Employee Engagement

by

Alan M. Saks

• LAST REVIEWED: 20 January 2023
• LAST MODIFIED: 25 October 2018
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199846740-0150

Introduction

Employee engagement has been described as a multidimensional motivational construct that involves the simultaneous investment of an individual’s complete and full self into the performance of a role. It has and continues to be an area of great interest to academics, practitioners, and organizations. Although most of the academic research on employee engagement has been published in the early 21st century, there have already been several books published on engagement, special journal issues devoted to engagement, and numerous review articles and meta-analyses. However, there continues to be concerns about the meaning, definition, and measurement of employee engagement. Regardless of these concerns, it is now clear that employee engagement is an important predictor of individual and organizational outcomes and has implications for employee well-being and performance.

Books on Employee Engagement

Several books have been published on employee engagement. Most of these books are edited books by academics for academics that contain chapters on various areas of engagement research such as its meaning, measurement, drivers and antecedents, outcomes, and interventions. Albrecht 2010 consists of thirty-four chapters divided into seven parts. Bakker and Leiter 2010 contains thirteen chapters, and Truss, et al. 2014 has sixteen chapters divided into four parts. Byrne 2015 consists of four parts and eleven chapters and covers both the science and practice of engagement. An exception to these books is Mone and London 2010, which is focused on using the performance management process to drive engagement and is more of a practical guide for managers.

• Albrecht, Simon L. Handbook of Employee Engagement: Perspectives, Issues, Research and Practice. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2010.

  DOI: 10.4337/9781849806374

  This book has thirty-four chapters and is divided into seven parts: what is employee engagement; what influences employee engagement; the dynamics and regulations of employee engagement; management and human resources (HR) systems, practices, and processes; global perspectives on employee engagement; and performance outcomes and interventions.

• Bakker, Arnold B., and Michael P. Leiter. Work Engagement: A Handbook of Essential Theory and Research. Hove, UK: Psychology Press, 2010.

  Contains thirteen chapters that deal with various issues of work engagement such as definition, measurement, drivers, consequences, and interventions.

• Byrne, Zinta S. Understanding Employee Engagement: Theory, Research, and Practice. New York: Routledge, 2015.

  Consists of four parts (engagement under the microscope, securing an engaged workforce, competitive advantage, and the new frontiers of employee engagement), with eleven chapters that focus on the science and practice of engagement.

• Mone, Edward M., and Manuel London. Employee Engagement through Effective Performance Management: A Practical Guide for Managers. New York: Routledge, 2010.

  Describes how the performance management process can be used to drive employee engagement.

• Truss, Catherine, Rick Delbridge, Kerstin Alfes, Amanda Shantz, and Emma Soane. Employee Engagement in Theory and Practice. New York: Routledge, 2014.

  Includes sixteen chapters divided into four parts: the psychology of engagement, human resources management (HRM) implications, critical perspectives, and engagement in practice.