Social Learning of Employee Engagement

The influence of coworkers on workplace attitudes and behaviors is a well-researched and established occurrence in organizational psychology. Given that many of these relationships may be bi-directional, Social Learning theory is a fitting lens to examine these connections. One construct that consistently surfaces as a prominent topic in organizational research is employee engagement. The aim of this research was to investigate how social learning theory may be applied to the relationship between engagement levels of role models and observing employees. Results revealed some truly validating insights, primarily confirming the influence of coworkers on employee engagement. Model type (i.e., manager vs. non-manager) as well as relationship satisfaction were explored and added some contextually mixed evidence to what was postulated. Additionally, the interactions of energy, enablement and self-efficacy within the model-observer engagement relationship were corroborated – albeit, in a condition contrary to the hypothesis, but with significant implications nonetheless