Exploring the antecedents of employee engagement

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between employee engagement and general management, performance management, reward management and transformational leadership. Design/methodology/approach A survey was distributed to a mid-sized energy company based in North America. A two-stage hierarchical multiple regression was performed. Employee engagement was the dependent variable, and the control variables of age and education were entered at stage one. In stage two, the four variables of general management, performance management, reward management and transformational leadership were included. Findings The findings revealed that the factors most predictive of employee engagement were reward management, followed by performance management, general management and transformational leadership. The only control variable predictive of engagement was age, where older employees reported greater engagement. Practical implications The study can offer practitioners more insight into employee engagement which in turn can help with employee related decision-making in their own individual workplaces. Originality/value The study contributes to the existing literature on human resource management by providing insights into the factors that contribute to employee engagement and corroboration that age is a contributing factor.