Employee engagement and social exchange theory : are they related or not?

Abstract

Employee engagement has become a hot point in recent years among practitioners and researchers. This study reviewed the construct of engagement. Based on Social Exchange Theory, the present study examined the moderating effect of employee exchange ideology in relationships to perceived organizational support and employee engagement. A survey was completed by 57 employees working in Nova Scotia Biotech companies, among which 6 responses were uncompleted. The final study sample (N = 51) consisted of 15 males (29.4%) and 36 females (70.6%). Participants’ mean age was 42.3 years (SD = 9.5) and their mean organizational tenure was 7.5 years (SD = 6.2). As predicated, the perceived organizational support were significantly positively correlated (r = 0.67, p < 0.0001) with employee engagement (Hypothesis 1). The power for formal statistic effect for moderate effect test is not significant due to the small sample size. However, individuals with high exchange ideology (> the medium value, 3.25) showed a strong correlation (r = 7.60) between perceived organizational support and employee engagement; while individuals with low exchange ideology (≤ the medium value, 3.25) showed a moderate low correlation (r = 3.12) between POS and engagement. It is concluded that compared to individuals with low exchange ideology, individuals with strong exchange ideology are more likely to reciprocate the POS with employee engagement. This study provides one of the first tests of the moderating role of employee exchange ideology in the relationships of perceived organizational support with employee engagement.