The objectives of the study were (1) to determine the relationship between career adaptability (measured by the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale) and employee engagement (measured by the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale), and (2) to determine whether age, race, gender and tenure groups differ significantly regarding career adaptability and employee engagement. A quantitative survey was conducted on a convenience sample (N = 131) of employees within a business unit of a large insurance company in South Africa. Correlational and inferential statistical analyses revealed significant relationships between career adaptability and employee engagement as well as significant differences between age and race groups on some dimensions of the constructs. These findings contribute valuable insight and knowledge to the field of Organisational Psychology and Career Psychology that can be applied in engagement strategies as well as in career guidance and counselling. The study concluded with recommendations for future research and practice. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom (IPS) / The construction industry plays a crucial role in the South African economy. In this high-risk industry, a lack of engagement by employees can have serious and costly health and safety consequences. Because construction companies work under conditions of tight deadlines and stringent requirements, executives and managers are often unable to reduce the demands on their employees. Hence, if employees are to increase their own levels of work engagement (and so improve health, promote safety, and guard against burnout), they need to exert personal agency by recrafting their own jobs. The term job crafting refers to proactive employee behaviours that seek to optimise the work environment, frequently by addressing the balance between job demands and job resource. Previous literature suggests that employees who use job crafting behaviours show higher work engagement, lower disengagement, more positive emotions, and better adaptive performance.

Millennials are estimated to compose half of the workforce by 2020. Many hospitality researchers have studied Millennial employee engagement, but less is known about how to apply strategies that are authentically engaging for Millennials. The purpose of this study was to explore Millennial employee engagement strategies. The research questions for this study were used to examine the engagement strategies of luxury resort leaders and how Millennial employees perceived engagement. A single case study design was used to gather interview, questionnaire, and company document data from employees of a luxury resort in Hawai`i. Kahn's employee engagement theory served as the basis for the conceptual framework. Six non-Millennial department heads participated in semistructured interviews by purposeful sampling and 11 Millennial employees completed an online, anonymous questionnaire. Saldana's 2-cycle coding analysis was used to determine themes based upon the conceptual framework, participant descriptions of engagement, and commonalities among effective strategies. The 3 most significant themes were the importance of (a) interpersonal respect, (b) interpersonal trust, and (c) meaningful relationships. Another worthwhile finding was the difference in perceptions of engagement aspects between Millennials and other generations. To fully engage Millennial employees, luxury resort leaders should focus on thoughtful communication, empathy, and relationship-building strategies. The implications for social change include the potential to foster happy, productive Millennial employees who contribute to the performance of their organizations. When resort leaders increase their skills to build respect, trust, and meaningful relationships, they improve workplace culture for all employees.

Job dissatisfaction among bank employees may adversely influence the financial performance of banks due to employee turnover, decreased productivity, poor service quality, decreased customer satisfaction, and negative employee attitudes in the workplace. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine how work on the present job, pay, opportunities for promotion, supervision, and coworker relationships predict job satisfaction among bank employees in Nigeria. The population of the study was 167 bank employees in 3 commercial banks in Nigeria. The 2-factor theory (TFT) served as the theoretical foundation in this study. Data collection was through a survey instrument called the job descriptive index. The results of the multiple linear regression analysis showed that the regression model significantly predicted job satisfaction, F (5, 95) = 10.806, p < .05, R2 = .363. Both supervision and coworker relationships were statistically significant predictors of job satisfaction among bank employees in Nigeria, while there were no statistically significant relationships between the predictors' work on the present job, pay, and opportunities for promotion, and the dependent variable, job satisfaction. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential to provide senior bank executives with an understanding of factors that relate to job satisfaction among bank employees, including creating a desirable work environment, improving the quality of supervision in the organization, increasing job satisfaction, and making the organization more desirable for employees.

In 2013, 35% of the workforce was not engaged, which results in lack of productivity and loss of profitability for small business enterprises (SBEs). The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore successful strategies that frontline leaders in a 4 generation, family-owned excavating business used to engage their frontline employees. The excavating business was started in 1947 by the father of the current business owners. William Kahn's employee engagement theory was the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected through a focus group and direct observations of engagement during meetings and frontline areas from a population of 8 frontline leaders from construction work at an excavating business in Stephens City, Virginia. Data from the focus group and direct observations were thematically analyzed and then triangulated to ensure the trustworthiness of the interpretations. The 5 themes that emerged included: investing in sustainability, leading by example, providing clear and open communication, implementing a system of measurement, and developing a professional image. These themes could provide the basis for the area frontline leaders to improve the employee engagement level of their frontline employees. These findings could prompt what has been a missing dialogue of communication that could bridge the employee engagement gap between the area employees and employers. Social change implications of these findings could lead to productivity improvement that could contribute to the survival of SBEs and to the employment status of the community.

In 2014, approximately 30% of the global workers viewed experiences in the workplace as positive and fulfilling, which results in increased productivity in the workplace. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that some warehouse service center managers used to engage employees to higher levels of productivity. The population comprised of 7 warehouse service center managers in 2 companies located in the Riverport area in Louisville, KY. The conceptual framework for this study encompassed Kahn's employee engagement theory. Data were collected through semistructured interviews, organizational procedure handbooks, and direct observation to prompt detailed information about participants' experiences with employee engagement. The data collected was transcribed and member checking completed to validate the credibility and trustworthiness. Data collected from each source supported theme interpretation through triangulation. Three key themes developed: clear and concise communication, creating supportive manager-employee partnerships, and benefits to include incentives to promote employee engagement such as recognition awards, salary increases, additional time off work, flexibility with work schedules, and tuition reimbursement. The findings revealed warehouse service center managers used strategies to promote employee engagement in the workplace. The implications for positive social change include the potential to give managers new insights to promote employee involvement in the workplace through effective communication, partnership and incentives to create a sustainable organization while contributing to the economy and increasing involvement in the community.

Employee absenteeism costs organizations billions of dollars annually in losses in revenue and productivity, temporary labor costs, and low morale. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore the strategies information technology (IT) managers in the manufacturing industry used to reduce employee absenteeism. The theory of planned behavior provided the conceptual framework for the study. Data collection included semistructured interviews with 5 IT managers in Maryland and a review of organizational documents addressing nutritional education information, employee participation rates in health programs, and physical activity. Data were analyzed using compilation, disassembly, reassembly, interpretation, and development of conclusions. Through thematic analysis, 4 themes emerged: workplace wellness and health programs, employee engagement, work-life balance programs, and organizational culture. Findings of this study may be used by IT managers to bring about positive change by reducing employee absences, encouraging employment opportunities, contributing to organizational sustainability, and improving quality of life for community members.

Transformational leadership and employee engagement have been studied in the private sector, yet research in the nonprofit sector is scarce. Addressing this gap is important to improve nonprofit practices, as nonprofit organizations contribute to a myriad of social issues critical to positive social change. Using Burns's theory of transformational leadership, which places emphasis on motivating and inspiring performance through a shared vision and mission, the purpose of this quantitative study was to analyze the effects of transformational leadership on employee engagement in nonprofit organizations. The study also assessed whether locus of control acted as a mediating variable on employee engagement. Locus of control may explain differences in the effect of transformational leadership on engagement in those with an internal locus of control (self-motivating-lesser effect) versus an external locus of control (motivated by external forces-greater effect). Data were obtained from emailed surveys of employees of 30 nonprofit organizations (N = 155). The surveys consisted of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, and the Work Locus of Control Scale. Multiple logistic regression revealed a significant positive relationship between transformational leadership and employee engagement. No significant evidence was found to indicate that locus of control acted as a mediating variable with regard to engagement. Understanding the effect of transformational leadership on employee engagement may enable nonprofit organizations to improve their effectiveness in programs and services, thereby contributing to positive social change.

Sales leaders who can foster sales team engagement drive an organization's sales performance. Some information technology sales leaders lack team engagement strategies that support revenue results above market growth rates. The purpose of this qualitative, single-case study was to explore the team engagement strategies of 6 sales leaders, in various offices in the Asia-Pacific region of a single, public information technology company, who demonstrated the ability to support year-on-year revenue results above market growth rates. Participants demonstrated the ability to foster team engagement and consistently deliver year-on-year revenue results above market growth rates. The conceptual framework for this study was self-determination theory, a macro theory of motivation. Data collection included semistructured interviews with the sales leaders and a review of company documents, including sales plans, sales results by country, and training and recognition programs. Data analysis included keyword coding, category development, and theme identification. Three themes emerged: using extrinsic motivators, activating intrinsic motivators, and catalyzing team engagement. Extrinsic motivators included both tangible and intangible rewards. Intrinsic motivators included encouraging sales team autonomy, developing sales team competence, and fostering sales team relatedness. Implications for positive social change include providing organizations with engagement strategies that sales leaders could use to offer better employee work-life experiences. When sales leaders improve sales team engagement, team members experience psychological benefits, which may enhance the quality of their personal lives as well as the quality of life for members of their families and communities.

According to Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, positive emotions -- such as joy, contentment, and love -- help individuals cope with stress, maintain well-being, and flourish in life. Guided by this theory, this dissertation project conducted three studies which explored the multidimensional influences of positive emotions on stress, coping strategies, resilience, trait anxiety, depressive symptoms, and work engagement. Study 1 examined the mediating role of coping strategies on the link between positive emotions and resilience; in addition, the moderating effect of resilience on the influence of stress toward trait anxiety and depressive symptoms was tested. Study 2 investigated if one's positivity would distinguish differences in their levels of stress, trait anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Finally, Study 3 examined whether stress and positive emotions would account for the variance in work engagement, over and above what has been explained by known predictors -- specifically, work meaningfulness and supervisor support. Path analysis, interaction analysis, multivariate analysis of variance, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were used to test the different models within these studies. A sample of 200 postdoctoral fellows completed the survey (38% response rate). Results showed that a) coping strategies partially mediated the link between positive emotions and resilience; b) resilience moderated the effect of stress on trait anxiety and depressive symptoms; c) the different categories of positivity distinguished differences in experienced stress, trait anxiety, and depressive symptoms; d) stress and positive emotions accounted for additional variance in work engagement, above what is already explained by work meaningfulness and supervisor support; and e) positive emotions completely mediated the relationship between supervisor support and work engagement. Findings support the broaden-and-build theory's hypotheses that positive emotions enhance adaptive coping strategies and fuel resilience. The data also demonstrated that resilience protected postdocs from experiencing heightened levels of trait anxiety and depressive symptoms by diminishing their relationships with stress. One strategy to optimize health would be to increase opportunities for postdocs to experience positive emotions, which would subsequently spark the upward spiral toward improved coping, greater resilience, and reduced stress, anxiety, and depression. To promote work engagement, it is important for supervisors to not only be mindful of assigning meaningful work to their employees (or help employees find meaning in their work), but supervisors should also be a supportive leader within a positive workplace environment. / text