Factors affecting employee engagement: An empirical study office staff during covid 19 pandemic, 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

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

1

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.

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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

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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 talentsearch,

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.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................7

TABLE LIST..................................................................................................................8

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

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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 4 RESEARCH RESULTS ..............................................................................56

4.1 Sample description ..............................................................................................56

4.2 Descriptive statistical analysis ............................................................................56

4.3 Descriptive Statistics for quantitative variables..................................................58

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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 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ..........................................98

5.1 Conclusion...........................................................................................................98

5.2 Theoretical Implications......................................................................................99

5.3 Limitation and Future research ...........................................................................99

APPENDIX ................................................................................................................104

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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

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TABLE LIST

Chapter 2

Table 2.1: Summary Table (selecting hypotheses from previous literature) ...............29

Chapter 3

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 4

Table 4. 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

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Table 4.17: Result of the reliability assessment of Organizational Commitment scale

......................................................................................................................................70

Table 4.18: The result of KMO and Bartlett’s Test for independent variables............70

Table 4. 19: Eigenvalues and covariance deviations for independent variables..........71

Table 4.20: Result of independent factor analysis with Principal Varimax rotation

method ..........................................................................................................................71

Table 4.21: The result of KMO and Bartlett’s Test for independent variables............73

Table 4. 22: Eigenvalues and covariance deviations for independent variables..........73

Table 4.23: Result of independent factor analysis with Principal Varimax rotation

method ..........................................................................................................................74

Table 4.24: The result of KMO and Bartlett’s Test for independent variables............76

Table 4. 25: Eigenvalues and covariance deviations for independent variables..........76

Table 4.26: Result of independent factor analysis with Principal Varimax rotation

method ..........................................................................................................................77

Table 4.27: The result of KMO and Bartlett’s Test for independent variables............78

Table 4. 28: Eigenvalues and covariance deviations for independent variables..........79

Table 4.29: Result of independent factor analysis with Principal Varimax rotation

method ..........................................................................................................................79

Table 4.30: The result of KMO and Bartlett’s Test for independent variables............81

Table 4. 31: Eigenvalues and covariance deviations for independent variables..........81

Table 4.32: Result of independent factor analysis with Principal Varimax rotation

method ..........................................................................................................................82

Table 4.33: The result of KMO and Bartlett’s Test for independent variables............84

Table 4. 34: Eigenvalues and covariance deviations for independent variable ...........84

Table 4.35: Result of independent factor analysis with Principal Varimax rotation

method ..........................................................................................................................85

Table 4.36: The result of KMO and Bartlett’s Test for independent variables............86

Table 4. 37: Eigenvalues and covariance deviations for independent variables..........87

Table 4.38: Result of independent factor analysis with Principal Varimax rotation

method ..........................................................................................................................87

Table 4.39: The result of KMO and Bartlett’s Test for dependent variables...............89

Table 4.40: Eigenvalues and covariance deviations for dependent variables..............89

Table 4.41: The factor rotation matrix of the dependent variable................................90

Table 4. 42: Pearson correlation analysis.....................................................................90

Table 4. 43: Model summary table...............................................................................91