Title: Role of social connectivity and job engagement in positive change: evidence from the Middle East

Authors: Raina Chhajer; Tanusree Dutta; Thomas Joseph

Addresses: Indian Institute of Management, Indore, India ' Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India ' Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur, India

Abstract: Taking a positive perspective, the study aims to investigate change at a Middle Eastern financial services firm. Using various workplace fun activities (business, sports, and arts) the firm implemented a year-long positive business initiative. This initiative tends to build positive social connections of the employees from 16 different nationalities. Using the data from 221 employees who participated in this initiative, the study empirically examines the role of social connectivity and job engagement in positive change. The main findings are the following: 1) higher level of social connectivity significantly predicts an increase in cognitive, emotional and physical engagement; 2) increase in cognitive, emotional and physical engagement significantly predicts performance; 3) significant indirect effects support the mediating roles of cognitive and physical engagement in the relation between social connectivity and performance. The implication for both theory and practice has also been discussed.

Keywords: positive change; social connectivity; job engagement; international human resource development; Middle East.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2022.126941

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2022 Vol.28 No.3, pp.375 - 396

Received: 24 Feb 2020
Accepted: 15 Apr 2020
Published online: 14 Nov 2022 *

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