How engaged are your employees?: enhancing engagement through autonomy and skill discretion in today’s changing environment

ABSTRACT

This study investigates antecedents to physical and emotional engagement using PLS-SEM. These antecedents include two organizational (i.e. autonomy and skill discretion) and two individual (i.e. sales creativity and grit) resources. Job Demands-Resources theory is used to explain the hypothesized relationships. A Qualtrics panel of 361 business-to-business salespeople from a variety of industries was used. Results indicated that autonomy and skill discretion positively impacted sales creativity. Sales creativity and grit also positively impacted physical and emotional engagement. This research highlights that organizations need to develop strategies for improving engagement in the workplace. Practical and managerial applications of these implications are provided.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).