Quest Journals Journal of Research in Business and Management Volume 9 ~ Issue 12 (2021) pp: 37-42 ISSN(Online):2347-3002 www.questjournals.org *Corresponding Author: Jacob Ojonugwa 37 | Page Research Paper Employee Engagement: The Now And The Prospect Isaac Onyeyirichukwu Chukwuma 1 , Jacob Ojonugwa 2 * Benedict Okpuku Abua 3 1 University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria 2 Kogi State University, Nigeria 3 Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Nigeria *Corresponding author ABSTRACT: The need to optimally explore employee engagement has been a topical issue for both the industry and academia. This development has increased the quest to understand employee engagement and inherently, necessitated the need for this study. This study has observed the paucity of empirical evidence with a core focus on employee engagement, hence, addresses employee engagement as its core focus, this is in contrast to other studies which have simply examined employee engagement as a variable against other organisational factors, hence, the study provides a unique insight to understanding the concept of employee engagement for organisations’ that are stirred up to the activation and optimization of employees’ engagement as a tool to gain strategic and sustainable advantages. The study was qualitative in nature; it explored relevant related literature and narrowed its scope to examine the antecedent of employee engagement, forms of employee engagement, critique of employee engagement, the social exchange theory perspective to employee engagement, and prospect. The study through analysed literature discovered that the increasing interest in employee engagement in both the industry and academia positions employee engagement as a competitive and strategic necessity for optimal performance of organisations in this present time. Hence, postulate that employee engagement practices should be prioritized and actively engaged as a core policy philosophy and culture in organisations and effectively supported by top management for it to yield a competitive and sustainable advantage. KEYWORDS: Employee engagement, Social exchange theory, Cognitive engagement, Behavioural engagement, Emotional engagement. Received 28 Nov, 2021; Revised 10 Dec, 2021; Accepted 12 Dec, 2021 © The author(s) 2021. Published with open access at www.questjournals.org I. INTRODUCTION Employee engagement (EE) was first captured in an article on “engagement and disengagement at work” by William Kahn (Kahn, 1990). In recent times, EE is a high-interest issue for organisations globally, as change is becoming unpredictable and competition is increasing; organisations are searching for ways to increase productivity, improve client service, reduce organisational turnover and absenteeism, and gain higher profits (Masson, Royal, Agnew & Fine, 2008; Wollard & Shuck, 2011), EE is currently the core tool to achieving these goals. In a globalised world that is subject to constant change and competition, leaders of organisations have been required to do more with less, to succeed in their marketplaces; EE is seen as an important component of “doing more with less”; it has been associated with enhanced levels of productivity, improved client service, lessened organisational turnover and absenteeism, and higher profits (Masson et al. 2008; Wollard & Shuck, 2011). EE is a significant business issue for organisations who desire to take their business to tomorrows’ competitive landscape; organisations are increasingly required to be swift to explore advantageous opportunities and manage threats (Sriram, 2012), and this makes the utilisation of employees who optimize discretionary effort a necessity (Amah & Sese, 2018). EE connotes employees’ involvement, productivity, motivation, satisfaction, and passion for work (Harter, Schmidt & Hayes, 2002; Wollard & Shuck, 2011). EE also connotes a heightened emotional, social, spiritual, intellectual, and behavioural relationship employees possess for their task, organisation, manager, or coworkers which influence the application of discretionary effort to their job (Kahn, 1990; Gibbons, 2006).