Examining employee engagement and its importance at the selected South African university

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An engaged workforce is vital for higher education institutions to contribute positively to the developing world. The purpose of this study is to examine employee engagement and its significance for academic and administrative employees at the Durban University of Technology in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. The study opted for a quantitative research design to explore the role and importance of employee engagement. The target population consisted of 1,861 university employees at the selected university in South Africa, and 320 employee from different university units and positions were selected using simple random sampling without replacement. The results revealed that 80% of respondents exert high levels of physical energy, concentration, and dedication toward achieving institutional objectives. Additionally, the results showed a significant difference in the support employees get, with administrative staff receiving more support than academic staff members. The study concluded that university employees exhibit high levels of physical energy at work. In addition, the study found a significant and positive relationship between employees exhibiting high levels of physical energy at work and employees who find their work meaningful and experience inspiration.

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    • Table 1. Demographic profile of the participants
    • Table 2. Descriptive statistics
    • Table 3. The relationship between type of employment and support at work
    • Table 4. Vigor at work
    • Table 5. Inspiration at work
    • Table 6. Concentration at work
    • Table 7. Meaningful work
    • Conceptualization
      Tatenda Chikukwa
    • Data curation
      Tatenda Chikukwa, Melanie Lourens
    • Investigation
      Tatenda Chikukwa, Sizwe Vincent Mbona
    • Methodology
      Tatenda Chikukwa, Melanie Lourens, Sizwe Vincent Mbona
    • Software
      Tatenda Chikukwa, Melanie Lourens
    • Writing – original draft
      Tatenda Chikukwa, Melanie Lourens, Sizwe Vincent Mbona
    • Writing – review & editing
      Tatenda Chikukwa, Melanie Lourens, Sizwe Vincent Mbona
    • Formal Analysis
      Melanie Lourens
    • Validation
      Melanie Lourens
    • Visualization
      Melanie Lourens
    • Funding acquisition
      Sizwe Vincent Mbona
    • Resources
      Sizwe Vincent Mbona
    • Supervision
      Sizwe Vincent Mbona