"ABSTRACTThis interpretive study explores employee engagement in employee-ownedorganisations and the factors that contribute to successful employee engagement. Thethesis considers; the role of employee ownership in facilitating employee engagement,what practices are understood to be most effective in securing engagement and whichare most practical, obstacles to engagement and potential solutions, and howemployee engagement supports and sustains ownership. Concepts from employeeengagement and employee ownership literatures are brought together to explain theexistence of employee engagement in employee-owned organisations.Adopting a qualitative approach to research, three employee-owned organisationsformed the basis for data collection. Semi-structured interviews, focus groups, andreflective research diaries, were utilised to capture a range of experiences andperceptions. Data was analysed and presented in a narrative format with key themesidentified using thematic analysis. It was found that in comparison to models of engagement such as Alfes et al. (2010),employee ownership was a key factor of engagement due to the presence ofpsychological ownership (Pierce et al., 1991; Van Dyne and Pierce, 2004). This factoradded an additional dynamic to engagement as the meaning of work was influencedby employee ownership. However, ownership was also found to hindered engagementdue to inflexibilities with ownership processes and the existence of free-riders. Familyculture was present in the organisations which drove employees ownership values(Kruse et al., 2003), although it was found that this was ineffective in dealing withperceived under-performers which affected engagement. Social, affective, andintellectual engagement (Alfes et al., 2010), and vigour, dedication, and absorptionSchaufeli et al. (2006) were found to be influenced by the presence of employeeownership. The study concludes that employee engagement enhances the experience ofemployee ownership, and employee ownership influences employee engagement.Evidence presented confirms the claims of Postlethwaite et al. (2005) and MatrixEvidence (2010) that employee ownership is influential to employee engagement.ii CONTENTSABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iiCONTENTS ..................................................................................................................... iiiLIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................. ixACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................... xAUTHOR’S DECLARATION ............................................................................................. xiCHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 121.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 121.2Introducing the Literature ............................................................................ 131.3Theory and Research ................................................................................... 151.4 Positioning of the Study and Research Objectives ...................................... 171.5 Thesis Structure ........................................................................................... 20CHAPTER 2: EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT ....................................................................... 262.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 262.2 Definitions of Employee Engagement .......................................................... 272.3Facets of Employee Engagement ................................................................. 322.4Factors Shaping Employee Engagement ...................................................... 342.4.1Occupational Factors ............................................................................... 342.4.2Organisational Factors ............................................................................. 372.4.3Psychological Factors ............................................................................... 472.5Outcomes of Employee Engagement ........................................................... 552.6Critical Perspectives of Employee Engagement ........................................... 562.6.1Pluralist and Unitarist Perspectives ......................................................... 582.6.2Individualism and Collectivism ................................................................. 612.7Links between Employee Engagement and Employee Ownership .............. 632.8Closing Discussion ........................................................................................ 65iii CHAPTER 3: EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP ........................................................................... 683.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 683.2 The Nature of Employee Ownership ............................................................ 683.3The Rise of Employee-Owned Companies ................................................... 723.3.1 Changing Organisations ........................................................................... 743.4Choosing Employee Ownership ................................................................... 773.5 Ownership in Practice .................................................................................. 793.5.1 Psychological Ownership ......................................................................... 793.5.2 Living Ownership ...................................................................................... 803.5.3 Management Alignment .......................................................................... 813.5.4The Power of Ownership ......................................................................... 833.5.5 Employee Satisfaction .............................................................................. 843.5.6 Culture ...................................................................................................... 873.5.7 Employee Participation and Involvement ................................................ 893.6 Links between Employee Ownership and Employee Engagement .............. 913.7 Closing Discussion ........................................................................................ 93CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................... 984.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 984.2Research Questions & Objectives ................................................................ 984.3 Research Strategy ...................................................................................... 1024.3.1 Theoretical Perspective .......................................................................... 1024.3.2 Epistemology .......................................................................................... 1044.4Research Methodology .............................................................................. 1054.4.1The Nature of Research ......................................................................... 1064.5 Research Methods ..................................................................................... 1084.5.1The Research Organisations ................................................................... 1094.5.2Addressing the Research Questions ...................................................... 1114.5.3Semi-Structured Interviews ................................................................... 113iv 4.5.4Focus Groups .......................................................................................... 1154.5.5Reflective Diaries.................................................................................... 1174.6 Research Implementation .......................................................................... 1194.6.1 Ethics ...................................................................................................... 1194.6.2 Organising Data Collection ..................................................................... 1204.6.3 Conducting Data Collection.................................................................... 1214.6.4 Audio Recording and Transcription ....................................................... 1234.6.5 Researcher Bias ...................................................................................... 1234.6.6 Pilot Research......................................................................................... 1244.7 Analysis ...................................................................................................... 1254.8 Methodological Limitations ....................................................................... 1274.9 Summary .................................................................................................... 128CHAPTER 5: CASE STUDY – W T INNOVATIONS ..................................................... 1305.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 1305.2Overview of W T Innovations ..................................................................... 1305.3 Findings ...................................................................................................... 1345.3.1 Is ownership alone sufficient to secure engagement employee or doorganisations need to do something more? .......................................................... 1355.3.2 Which company practices are most effective in securing high levels ofengagement? What is good practice? Which measures are most practical? ........ 1405.3.3 Are there any obstacles to securing employee engagement, and howmight they be overcome? ...................................................................................... 1475.3.4 How does employee engagement support and sustain ownership?..... 1525.4 Discussion ................................................................................................... 1555.4.1 Is ownership sufficient to secure engagement or do organisations need todo something more? .............................................................................................. 1555.4.2 Which company practices are more effective in securing high levels ofengagement? What is good practice? Which measures are most practical? ........ 158v 5.4.3 Are there any obstacles to securing engagement, and how might these beovercome? ............................................................................................................. 1605.4.4How does employee engagement support and sustain ownership?..... 1615.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 161CHAPTER 6: CASE STUDY – OPTIMUM ....................................................................... 1686.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 1686.2Overview of Optimum ................................................................................ 1686.3 Findings ...................................................................................................... 1726.3.1 Is ownership alone sufficient to secure engagement employee or doorganisations need to do something more? .......................................................... 1736.3.2 Which company practices are most effective in securing high levels ofengagement? What is good practice? Which measures are most practical? ........ 1796.3.3 Are there any obstacles to securing employee engagement, and howmight they be overcome? ...................................................................................... 1846.3.4 How does employee engagement support and sustain ownership?..... 1896.4 Discussion ................................................................................................... 1916.4.1 Is ownership sufficient to secure engagement or do organisations need todo something more? .............................................................................................. 1916.4.2 Which company practices are most effective in securing high levels ofengagement? What is good practice? Which measures are most practical? ........ 1946.4.3 Are there any obstacles to securing engagement, and how might these beovercome? ............................................................................................................. 1976.4.4 How does employee engagement support and sustain ownership?..... 2016.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 202CHAPTER 7: CASE STUDY – UNIFORMITY ................................................................... 2077.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 2077.2Overview of Uniformity ............................................................................. 2077.3 Findings ...................................................................................................... 211vi 7.3.1 Is ownership alone sufficient to secure engagement employee or doorganisations need to do something more? .......................................................... 2127.3.2 Which company practices are most effective in securing high levels ofengagement? What is good practice? Which measures are most practical? ........ 2147.3.3 Are there any obstacles to securing employee engagement, and howmight they be overcome? ...................................................................................... 2207.3.4 How does employee engagement support and sustain ownership?..... 2247.4 Discussion ................................................................................................... 2277.4.1 Is ownership sufficient to secure engagement or do organisations need todo something more? .............................................................................................. 2287.4.2 Which company practices are most effective in securing high levels ofengagement? What is good practice? Which measures are most practical? ........ 2307.4.3 Are there any obstacles to securing engagement, and how might these beovercome? ............................................................................................................. 2337.4.4 How does employee engagement support and sustain ownership?..... 2367.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 237CHAPTER 8: SUMMARY OF FINDINGS ........................................................................ 2418.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 2418.2 Overall Discussion ...................................................................................... 2428.3 Discussion of Research Questions ............................................................. 2508.3.1 Is ownership sufficient to secure engagement or do organisations need todo something more? .............................................................................................. 2518.3.2 Which company practices are most effective in securing high levels ofengagement? What is good practice? Which measures are most practical? ........ 2528.3.3 Are there any obstacles to securing engagement, and how might these beovercome? ............................................................................................................. 2558.3.4 How does employee engagement support and sustain ownership?..... 2598.7 Summary .................................................................................................... 261CHAPTER 9: DISCUSSION ............................................................................................ 2659.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 265vii 9.2 Contributions to Existing Literature ........................................................... 2689.2.1 Is ownership sufficient to secure engagement or do organisations need todo something more? .............................................................................................. 2699.2.2 Which company practices are most effective in securing high levels ofengagement? What is good practice? Which measures are most practical? ........ 2739.2.3 Are there any obstacles to securing engagement, and how might these beovercome? ............................................................................................................. 2779.2.4 How does employee engagement support and sustain ownership?..... 2829.3 Implications for Organisations ................................................................... 2869.4 Limitations of this Research ....................................................................... 2879.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 2889.6 Suggestions for Future Research ............................................................... 291Appendix 1: Informed Consent Form ......................................................................... 294Appendix 2: Participant Information Sheet ........................................................... 295Appendix 3: Participant Key ................................................................................... 297Appendix 4: Semi-Structured HR Interview Questions .......................................... 298Appendix 5: Focus Group Outline .......................................................................... 299Appendix 6: Example of Reflective Diary ............................................................... 300ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................................... 307REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 308 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Factors contributing to employee engagement in EOCs …………………………… 244 ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThroughout this research, I have been graced to have the support of my supervisor,Professor Andrew Pendleton and importantly my research organisations. Andrew –thank you for all your advice, support, and belief throughout my research journey. Tomy research organisations and participants – without your involvement, this researchwould not be possible. To those in the organisations whom were my point of contact,thank you for your time, your efforts, and for making me feel like I was part of yourorganisation. I would also like to thank the ESRC for funding this project, which hasbeen an enjoyable and rewarding experience. Support and involvement from theEmployee Ownership Association has also been invaluable to this research for which Iam sincerely thankful. With support and guidance from close friends – Kieran Alden, Kay Mitchell, DuncanLean, and Rachel Sparks – your friendship and faith in me has shown the true kindnessof your hearts. I owe so much of my experience to you. My parents, Sue and Les; without you, your support, your love, and help making methe person I am today, this would not have been possible. Thank you for everythingyou have done and continue to do for me.Lastly but by no means least, to my husband, Adam – from near and far you have beenmy pillar throughout. Thank you for your support and thank you for having faith in me.x AUTHOR’S DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis entitled “Employee Ownership: Evaluating the FactorsContributing to Successful Employee Engagement“ is all my own work. This work isoriginal and has not been submitted in part or full by me for any award either at theUniversity of York or any other institute. I declare that the material obtained fromother sources has been duly acknowledged in the thesis.xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 IntroductionOver the past century, management – “the art of getting things done through people”(Mary Parker Follett, 1868-1933) – has evolved through the times. From Taylorism andFordism to laissez-faire approaches, different methods of management have workedfor different organisations. As the UK has changed from being dominated bymanufacturing industries to the service sector, management has changed to anst approach that emphasises the people factor. In the 21 Century, employees are oftenirreplaceable as the nature of work has become knowledge-intensive, thereby creatinga need to retain and attract the best employees. This research study does not addressmanagement as a whole, but instead its focus lies on a variety of practices that can beused to help attract and enthuse employees. Such practices are also understood tohave the capability to enhance management itself. Organisations increasingly seek to harness their employees’ interest throughemployee engagement. It is claimed from using engagement practices employeesbecome more productive and effective workers. Some conclusive research has beencarried out on employee engagement illustrating the positive outcomes ofengagement such as studies conducted by Harter et al. (2004) and Baumruk (2006).Furthermore, Kahn (1992) claims that engagement was shown to have positivecorrelations with organisational outcomes. Despite the research on employeeengagement showing correlations to organisational outcomes, there is a lack of auniversal definition in the literature specifically defining what employee engagementis. Moreover, intensive research of employee engagement has only been carried outin ‘traditionally’ owned organisations such as privately and publicly-owned companies.The lack of literature concerning employee engagement in different types oforganisations provides an opportunity to generate much needed research. Theemployee ownership sector is one that is growing and has gained significant interestfrom the Government (EOA, 2010). Employee ownership’s viability as a successfulbusiness model results from how it attempts to secure interest of its employees bymaking them shareholders (directly or indirectly), inviting them to become involved inthe organisation, and rewarding them appropriately. Employee engagement in this12 interesting type of business model has received little attention from academics andresearchers, hence the need for further exploration and investigation.This research study brings together two different but potentially complimentary texts.Firstly, attention is drawn to the growing literature on employee engagement where itis identified that, although the consequences of employee engagement are welldocumented, the understanding of the concept has received little attention. Secondly,the nature of employee ownership provides a utilitarianism perspective to themeaning of work and formally invites employees to have an active interest in theorganisation. Given that employee ownership attempts to secure interest from itsemployees, comments have been made declaring that employee ownership enhancesemployee engagement. However, these comments have very little research behindtheir claims. Bringing together these two volumes of existing research, this research study aims toaddress the literature gap to understand how employee ownership can contribute tosuccessful employee engagement. Undertaking a qualitative, empirical investigationof three employee-owned companies (EOCs), the research provides insight as to howemployee ownership effects employee engagement, as well as assessing howemployee engagement affects employee ownership. Through researching the chosenorganisations, these overall aims will reflect how different types of employeeownership models and employee engagement practices in organisations can stimulatedifferent types of behaviours. Furthermore, the study identifies a need to evaluatewhether employee engagement is required when the employee is an employee- owner. As there is a lack of empirical research evaluating employee engagement in thespecific context of EOCs, there is a need for investigation. By doing so, this will clarifythe relationship between employee engagement and employee ownership. As a result,the findings will indicate whether employee engagement has the capability to aid thesuccess of EOCs. 1.2Introducing the LiteratureEmployee ownership is the term given to organisations where employees hold shareseither directly or indirectly in the organisation (Rosen et al., 1986). Employeeownership can be an all-encompassing term used to describe a variety of employee13 ownership options. This study concentrates on employee ownership when themajority of the organisation is owned by its employees (Pendleton, 2009).Furthermore, employee ownership is described to be when a level of employee shareownership in an organisation crosses “a threshold which is based on an informedcalculation that measures the percentage of employees benefiting from ownershipand the percentage of the business owned by those employees” (BaxendaleOwnership, 2013). Employee ownership typically arises due to an organisation beingpassed into a trust for the benefit of its employees. This is understood to commonlybe as a result of an altruistic founder who desired an exit strategy from theorganisation (Pendleton, 2009).EOCs are perceived to be different to private andpublicly-owned organisations because they are able to encourage performancethrough not only offering financial reward, but through providing an inherent meaningto work. It is claimed that this is achieved by employees having something they haveownership of and thereby control of. To this effect, Matrix Evidence (2010) describethat EOCs are able to achieve enhanced employee engagement as a result of employeeownership. Furthermore, as Postlethwaite et al. (2005:5) describe:“employee owned companies are now arguably setting the pace on atleast one of the most prized yardsticks for competitiveness: the ability toharness the true commitment and creativity of their employees.Employee ownership, not surprisingly, is good for employeeengagement”. The link between employee ownership and employee engagement, despite theliterature by Postlethwaite et al., is theoretically weak as a result of the lack of researchevidence. This is particularly heightened due to ambiguity in the employeeengagement literature as to what engagement ultimately is. The literature andresearch provides evidence for different facets of engagement; job and organisationalengagement (Saks, 2006); intellectual, affective and social engagement (Alfes et al.,2010); physical, cognitive and emotional presence (Kahn, 1990); as well astransactional and emotional engagement (Gourlay et al., 2012); to name a few.Employee engagement is concerned with the “hands, head, and heart” (Ashforth andHumphrey, 1995:110). It warrants a “positive attitude held by the employee towardsthe organization and its values” (Robinson et al., 2004:2). Engagement entices “theharnessing of organization members’ selves to their work roles; in engagement, peopleemploy and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role14 performances” (Kahn, 1990:694). It is a discretionary, psychological construct thatoccurs at an individual level.Employee ownership and employee engagement are understood to have similaragendas. They both desire to maximise employee performance through encouraging apositive relationship with the organisation. Employee ownership primarily influencesperformance by offering employees a financial and controlling stake in theorganisation, therefore linking the organisations success to employees’ financialreturns. Whereas employee engagement entices performance by offering more thanfinancial returns to enhance the employment experience. This thesis aims to evaluatethe factors contributing to successful employee engagement in the context of EOCs. 1.3Theory and ResearchChapter 2 explores a variety of employee engagement definitions and discusses thefacets associated with it. The term employee engagement has been passed off by somecritics as a fashion because it is questionable as to how it differentiates from otherexisting constructs such as job satisfaction and organisational citizenship behaviour.However, Alfes et al. (2010) suggests that employee engagement is different from suchconstructs because there is an emphasis on “the willingness of employees to discusswork-related improvements with those around them” (p.5). Thereby it is understoodthat employee engagement harnesses an element of social engagement. To this effect,Alfes et al. define employee engagement as “being positively present during theperformance of work by willingly contributing intellectual effort, experiencing positiveemotion and meaningful connections to others” (p.5). Scholars such as Kahn (1990),Schaufeli and Bakker (2003), and May et al. (2004) suggest that engagement is apsychological state because it requires a positive psychological connection betweenthe employee and the actions of the employer. The MacLeod Report provides much insight to employee engagement and seeks toreaffirm its position in human resource management. MacLeod and Clarke (2009)argue that “employee engagement is a workplace approach designed to ensure thatemployees are committed to their organisation’s goals and values, motivated tocontribute to organisational success, and are able at the same time to enhance theirown sense of well-being” (p.9). They identified four drivers of engagement as15 leadership, employee voice, engaging managers, and integrity. However, a recentstudy by Alfes et al. (2010) has provided further clarity not only to what employeeengagement means, but also to how it can be achieved. Their model of employeeengagement identifies that in order to achieve a full state of employee engagement,organisations have to provide, and employees need to identify as well as invest theirself, with the drivers of engagement. These drivers have been identified by Alfes et al.as; meaningfulness of work, employee voice and upward dialogue, vision andcommunication from senior management, line management style, a supportive workenvironment, and achieving a person-job fit.The literature on employee engagementdoes not prescribe a universal approach to enable engagement to be secured.Furthermore, there are neither rights nor wrongs as to how, when, or where employeeengagement theory can be applied. The literature does not give any consideration tohow employee engagement exists in different types of organisations. As Chapter 3 discusses, working in an EOC is perceived to identify a new meaning towork. How ownership affects engagement and vice-versa is a vastly under-researchedfield. Over a century ago Catherine Webb (1912) proposed that “by making [anemployee] a shareholder in the business employing him...it stimulates his zeal andcareful working” (p.138). More recently, there has been a spotlight on employeeownership thereby warranting a need for these literatures to be brought together. Bydoing so, the viability of employee ownership models will be evaluated in terms of howemployee engagement is understood to support and sustain ownership. Pierce et al. (1991) claim that employee ownership can influence outcomes for bothindividuals and organisations. It is understood that ownership creates bonding andintegration with the organisation due to psychological ownership, which affectsemployee behaviour. Their research identifies conditions that induced socio- psychological and behavioural effects to create this psychological ownership.Furthermore, they present that ownership can be defined by addressing threefundamental rights: “(1) the right to possession of some share of the owned object’sphysical being and/or financial value, (2) the right to exercise influence (control) overthe owned object, and (3) the right to information about the status of that which isowned” (p.125). These rights contribute to psychological ownership. Pierce et al.(2001) suggest in a later study that psychological ownership emerges through thepresence of three factors; the extent to which employees have control over an16 organisational factor, the degree of knowledge that an employee has concerning anorganisational factor, and the level at which an employee invests their self intoownership. Reviewing this in the context of employee engagement, links emergebetween the two fields. In particular, Kahn’s (1990) notion of one wanting to investtheir self into work. Furthermore, the employee ownership literature which exploresparticipation (such as Pendleton, 2001; Conte and Svejnar, 1990; Cleverley andGoyder, 2001) identifies with aspects of the model of engagement as presented byAlfes et al. (2010) reflecting on the presence of employee voice and meaningfulness ofwork. However, the current literature does not address ownership and engagement ina unified discussion therefore, the significance of such as not been ultimatelyidentified. 1.4 Positioning of the Study and Research Objectives From the literature review (Chapters 2 and 3), the relationship between employeeownership and employee engagement is proposed and direction for this researchstudy is identified. From the two literatures, it is understood that employeeengagement could potentially be heightened in EOCs as employee ownership formallyprovides avenues for participation and involvement. By understanding howengagement and ownership could prove to be complementary, the research questionsevolved. This line of questioning sought to ascertain if EOCs are successful in their ownright by harnessing engagement, or if they need something more to successfully secureengagement. A gap in the literature has been identified to evaluate how EOCs are effective insecuring high levels of engagement, whether they need something more to driveengagement, or if ownership itself is sufficient to drive it. Delving deeper into this lineof enquiry, it is acknowledged that there is a further avenue for investigation;identifying what prevents engagement and what actively disengages employee- owners. Again, this is identified as a gap in the literature as employee engagement isnot explored in the context of EOCs. Finally, the lack of literature and studies providingevidence of employee engagement in EOCs, led the research study to consider thealternative perspective as to how employee engagement may strengthen employeeownership. The development of the research questions have been designed to exploreengagement from all angles to explore the role of employee ownership in this17 constructed reality. The literature review presents many avenues for exploration ofthe relationship between employee ownership and employee engagement. However,the research direction was dictated by a fundamental need to form an understandingof the occurrence of employee engagement in EOCs, before considering specificmediating factors. Adopting an interpretive approach, this research study explores experiences andperceptions of employee-owners in an attempt to create a body of literature thatevaluates the relationship between employee ownership and employee engagement.Exploring the occurrence of employee engagement in several EOCs, notions of goodpractice will be sought to provide insight and potential impact to other EOCs.Furthermore, considering that the experiences and perceptions of employee-ownersare a product of their social environment, a qualitative research design has been usedto capture the sense making of the employee-owners participating in this study. Byimplementing this research design, it is aimed to explore several different EOCs toprovide a spectrum of realities from which comprehensive new understandings ofemployee engagement in EOCs can evaluated. The key research questions for this thesis are identified as: 1. Is ownership sufficient to secure engagement or do organisations need to dosomething more?2. Which company practices are most effective in securing high levels ofengagement? What is good practice? Which measures are most practical?3. Are there any obstacles to securing engagement, and how might these beovercome?4. How does employee engagement support and sustain ownership?In order to examine these research questions, several lines of enquiry will bedeveloped to extensively address the research questions. Taking a three-tier approachto evaluating the factors that contribute to successful employee engagement, the datacollection process will start with a semi-structured interview with a human resources(HR) representative. The purpose of this is to gather an understanding of the practicesthat the organisation uses in attempt to secure engagement. Two focus groups willsubsequently take place in each organisation in a semi-structured manner to discussexperiences of engagement in the organisation. Reflecting the research on the role of18 the line manager in engagement (Robinson and Hayday, 2009), the set-up of the focusgroups attempts to provide further evidence of managers driving engagement. In eachof the organisations, one focus group is formed by managers and the other by a groupof non-managers to understand the desire and effect of different practices. Theseparation also attempts to overcome any discomfort of the non-managers whendiscussing the role of potentially their manager. The final stage of the data collectionis designed to elicit the daily occurrence of engagement as discussed by Kahn (1990).As part of this stage, participants are asked to complete a reflective diary over a two- week period and attend a subsequent semi-structured interview to discuss theoccurrences in the diary. The purpose of this method is to capture engagement as it isexperienced on a daily basis. Three EOCs are participating in this study. One of these will be a pilot for the datacollection. These organisations were chosen because of the different characteristicsthat they presented. The first organisation is relatively new to employee ownershiptherefore its ownership, participatory, and involvement practices are continuing todevelop. Employees are required to forgo £1,000 of their salary within the first year ofemployment as a contribution towards share ownership. The organisation is fullyemployee-owned in its UK operations and offers employees the opportunity topurchase additional shares. The second organisation is a large, worldwide,organisation that has a mature status of employee ownership having being employee- owned for some 40 years. At this organisation, all shares are held on behalf ofemployees in a trust therefore making everyone’s entitlement to ownership equal. Thefinal organisation has been employee-owned for eight years but it has experiencedsome difficulties, which has prevented a pay-out of dividends. Similar to the firstorganisation, employees are required to make a minimum financial contribution,which is held by a trust. This organisation is based on one site and is an SME. A total of 39 participants across the three organisations are involved in data collection.Each participant is involved in different stages of data collection. This is broken downinto; three participants participating in the HR interview, 29 participants beinginvolved in focus groups (13 managers and 16 non-managers), and seven participantscompleting the reflective diary exercise. The HR interviews vary in length from onehour to ninety minutes whereas the focus groups typically lasted an hour and a half.The reflective diary exercise was the most time consuming for participants as up to19 half an hour was required for the pre-diary introduction, followed by the writing of thediary itself which required 5 entries over a two-week period, and finally the follow upinterview which typically took between twenty minutes to three quarters of an hourto complete. All interviews and discussions have been recorded as well as fullytranscribed with the consent of the participants. Findings are presented in a narrativeapproach from emergent dialogue resulting from the data collection process.Subsequently, these findings are analysed using a thematic approach in order to“provide a rich and detailed, yet complex, account of data” (Braun and Clarke,2006:78). A discussion will be formed in relation to the existing bodies of literature toadd to existing theory and highlight this thesis’s findings. 1.5 Thesis StructureHaving set out the rationale for this thesis and discussed the utility of the researchquestions as well as the thought process for the research design, the structure of thesubsequent chapters will now be discussed.Chapter 2 will explore the current literature on employee engagement. It will explorethe variety of perspectives reflecting on the meaning of engagement and will discussthe components that contribute to engagement. The chapter will continue to explorea number of factors; occupational, organisational, and psychological; which areunderstood to shape employee engagement. Moving forward, a discussion will explorethe present understanding of the outcomes of employee engagement. The chapter willbe brought to a close by presenting a discussion on the findings of employeeengagement in both academic and practitioner literature. In doing so, potential linksbetween the engagement literature and the employee ownership literature will beidentified. A literature review of employee ownership is presented in Chapter 3. This chapterexplores the existence of this type of business ownership. Starting by identifying thevarious different types of ownership models, the chapter will explore the rise of EOCsand discuss the changing nature of organisations. The discussion will explore theliterature as to why organisations may look towards employee ownership as a viablebusiness model. The chapter will consider ownership in practice by exploring aspectsof ownership such as; psychological ownership, the role of managers, the power of20 ownership, employee satisfaction models, culture, in addition to employeeparticipation and involvement. The literature presented will be summarised to shapethe forward discussion regarding the role that employee ownership has in employeeengagement and vice-versa. Chapter 4 will discuss the methodological philosophy pursued in this study. A reviewof the previous chapters will explore the research direction and present the researchquestions, which have been identified from the gaps in the existing literature. Thestrategy for the research will explore theoretical perspectives and identify aninterpretive epistemology. Presenting the research methodology, the nature of theresearch will be considered. Furthermore, after identifying appropriate researchmethods, a review of these will be presented to as well as to establish how they willaddress the research questions. The chapter will also discuss the implementation ofthe research design in terms of; ethical considerations, organising and conducting datacollection, audio recording and transcription, the use of qualitative analysis software,considerations for researcher bias, and the use of pilot research. The researchorganisations will be briefly introduced and reasons for choosing them will beillustrated. The approach for data analysis will be discussed and thought will be givento the limitations of the methodology. Finally, the chapter will conclude with asummary to recap the direction presented. The three case studies shaping this thesis will be presented in Chapter 5 to 7. Eachchapter will reflect upon an organisation as will begin by providing an overview of theorganisation. Consideration will be given to the reflections of the researcher duringthe data collection process. The data findings will be presented by utilising a variety ofnarrative accounts to provide substance for each research question. A thematicanalysis of the findings will identify factors and themes within the data in response tothe research questions. Existing theory will be used to support such findings. Each casestudy will finish with a conclusion to re-emphasis the factors that contributed tosuccessful employee engagement in the EOC explored. An overall discussion will be presented in Chapter 8 to illustrate how employeeengagement was identified in each case study explored. Using thematic analysis, theoutline of employee engagement in the three EOCs examined will be presented. Inaddition, by using qualitative analysis software, a table will be used to provide an21 "