Employee engagement in Ghana’s higher education institutions: a systematic literature review

Abstract

Employee engagement has become a prominent topic in workplace discourse, particularly within academia, yet the academic literature on this subject remains relatively limited, especially in the context of Ghana. This paper seeks to address this gap by examining the factors contributing to employee engagement among academics and exploring their interrelationships for enhanced engagement of faculty. This was done through a comprehensive literature review, drawing on peer-reviewed journal articles, working papers, textbooks, and other relevant published sources, as well as online databases, including EBSCO Business Source Premier, Emerald Full Text, Google Scholar, Sci-Space, Science Direct, Sci-Hub, and Scopus. This study identifies key factors influencing employee engagement in higher education institutions as co-worker relationships, effective supervision, confidence in management, meaningful work roles, perceived organisational politics, organisational resources, effective leadership, and compensation and monetary benefits. The findings reveal a concerning trend of a higher number of disengaged or unengaged employees compared to those who are actively engaged. Furthermore, the consequences of employee engagement identified in the literature include job satisfaction, employee retention, and organisational citizenship behaviours, while challenges and barriers to engagement include poor management-union relationships, poor work environments, poor management practices, and inadequate communication. This paper contributes to the understanding of employee engagement in academia and provides insights for improving engagement levels in higher education institutions in Ghana.

Keywords: {'name': 'Employee engagement'}, {'name': 'Higher education institutions'}, {'name': 'Antecedent of engagement'}, {'name': 'Consequences of engagement'}, {'name': 'Impediment to engagement'}

Authors & affiliations

Lawrenda Adiasany
Affiliation not supplied

Crispen Chipunza
Affiliation not supplied

Lineo Dzansi
Affiliation not supplied

Samson Adewumi
Affiliation not supplied

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