The relationship between employee engagement and survey response rate with union membership as a moderator

Abstract

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AND SURVEY RESPOSNE RATE WITH UNION MEMBERSHIP AS A MODERATOR by Alexandra M. de la Rocha Research has examined the benefits of having an engaged workforce. One way of measuring employee engagement is through organizational surveys. Survey response rate represents voluntary participation behavior and may be an outcome of employee engagement. However, research has not examined survey participation behavior as an outcome of employee engagement or factors that might influence this relationship. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between dimensions of employee engagement (vigor, dedication, and absorption) and survey response rate at the aggregate level and to examine how this relationship varied as a function of percentage of union membership. Analyses were conducted for small and large groups because they had different work environments. The researcher found that there was a significant positive relationship between aggregate employee engagement levels and survey response rate. Moreover, this relationship was stronger for large groups than small groups, suggesting that group size influences the relationship between aggregate employee engagement and survey response rate. Regarding the moderating effect, union membership influenced the relationship between dedication and survey response rate only in small groups. These findings suggest that in small groups, the percentage of union membership in a group influenced the relationship between a strong sense of pride and personal accomplishment and survey response rate.