Contextual factors : Work environment as a determinant of employee engagement

This paper addresses the lack of focus on the contextual factors that are claimed to play an important role as a determinant of engagement. Current research examining situational or contextual factors is fragmented and often considered in isolation. This paper gives emphasis to the primacy of ‘context’, arguing that the quality of the work environment (QWE) can be a significant determinant of engagement. It extends existing quantitative research by tackling the engagement issue from a broader perspective, using the HRM discipline, and testing a conceptual framework that captures the contextual and organisational factors affecting employee engagement. Based on the World Health Organisation’s ‘Healthy Workplaces Framework’, quantitative factor analysis of survey data confirms a positive relationship between work environment (QWE) and engagement. The findings suggest that adopting a HRM perspective to future engagement research will assist to broaden its scope and give primacy to contextual and environmental factors.