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nt. J. Business Excellence, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2016 37
Copyright © 2016 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
Study of the relationship between employee
engagement and organisational effectiveness
Hadi Teimouri
Management Department,
University of Isfahan,
Isfahan, Iran
Email: Hadi_Teimouri@mang.ui.ac.ir
Maryam Goodarzvand Chegini
Management Department,
Islamic Azad University of Najafabad,
Isfahan, Iran
Email: m.goodarzvand@yahoo.com
Kouroush Jenab*, Sam Khoury and
Kim LaFevor
College of Business,
Athens State University,
300 North Beaty Street,
Athens, AL 35611, USA
Fax: 213-283-0898
Email: Kouroush.Jenab@athens.edu
Email: Sam.Khoury@athens.edu
Email: Kim.LaFevor@athens.edu
*Corresponding author
Abstract: The aim this study is to investigate the relationship between
employee engagement and organisational effectiveness. Two questionnaires in
relation to employee engagement and organisational effectiveness using
Parsons model were designed and distributed among 184 experts and managers
of Damavand Power Generation Management located in Damavand, Iran. The
participants were selected using a stratified sampling method. The finding
proves that there is a meaningful relationship between each of the six
dimensions of internal marketing, including organisational justice, rewarding,
training, employee participation, information sharing, job security and
organisational effectiveness. The data analysis shows that performance of
employee engagement programs in organisational justice, offering rewards,
training, employee involvement, job security, and information sharing affect
absorption and retention of employees and increases of their job satisfaction.
Employee engagement influences organisational effectiveness, if the employee
is viewed as a key stakeholder and internal customer of the organisation.
Knowledge of the methods of achieving organisational effectiveness through
employee engagement results in increased productivity and organisational
performance. Also, management is confident about the organisation’s situation.
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In addition, managers will reach a state of awareness in the field and be able to
apply the principles of the internal marketing in employee engagement, which
allows corporate planners to be able to design effective strategies.
Keywords: employee engagement; internal marketing; organisational
effectiveness; Parsons model.
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Teimouri, H.,
Chegini, M.G., Jenab, K., Khoury, S. and LaFevor, K. (2016) ‘Study of the
relationship between employee engagement and organisational effectiveness’,
Int. J. Business Excellence, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp.37–54.
Biographical notes: Hadi Teimouri is an Assistant Professor of Management
Department at Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics in the
University of Isfahan, Iran. He graduated in BSc, MSc and PhD levels in
University of Isfahan with the best degree. His fields of interest are human
resource management, organisational behaviour and strategic management. He
has published several books and research article in local and international
journals.
Maryam Goodarzvand Chegini received her Master in Business Management
on Marketing from Islamic Azad University of Najafabad, Iran, in 2013 and
Bachelor in Business Management from Payame Noor Univertsity of Qazvin,
Iran in 2009. One of her research activities is in the areas of organisational
effectiveness. One of her research interests is the human resource. It can be
noted her skills and proficiencies include online marketing, marketing strategy,
business process and marketing management.
Kouroush Jenab received his BSc from the IE Department at the Isfahan
University of Technology (1989), an MSc from the IE Department at Tehran
Polytechnic (1992), and a PhD from the Department of Mechanical
Engineering at the University of Ottawa (2005). He served as a Senior
Engineer/Manager in auto, and high-tech industries for 20 years. He joined
National Research Council Canada as a Research Officer. Currently, he is an
Adjunct Professor at Athens State University, AL., Education Chair of
SRE-Ottawa Chapter, and the VP of Journal and Conference Affairs – IAJC.
He has published over 100 papers in international journals and conferences
based on his experiences in industries.
Sam Khoury is currently an Assistant Professor of Management at Athens State
University. He has over 27 years of experience in information technology and
is the former founder and president of SAMIR Systems, Inc., a privately held
company specialising in academic software development and support. He has
published extensively in the areas of logistics, organisation development,
information technology, and automation of academic processes.
Kim Lafevor is currently the Dean of the College of Business at Athens State
University. She has over 29 years of experience in human resource
management and is a retired Personnel Director from General Motors. She has
taught collegiately for 23 years at both the undergraduate and graduate level
specialising in the areas of advanced human resource practices, labour relations
and employment law. Her research interests include the advancement of
employment and labour relations issues, recruitment and selection, performance
management, total rewards and compensation, and leadership development.
She acquired HR certification through the Human Resource Certification
Institute (HRCI) in 1991.
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1 Introduction
The process of globalisation and the speed of technological advances have led to rapid
market changes (Stoian et al., 2012). Challenging markets of the future requires enough
readiness for an informed and rapid reaction (Kotler, 1991). Harmony with these
environmental changes requires the use and benefit of all resources and organisation
facilities, especially manpower. Manpower is a crucial and distinct factor for the success
of the organisation (Pfeffer, 1994) or is necessary to create a sustainable competitive
advantage (Rosenbluth and Peters, 1998; Vasconcelos, 2008). Also, Samarrokhi et al.
(2014) studied the appropriate operations strategies that could bring sustainable
competitive advantage. Operations strategies can be divided into four subcategories:
low-cost leadership, quality differentiation, service differentiation and innovation
differentiation. Since the corporate business climate is dynamic and challenging, it
requires that they insulate and sustain the desired corporate culture of engagement, which
can be accomplished only through the successful implementation of internal marketing
strategies (Roberts-Lombard, 2010).
Creation of an employee engagement strategy suggests that organisations should have
a positive relationship with their employees. This is possible if the organisation focuses
on aspects such as understanding the feelings of employees, management of employees,
providing services and personal products to employees, and establishment of long-term
relationships with employees (Roberts-Lombard, 2007; Jenab and Stub, 2014). As a
result, they can attract and maintain a suitable combination of employees that present the
best value at all times (George, 1990). In fact, management’s performance will not be
effective alone. Various operations and people with different skill sets should be actively
involved in creating and delivering services and products. All of these have a major
impact on the final result (Ahmed and Rafiq, 2003; Chang and Chang, 2008;
Roberts-Lombard, 2010). Therefore, there is no doubt that without proper human
resources, the best strategy will fail (Glassman and Mcafee, 1992; Vasconcelos, 2008,
Teimouri et al., in press). A 2008 Gallup study conducted in the USA revealed a reported
loss of $350 billion related to poor performance by disengaged workers (Smith, 2009). It
is ultimately the responsibility of senior management to create and foster a healthy
culture of employee engagement through instilling values, cultural norms, and
organisational commitment to support its framework (Smith, 2009).
As mentioned above, the employee internal market within the organisation that
creates employee engagement is dependent on the organisation’s ability to successfully
fulfil these internal customers’ needs. If they are to be successful, they must strive to
meet organisational goals since achieving organisational goals is directly related to
organisational effectiveness. It is also important to realise that employees are the main
factors and an asset that is critical to organisational success. Therefore, given the
importance of human capital, this study has been planned with the aim of exploring the
relationship between internal marketing and organisational effectiveness.
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2 Literature review
2.1 Internal marketing
Over the past 100 years, marketing has gone through several stages of evolution (Wilkie
and Moore, 2003; Stoian et al., 2012). Now the new marketing paradigm has paid more
attention to the beneficiaries, rather than solely focusing on customers (Girod, 2005).
According to Carruana and Calleya (1998), successful marketing can only be
implemented if the company in addition to communication and interaction with the
external market also interacts with the internal market (Bellaouaied and Gam, 2011). The
internal market of a business includes the employees. This market is constantly affected
by the ability of employees and the members’ cooperating as a unit to achieve
organisational goals. In fact, the employees can be considered as the internal producers
(distributers) and business customers (Voss et al., 2005), which is similar to external
customers (Ahmed and Rafiq, 2003).
Berry (1981) defines internal marketing as a management philosophy that employees
are considered as internal customers and jobs as internal products in it. Furthermore, they
attempt to meet the demand of internal customers, while the organisational goals are
considered (Awwad and Aghti, 2011). This concept is considered as a way to make
organisational values, that can be leveraged to create a positive workspace atmosphere
(Naude et al., 2003), lead to organisational and marketing success (Lings and Greenley
2009, 2010; Peltier et al., 2013). Actually, it can be argued that it is a factor which is vital
for success of a philosophy of internal marketing within each trade, is a set of common
values that is understood by all employees, and is shared across all levels (Harwood et al.,
2008; Roberts-Lombard, 2010).
Naude et al. (2003) understands internal marketing as being an effort to reflect, to
communicate, and to interact with all employees in order to achieve an increase in the
efficiency level and customer satisfaction. Meanwhile, Michon (1988) offers another
definition where he states that internal marketing is a marketing approach that allows for
the creation and promotion of the ideals and effective values for organisations by
establishing good communication with employees in the organisation so as they have a
free choice (Bellaouaied and Gam, 2011). Essentially, internal marketing includes all
management activities and actions that an organisation does in order to encourage and
support an organisation’s employees and stakeholders within the organisation (Schultz,
2004).
The importance and growth of internal marketing strategy and business management
are well documented, although internal marketing is an evolving concept. One of the
most comprehensive definitions that has made an important contribution in recent years
was presented by Ahmed and Rafiq (2002): Internal marketing is a planned effort using
an approach like marketing in order to motivate employees to implement and integrate
organisational strategies into the customer’s (Grayson and Sanchez-Hernandez, 2010).
Also, Bach et al. (2009) presented an introduction over internal marketing in network
environments. Also, they demonstrated an integrative perspective to emphasise the need
for the integration of academic knowledge and business practice to the benefit of both.
As evident in the literature, the concept of internal marketing has numerous
definitions. Considering these definitions, it appears that the purpose of internal
marketing is to enable involvement of employees in organisational missions to address
strategic objects and to help employees understand and value organisational goals
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(Gilmore, 2000). Furthermore, an improvement of internal relations can lead to
improvements in a company’s efficiency and productivity, since employees are
considered as internal customers (Helman and Payne, 1992).
2.2 Organisational effectiveness
Since organisations are operating in noisy environments, measurement of their
effectiveness is vital (Balser and McClusky, 2005). Scientists and researchers in
organisational science, admit the main issue in organisational theory is related to
organisational effectiveness (Biswas, 2010; Goodman and Pennings, 1977). Levine and
Minton (1986) state that organisational effectiveness has been a common research subject
for more than a century in the research of management and organisation design.
However, no universal theory has been developed. This construction of effectiveness,
however, is located deeply in the organisational literature (Erkutlu, 2008). Effectiveness
obtained via activities that are expected to be useful for increase of performance (Eden,
2002; Hunt and Duhan, 2002; Walters and Rainbird, 2004; Zelbst et al., 2012) potentially
increase the performance we obtain. In fact, organisational effectiveness can be realised if
internal marketing of employee engagement is the main strategy of the organisation
(Ashraf and Abd Kadir, 2012; McCann, 2004).
Organisational effectiveness is the extent to which an organisation clarifies its
purposes using a particular resource without unnecessary waste and disregard of its
members and the community (Erkutlu, 2008). In contrast, effectiveness is the extent to
which an organisation realises its goals (Yang and Maxwell, 2011). According to
Robbins (2001), the effectiveness of the organisation is the amount of short and
long-term goals in regard to the stakeholders’ expectations, personal interests of
participants, and the level of organisational life (Biswas, 2010).
Amah and Ahiauzu (2013) understand organisational effectiveness as focusing on the
capacity to access resources from their surroundings. As it was observed in the literature,
it is shared by all definitions. Furthermore, organisational effectiveness is related to some
issues, such as the organisation’s ability to access resources and absorption of resources
and thus access to organisational objectives (Federman, 2006).
2.3 Hypotheses development
Internal marketing activities leading to employee engagement are critical to achieving
performance and organisational effectiveness (Ballantyne, 2000). In order to achieve
organisational effectiveness through an internal marketing mechanism, organisations
require promotion of qualitative and quantitative levels in their employees. This will
ensure their survival in today’s competitive market. There remains the contention that in
order to achieve this goal, there is a definite need to explore the various components that
make up the internal market. Each of these criteria will be described in the following
sections.
2.4 Organisational justice
The rationale for the emphasis and regarded importance of justice for individual workers
is that it ultimately allows them to maximise their personal gains. People believe that fair
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procedures will ultimately lead to valuable results for them and therefore they value these
procedures (Cole and Flint, 2004). Cohen-Carash and Spector (2001) contend that when
an individual feels there is no justice distribution of procedures in an organisation, or
procedural justice, the individual reflects negatively on the business outcome or result.
This negative reaction can have undesirable influence on other organisational members
and their performance within the organisation, resulting in lacklustre discretionary efforts
(Kataria et al., 2012). Colquitt et al. (2001) stated that studies in the justice field suggest
that perceptions of fairness and justice are related to organisational outcomes such as job
satisfaction, organisational commitment, and estimation of power, output, and
performance. Comparatively, the internal marketing approach to organisational justice
means fair treatment and contact with employees. As a result, employees’ satisfaction is
established within the organisation, which facilitates the achievement of organisational
goals. Therefore, the first research hypothesis is proposed as follows:
H1 There is a significant relationship between organisational justice and organisational
effectiveness.
2.5 Rewarding
Reward is an important subject in management that it regarded as one of the sources of
manager power. It is referred to as reward power. Reward power is the use of various
internal and external rewards in order to control people’s performance (Robbins and
Coutler, 1999). Pfeffer (1995) demonstrated that if an organisation is determined to
attract and retain the best and brightest members, it must provide them a salary higher
than an average level in the industry. Studies have shown that employees with a higher
salary than the average have greater satisfaction and commitment (Bansal et al., 2001). In
fact, rewarding is an important tool to attract and keep employees, which ultimately
affects their performance in the organisation. Consequently, the organisational goals are
achieved in accordance with the demands and planning of the organisation. Therefore, the
second research hypothesis is proposed as follows:
H2 There is a significant relationship between rewarding and organisational
effectiveness.
2.6 Employee training
The internal marketing approach to education requires that the first step consist of the
identification of training needs for each of the defined jobs in the organisation. The intent
is that the training will have a positive effect on the tasks performed within the process
(Gounaris, 2008). Employee training can enhance the ability of individuals, which can
increase employee achievement and organisational effectiveness (House, 1997; Juang
et al., 2007) and thus can maintain the survival of the organisation (Yan Cheung and
Chan, 2012). The success or failure of organisations partly depends on the employees’
ability to solve problems, make the necessary changes to work procedures, and their
ability to make quality products and services (Bansal et al., 2001; Dessler, 1999).
Training of employees helps to improve organisational effectiveness in order to develop
personal and managerial skills (Abd Rahman et al., 2013). Therefore, the third research
hypothesis is proposed as follows:
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H3 There is a significant relationship between employee training and organisational
effectiveness.
2.7 Employee participation
Involvement and participation in organisational activity is a part of the purpose of
internal marketing and employee engagement (Ahmed and Rafiq, 2002; Naude et al.,
2003). With increased participation in the organisation, employees are more motivated to
understand the nature of the organisation and its problems (Pitt and Foreman, 1999).
Employee participation in the decision making process leads to the ability to detect and
define the organisation’s problems, solutions, the best choice of a case, and finally
control of results of decisions (Amah and Ahiauzu, 2013; McShane and Von Gilnow,
2003). In fact, participation in decision-making enhances effectiveness, efficiency, job
satisfaction, and organisational commitment (Brenda and Marshall, 2004). As a result,
the fourth research hypothesis is proposed as follows:
H4 There is a significant relationship between employee participation and
organisational effectiveness.
2.8 Information sharing
Information sharing is one of the issues that has received much attention in internal
marketing. The availability of needed data has a positive impact on employee
performance and in situations where employees are aware of the organisation activities,
they also are aware of the importance of their role within the organisation. This is one of
the objectives of internal marketing aimed at employee engagement (Ahmed and Rafiq,
2002). Sharing of information is considered an important factor in achieving
organisational efficiency and performance (Yang and Maxwell, 2011). The sharing of
information contributes to the motivation of employees in the organisation, which will
lead to the likelihood of achievement of organisational goals and effectiveness. As a
result, the fifth research hypothesis is proposed as follows:
H5 There is a significant relationship between information sharing and organisational
effectiveness.
2.9 Job security
Employees’ job security is an important advantage in areas such as communication, the
maintenance of people skills, and team performance (Power and Sohal, 2000).
Employees’ job security causes a greater cooperation between employees and the
organisation. At the same time, the organisation retains more efficient employees. Since
employees are aware they have a stable job, they achieve the expected result, which leads
to advancements in organisational development (Bonavia and Marin-Garcia, 2011;
Delery and Doty, 1996). If employees feel secure and believe they have continuity in
their current job and future career benefits because of reasonable assurances they receive,
they will feel relaxed and employ all efforts to achieve improved performance and
efficiency, resulting in organisation development. As a result, the sixth research
hypothesis is proposed as follows:
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H6 There is a significant relationship between job security and organisational
effectiveness.
According to the stated assumptions, the conceptual model of this study is presented in
Figure 1.
Figure 1 Conceptual model of research
3 Research methodology
Since the aim of this study is to determine the relationship between employee
engagement and organisational effectiveness, the study used a descriptive survey to
collect the required data. The correlation research is based on structural equation model.
The population of this research consisted of 338 experts and administrators of the
Damavand Power Generation Company in Damavand, Iran. Using a stratified random
sample method, 184 experts and managers were selected as a sample population.
Participants in this study were asked to complete two questionnaires about internal
marketing and organisational effectiveness using a five-point Likert scale design. The
orders of questions were as follows.
The internal marketing questionnaire had 29 questions, which consisted of six
questions on organisational justice, four questions about rewarding, five questions on
training, five questions on participation, four questions about information sharing, and
five questions in the field of job security. The organisational effectiveness questionnaire
was based on Parsons model and had 19 questions. There were five questions in the field
of adaptation, four questions in goal attainment, five questions in integration, and four
questions about latency.
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3.1 Reliability and validity
After preliminary development of the questionnaires, an attempt was made to determine
the reliability and validity of the questions. Cronbach’s alpha was used to determine the
reliability. A prototype 30 pre-test questionnaire was developed and distributed among
managers and experts. After gathering the data, Cronbach’s alpha was calculated using
data obtained from the questionnaires and SPSS statistical software. The average of
Cronbach’s alpha for the internal marketing questions was 0.91 and for organisational
effectiveness was 0.87, which is an indicator of the desired reliability of the
questionnaire.
Factor and content validity was used to determine the validity. The content validity
of the questionnaire was refined and confirmed repeatedly by experts of this field
and thus has enough validity. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to
determine the credibility factor. Results of the CFA of each study components are shown
Tables 1 and 2.
Table 1 CFA results for model of IM
Components Factor loading T-value
Organisational justice 0.69 9.66
Rewarding 0.76 11.04
Employee training 0.58 7.78
Employee participation 0.75 11.07
Information sharing 0.68 9.6
Job security 0.69 9.68
Notes: Chi-square = 26.24; RMSEA = 0.000; X2/df = 2.92; CFI = 0.91; IFI = 0.91;
GFI = 0.91; AGFI = 0.82; NFI = 0.91
All factor loadings are statistically significant (P < 0.05).
As noted in Table 1, the degree of chi-square is freedom value of 2.92 and smaller than 3.
Also, the degree of RMSEA values is less than 0.01. As a result, the model from the
viewpoint of fit indices is in good condition.
Table 2 CFA results for modal of OE
Components Factor loading T-value
Adaptation 0.8 11.7
Goal attainment 0.69 9.63
Integration 0.79 11.59
Latency 0.74 11.61
Notes: Chi-square = 5.94; RMSEA = 0.014; X2/df = 2.97; CFI = 0.99; IFI = 0.99;
RFI= 0.94; AGFI = 0.92; NFI = 0.98
All factor loadings are statistically significant (P < 0.05).
As noted in Table 2, the degree of chi-square is freedom value of 2.97 and smaller than 3.
Also, the degree of RMSEA values is less than 0.01. As a result, the model from the
viewpoint of fit indices is in good condition. The above tables show a CFA of the
questionnaire structures has an appropriate fit and questionnaire structures show the
relevant variables.
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3.2 Data analysis
3.2.1 Studying demographic characteristics of the statistical sample under study
Based on the results of the study’s demographic characteristics for the age group, the
highest frequency of respondents are aged 25–35, and the lowest prevalence of
respondents are aged less than 25 years. In terms of work experience, most respondents
reported five to ten years and the least respondents are more than 16 years. Also, most of
the respondents hold a bachelor’s degree and the least respondents hold a diploma.
3.2.2 Testing research hypotheses
The results related to testing the research hypotheses using Pierson correlation tests are
shown in Table 3.
Table 3 Testing research hypotheses
Hypothesis Description of path Correlation
coefficient Sample P-value Results
Internal marketing and
organisational effectiveness
0.823 176 0.000 Accepted
H1 organisational justice and
organisational effectiveness
0.579 176 0.000 Accepted
H2 Rewarding and
organisational effectiveness
0.685 176 0.000 Accepted
H3 Employee training and
organisational effectiveness
0.648 176 0.000 Accepted
H4 Employee participation and
organisational effectiveness
0.701 176 0.000 Accepted
H5 Information sharing and
organisational effectiveness
0.596 176 0.000 Accepted
H6 Job security and
organisational effectiveness
0.622 176 0.000 Accepted
Note: Significant at P < 0.01.
Since the P-value that is less than 0.01, the relationship between internal marketing and
elements such as organisational justice, rewarding, training, employee participation,
information sharing, job security and organisational effectiveness is meaningful and
positive. Therefore, a meaningful and positive relationship between the stated elements
and organisational effectiveness exists. So it can be concluded that by increasing the level
of internal marketing and elements such as organisational justice, rewarding, diverse
training, employee involvement, information sharing, and job security increase the
amount of organisational justice.
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4 Findings from the structural equation model
LISREL software was used to evaluate the proposed model. According to the output of
the software, the original model is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 SEM for research model (see online version for colours)
The model shows that among observed variables latent variables of internal marketing,
observed variable, rewarding and employee involvement had the highest correlation
(0.74) with the internal marketing. After these two variables, respectively are the
variables of job security 0.73, information sharing 0.68, organisational justice 0.64 and
training 0.63. Among the observed variables of effectiveness of Damavand Power
Generation Management, adaptation has the highest correlation (0.82), then respectively
are latency variable (0.76), integration variable (0.76) and goal attainment variable (0.75).
Other variables in the model are shown in Table 4.
Table 4 Findings from the SEM
Description
of path R2 Standardised
solution
Std.
error T-value Significance
level Estimate Result
IM → OE 0.96 0.96 0.079 0.0412 0.91 P < 0.01 Accepted
In structural equation modelling we can trust to estimate a model when the model has
adequate fit. The most important parameters of the model are shown in Table 5.
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Table 5 The fit parameters of final model
Indices Recommended value Indices value Results
X2/df X²/df ≤ 3 2.76 Accepted
RMSEA RMSEA < 0.09 0.00011 Accepted
GFI GFI > 0.9 0.9 Accepted
AGFI AGFI > 0.8 0.86 Accepted
CFI CFI > 0.9 0.92 Accepted
IFI IFI > 0.9 0.92 Accepted
Notes: Chi square divided to degree of freedom (X2/df), root mean square error of
approximation (RMSEA), goodness of fit index (GFI), comparative fit index
(CFI), incremental fit index (IFI).
Source: Albright and Park (2009) and Chau (1997)
All fit indexes indicate that this model has a good fit. Thus, we conclude that this model
has a high ability to measure the main variables of research. According to the standard
model, LISREL findings have the reliability.
5 Conclusions and discussion
Results of causal relationships of the model showed that a unit increase in internal
marketing can result in a 96% increase in organisational effectiveness. In fact, as we pay
more attention to the internal marketing in Damavand Power Generation Management, it
improves employee performance. This in turn will lead to improved organisational
effectiveness. The results of these research hypotheses are described as follows.
The first hypothesis of correlation analysis showed there is a significant relationship
between organisational justice and organisational effectiveness. Justice has always been
considered as one of the main tools to increase effectiveness. When employees perceive
the organisation treats them fairly, they participate in organisation activities with a more
favourable and greater degree of motivation which facilitates the achievement of
organisational effectiveness. Scientific findings of research conducted by Colquitt et al.
(2001) and Moses and Eddy (2009), confirmed this relationship.
The second hypothesis of correlation analysis showed that there is a significant
relationship between the reward and organisational effectiveness. Rewards create
incentive and motivation among employees in the organisation and are one of the internal
marketing factors that increases employee satisfaction and improves organisational
effectiveness.
The third hypothesis of correlation analysis indicated that a significant relationship
between training and organisational effectiveness exists. Presentation of various planned
training that enables educational assessment, not only improves the knowledge and skills
of employees. It also causes people to become involved in improving the organisation’s
effectiveness level. Scientific studies such as those performed study by Abd Rahman et
al. (2013) and Powell et al. (2002), confirmed this relationship.
The fourth hypothesis of correlation analysis revealed there is a significant
relationship between employee participation and organisational effectiveness. Giving the
importance of employee participation in organisational decisions, it is not surprising that
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it leads to improvement in employees’ collaboration and communication with other
employees and managers and also leads to their awareness of the importance of their role
in contributing to the organisation. They accept with a sense of commitment that they are
responsible for problem solving in the organisation. Furthermore, they try to achieve the
goals of the organisation through significant motivation and a desire to share their
experiences with others. Since this leads to employee satisfaction, the organisation moves
forward according to a common goal. The connection is consistent with the study
conducted by Brenda and Marshall (2004).
The fifth hypothesis of correlation analysis indicated that there is a significant
relationship between information sharing and organisational effectiveness. Sharing
information leads to achievement of a higher level of information exchange among senior
managers and improves employees’ motivation. This encourages interest in
organisational goals and coordination with environmental changes and developments.
The sixth hypothesis of correlation analysis revealed that there is a significant
relationship between job security and organisational effectiveness. When employees’ job
security is improved, their satisfaction is enhanced. As a result, they trust in the
organisation as they continue their jobs with a sense of confidence in the future benefits
of their job within the organisation, which ultimately leads to an increase organisational
effectiveness.
6 Suggestions
According to the main hypothesis of this study, there was a significant relationship
between internal marketing aimed at employee engagement and organisational
effectiveness. Organisational effectiveness requires attention and the implementation of
internal marketing programs. As an implications, the success of any internal marketing
program requires a deep understanding of the process by which managers and planners
are made aware of the problems their organisation faces and the methods of
implementing these internal marketing programs. As a result, they need to implement and
monitor the performance of internal marketing programs that include perceived
organisational justice, rewarding, employee training, employee participation, information
sharing, and job security, since they lead to achievement of organisational goals and
improvement of organisational effectiveness.
As noted above, it is clear that more favourable business outcomes are realised
through procedural and distributive justice. Implementing appropriate programs and
policies that pay attention to the benefits employees receive allows involvement in
organisational decision making, assigning appropriate workload commensurate with
ability and experience of employees, presenting arguments and justifications to
employees about decisions related to work, and informing stakeholders of the reasons
behind decisions promotes fairness in the organisation. These programs and policies lead
to the establishment of fair procedures and outcomes.
As far as rewarding, it is recommended that organisations provide an effective
structure that includes rewards to motivate and retain talented employees in the
organisation, based on employee performance and the opportunity of achieving economic
benefits for employees. Furthermore, they need to provide a way for employees to get
social acceptance, respect, and status in the organisation if they are to increase employee
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satisfaction and motivation that enables the organisation to achieve their organisational
goals.
In the field of training and development, there is a need for proper and continuous
planning. This includes evaluating course fitness with environmental changes, while
considering employees’ needs. Therefore, they must are required to develop regular and
planned educational programs. Providing a proper educational atmosphere facilitates
organisational growth, which ultimately leads to organisational effectiveness.
In the field of participation, it is necessary to perform the coordinated and cohesive
efforts needed to involve employees. This includes submission of authority equal with
their abilities and establishment of a suitable condition that encourages employees’
participation. In this way, organisations can try to recognise the merits of each member in
their organisation. Also, employee’s awareness of their importance and their role in the
organisation provides the organisation with a sense of responsibility to assign
organisational tasks fairly among all employees.
In the area of the information sharing, senior management must support of
information exchange in the organisation. They must provide functional information to
employees by setting and holding regular meetings, welcoming proposed solutions, and
by improving work methods and processes through employee surveys, since these
methods can lead to achievement of organisational effectiveness.
In the field of job security, a need exists to provide necessary training to control stress
and create a suitable working environment. This involves the need to create a proper
condition that enhances employees’ creativity through independence and autonomy,
while performing organisational duties. Employee benefits and services and job design
make employees more satisfied with their work and more familiar with their job
procedure, which reduces their stress and increased focus on assigned job duties. By
identifying the activities that can be removed from the job and also by creating a system
of job rotation in the organisation, a more secure feeling among employees can be
realised. This will lead to a promotion of retention in the current job and easily realised
organisational effectiveness.
7 Suggestions for future research
While the analysis of literature and the results of this study identified the role of internal
marketing on employee engagement and its influence on organisational effectiveness in
organisations, it also identified some areas of additional needed research. While there is a
growing body of research in employee engagement, there is little research that focuses on
specific contextual factors that differentiate specific outcomes between types of
organisations. Further research is needed that can explore like factors of employee
engagement such as those reviewed in this study to varying size of industry, public and
private institutions, union and non-union environments, and multi-national versus
domestic employers. In this way, it will enable researchers to more clearly define and
differentiate outcomes of internal marketing practices on employee engagement and their
relationship to organisational performance. In addition, it may offer greater insight into
this area of research to assess the role of organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) and
its interrelationship with internal marketing practices aimed at employee engagement and
organisational effectiveness with specific emphasis on the aforementioned differences by
outlined contextual factors. To conclude, such suggested research could provide a greater
Study of the relationship between employee engagemen
t
51
understanding of the role of employee engagement and implications for designed
business models and practices for organisational actors.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their sincere appreciation to anonymous referees for
their valuable comments which enhanced the quality of the paper.
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