How to promote employee engagement? A comparison of top-down versus bottom-up approaches

Purpose: Although the importance of employee engagement has been widely acknowledged and the ways to promote it have been extensively studied, little is known about which approach is more effective, which, in turn, limits our understanding of how employee engagement is affected when multiple approaches are considered and implemented simultaneously. To address this issue, this study aims to compare whether a top-down approach (examined through human resource management) or a bottom-up approach (examined through job crafting) is more effective in promoting employee engagement with and without its facilitating mechanisms (namely psychological ownership and organizational citizenship behavior). Design/methodology/approach: This study collects survey responses from 364 executives from the IT services industry an industry that faces unique challenges due to its dynamic nature and reliance on skilled talent – and analyzes these responses using both a hypothesis-driven approach (structural equation modeling) and a data-driven approach (artificial neural network) to derive richer insights into how employee engagement can best be promoted. Findings: The results reveal a direct effect of (bottom-up) job crafting – but not (top-down) human resource management – on employee engagement. However, (top-down) human resource management’s influence on employee engagement becomes significant when mediated by psychological ownership and organizational citizenship behavior, whereas (bottom-up) job crafting consistently exerts both direct and indirect influences on employee engagement through psychological ownership and organizational citizenship behavior. The artificial neural network provides granular insights, highlighting organizational citizenship behavior as the most influential factor shaping employee engagement, followed by job crafting, psychological ownership and human resource management. Practical implications: The results suggest that a bottom-up approach (job crafting) is generally more effective and straightforward for enhancing employee engagement compared to a top-down approach (human resource management), making it ideal for generating immediate, short-term results. However, to maximize and sustain employee engagement in the long run, organizations should strategically implement both approaches concurrently, reinforcing them through psychological ownership and organizational citizenship behavior. Originality/value: This study contributes novel evidence showing that implementing human resource management strategies alone may not sufficiently generate employee engagement, particularly in people-intensive service industries. Therefore, this study underscores the necessity of aligning human resource management practices to support job crafting, foster psychological ownership and promote organizational citizenship behavior to effectively drive employee engagement.