Do Performance Goals and Development, Feedback and Recognition, and a Climate of Trust Improve Employee Engagement in Small Businesses in the United States?

Abstract

Small businesses are the predominant contributors to the U.S. economy, yet they face many challenges to remain competitive and sustainable. There are several reasons a small business could fail, including a lack of human resources, limited financial resources, competition, technological advancements, disaster, and globalization. Improving employee performance by getting them engaged and productive in their work is an issue that cannot be overlooked for small businesses to function and remain competitive. There is limited empirical evidence that explains the dimensions of performance management and employee engagement in small businesses. However, how small businesses sustain their long-term performance remains uncertain. This study sought to bring together two previously distinct constructs: overall employee engagement and overall performance management, characterized by performance goals and development, a climate of trust, and feedback and recognition. The research was correlational in nature. A survey was conducted to generate and analyze data gathered from 121 employees of small businesses located in the United States. A series of Pearson correlation analyses confirmed the existence of statistically significant positive relationships between employee engagement and each variable of performance management, namely performance goals and development, feedback and recognition, and climate of trust. Notwithstanding these positive correlations, a multiple regression model with the three performance management variables as independent variables and employee engagement as the dependent variable suggested that there was a statistically significant regression model F(3, 117) = 32.34, p < .001, R2 = .453, explaining 45.3% of the variability in employee engagement. Nonetheless, this model confirmed that the variables performance goals and development and climate of trust were not statistically significant in the model (p > .05). In other words, only the feedback and recognition variable was statistically significant in the regression model, suggesting that it explained most of the variability in engagement, including that already explained by the other two variables. Overall, the outcome of this study suggests that small businesses implementing performance management processes have more engaged employees. The conclusions drawn from these findings suggest that overall performance management and overall employee engagement contribute to small business productivity and organizational success.

Teleworking, Work Engagement, and Intention to Quit during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Same Storm, Different Boats?

“…On the other hand, emotional intelligence (i.e., self-emotion appraisal, others' emotion appraisal, and regulation of emotion), self-esteem, locus of control, decision authority, and workload were not significantly associated with work engagement. The results are consistent with previous empirical studies on emotional intelligence [56][57][58], skill utilization [63], and recognition [70,71]. These results are also consistent with the JD-R model, which postulates that individual and organizational resources are drivers of work engagement [72].…”

“…Finally, recognition is a socio-emotional reward that refers to the esteem received from significant others at work (e.g., colleagues, supervisors) and appreciation received related to achievement (e.g., positive feedback) [69]. It was established that recognition was associated with higher work engagement [70,71], as well as lower intention to quit [68] Individual and organizational characteristics have both been shown to be associated with work engagement when hindered and facilitated working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic [29]. However, we were unable to locate any study that specifically taps into the possible moderating role of work or individual characteristics (both important resources) on the relationship between teleworking, work engagement, and intention to quit since the start of the pandemic.…”

“…Indeed, resourceful work environments (e.g., characterized by recognition, decision authority, and skill utilization) foster the willingness to dedicate one's efforts and abilities to the work task [73]. A large body of research supports the association between work engagement [63,66,70,71], and employees' intention to quit [64,65,67,68]. Individual resources (e.g., self-esteem, internal locus of control) have been found to be associated with work engagement on a theoretical [72] and empirical level [46,47,51,[56][57][58].…”

Trajectories of Teleworking via Work Organization Conditions: Unraveling the Effect on Work Engagement and Intention to Quit with Path Analyses

“…Drawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory [35], teleworking could help to prevent a cycle of loss (i.e., a loss spiral) by influencing other work organization conditions and, ultimately, their effects on work engagement and the intention to quit. Indeed, it has been shown that work organization conditions are linked to WE [36][37][38][39] and IQ [40][41][42][43]. We also know from a previous study that teleworking is linked to lower WE and higher IQ through its impact on WE [9].…”

From the Balanced Measure of Psychological Needs (BMPN) to Employee Engagement: Indicators that Matter

“…Although employee engagement has both enjoyed and endured several definitions over the years (Tate, Lartey, & Randall, 2021), it is defined by Shuck and Wollard (2010) as "an individual employee"s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral state directed toward desired organizational outcomes" (p. 103). According to Kim, Kolb, and Kim (2013), "engagement might be viewed as a proactive and fundamental approach to organizational performance and sustainability" (p. 249).…”