Predictors of employee engagement in Malaysia national automotive companies, moderated by job demands and total reward / Akmal Latiff Ayob

As reported by Aon Hewitt, there are still a lot of countries including Malaysia in which their employee engagement score value was recorded below than global average score value that is at 65%. Malaysia employee engagement score values were recorded at 59% and 61% for the year 2017 and 2015 respectively. In Malaysia’s national automotive manufacturing companies, the issue of low-quality condition of new vehicles is potentially caused by non-engaged employees. In academic literature, Job Demand-Resource is the most widely used theory in employee engagement study. But, there are still a few gaps associated with the theory (i.e., inconsistency finding). In addressing the research gaps, this present study aimed to search for an answer as to what extent job-related variables (i.e., Job Characteristics, and Job Demands), personal-related variable (i.e., Positive Psychological Capital), and Environmental-organizational related variable (i.e., Total Reward) influence Employee Engagement. The relationships among the variables were explained using two selected theories namely Job Demand-Resource Theory and Self Determination Theory. To get the answers, this study adopted a positivism ontology, empirical epistemology, and hypothetico-deductive method. All employees in Malaysia’s national automotive manufacturing companies (i.e., Proton, Perodua, and Modenas) became the population due to the vision to transform Malaysia’s automotive industry to be one of the important components for our economy under National Automotive Policy (NAP) 2014. The unit of analysis was the employee which means the variables were measured at individual level. Quantitative data analysis was divided into two (2) phases. The first phase employed Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 22.0 which involved the process of data editing, coding, entering, screening, and conducting descriptive statistics. The second phase employed Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS Version 3.0 to test the hypothesis. The study findings revealed that to engage employees who work in Malaysia’s national automotive manufacturing companies, they need the employer to provide them a combination of Job-related variables, Personal-related variable, and Organizational-Environmental related variable in the workplace. Specifically, the employer needs to provide Job Characteristics regarding Job Identity, and optimal Job Demands with regard to Quantitative Job Demands and Emotional Job Demands. The combined effect between Job Identity and Quantitative Job Demands increased employees’ intrinsic motivation to engage. The employees’ intrinsic motivation also increased when the employer provided Emotional Job Demands, and a culture of recognition and appreciation (i.e., Non-financial reward) practiced in their workplace. It is also important to note that the findings suggest the need for an employer to employ employees with Positive Psychological Capital regarding Hope, Resilience, and Optimism as to engage the employees at work.