Relationship between Employee Engagement, Job Satisfaction, Career Satisfaction, Turnover

Intention, and Organizational Commitment amongst Professional Engineers Employees

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DOCTOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
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by

MORRIS TUNDE OGUNLEYE

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May 2020
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A Comparative Case Study on Knowledge Transfer During Change Management Projects in Manufacturing Organizations

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Abstract

Globalization and the recruitment of talented workers is continuing to develop, with employee

retention and commitment being two leading challenges confronting both private and public

organizations today as a result of unexpected talent migration. The specific business problem is

that professional engineer (PE) business leaders do not understand the role that engaged,

satisfied, and committed PE employees contribute to organizational success. The purpose of this

quantitative, non-experimental cross-sectional study was to determine if a relationship exists

between employee engagement, job satisfaction, career satisfaction, turnover intension, and

organizational commitment. The independent variables (IV) are: employee engagement,

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employee job satisfaction, and employee turnover intention, with employee organizational
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commitment used as the dependent variable (DV). The targeted population used in this study was

1,300 professional engineers (PE) who were members of the Illinois American Society of
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Heating and Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ILASHRAE), and consisted of

mechanical engineers, project engineers, safety engineers, construction engineers, and senior-
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level engineering managers. Data were collected with the use of a survey administered to

participants using the Survey Monkey online platform. The survey consisted of 45 questions

used to determine the measured impact of employees’ engagement, job satisfaction, career

satisfaction, turnover intention, and organizational commitment. Measures included in the survey

were verified for reliability (i.e., internal consistence) and validity compared to prior studies.

Bivariate correlation and multiple regression analyses were performed in SPSS. Bivariate analyses

were performed to examine the relationships between the independent and dependent variables.

Employee engagement was found to be positively and significantly correlated with career

satisfaction (r (35) =.488, p <0.01) and turnover intention (r (35) =.322, p <.0.01), but not job

satisfaction (r (35) =.292, p >.05). Regression analysis showed that employee engagement
 4

remained positively and significantly correlated with organizational commitment (B = .294, t =

2.40, p <.05) when PE employees’ job satisfaction, career satisfaction, and turnover intention

were taken into account. Turnover intention was negatively and significantly (B = -.332, t = -

3.72, p <.01) correlated with organizational commitment when employee engagement, job

satisfaction, and career satisfaction were taken into account. In conclusion, it is hoped that the

findings of this study is believed to nurture better leadership practice within the private and

public engineering establishments, as well as to prevent professional engineers from leaving their

respective organization.

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Acknowledgements

First, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my dissertation chair, Dr. Butler who

provided feedback respectfully and in a timely manner. I could not have reached to this level

without your guidance, support, and mentorship throughout the entire duration of this dissertation

process. Also, thanks to Dr. Brian Allen, subject matter expert and Dr, Leila Sopko, for their expert

advice and guidance leading to the successful completion of this dissertation. I thanks God for

giving me strength and good health to reach this elusive milestone. I always believed that as long

as you are committed to a goal, willing to sacrifice for it, and you are given a chance, success is

possible. Additionally, I would like to thank the IIinois Chapter of the American Society of Heating

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Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers, Incorporation executive members, Kevin Summers
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(Point of Contact for Student Activities) and Mallory Schaus (Executive President) for allowing

me to use their members for completing my dissertation survey with great enthusiasm. Special
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thanks to all my friends and family for helping me survive all the stress from my dissertation

journey and not letting me give up. Also, thanks to my former advisor Dr. Ying Kong, who offered
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alternatives when I felt stuck and frustrated during my dissertation journey. I would like to extend

many thanks to Dr. Kevin Hylton, my friend and coach for his candid and honest advice throughout

my dissertation journey. Finally, I sincerely thank Kerry Lee, my editor for her understanding and

encouragement throughout my dissertation journey.

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................. 10

Statement of the Problem .......................................................................................................... 12
Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................................. 13
Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................................. 14
Nature of the Study ................................................................................................................... 16
Research Questions ................................................................................................................... 18
Significance of the Study .......................................................................................................... 19
Definitions of Key Terms ......................................................................................................... 20
Summary ................................................................................................................................... 21
Chapter 2: Literature Review ........................................................................................................ 23

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Documentation .......................................................................................................................... 23
Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................................. 24
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Leadership and Leadership Styles of Business Managers ........................................................ 29
Generational Cohorts ................................................................................................................ 35
Employees Engagement ............................................................................................................ 37
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Implication of Engagement for Professional Engineers Employees......................................... 41
Employees’ Job Satisfaction ..................................................................................................... 42
Implication of Job Satisfaction for PE Employees ................................................................... 47
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Employee Career Satisfaction ................................................................................................... 49

Implication of Career Satisfaction for PE Employees .............................................................. 51
Employees Turnover Intentions ................................................................................................ 52
Implications of Turnover Intention for PE Employees ............................................................. 55
Employees Organization Commitment ..................................................................................... 57
Implications of Organization Commitment for PE Employees ................................................ 61
Knowledge Management .......................................................................................................... 62
Implications for Knowledge Management for PE Employees ................................................. 65
Summary ................................................................................................................................... 66
Chapter 3: Research Method ......................................................................................................... 69
Research Method and Design ................................................................................................... 71
Population and Sample ............................................................................................................. 73
Materials/Instrumentation ......................................................................................................... 74
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Operational Definitions of Variables ........................................................................................ 78

Study Procedure ........................................................................................................................ 80
Data Collection, Processing, and Analysis ............................................................................... 81
Assumptions.............................................................................................................................. 83
Limitations ................................................................................................................................ 84
Delimitations ............................................................................................................................. 85
Ethical Assurances .................................................................................................................... 85
Summary ................................................................................................................................... 87
Chapter 4: Findings ....................................................................................................................... 89
Results. ...................................................................................................................................... 89
Evaluation of Findings ............................................................................................................ 102
Summary ................................................................................................................................. 103

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Chapter 5: Implications, Recommendations, and Conclusions .................................................. 105
Implications............................................................................................................................. 106
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Recommendations for Practice ............................................................................................... 115
Recommendations for Future Research .................................................................................. 118
Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 119
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References ................................................................................................................................... 121
Appendix A: Demographic Questionnaire.................................................................................. 171
Appendix B: Permission to use UWES-9 Questionnaire ............................................................ 172
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Appendix C: Work and Well-Being Questionnaire .................................................................... 173

Appendix D: Permission to use the (JSS) Questionnaire............................................................ 175
Appendix E: Job Satisfaction Questionnaire .............................................................................. 176
Appendix F: Permission to use the Career Satisfaction (CS) Questionnaire .............................. 177
Appendix G: Career Satisfaction Questionnaire ......................................................................... 178
Appendix H: Permission to use the Turnover Intention (TI) Questionnaire .............................. 180
Appendix I: Turnover Intention Questionnaire........................................................................... 181
Appendix J: Permission to use the (OCQ) Questionnaire .......................................................... 182
Appendix K: Organizational Commitment Questionnaire ......................................................... 183
Appendix L: Authorization to use Organizational Commitment Questionnaire ........................ 185
Appendix M: IRB Approval Letter ............................................................................................. 186
Appendix N: IRB Approval Letter Continue .............................................................................. 187
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List of Tables

Table 1 Demographic Characteristics ................................................................................................. 92

Table 2 Descriptive Statistics ............................................................................................................. 93

Table 3 Scale Reliabilities .................................................................................................................. 95

Table 4 Correlation Matrix among Independent and Dependent..................................................... 101

Table 5 Multiple Regression Coefficients of Employee Engagement, Job Satisfaction, Career

Satisfaction and Turnover Intention on Organization Comment ………………………………… 101

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List of Figures

Figure 1. Homoscedasticity Scatterplot ............................................................................................. 96

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Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter provides an overview of the study using a sample of professional

engineering (PE) employees from various organizations who are members of the Illinois Chapter

of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc

(ILASHRAE). This study sought to examine the relationships between employee engagement,

employee job satisfaction, employee turnover intentions, and organizational commitment within

(PE) organization. Due to the complexity of today’s global economy and increased

competitiveness, corporations and government agencies are changing their strategies to enhance

development of new professional engineering (PE) organizational leaders (Iqbal, Tufail, &

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Lodhi, 2015; Pradhan, Jena, & Kumari, 2016). This study is unique in addressing issues and
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solutions associated with PE employees’ engagement, job satisfaction, and turnover intention which

could limit organizational commitment.

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Background. Organizational commitment has become a dominant force for predicting PE

employees’ attachment to the organization (Glabdost & Rezaei, 2017). Committed (PE)

employees with higher level of organization commitment are an asset to the organization as they
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reduce labor turnover and bring high levels of productivity (Golabdost & Rezaei, 2017).

Employee engagement, job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and organizational commitment

within (PE) organization is a challenging issue in an era where organizations are struggling to

reduce the cost of both new PE employees’ recruitment and training (Saeed, Waseem, Sikander,

& Rizwan, 2014). Employee engagement has become one of the most desirable areas of study by

scholars and practitioners (Saks & Gruman, 2014). Employees play an important role by

providing sources of knowledge that foster innovation which ultimately improves an

organization’s bottom line and creates a lasting brand impression for the organization (Kumar &

Pansari, 2015). Furthermore, employee engagement promotes high levels of organizational

 11

commitment and productivity and also assists employee’s capacity for innovation (Kumar &

Pansari, 2015). Due to increasing competition, technological advancement, and globalization,

many organizations are choosing to invest heavily in well-trained employees who can contribute

to the organization’s bottom line (Agyemang & Ofei, 2013). According to Pitts, Marvel, and

Fernandez (2011), low job satisfaction and minimal organizational commitment are strong

predictions of employee turnover intention. Studies have revealed that individuals who are

satisfied and are committed to their work and organization are less likely to leave their job (Kim

& Kao, 2014).

In addition to the high cost of employee turnover, organizations suffer from the inability

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to execute strategic plans needed to implement new initiatives for new projects as well as to
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increase productivity (Shinwoo, Fernandez, & Chaeyoung, 2018). A disadvantage of employee

turnover is that the organization sometimes loses their competitive edge because they do not
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have sufficient resources to effectively increase their bottom line (Park & Jung, 2015). Focusing

on turnover intention among employees is crucial for any organization, and also serves as a
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prevention strategy aimed at addressing employee turnover intention before it happens (Park &

Jung, 2015).

Organizational employees who are fully engaged are often regarded as being loyal,

innovative, creative and customer-focused, and are willing to continue with the establishment.

Most importantly, these employees work harder to achieve organizational objectives (Iddagoda,

Opatha, & Gunawardana, 2016). Employee engagement has become a dominant force used by

many private and public establishments to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors.

Engaged employees are strong organizational assets in maintaining a competitive edge over

business rivals (Kashefi et al., 2013; Nguyen, Mai, & Nguyen, 2014).
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Employee organizational commitment and job satisfaction are popular research topics for

scholars in the field of human resources because these variables are known to be the most

important driving forces that determine organizational performance and effectiveness (Golabdost

& Rezaei, 2017). Job satisfaction describes how individual employees feel about their job, and

how they rate their work experience (Tripp, Riemenschneider, & Thatcher, 2016). Prior research

has demonstrated that a significantly strong relationship exists between employee organizational

commitment and employee job satisfaction; and that the career satisfaction of an employee

depends on how long they have been fully engaged with their establishment (Timms & Brough,

2013). Pan and Zhou (2013) suggested that employee career satisfaction increases if an

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organization supports employee career-management behavior.

Statement of the Problem

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According to Gallup estimation, in 2013 disengaged employees cost the United States
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economy about $450 billion per year in terms of lost productivity (Ruslan, Islam, & Noor, 2014).

Globalization and the recruitment of talented workers continuing to develop, with employee
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retention and employee commitment being two leading challenges confronting both private and

public organizations today as a result of unexpected talent migration (Das & Baruah, 2013).

The specific business problem is that professional engineer (PE) business leaders do not

understand the role that engaged, satisfied, and committed PE employees contribute to

organizational success (Albrect, Bakker, Gruman, Macey, & Saks, 2015). As the age of the

knowledge worker with a multigenerational workforce unfolds, employee retention becomes an

increasing concern for the engineering profession. The cost of labor for the retention of highly

skilled employees is affecting organizational strategy for long-term innovation and the chance to
 13

stay competitive over business rivals. However, few organizational managers understand the

overall concept of employee engagement and put it into practice (Albrect et al., 2015).

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental cross-sectional study was to determine

if a relationship exists between employee engagement, job satisfaction, career satisfaction,

turnover intension, and organizational commitment. The independent variables (IV) are:

employee engagement, employee job satisfaction, and employee turnover intention, with

employee organizational commitment used as the dependent variable (DV. The targeted

population in this study included 1,300 professional engineers (PE) who were members of the

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Illinois American Society of Heating and Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers
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(ILASHRAE), and consisted of respondents such as mechanical engineers, project engineers,

safety engineers, construction engineers, and senior-level engineering managers. Data were
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collected with the use of a survey administered to participants using the Survey Monkey online

platform. The survey consisted of 45 questions used to determine whether the measured impacts
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of employees’ engagement, job satisfaction, turnover intention, and organizational commitment.

A G*Power Version 3.1.9.2 software program was used to determine a minimum sample size of

PE members of ILAHRAE in the state of Illinois. A minimum of 47 participants was required to

achieve a power of 80% assuming linear multiple regression with a medium effect size of .15

and an alpha significance level of 0.05 (Faul, Erdfelder, Buchner, & Lang, 2009).

The goal of this research was to explore and understand the relationships among study

constructs with a .05 alpha level of significance (Byron, 2005). IBM’s Statistical Package for the

Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24 was used to perform univariate, bivariate, and multivariate

analyses to determine the relationships between the independent (i.e., employee engagement, job
 14

satisfaction, turnover intention) and dependent (i.e., organizational commitment) variables.

Multiple correlations and regression analyses will be used to determine the magnitude of the

relationship between the independent variables and study outcome.

The social exchange and demand theory guide explanation of the relationship between employee

engagement, job satisfaction, turnover intention, and organizational commitment (Albrect et al.,

2015). Furthermore, the importance of social exchanges between business leaders and employees

cannot be ignored because they are both dependent on each other’s exchange of resources

(Bordia, Restubog, Bordia, & Tang, 2017).

Theoretical Framework

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The social exchange theory (SET) and the job demands-resource (JD-R) theory served as
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the theoretical framework for this study. The foundation of SET is the exchange of monetary and

non-monetary rewards between the employee and the organization which promote feelings of
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trust, obligation, shared values, and long-term focus (Slack, Corlett, & Morris, 2015). Ralph

Waldo Emerson, an American philosopher and poet, was the first the first to introduce SET in
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1958 (Bordia et al., 2017). The SET supports the necessity of this study in explaining the

relationships between employee engagement, job satisfaction, and turnover intention on

organizational commitment. In addition, the SET between business leaders and employees

depends on the exchange of resources (Bordia et al., 2017).

Social exchange theory has been used widely across the globe by many organizations in

understanding member relationships (Osman, Noordin, Daud, & Othman, 2016). The overall

concept of SET is straightforward; studies have shown that at one time or another, a majority of

the most notable topics in organizational behavior originated from SET (Cropanzano & Mitchell,

2005). Social exchange theory also relates to mutual understanding of workplace behavior in
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terms of employee’s relationship with their employers through their interaction with each other

(Osman et al., 2016). According to Cropanzano and Mitchel (2005), people make social

decisions based on perceived costs and benefits. In a similar fashion, Andrew and Sofian (2012)

summarized that those who make decisions based on costs and benefits tend to be more

connected with one other.

Furthermore, study have also shown that employees will engage with and repay the

organization at different levels in response to the resources they receive (AbuKhalifeh & Som,

2013). On a similar note, Musgrove and Ellinger (2014) found that when organizations provide

necessary and effective work-related resources, their employees have increased engagement, job

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satisfaction, lower turnover intention, and higher commitment, which benefits the organization’s
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strategic goals and bottom line.

On the other hand, JD-R theory consists of work element and can be categorized into two
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group: job demands and job resources (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007).

Job demands. Job demands refer to the physical, social, or organizational aspects of the
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job that are sustainable and require physical and/or psychological effort associated with

physiological cost (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). For example, professional engineers are seen as

an occupational group with a high level of job demand based on their large, project-based

workloads and intense time pressure.

Job resources. Job resources refer to the physical, social, or organizational aspects of the

job that: (a) are functional in achieving work-related goals, (b) reduce job demands and the

associated physiological and psychological costs, and (c) stimulate personal growth and

development (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). Furthermore, job resources are drawn from the

organization, the work itself, and from internal and social relationships.
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Organizational commitment can be beneficial for both employees and organizations in

that it provides employee with (a) job security, (b) career advancement, and (c) rewards (Azeem,

& Akhtar, 2014; Mowday, Koberg, & McArthur, 1984). Engaged, satisfied, and committed

employee provides the organization with a competitive edge over its rivals, which increases their

overall bottom line (Nasomboom, 2014).

Engagement can be seen as a psychological and/or emotional state of mind as individual

employees are committed to their job and organization by displaying a positive connection with

both (Khalid, Khalid, Waseem, Farooqi, & Nazish, 2015). Employee job satisfaction has a

psychological connection with the feelings of individuals, which comes from individual job

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experience within an organization (Nasomboom, 2014). Research related to the impact of
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organizational, behavioral, and work environment factors on employee job satisfaction revealed

that environmental factors have a positive correlation with employee job satisfaction (Leite, de
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Aquiar Rodrigues, & Albuquerque, 2014). A higher employee turnover rate is bad in any

organization because it can affect the cost of doing business, decrease services, and the morale of
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the remaining employees of the organization (Strom, Sears, & Kelly, 2014).

Nature of the Study

A quantitative methodology was used for this study in order to understand the

relationship, if any, between employee engagement, job satisfaction, career satisfaction, turnover

intention, and organizational commitment required for the assessment of PE business leader’s

perceptions of each variable. Organizational commitment questionnaires (OCQs; Meyer & Allen,

1991) consisted of 15 items. The employee engagement survey consisted of 17 items and was

modified with the shorter version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) validated by

Schaufeli, Bakker, and Salanova (2006). The job satisfaction (JS; (Spector, 1995) questionnaire
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consisted of nine sub-scales, including salaries, fringe benefits, recognition, promotion,

communication, working conditions, nature of the job, supervision, and coworkers. Finally, the

turnover intention questionnaires consisted of four items proposed by Michaels and Spector

(1982). These constructs were measured using a seven-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly

disagree” (1) to “strongly agree” (5; Ismail, Mohamed, Suleiman, Mohamad, & Yusuf, 2011). In

this quantitative survey, participants were selected based on a random sample involving 47 PEs

who were members of ILASHRAE and consisted of respondents such as mechanical engineers,

project engineers, and senior-level engineering managers. To randomly select participants for

this study, a letter was sent to the president of the ILASHRAE chapter, and his or her

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professional staff informed potential participants regarding what the study is about and sought
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their permission to participate in the study.

After permission was granted by the president of ILASHRAE chapter, PEs were
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randomly selected and contacted via email to participate in the study. Study participation

included completion of an online survey which include a 15-item organizational commitment

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questionnaire, a 17-item employee engagement questionnaire, a 9 sub-scale item job satisfaction

questionnaire, and a four-item employee turnover intention questionnaire. Primary data were

collected through Survey Monkey, an online data collection tool. Each participant was emailed a

link to survey located on the Survey Monkey platform. Furthermore, reminder emails were sent

midway during the data collection process in other to increase participation rate. Data were

compiled in Microsoft Excel, processed, and analyzed using SPSS Version 23. This research

utilized a non-experimental cross-sectional design which is suitable for this kind of study

because its primary purpose is to determine if relationships exist between variables (Nimon &

Oswald, 2013). As opposed to correlational design, experimental design gives complete control
 18

to the researcher in terms of randomizing the participants’ treatment (Levy & Ellis, 2011).

Correlational design, on the other hand, makes sense as one cannot control the variable involved

to understand cause-and-effect relationship.

Research Questions

The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional study was to examine

the relationship, if any, amongst employee engagement, job satisfaction, turnover intention, and

organizational commitment among PEs who are members of ILASHRAE. The research

questions and subsequent hypotheses are as follows:

RQ1. What is the relationship, if any, between engagement and employees’ commitment

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to the organization?
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H10. There is no statistically significant relationship between engagement and

employees’ commitment to the organization.

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H1a. There is a statistically significant relationship between engagement and employees’

commitment to the organization.

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RQ2. What is the relationship, if any, between job satisfaction and employees’

commitment to the organization?

H20. There is no statistically significant relationship between job satisfaction and

employees’ commitment to the organization.

H2a. There is a statistical relationship between job satisfaction and employees’

commitment to the organization.

RQ3. What is the relationship, if any, between career satisfaction and employees’

commitment to the organization?

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H30. There is no statistical relationship between career satisfaction and employees’

commitment to the organization.

H3a. There is a statistical relationship between career satisfaction and employees’

commitment to the organization.

RQ4. What is the relationship, if any, between turnover intentions and employees’

commitment to the organization?

H40. There is no statistical relationship between turnover intentions and employees’

commitment to the organization.

H4a. There is a statistical relationship between turnover intentions and employees’

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commitment to the organization.
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RQ5. What is the relationship, if any, between employee engagement, job satisfaction,

career satisfaction, and turnover intentions and employees’ commitment to the organization?
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H50. There is no statistical relationship between employee engagement, job satisfaction,

career satisfaction, and turnover intention and employees’ commitment to the organization.
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H5a. There is a statistical relationship between employee engagement, job satisfaction,

career satisfaction, and turnover intention and employees’ commitment to the organization.

Significance of the Study

In this quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional study, the relationship, if any,

between employee’s organizational commitment, employee engagement, employee job

satisfaction, employee turnover intention, and organizational commitment amongst PEs who are

members of ILASHRAE was examined. Recent research suggested that organizational

commitment plays a crucial role in improving an organization’s effectiveness and success

(Nguyen et al., 2014). The study variables of employee engagement, job satisfaction, turnover
 20

intention, and organizational commitment contributes to the pool of information and knowledge

on the relationship of the variables. This research also expands upon these individual studies

with an examination of construct relationship and theory. Analysis of the specific constructs

could help organizational human resource senior management departments to implement

employee-friendly policies related to organizational commitment.

The significance of this study is important to determine the effects of employee

engagement, job satisfaction, turnover intention, on organizational commitment. Previous study

have focused on each of these areas, but few have focused on employee engagement, job

satisfaction, turnover intention, and organizational commitment related to PE members of

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ILASHRAE. A study by Miarkolaei and Miarlaei (2015) found that work climate characteristics
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had a statically significant correlations with job satisfaction, making an employee feel important,

giving them a sense of security and belonging, as well as having ownership in the organization
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mission, which offers them sufficient opportunity for advancement

Definitions of Key Terms

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This section defines or explains the key terms unique to understanding the relationship

between organizational commitment, employee engagement, job satisfaction, career satisfaction,

and turnover intention that may be applicable to various public organizations.

Employee engagement. Employee engagement is the method of commitment and

involvement, and benefits which employee has towards the organization (Anitha, 2014).

Employee job satisfaction. Employee job satisfaction is a pleasurable or positive

emotional state in an individual toward one’s job and job experiences, which eventually leads to

improved job performance (Mafini & Diodlo, 2014).

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Employee organizational commitment. Employee organizational commitment

establishes the relationship between the employee’s loyalty to their organization coupled with

long-term participation in the overall organizational goal and success (Albdour & Altarawneh,

2014).

Employee turnover intention. Employee turnover intention is a decision that employees

take to voluntarily give up their present job or seek employment with another organization

(Jehanzeb, Rasheed, & Rasheed, 2013).

Leadership. Leadership is a process whereby some individuals (i.e., leaders) influence a

person’s (i.e., followers) behavior and opinions which truly represent the changes that

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complement with the follower’s goals and objectives (Golabdost & Rezaei, 2017).
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Organization. An organization is a social entity designed as a deliberately structured and

coordinated activity system that helps people attain goals (Daft, 1998).
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Summary

The relationship between employee engagement, job satisfaction, turnover intentions and
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employee organization commitment among PEs who are members of ILASHRAE was examined

in this study. Globalization and competition among public sector and private organizations has

led to a need for researchers to focus more on leaders equipped to solve 21st-century workforce

issues such as employee engagement, job satisfaction, turnover intention, and employee

organizational commitment as suggested by various scholars (e.g., Khalid et al., 2015; Purba,

Ostrom, Born, & van der Molen, 2016). The literature does not provide a comprehensive

understanding of how these leaders affect employees in public organizations. Therefore, this

research attempted to address this gap in the literature in a study of the relationships between

employee engagement, job satisfaction, turnover intention, and organizational commitment.

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Globalization and competition are also responsible for many organizations’ decision to

change recruitment hiring policies for the 21st-century workforce (Alabar & Abubakar, 2013;

Ismail et al., 2011). The need for employee engagement was identified by most organizations as

an effective strategy to be implemented to increase organizational output (Alabar & Abubakar,

2013). Engaged employees often remain in their current job with an organization even when

facing challenges so that organizational goals are achieved (Alabar & Abubakar, 2013).

Individuals who are more committed to their career tend to be successful compared to

individuals who are less committed to their career. Job satisfaction is a strategy to determine the

overall development of an employee within the organization (Srivastava, 2013). In other words,

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employees with high level of job satisfaction feel that they are contributing positively to the

outcome of the organization.

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Chapter 2: Literature Review

The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional study was to

determine whether a relationship existed between employee engagement, job satisfaction, career

satisfaction, turnover intention, and organizational commitment among professional engineer

(PE) employees in Illinois in the United States. The following literature review provides details

about research documentation; social exchange theory (SET) and job demands-resources theory

(JD-R); the different managers’ leadership styles; generational cohorts of PE employees; and

background of independent variables: employee engagement, job satisfaction, career satisfaction,

turnover intention; and the dependent variable of employee organizational commitment. The

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implications of PE in relation to employee engagement, job satisfaction, career satisfaction, and
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turnover intention with organizational commitment are also discussed. Also reviewed is the

importance of knowledge management as it relates to PE’s employee engagement, job

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satisfaction, turnover intention, and organization commitment.

Documentation
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This study includes an examination of the literature that supports the research conducted.

The literature review includes searches for relevant articles published in peer reviewed journals

and professional publications within the last five years along with relevant similar works and

theories in this area. These electronic materials were accessed to search for peer-reviewed and

scholarly journals within the last five years with the exception of similar articles specific to the

research topic option and foundation documents. The main research tools used for conducting

this literature review included EBSCO databases, ProQuest, Science Direct, PsycTESTS,

PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, and SAGE Publications at Northcentral University library database

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