into consideration, how do you feel about
your job as a whole?
b
Predictors: (constant), satisfaction level with the employee engagement initiatives
at my organisation.
 A study on the interrelationships 259

Table 9c Coefficientsa

Unstandardised Standardised 95.0% confidence

coefficients coefficients interval for B
Model t Sig.
Std. Lower Upper
B Beta
error bound bound
1 (Constant) 0.004 0.246 0.014 0.989 –0.483 0.490
Satisfaction level with 0.788 0.070 0.712 11.199 0.000 0.649 0.928
the employee
engagement initiatives
at my organisation
Note: aDependent variable: taking everything into consideration, how do you feel about
your job as a whole?
From Table 9a, we can see that the R value is 0.712 and R2 is 0.507. ‘R value’ of 0.712
indicates a good level of prediction of the dependent variable JS by satisfaction towards
EE initiatives. R2 value represents that 50.7 % of the variability of the dependent variable
(JS) is explained by the independent variable (satisfaction towards EE initiatives). Hence,
it is found respondents’ satisfaction towards employee engagement initiatives has an
influence on their JS levels.
The ANOVA results obtained with the regression analysis is presented in Table 9b.
It is found that the sig. value is 0.000 (lesser than 0.05) indicating a significant
difference between the level of satisfaction of respondents towards employee engagement
initiatives and their JS levels. The F-ratio in the ANOVA table tests if the regression
model is a good fit to the data. In this study, F (1, 122) = 125.425, p < 0.0005 presents a
good fit of the data. It can be inferred that the independent variable (respondents’ level of
satisfaction towards EE initiatives) predicts the dependent variable (respondents’ level of
JS) in a statistically significant way.
Table 9c that follows represents the regression coefficient of respondents’ level of
satisfaction towards employee engagement initiatives on JS levels. The sig. value
obtained is 0.000 (p value lesser than 0.05) and hence, is significant confirming the
influence of the independent variable on the dependent variable.
The regression equation is as below:
Predicted job satisfaction level  0.004  0.788
 (level of satisfaction towards EE initiatives)

The proposed Hypothesis 3 predicting the positive influence of employees’ satisfaction

towards employee engagement in their organisations on their JS is therefore, accepted.

5.6 Validating the influence of the three dimensions of employee engagement

on employees’ JS and the influence of employees’ satisfaction towards
employee engagement initiatives on JS of employees
The conceptual model developed for the study was tested empirically using SEM with
SmartPLS 2.0. Model testing in SmartPLS involves two phases. Phase one deals with the
outer model to determine the convergent validity, discriminant validity and composite
reliability (CR) of the latent variable indicators. After the model meets the criteria of
260 G. Delina and P.E. Samuel

outer model (measurement model), the inner model (structural model) is tested. Figure 2
represents the tested conceptual model using SEM.

Figure 2 Measurement model in SEM using SmartPLS approach (see online version for colours)

Convergent validity is measured by the factor loadings, average variance extracted

(AVE) and CR as suggested by Hair et al. (2014). As recommended by Hair et al. (2013),
convergent validity was established as the factor loadings for all the items across the
three dimensions of employee engagement-vigour, absorption and dedication were above
the acceptable 0.7 and the AVE for the three dimensions was above 0.5 and the CR was
well above 0.7. The results are represented in Table 10.
Discriminant validity is assessed based on Fornell and Lacker (1981) criterion which
suggests that square root of each latent variable should be greater than the
inter-correlations among the latent variable. Table 11 presents the results of discriminant
validity in the study.
It is found from the above table that the square root of AVE of a construct is larger
than the values of inter-correlation among the latent variables in the corresponding rows
and columns. Hence, the discriminant validity is established indicating that the measures
are discriminant.
 A study on the interrelationships 261

Table 10 Results summary for outer model

Indicator
Factor Composite
Construct Item reliability AVE
loading reliability
(loadings)
Absorption (EE-A) A1 0.754 0.5685 0.5912 0.8966
A2 0.7898 0.6238
A3 0.7603 0.5781
A4 0.7737 0.5986
A5 0.73 0.5329
A6 0.8032 0.6451
Dedication (EE-D) D1 0.7508 0.5637 0.6612 0.9067
D2 0.8455 0.7149
D3 0.8727 0.7616
D4 0.8352 0.6976
D5 0.7539 0.5684
Vigour (EE-V) V1 0.7735 0.5983 0.583 0.8934
V2 0.8 0.6400
V3 0.7256 0.5265
V4 0.7522 0.5658
V5 0.778 0.6053
V6 0.7496 0.5619
Satisfaction towards employee Single item
engagement initiatives (EEI-S) construct
Job satisfaction (JS) Single item
construct

Table 11 Discriminant validity (Fornell-Larcker criterion analysis)

EE-A EE-D EE-V

EE-A 0.7689 0.0000 0.0000
EE-D 0.4940 0.8131 0.0000
EE-V 0.7379 0.7148 0.7635

Table 12 Path significance in bootstrapping

Path relationships T-value Result

EE-A -> JS 2.1747* Significant relationship
EE-D -> JS 2.6162* Significant relationship
EE-V -> JS 3.6667* Significant relationship
EEI-S -> EE-A 31.8175* Significant relationship
EEI-S -> EE-D 12.4195* Significant relationship
EEI-S -> EE-V 24.3911* Significant relationship
Note: *p < 0.05.
262 G. Delina and P.E. Samuel

Figure 3 Structural model in SEM using SmartPLS approach (see online version for colours)

Structural model is examined by R2, standard beta and t-values through bootstrapping
procedure. Table 12 represents the values of details of path relationships in the study.
On checking the t-statistic using bootstrap procedure in SmartPLS, it is found that all
the values are greater than 1.96 at 95% significance level. Hence, all the path
relationships are significant.
Hypothesis 1 which predicted that the dimensions of employee engagement positively
influences JS is hence, supported. Hypothesis 2 stating the positive influence of
employees’ satisfaction towards employee engagement initiatives on their employee
engagement levels is also supported with sufficient evidence.

6 Discussion

Highly engaged employees are more active and more involved than the disengaged ones.
Respondents scoring high on the UWES are said to be more engaged than the ones who
scored low. It was found that that engaged employees are active agents, who take
initiative at work and generate their own positive feedback through qualitative interviews
among a group of Dutch employees who scored high on UWES (Schaufeli et al., 2002).
This research study found that employee engagement levels of most of its respondents are
in the average range, that is, levels of employee engagement is neither very low nor very
high. The respondents are kind of ‘engaged’ with their work but engagement levels are
not in a desirable high level. Hence, organisations should not get complacent in
promoting employee engagement. Further, since employees with higher engagement
 A study on the interrelationships 263

levels would drive an organisation’s success, attempts must be made by organisations to

increase the employee engagement levels even more so that their employees become
proactive and feel a lot more positive about work.
There is not any major variation among the mean values of all three dimensions;
however, vigour seems to have the lowest and dedication the highest overall mean score.
Since the vigour exhibited by employees is less in comparison to their absorption and
dedication, IT companies can design a few engagement activities specifically to increase
the employees’ vigour, so that they look forward to coming to work every day.
The demographic characteristics namely: gender, age group, marital status, tenure
with current company and overall work experience do not have a significant influence on
employee engagement levels except the influence of tenure with current company on the
dedication dimension in employee engagement. Organisations can look at promoting a
healthy work environment in order to keep all employees across all age groups and
experience levels actively engaged.
Less than half of the respondents (41.9%) are only satisfied or highly satisfied with
the employee engagement initiatives of their companies. A fairly high percentage of
respondents (43.5%) have said that they are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the
employee engagement initiatives hinting at their low morale in responding about their
satisfaction levels. This shows that, in spite of so much hype about employee engagement
these days, some IT companies still do not have employee engagement initiatives in
place. This may be either due to the fact that these employers are not very aware of the
importance of keeping their employees engaged or even though they are aware, they may
not have sufficient resources to implement such initiatives. Organisations need to step up
and implement effective employee engagement activities in order to retain their best
employees, as it is very evident from past studies that employees’ decisions to stay or
leave are also based on factors related to employee engagement.
All the three dimensions of employee engagement-vigour, absorption and dedication
exhibit relationships with JS and a significant influence on the same. Hence, engaged
employees can be called ‘satisfied employees’. Or, in other words, when employees are
engaged in their jobs, they are satisfied with it as well. The research work by Schaufeli
et al. (2008) suggests that engaged employees are satisfied. Earlier research has also
proven that ‘satisfied workers are productive workers’ (Syptak et al., 1999). It can be
inferred that engaged employees would be more satisfied and thus, more productive as
well. The study also observed a significant influence on satisfaction towards employee
engagement initiatives on employee engagement levels in terms of vigour, absorption and
dedication. It means that employees’ engagement levels increase when they are satisfied
with the employee engagement initiatives in their organisations. Further, satisfaction
towards employee engagement initiatives contributes to employees’ JS as well.

7 Implications and recommendations of the study

This study has made significant contributions to the existing literature. The influence of
satisfaction towards employee engagement initiatives on JS has been examined. An
in-depth exploration on the influence of employee engagement in terms of vigour,
absorption and dedication on JS has been made. This research has been diagnostic in
traversing the influence of satisfaction towards employee engagement initiatives on the
264 G. Delina and P.E. Samuel

dimensions of employee engagement-vigour, absorption and dedication. Significant

relationships among all the variables in the study have given new dimensions to the field
of employee engagement.
Based on this study, it is understood that organisations need to find ways to foster
employee engagement. Previously, Singh et al. (2007) in their study contemplated the
absence of analysis of employees’ needs and expectations as the major cause of employee
disengagement. They have also stressed on the importance of managing expectations to
build an engaged workforce. This research study has given insights on the employee
engagement levels of IT professionals which will guide practitioners to develop strategies
by focusing on the areas that need more attention. This study has helped in understanding
that respondent demographics do not have much effect on their engagement levels, i.e.,
irrespective of their age, gender, tenure with current company and overall work
experience, the respondents seem to be equally engaged/disengaged with their
organisations. Nevertheless, organisations can devote attention in providing all of their
employees, with enablers of employee engagement.
This study has added empirical evidence on employee engagement among IT
professionals in the Indian context. Further, this study also provides compelling findings
on IT employees’ satisfaction towards employee engagement initiatives. Previous
research by Truss et al. (2013) called for research to explore the micro-level experiences
of employee engagement initiatives. The influence of satisfaction towards employee
engagement initiatives on engagement levels and JS highlights the importance of having
employee engagement initiatives in place. It also stresses on the need for organisations to
prioritise employee engagement initiatives.
Organisations must conduct employee engagement surveys and get feedback from
their employees to find out the reasons behind their dissatisfaction and try to improve
their employee engagement practices. Employers could identify the best employee
engagement practices followed by leaders in the industry and depending on their
feasibility, try to implement them in their organisations. Periodical monitoring of the
employee engagement levels and conducting employee engagement surveys to
understand what motivates and engages their employees the most is required. The study
has put forward the need for organisations to keep reinventing their engagement
initiatives to convert even their disengaged employees to actively engaged ones.

8 Limitations of the study

The generalisability of the study is a concern. The study was done across several different
IT companies in South India. However, the employee engagement initiatives practiced by
each IT company might be different and hence, the employee engagement levels might
also be different for each company. Since this study does not make specific reference to
the IT companies, the generalisability of the findings of this study is not feasible. Also,
the findings of this study cannot be generalised to the IT sector in the whole of India, as it
was focused mainly on IT companies in South India. The findings of the study might not
be generalised to other industries as the study is focused only on IT companies. The
sample size in this study has also been relatively small when compared to the standards
of studies in this area.
 A study on the interrelationships 265

9 Scope for future research

More studies focusing on examining employee engagement programs and initiatives are
required for making strategic decisions. This paper will assist researchers and
practitioners working on employee engagement to develop models and frameworks
accordingly. Future research can be directed at undertaking similar studies with a larger
sample to give deeper insights on employee engagement in the Indian context.
Future research could also explore the mediating or moderating effect of constructs
associated with employee engagement levels of respondents in terms of vigour,
absorption and dedication. Satisfaction towards employee engagement initiatives
influences JS, while it also influences the dimensions of employee engagement. It would
be interesting to observe, in future studies, if the dimensions of employee engagement
mediate/moderate the relationship.

10 Conclusions

Engaged employees have a sense of personal attachment to their work and organisation;
they are motivated and able to give their best to help it succeed – and from that, a series
of tangible benefits for organisation and individual alike, flows. Engaged employees
hence, can be important deciders of an organisation’s competence and performance.
Needless to say, employee engagement is spoken out loud in this information age.
Employee engagement initiatives need to be framed meticulously by strategists and
practitioners as they exert a considerable influence both on employee’s engagement
levels and JS. Having the right combination of employee engagement initiatives seems to
be one of the most important mantras to be mastered to keep employees, in particular, the
knowledge workers happy and productive.

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