Abstract:
In order for any organisation to succeed, there must be engaged employees. This position cannot be attained if the organisation fails to put in place robust employee relationships. The robust employee relationships, especially in the area of employee management practices will enable all employees to be engaged and will propel them to contribute optimally to the organisation’s goal achievement. Thus, it is very important that organisations have such human resource management policies and practices that will help their employees to be engaged, committed and productive optimally and consequently to contribute to the national development. This study looked at the influence of human resource management practices on employee engagement in manufacturing firms in Nigeria. Specifically, the study sought to investigate the influence of training, performance appraisal, reward management and employee relations on employee engagement in manufacturing firms in Nigeria. The study adopted cross sectional survey research design using both quantitative and qualitative approaches in determining the influence of human resource management practices on employee engagement in manufacturing firms in Nigeria. The target population was 258,753 employees from 31 manufacturing firms. Purposive, stratified, and simple random sampling techniques were used to sample 395 respondents comprising of middle-level, lower-level managers and employees from the manufacturing firms. Data was collected through drop and pick questionnaire and analysed with the aid of descriptive and inferential statistics. Pearson Products Moment Correlation analysis was carried out to ascertain the extent of the relationship between the variables. The simple linear regression models was used to establish the significance of influence of training, performance appraisal, reward management and employee relations on employee engagement in manufacturing firms in Nigeria. Multiple linear regression models and ANOVA were used in determining the significance influence of independent variables on the employee engagement. The formulated hypotheses were tested. The study found out that there are positive significant relationships between performance appraisal, reward management, employee relations and employee engagement. The study also found out that the relationship between training and employee engagement was significantly negative. The conclusion from the findings of this study is that engaged employees are the main drivers of the organisation’s productivity and human resource management practices are important factors influencing the employee engagement in manufacturing firms in Nigeria. Based on the conclusion, the study recommends that manufacturing firms in Nigeria should develop human resource management strategies that will be geared towards improving the employee engagement. Government should enforce labour laws and regulations.
