Determinants of health professionals’ engagement at Mizan-Tepi University Teaching Hospital in Southwest Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Employee engagement, undoubtedly, is one of the top priorities for organizations today, especially for service organizations where labor accounts for a large ratio of what customers pay for. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the determinants of employee engagement at Mizan-Tepi University Teaching Hospital in Southwest Ethiopia. METHODS: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted at Mizan-Tepi University Teaching Hospital from January 1–30, 2020. A total of 212 study participants were recruited using a simple random sampling technique. The data were collected using a pretested self-administered questionnaire. The collected data were entered into SPSS version 21. Descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation were used. Inferential statistics of multiple linear regressions were done to analyze the effect of independent variables. RESULTS: The mean age of respondents was 26.6 (±3.37 SD) years, ranging from 19 to 45 years. One hundred sixty-six (78.3%) were degree holders, 30 (14.2%) were diploma holders, 12 (5.7%) and 4 (1.8%) were masters holders and specialists respectively. The mean service year of respondents was 3.82 (±2.58 SD) years, ranging from 1 to 15 years. The study also found that working environment, perceived supervisory support, team and co-worker relationship, job characteristics, and reward and recognition affect employees’ engagement with a p-value < 0.05. CONCLUSION: all the explanatory variables used to explain employees' engagement were found to be capable of explaining the engagement of the employees in the health sector as well. Therefore, health institutions should work on the identified explanatory variables to increase their employees’ engagement at work.