Research Paper Sample on Employee Engagement

Introduction

The current business environment is characterized by competition for customers to attain profitability and expansion. Businesses that give utmost importance to the welfare of their employees are capable of surviving and out-competing their competitors in the rapidly changing environment (Karumuri, 2016). A recent empirical study indicates that employee engagement is crucial in the realization of business success and performance (Karumuri, 2016). There has been an increased awareness that engaged employees are more competitive than unengaged ones because they are more effective in their jobs.

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Employee engagement refers to a positive, rewarding, job-related state of mind that is manifested through vigor, commitment, and absorption (Turner, 2019). Gupta and Sharma (2016) noted that employee engagement should integrate behavioral aspects (e.g., favorable attitude, energy, discretionary effort, commitment, and involvement) and psychological presence that results in improved performance and company success.

In the hotel industry, employee engagement has a positive impact on employee performance (Ayub & Islam, 2018). The most significant variables associated with improved performance was training and development (Ayub & Islam, 2018). It is also linked to enhanced organizational reputation, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and productivity (Barik & Kochar, 2017). Customers have also attributed the dedication and energy dimensions of employee engagement to their satisfaction and loyalty to particular hotels (Cain et al., 2018). Customers perceive the hospitality industry positively when employees are engaged, leading to increased profitability (Cain et al., 2018).

Connections

Even though Ayub and Islam’s (2018) study revealed a positive relationship between employee engagement and customer loyalty in the hotel industry, no other recent empirical research that supports the finding was found. Specifically, a search of past literature using the keywords “employee engagement and customer loyalty” did not yield other studies. Therefore, one study cannot be used to conclusively state that employee engagement would automatically result in customer loyalty. Consequently, there is a need to conduct new research to establish confirm or refute Ayub and Islam’s (2018) findings.

Variables

The independent or predictor variable of the proposed study is employee engagement. According to Turner (2019), the term employee engagement can be defined as a positive, rewarding, job-related state of mind that is manifested through vigor, commitment, and absorption. Various attributes characterize employee engagement. One of these attributes is communication— provision of feedback to employees by the managers outlining their performance and job roles. Second, the management should provide the subordinates with an opportunity for job growth. Additionally, good managers enhance their followers’ confidence, provide room for employees to control their careers, manifest clarity of vision, and their subordinates to work as a team (Naman et al., 2019). Employee engagement is also characterized by an appreciation of employees’ exemplary performance (Naman et al., 2019).

The dependent variable is hotel service users’ loyalty, also known as customer loyalty. Customer loyalty is sub-categorized as either behavioral or attitudinal loyalty. The former describes a customer’s rebuying behavior attributed to his or her favorable attitude towards a particular product or service (Tabrani et al., 2018). Conversely, the latter describes the emotional and psychological yearning of a client to repurchase a product or service and recommended other individuals (Tabrani et al., 2018).

Questionnaires

Employee engagement will be measured using the 27-item Engagement Scale developed by Ababneh (2017). The Engagement Scale measures various dimensions of employee engagement. They include enthusiasm, pride, emotionally positive, energy, passion, inspiration, attention, absorption, meaningfulness, discretionary effort, a spirit of initiative, goal achievement, problem-solving, persistence through challenges, innovativeness, and task performance. All items on the scale are measured using 5-point responses— Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Very Often, and Always. The 27-item Engagement Scale was found to have high internal consistency of .92. Additionally, exploratory factor analysis revealed that the scale has an excellent discriminant validity of .91 (Ababneh, 2017). Customer loyalty will be assessed using the Loyalty Questionnaire developed by Arias-Bolzmann (2018). The questionnaire is comprised of eleven items with Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient (α) of .71.

Methods

The proposed study will utilize a positive research paradigm. Positivism argues that the only approach to obtaining factual knowledge regarding a particular phenomenon is through observation and measurement— which are regarded as trustworthy sources of knowledge. In positivist research philosophy, the researcher’s role is to collect and interpret data in an objective manner rather than a subjective interpretation of collected data. Additionally, positivists collect quantifiable data ana utilize statistical analysis in hypothesis testing. This implies that positivism uses a deductive approach, which concentrates on facts, to explore phenomena.

Causal-comparative (quasi-experimental) research design will be used to establish whether a cause-effect relationship exists between employee engagement and customer loyalty. In the quasi-experimental study, the predictor variable is not manipulated by the researcher. However, the effects of the predictor variable on the outcome variable are measured. Additionally, there is no random assignment of participants to groups. This implies that the researcher utilizes naturally existing groups of individuals. The respondents will be identified through a simple random sampling method to ensure that every potential participant has an equal chance of being in the final sample. The probability sampling approach is also crucial in eliminating bias as every unit in the population has the same probability of being selected.

Conclusion

The hypotheses will be tested using SPSS software. Specifically, each of the hypotheses will be tested by performing a linear regression analysis in SPSS. Linear regression analysis aids in determining the degree to which a linear relationship exists between the predictor variable and one or more predictor variables. It is also used to predict the value of the dependent variable from a known variable of the independent variable.

References

Ababneh, O.M.E. (2015). Conceptualizing and measuring employee engagement, and examining the antecedents of leadership styles and personality attributes.
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Conceptualizing-and-measuring-employee-engagement%2C-Ababneh/994e9171cad27824de13e6c074986b05d424b524

Arias-Bolzmann, L., Bravo-Falcón, K.P., & Mendoza-Cabrera, P.E. (2018). Link between customer loyalty and customer service in tourist hotels.
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Link-Between-Customer-Loyalty-and-Customer-Service-Arias-Bravo/9bac1eceaa5e1055db27875e083f5a4494f58b51

Ayub, N. B., & Islam, M. K. (2018). The Effects of Employee Engagement on Employee Performance in the Hotel Industry in Kelantan. Global Business & Management Research, 10(3).

Barik, S., & Kochar, A. (2017). Antecedents and consequences of employee engagement: A literature review. International Journal of Latest Technology in Engineering, Management & Applied Science, 6(4), 33-38.

Cain, L., Tanford, S., & Shulga, L. (2018). Customers’ perceptions of employee engagement: Fortifying the service–profit chain. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 19(1), 52–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/15256480.2017.1305312

Gupta, N., & Sharma, V. (2016). Exploring employee engagement—A way to better business performance. Global Business Review, 17(3_suppl), 45S-63S.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0972150916631082

Karumuri, V. (2016). Employee engagement: Hotel industry. SCMS Journal of Indian management, 13(3), 120-128.

Naman, S., Narendra, C., & Kumar, S., Vinod. (2019). Management techniques for employee engagement in contemporary organizations. IGI Global.

Tabrani, M., Amin, M., & Nizam, A. (2018). Trust, commitment, customer intimacy and customer loyalty in Islamic banking relationships. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 36(5), 823–848.
https://doi.org/10.1108/IJBM-03-2017-0054

Turner, P. (2019). Employee engagement in contemporary organizations: Maintaining high productivity and sustained competitiveness. Springer Nature.