Job Engagement in the Vietnamese Higher Education Sector A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Nguyen Thao Thai PHAM Master of Science in International Human Resource Management (University of East Anglia, Norwich, the United Kingdom) Bachelor of Arts in International Relations (University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) School of Management College of Business RMIT University August 2018 This page is intentionally left blank. ii DECLARATION I certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; the content of the thesis is the result of work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program; any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged; and, ethics procedures and guidelines have been followed. Nguyen Thao Thai PHAM 08 August 2018 iii This page is intentionally left blank. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis has been completed with the professional, financial, and emotional support from numerous people and organisations.
First and foremost, I would like to send my profound gratitude and deep respect to my senior supervisor Professor Adela J. McMurray and associate supervisor Dr Nuttawuth Muenjohn for their superb guidance during my PhD journey. They not only provided prompt comments and invaluable suggestions for me to direct my research but also aroused my self-confidence, passion and enthusiasm for research activities. Their support and encouragement kept me moving forward even in the most difficult stages of my research process.
Secondly, I would like to show my genuine appreciation to my original associate supervisor Dr Michael K. Muchiri for his inputs for more than half of my PhD journey. Although Dr Michael K. Muchiri had to leave the supervisory team due to his personal issues, I owe him thanks for motivating me to collect quantitative data from two different sources at two different times and to use Mplus software to analyse the multilevel quantitative data.
They, later, became two out of the four methodological contributions of my thesis. Thirdly, I am immensely grateful to my principal sponsor Program 165 and RMIT University for giving their financial and administrative support for my study. Additionally, I wish to thank the board of directors at Department of Home Affairs in Ho Chi Minh City - Vietnam, especially Director Mr Lam V. Truong, for referring me to Program 165 and the doctoral training program at RMIT University as well as encouraging me throughout the last four years.
Without them, my PhD journey might never have started. I highly acknowledge the support from the Representative Agency of Ministry of Education and Training, the Department of Education and Training, and 14 public and private universities in Ho Chi Minh City - Vietnam during my data collection phase. Thanks to all Vietnamese university academics who voluntarily v participated in my questionnaire surveys. Their data were exceptionally useful for me to address the research questions and hypotheses.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Professor Kristopher J. Preacher, Professor James Gaskin, Professor John Antonakis, Dr Linda K. Muthén, Dr Ahmad Abareshi, and members in SEMNET, who devoted their precious time to answer my inquiries about structural equation modelling and multilevel structural equation modelling, which, in turn, assisted me in completing the quantitative data analysis. My big thanks go to professional editor, Dr John McAndrew, for his hard work in copyediting and proofreading my thesis in accordance with the university-endorsed national ‘Guidelines for editing research theses’.
Thanks to all my friends and colleagues in both Australia and Vietnam for sharing information and knowledge, encouraging me in my research work, and spending a memorable time with me during this long journey. More importantly, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to my parents Mr Hoang M. Pham and Mrs Khoan T. Thai for all the sacrifices they have made and the dreams they had to let go, just to give me a shot at achieving mine.
Thank you to my parents-in-law Mr Ly D. Le and Mrs Lan T. Nguyen for their unflagging support and complete trust in me. Thanks to my brother Nguyen H.
Le and brother-in-law Duc M. Le for taking over my responsibilities in the families for the past four years. Their unconditional love and support have made me who I am today. Last but not least, I dedicate special thanks to my husband Mr Tri M.
Le for joining me in this journey. Thank you very much for patiently listening to my frustrations and helping me with every household chore. A lot of people say that marriage is full of responsibilities. With you by my side, our marriage is a blessing.
vi PUBLICATIONS, GRANTS, AND AWARDS 1. Publications Journal Pham-Thai, NT, McMurray, AJ, Muenjohn, N & Muchiri, MK 2018, ‘Job engagement in higher education’, Personnel Review, vol. Conferences Pham-Thai, NT, McMurray, AJ, Muchiri, MK & Muenjohn, N 2017, ‘Evaluating the relationship between job engagement, transformational leadership, high- performance human resource practices, climate for innovation, and contextual performance’, paper presented to the 31th ANZAM Conference 2017, RMIT University, Melbourne, 5 - 8 December. Pham-Thai, NT, McMurray, AJ & Muchiri, MK 2016, ‘Evaluating the relationship between job engagement, transformational leadership, high-performance human resource practices, and job performance’, paper presented to the 30th ANZAM Conference 2016, QUT University, Brisbane, 6 - 9 December.
Grants • PhD Full Scholarship by Program 165 - Vietnamese Government and RMIT University, 2014-2018 • Higher Degree by Research Travel Grant (HDRTG) by RMIT University, 2016 3. Awards • HDR Poster Competition Runner-Up, College of Business Research Showcase 2017 • HDR Poster Competition People’s Choice Award, College of Business Research Showcase 2017 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. v PUBLICATIONS, GRANTS, AND AWARDS. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS .viii LIST OF TABLES.
xv LIST OF FIGURES. xviii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .3 Research Aim and Objectives .4 Research Questions and Hypotheses .7 Delimitations of Scope. 17 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .2 The Vietnamese Higher Education Context .1 Contemporary Development History of Vietnamese Higher Education .2 Vietnamese University Academics’ Job Engagement .3 The Operational Definition of Job Engagement .1 Different Schools of Thought in Work Engagement .2 The Nature of Work Engagement .3 The Operational Definition of Job Engagement .4 Theories of Job Engagement .1 Kahn’s Engagement Theory.2 Social Exchange Theory .3 The Link between Theories of Job Engagement and Key Concepts.5 Proposed Conceptual Model .6 The Relationships between Demographics and Job Engagement .1 The Relationship between Gender and Job Engagement .2 The Relationship between Age and Job Engagement .3 The Relationship between Education and Job Engagement .4 The Relationships between Tenure and Job Engagement .7 The Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Job Engagement .8 The Relationships between High-Performance Human Resource Practices and Job Engagement .9 The Mediating Role of Climate for Engagement in the Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Job Engagement .10 The Mediating Role of Climate for Engagement in the Relationships between High-Performance Human Resource Practices and Job Engagement .11 The Relationship between Job Engagement and Job Performance .1 The Relationship between Job Engagement and Task Performance .2 The Relationship between Job Engagement and Organisational Citizenship Behaviour .3 The Relationship between Job Engagement and Innovative Work Behaviour. 82 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN .3 Mixed Methods Research Design .5 Data Collection Method.6 Questionnaire Development Process.1 Operationalisation of Key Constructs.3 High-Performance Human Resource Practices .4 Climate for Engagement .7 Organisational Citizenship Behaviour .8 Innovative Work Behaviour .2 Common Method Variance .4 Translation of Questionnaire .12 Data Matching Process .13 Quantitative Data Analysis Process .1 Units of Analysis .2 Data Analysis Method .14 Qualitative Content Analysis Process.1 Nature of Content .2 Role of Theory .5 Units of Analysis.
128 CHAPTER 4: QUANTITATIVE DATA EXAMINATION .5 Common Method Variance. 146 CHAPTER 5: QUANTITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS - MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENT VALIDATION .3 Initial Internal Consistency Reliability .2 High-Peformance Human Resource Practices .3 Climate for Engagement .6 Organisational Citizenship Behaviour .7 Innovative Work Behaviour.8 Overall Measurement Model .5 Final Construct Reliability. 211 CHAPTER 6: QUANTITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS - STRUCTURAL MODEL VALIDATION .2 Structural Model Validity .1 The Structural Model of Demographics, Transformational Leadership, High-Performance Human Resource Practices, Job Engagement, and Job Performance .2 The Multilevel Mediation Model of Transformational Leadership, Climate for Engagement, and Job Engagement .3 The Multilevel Mediation Models of High-Performance Human Resource Practices, Climate for Engagement, and Job Engagement .1 The Multilevel Mediation Model of Ability-Enhancing Human Resource Practices, Climate for Engagement, and Job Engagement .2 The Multilevel Mediation Model of Motivation-Enhancing Human Resource Practices, Climate for Engagement, and Job Engagement .3 The Multilevel Mediation Model of Opportunity-Enhancing Human Resource Practices, Climate for Engagement, and Job Engagement. 229 CHAPTER 7: QUALITATIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS .2 Effective Leadership Behaviours .1 Idealised Influence Attributes .2 Idealised Influence Behaviours .2 Management-by-Exception Active .3 Effective Human Resource Practices .1 Ability-Enhancing Human Resource Practices .2 Training and Development .2 Motivation-Enhancing Human Resource Practices .3 Opportunity-Enhancing Human Resource Practices.
244 CHAPTER 8: INTEGRATION OF QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE FINDINGS .2 The Relationship between Demographics and Job Engagement .1 The Relationship between Gender and Job Engagement .2 The Relationship between Age and Job Engagement .3 The Relationship between Education and Job Engagement .4 The Relationships between Tenure and Job Engagement .3 The Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Job Engagement .4 The Relationships between High-Performance Human Resource Practices and Job Engagement .5 The Mediating Role of Climate for Engagement in the Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Job Engagement .6 The Mediating Role of Climate for Engagement in the Relationship between High-Performance Human Resource Practices on Job Engagement .7 The Relationship between Job Engagement and Job Performance .1 The Relationship between Job Engagement and Task Performance .2 The Relationship between Job Engagement and Organisational Citizenship Behaviour .3 The Relationship between Job Engagement and Innovative Work Behaviour .8 Interpretation on Effective Leadership Behaviours.9 Interpretation on Effective Human Resource Practices.2 Final Research Model .3 Research Question 1: What Are the Relationships between Demographics (i. Gender, Age, Education, and Tenure) and Job Engagement of Vietnamese University Academics?.4 Research Question 2: What Is the Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Job Engagement of Vietnamese University Academics? .5 Research Question 3: What Are the Relationships between High- Performance Human Resource Practices (i. Ability-Enhancing, Motivation- Enhancing, and Opportunity-Enhancing Human Resource Practices) and Job Engagement of Vietnamese University Academics? .6 Research Question 4: Does Climate for Engagement Mediate the Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Job Engagement of Vietnamese University Academics? .7 Research Question 5: Does Climate for Engagement Mediate the Relationships between High-Performance Human Resource Practices (i. Ability-Enhancing, Motivation-Enhancing, and Opportunity-Enhancing Human Resource Practices) and Job Engagement of Vietnamese University Academics? .8 Research Question 6: What Is the Relationship between Job Engagement and Job Performance (i.
Task Performance, Organisational Citizenship Behaviour, and Innovative Work Behaviour) of Vietnamese University Academics?.9 Research Question 7: What Are the Views of Vietnamese University Academics about Effective Leadership Behaviours That Will Enhance Their Job Engagement? .10 Research Question 8: What Are the Views of Vietnamese University Academics about Effective Human Resource Practices That Will Enhance Their Job Engagement? .2 Summary of Key Findings .7 Directions for Future Research. 326 xiv Appendix A: Ethics Approval. 326 Appendix B: Participant Information Form for the Pilot Study. 328 Appendix C: Questionnaire for the Pilot Study.
337 Appendix D: Participant Information and Consent Forms for the Main Study. 350 Appendix E: Questionnaires for the Main Study. 384 Appendix F: Results of the Main Study. 409 LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Number of Citations to Articles Published from Southeast Asian Countries in ISI Indexed Journals in 2015 .2: Key Definitions and Measurement Instruments of Engagement .1: Differences among Three Main Research Paradigms .2: Key Constructs and Their Measurement Instruments .3: Descriptive Statistics of the Pilot Sample .4: Internal Consistency Reliability of Measurement Instruments in the Pilot Study.5: Initial Categories and Sub-Categories for the Content Analysis.