Date of Award
2026
Document Type
Dissertation - Open Access
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
Advisor(s)
Dr. James Johnson
Second Advisor
Dr. Wenkai Zhou
Keywords
Employee Engagement, Hawaiian collectivist values, Individualist, Collectivist, Organizational Identification Theory (OID), Social Exchange Theory (SET)
Abstract
Employee engagement is a key driver of organizational performance but remains underexplored in indigenous contexts, particularly within Native Hawaiian organizations (NHOs). This study examined how Hawaiian collectivist values (HICV) influence employee engagement, positioning culture as both a motivational and identity-based driver of work behavior. Employee engagement is defined as the physical, cognitive, and emotional expression of one’s full self in work roles (Kahn, 1990). The study is grounded in Employee Engagement Theory (EE), Organizational Identification Theory (OID), Social Exchange Theory (SET), and Hawaiian collectivist values (HICV), which together explain how perceived cultural authenticity and reciprocal exchange shape employee engagement. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test direct, mediating, and moderating relationships among the study constructs. Measurement of the constructs in this study draws on validated instruments adapted to the Native Hawaiian context, including the Behavioral Integrity Scale (Simons, 2002), adapted to assess Perceived Organizational HICV Enactment, the Organizational Identification Scale (Mael & Ashforth, 1992), the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (Phinney, 1992), adapted for Employee Identification with HICV, and the Employee Engagement Scale (Shuck et al., 2017). By integrating indigenous cultural frameworks with established theories of employee engagement, this study offers both theoretical and practical contributions by extending employee engagement research into a Hawaiian cultural context and provides practical insights for NHOs seeking to cultivate culturally grounded approaches to foster employee engagement and organizational resilience.
Recommended Citation
Tran, Jessalyn, "Exploring The Role of Hawaiian Collectivist Values in Shaping Employee Engagement in Native Hawaiian Organizations" (2026). Dissertations from the Executive Doctorate in Business Administration Program. 58.
https://scholarship.rollins.edu/dba_dissertations/58
