IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/vision/v24y2020i2p171-183.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring Employee Engagement Using Grounded Theory: Experiences from the Best Firms in India

Author

Listed:
  • Vijay Kumar Shrotryia
  • Upasana Dhanda

Abstract

A highly engaged workforce is being looked at as the means for attaining a sustainable competitive advantage in the dynamic business world. Research has shown that both the academicians and practitioners tout employee engagement to improve organizational and financial performance. However, numerous overlapping yet inconsistent definitions have created a conceptual chaos. Delineation between the academic and industrial view on employee engagement creates difficulty in operationalization of the construct. This paper explores the construct of employee engagement by conducting structured interviews of HR heads of 15 best companies to work for in India. The data obtained were subjected to thematic analysis using Grounded Theory Methodology by Charmaz (2006). The emergent themes around the notion of employee engagement led to the development of a theoretical framework comprising three dimensions (Alignment, Affectiveness and Action-orientation) of employee engagement. Various drivers of employee engagement and the challenges in engaging employees were exemplified with narratives from practitioners in the Indian context. An attempt has been made to bridge the gap between the academic and industrial view by exploring variables of the construct after taking inputs from the HR practitioners. It attempts to bring a conceptual clarity on construct which may help the organizations to develop effective engagement strategies and interventions for fostering higher engagement levels among employees.

Suggested Citation

  • Vijay Kumar Shrotryia & Upasana Dhanda, 2020. "Exploring Employee Engagement Using Grounded Theory: Experiences from the Best Firms in India," Vision, , vol. 24(2), pages 171-183, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:vision:v:24:y:2020:i:2:p:171-183
    DOI: 10.1177/0972262920915070
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0972262920915070
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0972262920915070?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dalal, Reeshad S. & Brummel, Bradley J. & Wee, Serena & Thomas, Lisa L., 2008. "Defining Employee Engagement for Productive Research and Practice," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 52-55, March.
    2. Wilmar Schaufeli & Marisa Salanova & Vicente González-romá & Arnold Bakker, 2002. "The Measurement of Engagement and Burnout: A Two Sample Confirmatory Factor Analytic Approach," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 71-92, March.
    3. Maddy Janssens & Chris Steyaert, 2009. "HRM and Performance: A Plea for Reflexivity in HRM Studies," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 143-155, January.
    4. Macey, William H. & Schneider, Benjamin, 2008. "The Meaning of Employee Engagement," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 3-30, March.
    5. Saks, Alan M., 2008. "The Meaning and Bleeding of Employee Engagement: How Muddy Is the Water?," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 40-43, March.
    6. Soane, Emma & Truss, Catherine & Alfes, Kerstin & Shantz, Amanda & Rees, Chris & Gatenby, Mark, 2012. "Development and application of a new measure of employee engagement: the ISA engagement scale," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 63486, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vijay Kumar Shrotryia & Upasana Dhanda, 2019. "Content Validity of Assessment Instrument for Employee Engagement," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(1), pages 21582440188, February.
    2. Lambert, Abbie & Jones, Robert Paul & Clinton, Suzanne, 2021. "Employee engagement and the service profit chain in a quick-service restaurant organization," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 214-225.
    3. Li Sun & Chanchai Bunchapattanasakda, 2019. "Impact of Strength of Human Resource Management System on Employee Engagement: Chinese Perspective," International Journal of Human Resource Studies, Macrothink Institute, vol. 9(1), pages 208-231, December.
    4. Tilahun Kidane Diko & Shabnam Saxena, 2023. "Antecedents and outcome of employee engagement: Empirical study of Ethiopian public higher education institutions," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(8), pages 1-30, August.
    5. Nasser Saad Al Kahtani & Sulphey M. M., 2022. "A Study on How Psychological Capital, Social Capital, Workplace Wellbeing, and Employee Engagement Relate to Task Performance," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, May.
    6. Woocheol Kim & Gohar Feroz Khan & Jacob Wood & Muhammad Tariq Mahmood, 2016. "Employee Engagement for Sustainable Organizations: Keyword Analysis Using Social Network Analysis and Burst Detection Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-11, July.
    7. Francoise Contreras & Juan C. Espinosa & Gustavo A. Esguerra, 2020. "Could Personal Resources Influence Work Engagement and Burnout? A Study in a Group of Nursing Staff," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(1), pages 21582440199, January.
    8. Nina Pološki Vokić & Tomislav Hernaus, 2015. "The triad of job satisfaction, work engagement and employee loyalty – The interplay among the concepts," EFZG Working Papers Series 1507, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb.
    9. Jaya Bhasin & Shahid Mushtaq & Sakshi Gupta, 2019. "Engaging Employees Through Employer Brand: An Empirical Evidence," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 44(4), pages 417-432, November.
    10. Maria Luisa Giancaspro & Antonino Callea & Amelia Manuti, 2022. "“I Like It like That”: A Study on the Relationship between Psychological Capital, Work Engagement and Extra-Role Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, February.
    11. Urmila Rani Srivastava & Vandana Maurya, 2017. "Organizational and Individual Level Antecedents of Psychological Capital and its Associated Outcomes: Development of a Conceptual Framework," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 42(3), pages 205-236, August.
    12. Hazrat Bilal & Naveed Farooq & Kauser Hayat, 2019. "Empirically Investigating the Impact of Employee Engagement on Counterproductive Work Behavior of Academic Staff," Global Regional Review, Humanity Only, vol. 4(1), pages 120-127, March.
    13. Anya Johnson & Helena Nguyen & Markus Groth & Les White, 2018. "Workplace aggression and organisational effectiveness: The mediating role of employee engagement," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 43(4), pages 614-631, November.
    14. Widdy Muhammad Sabar Wibawa & Yoshi Takahashi, 2021. "The Effect of Ethical Leadership on Work Engagement and Workaholism: Examining Self-Efficacy as a Moderator," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-12, May.
    15. Neha Gupta & Vandna Sharma, 2016. "Exploring Employee Engagement—A Way to Better Business Performance," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 17(3_suppl), pages 45-63, June.
    16. Miguel A. Mañas-Rodríguez & Eleonora Enciso-Forero & Carmen M. Salvador-Ferrer & Rubén Trigueros & José M. Aguilar-Parra, 2020. "Empirical Research in Colombian Services Sector: Relation between Transformational Leadership, Climate and Commitment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-16, August.
    17. Guohua He & Ran An & Feng Zhang, 2019. "Cultural Intelligence and Work–Family Conflict: A Moderated Mediation Model Based on Conservation of Resources Theory," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-22, July.
    18. D. Wahyu Ariani, 2014. "Relationship Leadership, Employee Engagement and Organizational Citizenship Behavior," International Journal of Business and Social Research, MIR Center for Socio-Economic Research, vol. 4(8), pages 74-90, August.
    19. Rawan Alafeshat & Cem Tanova, 2019. "Servant Leadership Style and High-Performance Work System Practices: Pathway to a Sustainable Jordanian Airline Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-21, November.
    20. Hafiz Yasir Ali & Muhammad Asrar‐ul‐Haq & Shaheera Amin & Sadaf Noor & Muhammad Haris‐ul‐Mahasbi & Muhammad Kashif Aslam, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility and employee performance: The mediating role of employee engagement in the manufacturing sector of Pakistan," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 2908-2919, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:vision:v:24:y:2020:i:2:p:171-183. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.