Framework to Create Employee Engagement Culture in Saudi Banks

Abstract

Employee engagement has attracted widespread interest over the past twenty years from the practitioner network and researchers. It is claimed that organizations that focus on growing an engagement culture will result in increasing employee productiveness, the fulfilment of the organizational objectives, and competent employee retention. However, the fundamental issues revolving around the meaning and key antecedents of employee engagement nevertheless require similar research interest [2]. The Saudi Banks are an important component of Saudi Arabia’s financial system. In light of the emerging high volume of business activities, Saudi Banks are keen to inspire worker participation and employee engagement. This behaviour will allow banks to achieve sustainable business development. In response to these issues, the present research offers the possibility to advance the knowledge of organizational culture’s influence on employee engagement. The present research adopts a qualitative approach, and the method used is a grounded theory. The data collection process adopted an issue focused approach. Interviews were conducted with banks managers and their subordinates (male- female). The findings of the present study indicate that the factors that make the greatest contribution to employee engagement were employee satisfaction, achievement recognition, and jobs that were in line with the employees’ competent. Furthermore, the results revealed that the Saudi national culture, which is rooted in Islamic belief, has an influence on employee engagement in Saudi banks. This influence manifested itself as Non-interests bearing transactions, and the female segregation rule. The outcomes of the present research contributes to the existing theory of employee engagement by providing empirical evidence regarding the engagement meaning construct and its distinctiveness from similar, alternative, well-established attitudinal constructs. Furthermore, the present research offers a framework consisting of the themes that emerged from the analysis of the present study, and the proposed interventions to maintain an employee engagement culture. Furthermore, a discussion of the analysis’ limitations and recommendations for future researches will be presented, and a conclusion will be drawn.