Nexus Between Employee Engagement and Job Performance: A Study of MSMEs in Ghana During COVID-19: The Moderating Roles of Job Demand and Job Resources

Abstract

Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) across the globe have been the major victims of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has plunged the business world into a crisis. However, employee engagement (EE) has been labeled as an essential nutrient that organizations need in order to survive in these turbulent times. This study was to investigate the effect of EE on employee performance during the COVID-19 pandemic and how job demands and job resources moderate this relationship. A sample size of 395 respondents were selected from a variety of MSMEs via a convenience sampling method. The study used a survey questionnaire approach as the main method for collecting primary data. The result of the correlation analysis showed that there was a significant relationship between EE and employee performance. It was revealed that job demands and job resources moderated the relationship between EE and employee performance. Finally, the result showed that job demands had an insignificant effect on EE, but job resources had a significant effect on EE. Thus, it can be concluded that, in the face of COVID-19, EE is a significant predictor of EP in the MSME sector.