Factors affecting employee engagement an empirical study office staff during covid 19 pandemic

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING THE STATE BANK OF VIETNAM BANKING UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY PHAM THI THANH THAO FACTORS AFFECTING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OFFICE STAFF DURING COVID 19 PANDEMIC GRADUATE THESIS MAJOR: BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SUBJECT CODE: 52340101 ADVISOR DR NGUYEN VAN THUY Ho Chi Minh City, August 2021 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING THE STATE BANK OF VIETNAM BANKING UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY PHAM THI THANH THAO FACTORS AFFECTING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OFFICE STAFF DURING COVID 19 PANDEMIC GRADUATE THESIS MAJOR: BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SUBJECT CODE: 52340101 ADVISOR DR NGUYEN VAN THUY Ho Chi Minh City, August 2021 ABSTRACT Because of the corona virus's global proliferation (COVID 19), many organizations are rapidly changing their processes Several firms have shifted their entire workforce to temporary telecommuting and remote work for their organization The COVID 19 pandemic has dramatically affected all organizations, creating a complex and challenging environment for managers and practitioners of human resource management (HRM) Employee involvement is believed to be one of the main factors in keeping the organization active HR managers need to revisit their employee engagement strategies with a new perspective to keep employees highly motivated in this time of mayhem and the maelstrom of the pandemic This study aims to look into and statistically evaluate aspects that might affect employee engagement An online questionnaire was collected from office workers performing their duties from home in Ho Chi Minh City Using multiple regression analysis, we looked at the influence of total … variables Keywords: COVID 19, Employee engagement, Remote work, Working from home, COVID 19, Adaptability, Flexibility, Resilience AUTHOR’S DECLARATION I assure that the "Factors affecting employee engagement: an empirical study office staff during COVID 19 pandemic" dissertation is my own research Except for the material cited in the thesis, I guarantee that the full text of this thesis is honest and has never been published or used for qualifications elsewhere No other person's product has been used in this thesis that has not been appropriately cited The data in the thesis is collected from the precise, reliable, and honestly and objectively processed In addition, the tests were conducted publicly and transparently with no intervention to correct regression models' results Author Pham Thi Thanh Thao ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, the writer wishes to express my heartfelt thanks to the lecturers who taught and passed on my important information and experience, as well as how to think about and solve issues, while I was studying at the Banking University of HCMC Specifically, I wouldwant to convey my appreciation to my supervisor Dr Nguyen Van Thuy, who always enthusiastically gave guidance, leadership, and suggestions of valuable sources of information as well as valuable recommendations to my bachelor’s thesis during the dissertation, from the implementation of the proposal, the talent search, and data until the completion of this thesis statement Last but not least, I'd would want to thank my family and friends for always being there to inspire and support me throughout my academic career and life I would not have been able to complete my graduation dissertation without the support of my family They have my heartfelt gratitude In the course of implementation, it is challenging to avoid shortcomings, but I tried my best to complete the study The author looks forward to receiving further advice and suggestions from teachers and readers TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS TABLE LIST FIGURE & DIAGRAM LIST 11 Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 12 1.1 Problem 12 1.2 Previous research 13 1.3 Objective of the study 15 1.3.1 General Objective 15 1.3.2 Particular Objective 15 1.4 Research Question 16 1.5 Research subject and scope 16 1.5.1 Research subject 16 1.5.2 Research scope 16 1.6 The Research Methodology 17 1.7 Research Significance 18 1.7.1 Academic Significance 18 1.7.2 Practical Significance 18 1.8 Thesis structure 18 Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 20 2.1 Basic concept 20 2.1.1 Conceptualizing employee engagement 20 2.1.2 The meaning of employee engagement to the organization 22 2.2 Employee engagement practices during the COVID 19 lockdown 22 2.2.1 Summarize about COVID 19 22 2.2.2 Employee engagement is important during tough times 23 2.3 Literature Review 24 2.4 Summary Table and research Model 29 Table 2.1: Summary Table (selecting hypotheses from previous literature) 29 2.5 The hypothesis of the proposed research model 30 2.5.1 Relation among Leadership and Employee Engagement 30 2.5.2 Relation among Training Programs and Employee Engagement 31 2.5.3 Relation among Compensation and Employee Engagement 33 2.5.4 Relation among Organizational Communication and Employee Engagement 34 2.5.5 Relation among Career Development and Employee Engagement 34 2.5.6 Relation among Health & Safety and Employee Engagement 35 2.5.7 Relation among Organizational Commitment and Employee Engagement 36 Figure 2.5: Research model 38 Chapter 3: METHODOLOGIES 40 3.1 Research process 40 3.1.1 Steps of the research process 40 3.1.2 Research methodology and data 41 3.2 Formal research 44 3.3 Survey questionnaire 44 3.4 Data Collection 44 3.5 Modified the scale of factors influencing employee engagement during the time of COVID 19 lockdown 45 3.5.1 The scale of Leadership group 45 3.5.2 The scale of Training Programs group 46 3.5.3 The scale of Compensation Group 47 3.5.4 The scale of Organizational Communication group 48 3.5.5 The scale of the Career Development group 49 3.5.6 The scale of the Health & Safety group 50 3.5.7 The scale of Organizational Commitment group 50 3.5.8 The scale of Employee Engagement group 51 3.6 Statistic process 52 3.7 Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Coefficient 52 3.8 EFA factor analysis 53 3.9 Regression analysis and ANOVA test 54 3.10 Linear regression model 54 Chapter RESEARCH RESULTS 56 4.1 Sample description 56 4.2 Descriptive statistical analysis 56 4.3 Descriptive Statistics for quantitative variables 58 4.4 Evaluating the reliability of the scale 64 4.5 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) 70 4.5.1 Exploratory Factor Analysis for independent variables 70 4.5.2 Result of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) the second time 73 4.5.3 Result of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) the third time 76 4.5.4 Result of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) the fourth time 78 4.5.5 Result of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) the fifth time 81 4.5.6 Result of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) the sixth time 84 4.5.7 Result of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) the seventh time 86 4.5.9 Exploratory Factor Analysis for dependent variables 89 4.6 Correlation analysis between the independent and dependent variables 90 4.7 Result of linear regression analysis 91 4.7.1 Resulting Test Hypotheses (Regression coefficient are not standardized) 92 4.7.2 Resulting Test Hypotheses (Standardized regression coefficients) 94 Chapter CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 98 5.1 Conclusion 98 5.2 Theoretical Implications 99 5.3 Limitation and Future research 99 APPENDIX 104 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Acronyms Meaning C Compensation EFA Exploratory Factor Analysis EG Employee Engagement LD Leadership HCMC Ho Chi Minh City HCM Ho Chi Minh HS Health & Safety HRM Human Resources Management OC Organizational Communication OCO Organizational commitment TP Training Programs WFH Work from home TABLE LIST Chapter Table 2.1: Summary Table (selecting hypotheses from previous literature) 29 Chapter Table 3.1: Number of participants in the survey 43 Table 3.2: Encode the Leadership group 46 Table 3.3: Encode Training Programs group 47 Table 3.4: Encode Compensation group 47 Table 3.5: Encode Organizational Communication group 48 Table 3.6: Encode Career Development group 49 Table 3.7: Encode Health & Safety group 50 Table 3.8: Encode Organizational Commitment group 51 Table 3.9: Encode Employee Engagement group 51 Chapter Table 1: Descriptive statistics for relevant variables 56 Table 4.2: Descriptive statistics for the Evaluation Factors variable 58 Table 4.3: Descriptive statistics for the Evaluation Factors variable 59 Table 4.4: Descriptive statistics for the Evaluation Factors variable 59 Table 4.5: Descriptive statistics for the Evaluation Factors variable 60 Table 4.6: Descriptive statistics for the Evaluation Factors variable 61 Table 4.7: Descriptive statistics for the Evaluation Factors variable 62 Table 4.8: Descriptive statistics for the Evaluation Factors variable 62 Table 4.9: Descriptive statistics for the Evaluation Factors variable 63 Table 4.10: Result of the reliability assessment of Leadership scale 64 Table 4.11: Result of the reliability assessment of Training Programs scale 65 Table 4.12: Result of the reliability assessment of Compensation scale 66 Table 4.13: Result of the reliability assessment of Organizational Communication scale 67 Table 4.14: Result of the reliability assessment of Career Development scale 67 Table 4.15: Result of the reliability assessment of Health & Safety scale 68 Table 4.16: Result of the reliability assessment of Organizational Commitment scale 69 REFERENCES Adiga, M., & Bassey, U (2021) COVID 19 PANDEMIC: IMPLICATIONS ON HRM AND SUSTAINABILITY IN THE NEW NORMAL African Journal of Business and Economic Development, 29–42 Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.46654/ajbed.117129 Ahmed, T., Khan, M S., Thitivesa, D., Siraphatthada, Y., & Phumdara, T (2020) Impact of employees engagement and knowledge sharing on organizational performance: Study of HR challenges in COVID 19 pandemic Human Systems Management, 39(4), 589–601 Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.3233/hsm-201052 Anderson, D., & Kelliher, C (2020) Enforced remote working and the work-life interface during lockdown [Ebook] (1st ed.) Emerald Publishing Limited Retrieved from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/GM-072020-0224/full/html#abstract Binita Tiwaria, UshaLenkab (2020), Employee engagement: A study of survivors in Indian IT/ITES sector, Retrieved from https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0970389617302227?token=622492F 3691E2BAEAA521D3894EB68D3C3BF3D4883A7B40D2FA776F6A5F8E08 CEA2C156644F3B993F4E41743B9F47E3F&originRegion=us-east1&originCreation=20210906125809 Chanana, Nisha & Sangeeta, Dr (2020) Employee engagement practices during COVID‐19 lockdown Journal of Public Affairs 10.1002/pa.2508 Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/345995938_Employee_engagement_ practices_during_COVID 19_lockdown Chaudhary, V., Mohanty, S., Malik, P et al., Factors affecting virtual employee engagement in India during COVID 19 Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2021.05.685 101 De-la-Calle-Durán & Rodríguez-Sánchez, Employee Engagement and Wellbeing in Times of COVID 19: A 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Multidisciplinary Research Studies, 3(2), 1-11 Retrieved from https://www.johnfoundation.com/journals/sparkling/sijmrsv3i2-2020/s-31/ Nair, A (2020, April 10) Capgemini launches employee engagement programs to help beat coronavirus stress The Hindu Retrieved from https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/capgemini-launchesemployee-engagement-programmes-to-help-beat-coronavirusstress/article31310564.ece NGUYEN, H N., & TRAN, M D (2021) The Effect of Perceived Organizational Support on Employee Engagement During the COVID 19 Pandemic: An Empirical Study in Vietnam The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 8(6), 415–426 Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.13106/JAFEB.2021.VOL8.NO6.0415 Sarkar, B (2020, April 09) Companies roll out initiatives to keep employees’ kids engaged at home The Economic Times Retrieved from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporatetrends/companies-roll-out-initiatives-to-keep-employees-kids-engaged-athome/articleshow/75058556.cms?from=mdr World Health Organization (2020, June 29) Listings of WHO’s response to COVID 19 Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news/item/29-06-2020-COVIDtimeline 103 APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE Dear Sir/Madam, I'm working on a research project on “Factors affecting the engagement of office workers with organizations and businesses in work” to serve as a research paper I would love for you to help me by completing the survey below, which will take just a couple of minutes but will assist us in completing our study As a result of this, I declare and commit to you that the information provided by you is presented in general statistical form only and will keep all your personal information confidential Your responses will only be used for the study We hope that you will take the time to answer this survey Your experience and time are precious contributions to the topic Thank you very much Name: Your gender: Age: -25 years old -45 years -35 years old The number of years you have worked in your current company is : Less than years – years Several employees currently in your organization: - 300 employees 104 What is your average monthly income (VND) 15 million 105 Neutral (3) Agree (4) Strongly agree (5) Question Disagree (2) Strongly disagree (1) No 5 5 5 Questions of Leadership hypothesis My superiors always provide employees with information and support employees to their jobs well I feel comfortable communicating with my superiors In difficult times, my superiors are willing to listen to my problems Listening to team members with radical ideas is valuable to a leader When individuals are unsure about how an organization will evolve, they trust the leader to help them through In difficult times, superiors treat all employees fairly Questions of Training Programs hypothesis The company provides helpful training courses for the job The company provides valuable training courses for soft skills in COVID time 106 5 Employees have equal opportunities to participate in training to develop their abilities 5 The company equips the necessary equipment 10 and trains the use of technology applications to complete work from home 11 The time devoted during the training was relevant and valuable Questions of Compensation hypothesis 12 13 14 15 My income is in line with the market income The company always has a clear policy on salary and allowances My salary is paid sufficiently and fairly during this challenging time Salary and benefits to satisfy the living needs of employees in the context of the pandemic 5 5 5 Employees receive support from the 16 organization when they are infected with COVID 19 The company shares and gives gifts to 17 employees (e-vouchers, gift wrapping, ) to help during the COVID 19 epidemic Questions of Organizational Communication hypothesis Employees have autonomy in their work 18 (know what they are doing and what they need to do) 107 Even though I work from home, I still feel like 19 working in a safe, healthy, and comfortable 5 5 environment The company organizes employee engagement 20 creative activities during the period of working from home 21 The company organizes emulation activities to motivate employees to work from home My colleagues share information and help a lot 22 to maximize work performance during WFH time Questions of Career Development hypothesis 23 You have many opportunities for advancement in the company 5 5 My organization has programs and policies 24 that help employees to advance in their functional specialization My firm has rules and processes in place to 25 assist employees in rising through the ranks of management 26 You are satisfied with the promotion opportunity Questions of Health & Safety hypothesis 27 The company cares about employees' health and safety 108 28 The company pays full social insurance for employees 5 5 The company always updates and shares health 29 information promptly so that employees can take steps to prevent the COVID 19 epidemic 30 The company supports "Employee health care during the COVID 19 season" The company has policies to care for and 31 support the health of people infected with COVID 32 The company supports all employees to vaccinate against COVID 19 Questions of Organizational Commitment hypothesis 33 My present employer will not reduce the number of hours I work every week 5 5 If my current organization was facing 34 economic problems, my job would be the first to go 35 36 37 I am confident that I can work as much as I want in my organization If my job were eliminated, I would be offered another job in my current organization Regardless of economic conditions, I will continue to work at my existing company Employee Engagement influencing Office staff 109 Even if it were advantageous to me, I not believe it is appropriate for me to quit my 38 5 5 organization at this time My department does not give me a strong 39 sense of "belonging" I would feel guilty if I left my organization 40 now Would not leave my organization right now because I have a sense of obligation to the 41 people in it FULL TABLE OF EIGENVALUES AND COVARIANCE DEVIATIONS FOR INDEPENDENT VARIABLES (THE FIRST TIME) Total Variance Explained Initial Eigenvalues Component Total Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings % of Cumulative Variance % Total % of Cumulative Variance % 10.179 28.275 28.275 10.179 28.275 28.275 3.398 9.438 37.713 3.398 9.438 37.713 2.213 6.146 43.859 2.213 6.146 43.859 1.910 5.306 49.165 1.910 5.306 49.165 1.746 4.851 54.016 1.746 4.851 54.016 1.662 4.617 58.633 1.662 4.617 58.633 1.509 4.191 62.824 1.509 4.191 62.824 110 979 2.718 65.542 899 2.498 68.040 10 866 2.405 70.445 11 801 2.226 72.672 12 761 2.115 74.787 13 695 1.929 76.716 14 679 1.887 78.603 15 642 1.783 80.386 16 635 1.764 82.150 17 600 1.667 83.817 18 580 1.610 85.428 19 547 1.519 86.947 20 529 1.468 88.415 21 459 1.276 89.691 22 415 1.154 90.845 23 405 1.125 91.970 24 382 1.060 93.030 25 370 1.028 94.058 26 317 880 94.939 27 311 864 95.802 28 277 769 96.571 29 263 731 97.302 111 30 240 666 97.968 31 195 540 98.508 Source: Result of data processing FULL TABLE OF EIGENVALUES AND COVARIANCE DEVIATIONS FOR INDEPENDENT VARIABLES (THE LAST TIME) Total Variance Explained Initial Eigenvalues Component Total Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings % of Cumulative Variance % Total % of Cumulative Variance % 7.723 25.744 25.744 7.723 25.744 25.744 2.560 8.535 34.278 2.560 8.535 34.278 1.980 6.599 40.877 1.980 6.599 40.877 1.675 5.583 46.461 1.675 5.583 46.461 1.500 4.999 51.459 1.500 4.999 51.459 1.420 4.733 56.192 1.420 4.733 56.192 1.353 4.510 60.702 1.353 4.510 60.702 866 2.886 63.588 858 2.861 66.449 10 796 2.653 69.102 11 728 2.425 71.527 12 717 2.389 73.916 13 664 2.212 76.129 14 616 2.054 78.183 112 15 612 2.041 80.224 16 592 1.973 82.197 17 556 1.854 84.051 18 537 1.789 85.840 19 512 1.708 87.548 20 473 1.576 89.124 21 450 1.501 90.625 22 399 1.331 91.956 23 385 1.282 93.238 24 361 1.203 94.441 25 338 1.127 95.568 26 303 1.010 96.578 27 294 981 97.559 28 263 875 98.434 29 249 829 99.263 30 221 737 100.000 Source: Result of data processing FULL TABLE OF EIGENVALUES AND COVARIANCE DEVIATIONS FOR DEPENDENT VARIABLES Total Variance Explained Initial Eigenvalues Component Total Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings % of Cumulative Variance % 113 Total % of Cumulative Variance % 2.534 63.343 63.343 589 14.722 78.065 503 12.581 90.646 374 9.354 100.000 2.534 63.343 63.343 Source: Result of data processing FULL TABLE OF PEARSON CORRELATION ANALYSIS Correlations Pearson Correlation EE Pearson Correlation C OC CD 556** 454** 558** 582** 514** 000 000 000 000 000 181 181 181 181 181 181 556** 305** 303** 373** 451** 000 000 000 000 000 N 181 181 181 181 181 181 454** 305** 383** 420** 300** Sig (2-tailed) 000 000 000 000 000 N 181 181 181 181 181 181 558** 303** 383** 389** 359** 000 000 000 000 000 Correlation Pearson C TP Sig (2-tailed) Pearson TP LD Sig (2-tailed) N LD EE Correlation Sig (2-tailed) 114 N 181 181 181 181 181 181 582** 373** 420** 389** 363** Sig (2-tailed) 000 000 000 000 N 181 181 181 181 181 181 514** 451** 300** 359** 363** Sig (2-tailed) 000 000 000 000 000 N 181 181 181 181 181 181 447** 339** 195** 248** 344** 301** Sig (2-tailed) 000 000 008 001 000 000 N 181 181 181 181 181 181 529** 277** 445** 416** 391** 373** Sig (2-tailed) 000 000 000 000 000 000 N 181 181 181 181 181 181 Pearson Correlation OC Pearson Correlation CD Pearson Correlation HS Pearson Correlation OCO 000 Source: Result of data processing ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) 115 ... EDUCATION AND TRAINING THE STATE BANK OF VIETNAM BANKING UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY PHAM THI THANH THAO FACTORS AFFECTING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OFFICE STAFF DURING COVID 19 PANDEMIC. .. from home, COVID 19, Adaptability, Flexibility, Resilience AUTHOR’S DECLARATION I assure that the "Factors affecting employee engagement: an empirical study office staff during COVID 19 pandemic" ... this study RQ1: What factors affect the employee engagement of office staff in Ho Chi Minh City during the COVID 19 outbreak? RQ2: How these factors affect office staffs engagement in the pandemic