SOTA Review

Employee Engagement and Business Performance – a Review of quantitative evidence.

ERC SOTA Review No 22

Associated Themes
  • Productivity and performance

Employee engagement has been a hot topic in recent years among both academic researchers and practitioners. It is often believed that employee engagement can drive productivity and creativity and improve business performance. But what does the evidence suggest about the relationship between employee engagement and business performance? This SOTA review examines studies at individual and business unit/organisational levels to assemble the quantitative evidence to date on the relationship between the two.
The evidence suggests that at the individual level there is relatively solid evidence that there is a positive association between employee engagement and individual task performance. The evidence also suggests that employee engagement is likely the antecedent. At the business unit and organisational level, however, the small number of studies available makes it too early to draw valid conclusions. Initial findings reveal a positive association between collective engagement and business unit/organisational performance. However, the causal order is not clear.

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