Employee Engagement

Abstract

Employee engagement has been conceptualized from various perspectives, namely individual versus organizational engagement, academic versus practitioner perspectives, 'hard' versus 'soft' perspectives, fluctuating versus enduring engagement, and employee engagement versus well-being perspectives. Leaders play a critical role in creating an environment conducive to employee engagement in organizations. The self-determination literature acknowledges the role of the leader in affecting psychological need satisfaction and autonomous motivation of employees. Psychological meaningfulness refers to 'a feeling that one is receiving a return on investment of one's self in a currency of physical, cognitive, or emotional energy'. Social exchange is the basic underpinning of relationships between individuals, groups, and organizations. Social exchange theory can be used to explain why employees respond to these conditions with various degrees of engagement. According to this theory, obligations are generated through a series of interactions between parties that are in a state of reciprocal interdependence.