Chapter One: Introduction

1.1.Background

Within dynamic business environment and the ways in which jobs are being done, organizations are now giving more importance to their human capital in order to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. This increased focus on human capital has led the researchers to continuously explore ways in which it can best be managed through certain set of HR practices (Amarakoon et al., 2014; Ritthaisong et al., 2014). Previously, extensive research has been done on establishing the relationship of HR practices with the organizational performance. However, many researchers have highlighted the need to explore the impact of HR practices at a micro-level, specifically at individual level outcomes (Paauwe, 2009; Alfes et al., 2013).

Employee engagement is a valuable concept academically and professionally that has gained importance in recent years. It has got significance in different disciplines including management sciences, psychology, HRM and behavioural studies (Shuck et al., 2014). Existing literature shows that employee engagement is vital for successful performance of employees and it is directly related to their satisfaction, commitment, contribution and performance. Yet many studies result consistently reports low levels of employee engagement (Saks and Gruman, 2014, Shuck et al., 2014, Sorenson, 2013, Stairs and Galpin, 2010, Wollard and Shuck, 2011). Academically this concept is far more explained but its practical results and implications are not enough. Therefore, this research focuses on employee engagement in context of service sector of U.K. and China.

Researchers have highlighted the need to excavate ways in which HR practices can influence the behaviours of employees (Alfes et al., 2013). Many researchers have also argued that employee engagement is one of the core attitudinal and behavioural outcomes at individual level that needs to be further enhanced through designing and implementing HR practices (Hewitt, 2012). Therefore, in present study the authors have selected to explore HR practices as presented in High Involvement Work Practices and have attempted to determine their impact on engagement. HIWPs is an important human resource aspect which needs to be explored in relation to employee engagement. By investigating its impact on employee engagement this work will provide greater insights academically and empirically as well (Oppenauer and Van De Voorde, 2016).

1.2.Research objectives

The main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of HIWP on employee engagement. Specific objectives are defined are as follow;

• To assess the impact of HIWP on employee engagement in the Chinese service sector
• To assess the impact of HIWP on employee engagement in the UK service sector
• On the basis of comparative analysis to identify any additional factors which shape this relationship in both of the above mentioned contexts.

1.3.Research significance

The concept of engagement has gained significant importance over the past two decades. According to Macey et al. (2009) the term employee engagement has strongly echoed among the executives and therefore, leadin