Defining Employee Engagement in the Singaporean Context : A Single Case Study

Abstract

To date, there are no published studies that have investigated the employee engagement
phenomenon focusing on both managers and employees in a specific industry (construction)
within a uniquely Singaporean context. This study aimed to fill this gap by exploring how
managers and employees interacted to shape employee engagement in a small Singaporean
engineering construction firm. The findings were then compared to results of the Gallup Q12
global survey of employee engagement. This study was motivated by four research questions
directed at examining how selected managers and employees perceived the EE construct; then
comparing the similarities and differences of the responses of these two occupational groups;
and lastly, comparing the results of the current study with the scores from 195 countries of the
international Gallup Q12 poll of employee engagement including that of Singapore.
The current research was based on an in-depth case study of an engineering firm in Singapore
using a post-positivist mixed method approach that collected both quantitative (survey) and
qualitative data (interview) from managers and employees to explore the EE construct in a
balanced and thorough manner. The researcher developed a holistic model to explain and
summarize how both occupational groups interacted to influence engagement based on the
Job Demand-Resources (JD-R) theory and the themes that emerged from the study. The
findings from the research suggested that EE was jointly shaped by both managers and
employees through the use of job resources, manager’s job satisfaction, and related negative
factors.
Among several unique findings that may contribute to the EE literature was the importance of
team work as a component of EE that may be idiosyncratic to the culture of Singapore.
Moreover, data from this research informed that the subject firm's employee engagement level
was significantly higher than the aggregate employee engagement scores for both Singapore
and Gallup Q12's entire database of surveys - findings that suggest the need for more research
using a case study approach to understanding how managers and employees perceive EE in
the workplace.

Date of Award	2019
Original language	English
Supervisor	Sharon Eng (Supervisor) & Deborah Blackman (Supervisor)