Effect Of Work-Family Enrichment On Work Engagement

Work Engagement

Question:

Write an essay on systematic explanation of the methods employed in the research.

This section consists of systematic explanation of the methods employed in the research that involves the effect of work-family enrichment to work engagement. In preparation for this research, the suitable independent variables consist of different forms of work-family enrichment such as family support, job independence, colleague support as well as supervisor support. On the other hand, the dependent variable in this research is work engagement.

Conceptual framework

Based on the identified variables, the figure 1 represents the conceptual framework for this research.

Brief literature Review

Work engagement

According to Schaufeli & Salanova (2011) work engagement refers to an optimistic and a comfortable position of the mind at place of work that is demonstrated by vigour, passion and strong interest towards a particular job. In other words, work engagement deals with what the workers do on daily basis (Bakker, 2011). This feeling can be perceived as motivating as well as lively, a feeling that staffs are positive about their tasks thus ready to set aside some extra time to work on the allocated tasks.

 In line with Fong and Ng (2012) thinking, work engagement can be measured using three distinct aspects such as vigour, dedication towards work and absorption. These measurement aspects correspond to Utrecht Work Engagement Scale or UWES proposition. In regard to Vigour, it depicts work engagement as use of much energy levels and mental easiness while conducting duties at place of work. Work engagement is also depicted as willingness to apply extra effort in personal work as well as the urge to meet shortcomings (Tims, Bakker and Xanthopoulou, 2011).    Next, dedication entails a lot of involvement in a particular job and demonstrating some form of importance, strong interest, inspiration as well as seeming happily engaged in a specific task (Bakker, Albrech & Leiter, 2011). Lastly, absorption is manifested in the manner in which workers are totally involved and enjoy their work. This is manifested by focused mind and ease in concentrating as well as natural enjoyment of tasks.

Furthermore, there are myriad of factors that affect work engagement. These aspects include family support, the assistance other workers obtain from their workmates, job autonomy and the assistance that these employees receive from their supervisors.

 Firstly, family support is viewed from the perspective of family-work involvement (Zacher & Winter, 2011). In most cases, this aspect as a determinant of work engagement holds in a communist society. For instance, in Asian countries, family support is essential in giving out social support and love to the working population, young as well as older society members (Victor, Martin & Zubair, 2012). This leads to the first hypothesis:

H01: Family support does not significantly affect work engagement

Furthermore, Swanberg, McKechnie, Ojha and James (2011) assert that supervisors support influences work engagement. Particularly, Torrente, Salanova, Llorens and Schaufeli (2012) acknowledge that supervisor support results in enhanced work engagement since employees benefit from the informative support in terms of instructions as well as guidance which is vital in meeting the prerequisites of the work. The clear instructions enable an employee to understand the flow of work which creates enjoyment in the process of working. Hence, this leads to the second hypothesis:

Factors Affecting Work Engagement

H02: Supervisors support does not significantly affect work engagement

Moreover, Biggs, Brough and Barbour (2014) posit that colleague support strongly relates to good employee performance. In particular, colleague support assists employees manage stress successfully. In doing this, the workers are placed at a better position that relieves of problems associated with somatic systems that may result in rampant requests of sick-offs. Therefore, this leads to the third hypothesis:

H03: Colleague support does not significantly affect work engagement

According to Petrou, Demerouti, Peeters, Schaufeli and Hetland (2012) job autonomy has a positive relationship with work engagement. In this connection, high satisfaction and increased morale is achieved among workers in scenarios where there is job independence. When people are free from being monitored closely by the manager or bosses they feel part of the tasks they carry out and this makes them more comfortable. In addition, high job autonomy implies that workers are permitted to establish their individual plans. In different companies, job autonomy includes the tendency of workers making decisions of the way their tasks ought to be carried out.

H04: Job autonomy does not significantly affect work engagement

Measurement of the research variables

In this research, the researcher will use 5-point Likert scale to identify the employees’ opinions on the effect of supervisor support, colleague support, job autonomy and family support on work engagement. Under the 5-point Likert Scale, different numbers are allocated for different responses whereby 1 stands for strongly disagree, 2 stands for disagree, 3 stands for neutral, 4 stands for agree and 5 stands for strongly disagree (Heiko, 2012).

Research Plan

Research philosophy as well as design

The appropriate research philosophies for this study are constructivism as well as positivism. Frels and Onwuegbuzie (2013) describe constructivism as a philosophy that states that the participants ought to provide viewpoints which are highly influenced by their daily experiences. On this note, it holds to assert that the selection of research participants depends on the objectivity of the research which is achieved through the researcher selecting respondents that are professionals in the area of the study and are familiar with the research topic. It is on this premise that this research population was chosen. Secondly, the positivist philosophy acknowledges that any knowledge generated can be proved and substantiated using statistical tests. In this study, this philosophy will be used with the goal of knowing how family-work enrichment influences work engagement.

Furthermore, the study has chosen descriptive design. From the name, this design concentrates on describing the behaviour or features of the research variables alongside their impacts (Bryman & Bell, 2015). In this regard, the descriptive design stands out among all other designs as it is accurate and promotes organization of the research findings. According to Zikmund, Babin, Carr and Griffin (2012), descriptive research design is used alongside the questionnaires as it is concerned with explaining the characteristics of an individual or group. In this study, descriptive design is beneficial due to its advantages associated with time saving and minimal cases of bias. More so, it not only collects most relevant data for the research but also it demonstrates observable relationships among variables. In addition, it enhances conducting of the research on the section of target population and use of sampling techniques through administering questionnaires to identified group of participants (Bajpai, 2011). On this note, this research is concerned with the effects of family-work enrichment on work engagement in Chinese organisations.

Research approach as well as research strategy

The most relevant research approach is deductive. As Saunders (2011) explains, deductive research approach refers to the aspect of the researcher focusing on the previously formulated hypothesis for analysis. In other words, the conclusions derived from the analysis are only related to the hypothesis formulated before. This approach is advantageous as it relieves the researcher the burden of carrying out research which is not within the study scope, thus, saving a lot of time.

Furthermore, this research employs case study strategy as the most appropriate research strategy. Bryman & Bell (2015) asserts that case studies are researches conducted in a particular scope which in most cases is one or two organisations. This strategy is advantageous as it gives out a contextualised understanding of the ideas under investigation due to its nature of taking into consideration every organisational as well as industrial aspects in the study (Zikmund et al.,2012). This implies that the results obtained from case studies are thought to be more realistic as well as tailored to the organisation in comparison to the general survey which needs further modifications so as to reflect the unique characteristics of the company (Blumberg, Cooper & Schindler, 2014).   

Population as well as sampling approach

According to Saunders (2011) population is sometimes referred to as the universe which means all elements that are covered in the study area. In this study, the population which is also known as the universe are the research respondents who are employees in China. The rationale for preferring the employees is that they consist of a section of the population that is directly influenced by the aspects under investigation in the research apart from its proximity to the research topic. For this reason, these respondents are perceived to be knowledgeable regarding the study area.

In this study, sampling approach entails use of representative samples to gather relevant information in the research (Bryman & Bell, 2015). This approach is advantageous as it enhances fast as well as less cumbersome collection of data. In addition, the sampling frame is composed of the workers working with China Construction Bank. In this research, the sample will be drawn by application of convenience sampling method. This sampling method is regarded as the most appropriate in this research as it not only saves time but also aims at the most appropriate population. For this reason, the researcher is relieved from the trouble of having to walk unnecessarily while searching for specific respondents in the company. The sample size consisted of 100 employees which included the 40 employees from human resource department, 10 departmental managers and 50 junior employees from other departments.

Data collection

Furthermore, this research will employ questionnaires as data collection tool. This choice is appropriate as the respondents are perceived to be literate and are not within the same locality. Additionally, the questionnaires benefited the researcher as it is cheaper technique, quick as well as allows collection of data from different respondents at the same time (Zikmund et al.,2012). Bryman and Bell (2015) also noted that questionnaires are less strenuous   in cases that involve extensive data collection. Another advantage is that, questionnaires entail recording of the responses in written form thus making it easy for safe storage of the data while awaiting data analysis process. This implies that, the use of the questionnaires is accompanied by reduced uncertainties associated with data lose. The data collection process will commence by the researcher entering the head offices of China Construction Bank and interact with the employees that will be at their working desks. At this juncture, the researcher will take time to clarify the study goals and afterwards plead with the potential participants to provide their contributions to the study. Later, the researcher will give every employee that will be present a questionnaire and direct them to hand over to the researcher after filling them. In this research, the researcher expected to receive back 90 questionnaires out of hundred questionnaires that were issued. This implies that the research retrieval rate was ninety percent. Perhaps, this response rate was sufficiently significant to guarantee higher validity as well as reliability of the data collected.

Data analysis

Moreover, the researcher will employ quantitative research method in conducting data analysis. Hair, Wolfinbarger, Money, Samouel & Page (2015) assert that quantitative approach to data analysis is useful in studies that deal with data that have numbers. For this reason, the data collected will be converted into numerical form. Afterwards, the data will be input into the SPSS to facilitate the data analysis process. From this point, relevant commands will be executed through the SPSS and the summary of findings will be generated and presented in form of frequencies, descriptive statistics as well as correlation tables. Then, the regression analysis will be carried out to find out the effect of each independent variable on the dependent variable. Using t-statistics, the research hypothesis will be tested. The test will manifest either there is relationship between the research’s independent as well as dependent variable.

Pilot study or questionnaire pre-testing

According to Eriksson & Kovalainen (2015) pilot studies are tests which are done to promote clarity and autonomy of data gathering tool. In this context, the data gathering instrument is the questionnaire. These tests are essential in research that involves use of questionnaires as the answers that the respondents provide have been already determined. On this note, it is easy for the researcher to know whether a particular questionnaire item may give rise to unclear responses. As such, the researcher can make adjustments to enhance clarity of the questionnaires. In this study, the pilot study will be conducted on 5 students who were selected from human resource class. Their appointment will be on the premise that they are knowledgeable in matters pertaining the determinants of employee work engagement.

Research Ethics

Above all, the researcher will comply with all the necessary research ethics. Firstly, the researcher will obey the participant’s right associated with accessing useful information to the research (Miller, Birch, Mauthner and Jessop, 2012). To further this, the researcher will unveil possible information to those taking part in the research and specify their roles during the inquiry. Next, the research participants will be assured that there will be no disclosure of personal identities in the course of the research. This will be done by ensuring that no name of any participant will appear in the research report that will be prepared in the end of the research. In fact, this will help to curb cases of prejudice in providing responses, thus increasing the accuracy of the research findings. Besides, the researcher will ensure that none is forced to give out his/her perspectives on the research subject. This will be done by obtaining information from the respondents that confirm their participation before the real day of collecting data. In regard to the rights on the utilisation of the research information, the researcher will disclose to the participants that the data as well as the research report will form part of the literature related to the research topic. Also, the report will be useful among managers in decision making on the ways the productivity of the employees can be optimised.

Research Time Plan

Months in 2016	Dissertation Activity(parts)
1st Apr to 15th Apr	Refine the study objectives to match with research topic
16th Apr to 30th Apr	Commence studying as well as carrying out research before starting to write the literature review
1st May to 15th May	Confirm if the study area can easily be accessed
16th May to 30th May	Write Chapter one as well as prepare data collection tools
1st June to 15th June	Commence and complete writing chapter 3
16th June to 31st June	Carry out data collection activity
1st July to 15th July	Conduct data collection and commence preparing chapter 4
16th July to 30th July	Begin writing chapter 5 and go through all the completed chapters to correct the errors

References

Bajpai, N. (2011). Business research methods. New Delhi: Pearson Education India.

Bakker, A. B. (2011). An evidence-based model of work engagement.Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(4), 265-269.

Bakker, A. B., Albrecht, S. L., & Leiter, M. P. (2011). Key questions regarding work engagement. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 20(1), 4-28.

Biggs, A., Brough, P., & Barbour, J. P. (2014). Strategic alignment with organizational priorities and work engagement: A multi‐wave analysis. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35(3), 301-317.

Blumberg, B. F., Cooper, D. R., & Schindler, P. S. (2014). Business research methods. McGraw-hill education.

Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2015). Business research methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Eriksson, P., & Kovalainen, A. (2015). Qualitative methods in business research. London: Sage.

Fong, T. C. T., & Ng, S. M. (2012). Measuring engagement at work: validation of the Chinese version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale.International journal of behavioral medicine, 19(3), 391-397.

Frels, R. K., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2013). Administering quantitative instruments with qualitative interviews: A mixed research approach. Journal of Counseling & Development, 91(2), 184-194.

Hair Jr, J. F., Wolfinbarger, M., Money, A. H., Samouel, P., & Page, M. J. (2015). Essentials of business research methods. London: Routledge.

Heiko, A. (2012). Consensus measurement in Delphi studies: review and implications for future quality assurance. Technological forecasting and social change, 79(8), 1525-1536.

Miller, T., Birch, M., Mauthner, M., & Jessop, J. (Eds.). (2012). Ethics in qualitative research. London: Sage.

Petrou, P., Demerouti, E., Peeters, M. C., Schaufeli, W. B., & Hetland, J. (2012). Crafting a job on a daily basis: Contextual correlates and the link to work engagement. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33(8), 1120-1141.

Saunders, M. N. (2011). Research methods for business students, 5/e. New Delhi: Pearson Education India.

Schaufeli, W., & Salanova, M. (2011). Work engagement: On how to better catch a slippery concept. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 20(1), 39-46.

Swanberg, J. E., McKechnie, S. P., Ojha, M. U., & James, J. B. (2011). Schedule control, supervisor support and work engagement: A winning combination for workers in hourly jobs?. Journal of Vocational Behavior,79(3), 613-624.

Tims, M., Bakker, A. B., & Xanthopoulou, D. (2011). Do transformational leaders enhance their followers' daily work engagement?. The Leadership Quarterly, 22(1), 121-131.

Torrente, P., Salanova, M., Llorens, S., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2012). Teams make it work: How team work engagement mediates between social resources and performance in teams. Psicothema, 24(1), 106-112.

Victor, C. R., Martin, W., & Zubair, M. (2012). Families and caring amongst older people in South Asian communities in the UK: a pilot study.European Journal of Social Work, 15(1), 81-96.

Zacher, H., & Winter, G. (2011). Eldercare demands, strain, and work engagement: The moderating role of perceived organizational support.Journal of Vocational Behavior, 79(3), 667-680.

Zikmund, W., Babin, B., Carr, J., & Griffin, M. (2012). Business research methods. South Western: Cengage Learning.