Employee Engagement

The purpose of the present study is to explore the relationship between personality and employee engagement amongst frontline personnel in the organized retail industry in India. In particular, the study seeks to examine the relationship between two personality traits, extraversion and conscientiousness with engagement amongst frontline employees. The Utrecht work engagement scale (2003) and Big Five Personality scale (McCrae and Costa, 1989) have been used for this purpose. Primary data was collected from 333 frontline employees working in different retail formats. The study finds that there is considerable scope for improvement in the level of employee engagement amongst the frontline personnel in the organized retail industry. There, however does exist a positive relationship between the extraversion and conscientiousness personality traits and employee engagement. Based on the findings, the paper recommends measures for improving employee engagement levels through a better fit between employee personality and the retail work environment.