The engagement of academics at work : a research strategy

Employee engagement stems from a body of research focusing upon the ‘human’ aspect of production. Research has provided clear links between organisational investment in human capital and greater productivity. The term ‘engagement’ stems from the work of Kahn (1990) who distinguished between being engaged and disengaged at work. Since Kahn’s study, a number of other factors have been linked to engagement leading to an overlap and confusion of the definition. The aim of this paper is provide a research strategy to investigate the interrelated factors of employee engagement and the extent to which they contribute to engagement. From this, a more inclusive definition and theory of employee engagement may be developed using the Higher Education Sector as the testing ground.