Do Employees’ Perceptions on Interpersonal Trust and Work Engagement differ across Employee Groups?

Abstract

Employees who are emotionally connected to their work have a high level of interpersonal trust and are engaged in what they do. However, interpersonal trust and work engagement tend to vary with the employees’ years of work experience. This study seeks evidence on whether there is a significant difference in the level of interpersonal trust and work engagement basing on the years of experience an employee spends with an organization in developing countries like Uganda. To achieve this objective, the study uses two groups of employees; one with less than 6 years of work experience, and the other with more than 6 years of work experience to test whether there is a significant difference in the interpersonal trust and work engagement scores. Data was collected from 410 employees working in health based NGOs in Uganda using a structured questionnaire. Results from a Mann Whitney U test revealed a significant difference in the work engagement scores between the two groups. Conversely, there was no significant difference in the interpersonal trust scores. The results imply that highly engaged employees are the most experienced ones, and cultivating a climate of trust is essential for all employees despite their tenure.