Developing a framework for employee engagement in large organisations in the Arabic Gulf Region by leveraging national culture.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to develop and validate a framework for large organisations in the Arab Gulf Region, especially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in order to improve employee engagement and thus improve business performance. This research is completed in three phases. First, a detailed literature review summarises what is known about employee engagement and national culture in the GCC region. Second, an industrial field study then asks experienced leaders in the region to comment on the key enablers and inhibitors of employee engagement to better understand the region-specific factors affecting employee engagement, and their relationship to local culture. The results of the industrial field study suggest a number of changes are required to customise the employee engagement literature beyond the extant literature to meet the needs of employees in the GCC region, including actions such as engaging leaders developing a personal relationship with their employees. These changes are brought together to create a revised framework for employee engagement in large organisations in the GCC. In the third phase of the research, these results are tested in two validation studies. The first is a survey with a large sample of employees in the region confirming that these revised enablers of employee engagement predict feelings of employee engagement, and perceptions of performance. The second is an industrial field experiment in which a treatment group reported feeling greater levels of engagement after changes were implemented by a company. This research finds support for a framework of employee engagement that is both consistent with existing literature confirming the importance of key enablers such as providing opportunities for employees to learn and grow, but also additions to the literature with more region-specific ideas such as accommodating Islamic practicalities. This research contributes to the literature on employee engagement in documenting differences in different regions, specifically in this case the GCC region. This is also the first study to link specific aspects of national culture (e.g., power distance) to employee engagement, as well as to specify the distinctions between the enablers, behaviours, and feelings of employee engagement.