Understanding Employee Engagement Using Norms of Reciprocity

The present study aims to investigate how social exchange and especially norms of reciprocity and its three dimensions (equivalence of exchange, immediacy of exchange and interest of parties in each other) are related to and influence employee engagement. Data were collected from 210 employees working at different levels from two corporations in Bhutan. Respondents were selected based on random sampling and include both male and female. A self-report questionnaire was used to measure all the variables of interests of the study. Regression analyses were carried out to analyze the obtained data. Results revealed that social exchange and especially norms of reciprocity significantly and positively explain variance in employee engagement. Out of the three dimensions of norms of reciprocity was found to be the most important factors. The implication of the researchfor the management of the organizations is that management should be sensitive towards the norms of reciprocity and especially it should try to provide inducement of employee's contribution as soon as possible if organization wants to have engaged workforce which is an important factor in employee's productivity and organizational performance.