Chapter: 01

1.1 Introduction
(EE-4)In an increasingly challenging and complex workplace, scholars and practitioners have
recognized the importance of effective human resource management for individual performance
and subsequently for organizational success, and have suggested that organizations can promote
commitment-oriented human resources practices to achieve organizational goals (Becker &
Gerhart, 1996; Paauwe & Boselie, 2005; Wright et al., 2001; Wright et al., 2005). Such important
empirical work has demonstrated that employees’ perceptions of work-commitment-oriented
practices are increasingly important in developing positive attitudes and behaviours to make
employees feel part of the environment of which they are part. The links and relationships that
employees establish in the workplace are critical for what is labelled as a great place to work, where
employees trust the people and the company they work for and have pride in what they do and
work for (Cook & Wall, 1980; Spencer et al., 2001). Employees who work in an organization that has
values and goals aligned with their own values and professional goals are more likely to adopt
positive behaviour in order to be consistent with the organization’s mission, values and objectives,
thereby developing a strong commitment to the organization and a high level of job involvement
(Ashforth & Mael, 1989). This leads us to look to organizational commitment and to work
engagement as possible critical predictors of the organization’s effectiveness and as strong
promoters of individual work achievement, high performance, wellbeing and intention to remain
(Kehoe & Wright, 2010;. Allen and Meyer (1990) developed a model of organizational commitment
that conceptualizes commitment as consisting of three components: affective, normative and
calculative. Affective commitment refers to a positive feeling of affection towards the organization
as reflected in a strong desire to remain and a feeling of pride in being part of the organization.
Normative commitment reflects a moral feeling or obligation to continue in the organization.
Employees with high levels of the normative component feel that they ought to remain, and they
feel bad about leaving the organization even if a new employment opportunity appears. Calculative
commitment reflects an intention to remain in the organization because leaving would have
tremendous negative effects in terms of costs to the employee. Research shows that these three
commitment components are related to employees’ work and outcomes (Meyer et al., 2002), and
employees with good performance who are focused on the business are critical to the success of an
organization (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008).
Employee engagement has been perceived as a motivational factor towards organization’s objectives achievement. The good
environment that is offered to the worker enables him to offer the best that the organization needs for its achievement of goals and
objectives [1] .
Studies indicate that there is no single description regarding engagement of an employee. There is no general accepted approach to
describe the terminology of employee engagement [2] . Employee engagement is characterized by the presence of workers at work
place, fulfillment of its responsibility, leadership relationship with workers and leadership consideration of workers as focal point for
organizational performance. Lumina (2014) argued that employees were engaging in complex transactions that were structured in
such a manner in order to misrepresent the financial performance of the organization. There are many aspects of life and not only
services that characterize employee engagement.
Diversity of organizations intensifies problems of work place that hinder organization performance. Studies show that individual
employee’s problems can be of personal ability to work, supervision issues of leadership and personal trauma to cope with the
workload. Organizations tended to consider financial aspects of employee to achieve organizational goals. There is potential and
opportunity for organization that consider both financial and non-financial factor for their performance [3] . Regardless the size of
the organization and its type, objectives from nonfinancial factors could be benefit to the organizational performance. In Addition,
the report indicated that measuring employee engagement could help the organization understand what it needs to build
organization performance.
Studies show [2] stated that the beginning of an employee engagement is at the fist of his appointment to the organization’s
services. It is a responsibility of leaders to motivate workers commitment and engagement for job performance [ 8] . In contrast,
other authors [9] stated that engagement is for both managers and workers and are responsible to achieve organizational goals
and objectives.
“Engagement with the Organization measures how engaged employees are with the organization as a whole, and by extension, how
they feel about senior management. This factor has to do with confidence in organizational leadership as well as trust, fairness,
values, and respect-i.e. how people like to be treated by others, both at work and outside of work” [10] .
Two factors were distinguished for employee engagement: “Employee Satisfaction (which is the level of contentment or happiness a
person assigns to: a) attributes of their job/position, b) their organization, and c) the general or overall way they feel about their
employment) and Employee Commitment(that implies how the pride people feel for their organization as well as the degree to
which they: a) intend to remain with the organization, b) desire to serve or to perform at high levels, c) positively recommend their
organization to others, and d) strive to improve the organization’s results) [11] .
It was [12] reported that the good time to identify the best-engaged employees is at the time of their recruitment. Employee
attitude and enthusiasm to work hard are positive experience that will longer for their good performance. For some [ 13] employees
are affected by different factors, which need special attention from the leadership such as employee turnover than focusing only on
organization benefits.
Openness behavior has been proved as one of the important elements that motivate employee engagement regardless of their skills
and knowledge. Thus management needs to pay more attention on this factor while designing jobs and services for their workers
[12] . While for some authors [14] reveal that preparation for responsible employees will help organizations to create positive
background to advance employee abilities and aptitude to gain competitive advantage for organizational goals engagement.
Albrecht [15] recommended that organizations should encourage and keep employees well?being, which is one of the factors that
contribute to their performance and commitment to achieve organizational goals. He argued that when employee provided with
open and supportive clear autonomy to his background and career development will ensure engagement to his jobs clearly aligned
with organizational goals. Others indicated, “The various drivers of work engagement and the incremental benefits accrued to
organizations due to effective commitment practices are clearly interpreted” [6] .
It was proved that “workplace well-being (WWB) has been defined as “a holistic approach to creating high performance
organizations through establishing the right conditions to generate high levels of employee engagement. This approach assumes
that achieving high levels of organizational performance depends on employees who are strongly committed to achieving the goals
of the organization, and who show this through their actions. This behavioural objective is influenced in turn by levels of employee
satisfaction, and by supportive, respectful and healthy work environments. WWB is connected to physical health and wellness but
primarily emphasizes the social and psychological dimensions of three inter-related elements ? workplace, workforce, and the work
people do [11] .
Providing positive response to employees is another factor that is important to motivate employee engagement and commitment in
organization. However, it was revealed in the same study “appropriate rewards and incentives to reinforce employees’ desired
behavior are other promising job resources and that “employee growth and opportunity for advancement is another significant job
resource [16] .
“Employers can set themselves up for continued success by focusing on the key Engagement Drivers that make a positive impact
on their workforce and thus keep their employees engaged. The companies that have a highly engaged workforce have risen to the
challenge. They proactively respond to the environment, competition, and changing workforce needs. They evolve, but stay true to
the values that made them successful and are well positioned for continued success [17] .
Andrew & Sofian emphasized that “engagement should be a win-win state of affairs, where vastly engaged employees will
resiliently identify with the success of their organization and win fulfillment from their contributions. And that knowledge of
employee engagement is one of the pioneering work in advocating that employee engagement should be examined by
distinguishing between job engagement and organization engagement” [18] .

Economy development in the twenty-first century triggers structural transformation with a shift in
growth and contribution from the primary economic sector (agricultural sector) to the tertiary
sector (service sector) (Sukamara et al., 2017). The service sector is the support for the economic
growth of a country which becomes the largest sector with the fastest growth globally and
contributes greatly to employment (Lashmi and Kumar, 2012). These changes have a positive
impact on the tourism industry which experiences rapid development and increasingly competitive
(WTTC, 2013).
The historical research shows that a number of scholars have been interested in understanding the
nature, predictors, and consequences of employee commitment towards an organization.
Organizational commitment is very important because when it is built, it would lead to various
favourable organizational outcomes. According to Chughtai and Zafar (2006), fostering
organizational commitment among employees is very essential, because employees who are highly
committed toward their organizations are likely to stay longer, have better performance, and they
tend to be highly involved at workplace. Moreover, committed employees show their loyalty and
become productive individuals in their organizations (Dey, Kumar, & Kumar, 2014). As a result, such
employees show positive attitude towards organizational goals and values and are likely to develop
positive work behaviour. Therefore, employee commitment is linked with several desirable
behavioural outcomes such as employee retention, presence, performance, quality of work, and
personal sacrifice for the best interest of the organization to make it successful (London, 1983;
Randall, 1990). Organizational commitment is regarded as a significant issue, particularly to the
management of organizations. This is because organizational commitment is linked with job
satisfaction and both are directly associated with organizational profitability and superior
competitiveness (Abdullah & Ramay, 2012).
Building organizational commitment is undoubtedly very important for all organizations, because
employees are the main sources for continued success and performance. Organizational
commitment has been defined previously as a psychological attitude that attaches an employee to
an organization in a manner that reduces his or her turnover intention (Allen & Meyer, 1990). The
most widely accepted definition for organizational commitment was proposed by Mowday, Porter,
and steer, (1982, p, 27) as “the relative strength of an individual’s identification with and
involvement in a particular organization and can be characterized by a strong belief in and
acceptance of the organization’s goals and values, willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf
of the organization and a strong desire to maintain membership of the organization”. The authors
added that commitment is revealed through an employee’s willingness to work effectively in an
organization and his intention to keep the relation without intending to switch to others (Mowday
et al., 1982).
Men (2015) defined employee engagement as “the level of involvement, interaction, intimacy, and
influence an individual has with a brand over time…a person’s participation with a brand, regardless
of channel, where they call the shots”. According to Harter et al. (2002), employee engagement is
very important to achieve useful business performance outcomes for different organizations. The
authors demonstrated that it is necessary that organizations engage their employees, as it has been
found that organizations with an engaged employees have higher levels of customer satisfaction
and loyalty, more productive, more profitable than those of less engaged employees (Harter et al.,
2002). Ortiz, Lau and Qin (2013) also urged to nurture the concept of employee engagement as
disengagement decreases the enthusiasm and commitment of employees to their organizations.
Consequently, low levels of engagement levels have a negative effect on employee commitment
and retention. Siddhanta et al. (2010) indicated that a well-performing organization comes from its
ability to ensure healthy, motivated and committed workforce through engagement.
t Contrary to the theory and research on employee engagement in the western countries, less
consideration has been given to the importance of employee engagement in Asian countries
wherein its need is felt more. As more and more companies in Asia realize the importance of a
productive workforce,.
Employees are a crucial stakeholder group for organizations to develop and maintain positive
relationships with, given their job roles within organizations and their ability to shape how outsiders
view firms (Grunig, 1992; Jo & Shim, 2005; Kim & Rhee, 2011). In recognizing employees’ strategic
importance, many organizations create systematic communication programs involving frontline
managers, executives, and corporate communication teams for the express purpose of keeping
employees apprised of organizationwide issues and individual-level matters (Rhee & Moon, 2009;
Welch & Jackson, 2007). When organizations provide information about individual job roles and the
organization’s broader operations to employees, employees are likely to work hard (Mishra,
Boynton, & Mishra, 2014), advocate for the organization to others (Kim & Rhee, 2011), and
maintain a strong overall relationship with the organization (Welch & Jackson, 2007). Against this
backdrop, employee communication1 is recognized as a subarea of public relations practice that is
important for shaping employee-organization relationships (EOR) and for enhancing workplace
productivity (Grunig, 1992; Men, 2014). Two crucial outcomes may emerge in response to
organizations’ relationship cultivation efforts with employees: job engagement (Ruck & Welch,
2012; Saks, 2006) and employee commitment to their employing organization (Mishra et al., 2014;
Ni, 2007). A focal point in a significant body of organizational psychology research (for a review of
this literature, please see Schaufeli, 2013), work engagement (and the related term that this study
uses, job engagement) is best understood as a positive and fulfilling state of mind characterized by
dedication, vigor, and absorption at work (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004; Schaufeli, Bakker, & Salanova,
2006). This engagement is about becoming engrossed in work and feeling invigorated by the task at
hand (Schaufeli et al., 2006). Although commitment (along with trust, control mutuality, and
satisfaction) is one of the frequently cited indicators of perceived EOR quality in public relations
(see for example Kim, 2007; Kim & Rhee, 2011; and Men, 2014), a review of the literature suggests
engagement’s role in EORs is relatively underexplored. This is an oversight, as research has
demonstrated that job engagement is a predictor of longer-term organizational commitment (Saks,
2006). To understand what may drive organizational commitment, it is thus crucial to examine
job/employee engagement (Schaufeli, 2013).

The concept of employee engagement was developed by Kahn (1990) through ethnographic data
collected in an architectural firm and in a summer camp. He defined employee engagement as: “the
harnessing of organization members’ selves to their work roles; in engagement, people employ and
express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances” (Kahn, 1990,
p. 694). Macey and Schneider (2008) presented a comprehensive analysis of all the relevant
elements that define engagement: trait engagement (e.g. individual personality traits); work
involvement (e.g. satisfaction, involvement, empowerment); and organizational citizenship (e.g.
extra-role behavior, proactivity, role expansion). Hence, they have presented all the critical
concepts that have been associated with the employee engagement concept. Research on
employee engagement has explained the experience of the phenomenon (Macey and Schneider,
2008; Shuck and Reio, 2014) and the expected outcomes of highly engaged employees (Konrad,
2006; Rich et al., 2010; Binsiddiq and Alzahmi, 2013). The Gallop organization, for instance, in a
landmark study, found that employee engagement was significantly related to better organizational
performance; higher satisfaction, profitability and productivity; and reduction in employee
turnover. Similarly, Badal and Harter (2013) found that an engaged workforce culture may result in
a cumulative financial performance to organizations as compared to firms that do not have an
engaged workforce.
THEORETICAL Bckground
 This study is guided by relationship management theory (Ledingham, 2003, 2006) and the focus in
the public relations literature on EORs (Jo & Shim, 2005; Kim, 2007; Kim & Rhee, 2011; Men, 2014;
Shen, 2011). Relationships consist of antecedents to relationship formation (such as social and
cultural norms), relationship cultivation strategies and communication, and relationship outcomes
(Broom, Casey, & Ritchey, 1997). In this light, relationships are the dynamic results of exchanges
between an organization and the various internal and external-facing groups that depend on the
organization (Broom et al., 1997; Ledingham, 2003). This applies to internal audiences and EOR
management, where organizations actively cultivate relationships with employees and seek to
maintain these relationships over time (Jo & Shim, 2005). This relational perspective with
employees relates to the classic view on symmetrical communication within organizations. When
organizations use employee-centered communication strategies and foster an internal climate built
upon cooperation with employees, they are likely to establish open, trusting, and credible
relationships with employees (Grunig, 1992; Grunig, Grunig, & Dozier, 2002).

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