The Relationship Between Engagement at Work and Organizational Outcomes (2016 Q12 Meta-Analysis: Ninth Edition)
verifiedrich profile · Gallup, Inc. (Q12 Meta-Analysis, 9th Edition) · 2016
Harter, James K.; Schmidt, Frank L.; Hayes, Theodore L.
How this was studied
A meta-analytic synthesis — it pools many primary studies rather than running a single design, so there is no single-study diagram.
What this article reports
The findings we extracted from this work, normalized into Principia’s relationship form (X → Y). Each feeds the synthesized models below.
employee engagement → productivity
employee engagement → customer satisfaction
employee engagement → absenteeism
employee engagement → employee turnover
employee engagement → customer loyalty
employee engagement → safety incidents
employee engagement → profitability
employee engagement → quality defects
Models this article informs
The meta-analytic priors this article contributes evidence to — its place in the broader synthesis.
employee engagement predicts absenteeism
employee engagement predicts business unit performance
employee engagement predicts customer loyalty
employee engagement predicts customer satisfaction
employee engagement predicts employee turnover
employee engagement predicts productivity
employee engagement predicts profitability
employee engagement predicts quality defects
employee engagement predicts safety incidents
In the authors’ words
The article’s own abstract.
Based on 7,939 business units in 36 companies, this study used meta-analysis to examine the relationship at the business-unit level between employee satisfaction-engagement and the business-unit outcomes of customer satisfaction, productivity, profit, employee turnover, and accidents. Generalizable relationships large enough to have substantial practical value were found between unit-level employee satisfaction-engagement and these business-unit outcomes. One implication is that changes in management practices that increase employee satisfaction may increase business-unit outcomes, including profit.
What the literature says about it
Attributed, open-access quotes from other works that cite this article, plus the citation-graph verdict tally. Corroborations and disputes, in one place — the honest-broker view.
supports “For instance, studies by Harter et al. (2002) and Salanova et al. (2005) have highlighted the influence of work engagement on customer satisfaction, service climate, employee performance, and customer loyalty, ultimately contributing to organizational financial performance.”
supports “Engaged employees, who find their work meaningful, demonstrate higher productivity, profitability, and customer satisfaction, as engagement is positively correlated with MW (Harter et al., 2002).”
supports “For instance, meta-analytic studies by Harter et al. (2002) and Christian et al. (2011) have consistently shown a strong positive correlation between employee engagement and various performance outcomes, including job performance and organizational profitability.”
supports “For instance, meta-analytic studies by Harter et al. (2002) and Christian et al. (2011) demonstrated a strong positive correlation between employee engagement and various performance outcomes, including job performance and organizational profitability.”
supports “For instance, studies by Harter et al. (2002) and Salanova et al. (2005) have highlighted the influence of work engagement on customer satisfaction, service climate, employee performance, and customer loyalty, ultimately contributing to organizational financial performance.”
supports “Engaged employees, who find their work meaningful, demonstrate higher productivity, profitability, and customer satisfaction, as engagement is positively correlated with MW (Harter et al., 2002).”
supports “Employee engagement is positively correlated with HRM practices, leading to increased productivity, client retention at a greater rate, reduced turnover, and higher profitability (Harter et al., 2002).”
supports “Engaged employees, who find their work meaningful, demonstrate higher productivity, profitability, and customer satisfaction, as engagement is positively correlated with MW (Harter et al., 2002).”
supports “Engaged employees, who find their work meaningful, demonstrate higher productivity, profitability, and customer satisfaction, as engagement is positively correlated with MW (Harter et al., 2002).”
supports “Harter et al. (2002) conducted a study of thirty-six organizations and found that workplace well-being is related to employee productivity and task performance as well as commitment and work engagement.”
supports “Specifically, work engagement is linked to better employeewell-being, health,(7) work performance(8) and organizational commitment(9) resulting in reduced turnover, sickness absenteeism, and disability pensions(10,11) and organizational productivity.(12,13) Since work engagement plays a crucial role in working life, research is needed to determine the resources that can boost work engagement.”
supports “…and service quality [68] and customer satisfaction [69], job satisfaction and customer satisfaction [70–72], engagement and customer loyalty [73] and customer satisfaction [74], positive psychological capital and customer orientation [75], and service quality and customer satisfaction [76].”
supports “…in the workplace (Macey & schneider, 2008; saks & gruman, 2014). extant literature documents that successful engagement of employees increases firm productivity and decreases employee turnover, thus contributing to firms’ financial performance (harter et al., 2002; sun & Bunchapattanasakda, 2019).”
supports “Currently, there is substantial evidence showing that employee engagement is associated with a variety of benefits, such as improved performance, performance, and productivity, as well as reduced absenteeism and turnover (Bakker & Demerouti, 2008; Harter et al., 2002; MacLeod & Clarke, 2009).”
supports “…ability to effectively measure engagement levels within organizations, playing a crucial role in understanding and enhancing workforce productivity (harter et al., 2002). this tool’s ability to distill complex aspects of workplace dynamics into actionable insights makes it invaluable for…”
supports “The meta-analysis by [24] illustrates a direct correlation between employee engagement, satisfaction, and positive business outcomes, including customer loyalty and financial performance.”
supports “Previous research shows that work engagement influences organizational outcomes, such as customer satisfaction (Harter et al., 2002), positive service climate, high employee performance, and customer loyalty (Salanova et al., 2005), organizational financial performance (Xanthopoulou et al., 2005),…”
supports “Currently, there is substantial evidence showing that employee engagement is associated with a variety of benefits, such as improved performance, performance, and productivity, as well as reduced absenteeism and turnover (Bakker & Demerouti, 2008; Harter et al., 2002; MacLeod & Clarke, 2009).”
supports “…and service quality [68] and customer satisfaction [69], job satisfaction and customer satisfaction [70–72], engagement and customer loyalty [73] and customer satisfaction [74], positive psychological capital and customer orientation [75], and service quality and customer satisfaction [76].”
supports “Harter et al. (2002) conducted a study of thirty-six organizations and found that workplace well-being is related to employee productivity and task performance as well as commitment and work engagement.”
supports “Moreover, engagement refers to the extent to which individuals are invested in a role or a task and is a crucial determinant of performance (Harter et al., 2002; Rich et al., 2010).”
supports “…there has been considerable interest in the concepts of burnout and work engagement, two subjective well‐ being constructs that have been linked to various outcomes such as performance, health, and citizenship behaviours (Ahola 2007; Halbesleben and Wheeler 2008; Harter, Schmidt, and Hayes 2002).”
supports “Hence, employee engagement contributes to positive job and organisational attitudes and helps reduce turnover intention and enhance employee performance in the workplace (Albrecht et al., 2015; Bailey et al., 2017; Harter et al., 2002).”
supports “Moreover, work engagement is associated positively with employee satisfaction (Schaufeli et al., 2008) task performance (Bakker, 2011; Bakker et al., 2008), and creativity (Bakker et al., 2020) related adversely to decrease turn-over (Harter et al., 2002).”
Ancillary research
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Assembled from Principia’s registry — bibliographic record, extracted effect sizes, the models they inform, and open-access citing literature.