Mediating effect of digital work environment with its drivers and employee engagement and employee job performance: A study of state University Sri Lanka

Abstract

The study explores leadership, training, and the digital work environment in regard to how those factors influence employee engagement and job performance within the context of higher education at a state university in Sri Lanka. With the rapid development of technologies, the world is shifting to digital working spaces, and recently with the outbreak of COVID-19, this process has gained extra speed. Both opportunities and challenges have emerged in front of employee engagement and productivity. The quantitative study examines how transformational leadership and holistic training determine digital settings for employee engagement. The results emphasize that strong leadership is needed with ongoing training in order to raise engagements and performances in digital working environments. This study also tends to indicate that employee engagement acts as the vital mediator between a digital working environment and job performance. The implications of this study offer useful insights into formulating strategies by university administrators to maximize digital workspace, employee engagement, and thus ensure improvement in institutional performance. Practical recommendations were in the form of short-term actions that can be taken immediately and long-term strategies for achieving sustainable digital transformation in the higher education context.