Modeling the impact of employee engagement and happiness on burnout and turnover intention among blue-collar workers at a manufacturing company

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of engagement on job burnout and turnover intention (plan to leave the organization) among blue-collar workers in manufacturing facilities. In addition, this study also explores the role of happiness as a moderator in explaining the effect of engagement on burnout and turnover intention.

Design/methodology/approach

The data required to examine the hypothesis were collected using well-established research instruments from 1,197 blue-collar employees working at three manufacturing facilities that are owned and operated by the same company in India. The hypotheses were examined and the conceptual model was validated using structural equation modeling. The statistical analyses were conducted using two statistical packages, namely, SPSS and SPSS–AMOS.

Findings

The results indicate that a disengaged employee is at higher risk of burnout and is likely to leave the organization in the near future. Furthermore, employee burnout was positively associated with turnover intentions. Happiness was established as a significant moderating factor in the relationship between employee engagement and burnout and turnover intention. Besides, the prevalence of happiness and turnover intention was higher in males.

Practical implications

The results showed the importance of engagement and happiness on reducing burnout and turnover intention. Organizations could capitalize on these findings by implementing new and improving their existing quality management initiatives, which, in turn, could improve the employee’s organizational commitment.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the industry and academia by exploring the perceptions of working-class, blue-collar employees, which has received limited attention till date, despite specific negative job characteristics.

Citation

Santhanam, N. and Srinivas, S. (2020), "Modeling the impact of employee engagement and happiness on burnout and turnover intention among blue-collar workers at a manufacturing company", Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 499-516. https://doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-01-2019-0007