ABSTRACT
Having examined the various theoretical frameworks that inform research on engagement, I further explore the research that is being carried out on the factors that help shape or predict employee engagement (antecedents) and the resultant outcomes (consequences) while also examining how the relationship tends to be mediated as well as moderated. Antecedents focus on “what goes into” (versus “what comes out”) of efforts to influence employee engagement, that elusive causal link that can help inform meaningful and effective managerial action. An important distinction that has been made when discussing antecedents is between rational and emotional factors, which usually influence outcomes in combination. Emotional factors often overshadow the rational ones, although the distinction is not entirely dichotomous or mutually exclusive. What is imperative is that the arrays of practices that are posited to shape engagement address both rational and emotional levers.
