Organizational climate and employee engagement: A commercial bank perspective in Southeast Nigeria

Purpose: This study aimed to ascertain the role organizational climate could play in galvanizing the employees of commercial banks in southeast Nigeria for better performance through exhibiting greater engagement to their jobs and organizations. Research methodology: Survey Research Design was employed for the study. The study population consisted of 988 employees of 50 randomly selected commercial banks in the region studied. Data were elicited through a structured questionnaire while the analysis was carried out using Simple Regression Analysis and hypothesis tested at a 5% level of significance. Results: The findings showed that there is a statistically significant relationship between Distributive Justice Climate and Job Satisfaction in Microfinance Banks in South-East Nigeria (r = .962; R-Square = .926; F = 5865.689; p-value<.05) and that there is a statistically significant relationship existing between Open Communication Climate and Positive Meaning in Microfinance Banks in South-East Nigeria (r = .982; R-Square = .965; F = 13000.304; p-value<.05). Limitations: Because of the concentration of commercial banks in Anambra state, most of the banks selected for the study through a random method were from Anambra State. This could affect the generalizability of the findings. Contribution: This study contributed to the already existing body of knowledge on Organizational Climate and Employee Engagement. The study also revealed empirical results of the relationship between the variables of the study, specifically in commercial banks in South-East Nigeria.


Introduction
There are different forms of organizations with different interests and competitive strengths. Manufacturing firms depend heavily on physical resources like machines, buildings and materials. However, service rendering firms like commercial banks appear to rely mostly on their employees for performance improvement. This is probably because people interface more in service rendering firms; hence, the skills, competencies and dexterities of employees in handling customers become key. However, it is important to note that human resources (HR) play a significant role in any form of organization, but the level of role could differ from organization to organization. HR has critical roles to play in ensuring organizational aims are achieved because their performance determines the quality of the work done (Afolabi, 2005;Kaur, 2015). HR is the most significant resource to all forms of firms; this is owing to the fact that they make sublime contributions to the success of organizations (Abgasi, Arachie & Onyekwelu, 2021). Also, Beigi and Moradi (2020), cited in Ghorbani and Khanachah (2020), opine that experts and scholars in management and other related fields have recognized HR as a top-notch asset to every firm. HR has assumed a significant part in the advanced life association, as they have the capacity to transform the fortunes of firms by reacting swiftly to environmental changes (Khan, 2020).
Employees are motivated to perform well based on certain conditions like pay, interest, fringe benefit, level of involvement and style of communication. All these could be sub-zoomed into the climate of an organization which is termed Organizational Climate (OC). As a result of the implication of OC on the performance of employees, scholars, researchers and management experts have over the years focused on it. Adeniji (2012) posits that there has been a long-standing interest in studying OC among organizational researchers. This is in a bid to note the type of climate in the environment that will be considered favorable, which could spur performance.
Organizational climate is the feeling employees have about an organization. It is their perception about the way things are done in the firm. Olibie, Uzoechina and Eziuzor (2015) state that OC is the social and psychological environment or atmosphere that characterizes a particular organization. It is how organizational members perceive and characterize their internal environment in an attitudinal and value-based manner (Kao, 2015). Employees' views are many, so are the dimensions of OC, leading to some scholars refer to it as a multidimensional construct. In alignment with this position, Fauziah, Safiah, Syakirarohan and Shukriah (2010) explicate that there is a general agreement that OC is a multidimensional concept and that several typical dimensions could be described under it. Autonomy, stress, control, respect, sincerity, job experience, age, position, processes, work definitions, and role expectations are all factors that influence it. (Allen, 2003;Hart, Wearing, Conn, Carter & Dingle 2000;Johnsrud, 2002). Other dimensions, as explained by Oladipo (2013), are leadership styles, participation in decision-making, and communication style. Others are providing employees with challenging jobs, reducing boredom and frustration, personnel policies, and making for nice working conditions and a suitable career ladder and development prospect.
Organizational climate has been shown to significantly affect employee engagement, measured by morale, commitment, loyalty, and satisfaction (Potosky & Ramahrishna, 2001). It's also worth noting that working in a healthy and enjoyable environment has an impact on the level and quality of performance of employees in a company. (Umoh, Amah & Wokocha, 2013). This is because it has long been established that a person's behavior is influenced by both his or her pe rsonal characteristics and the nature of his or her surroundings (Potosky & Ramahrishna, 2001)..
Employee engagement refers to how committed individuals are to assisting a business by going above and beyond what is required of them in their current position. (Ram, Bhargavi & Prabhakar, 2011). The perception employees could determine employee engagement hold about their organization. Employees who are engaged exert significant effort toward their work (Bakker, Schaufeli, Leiter & Taris, 2008). They perform better because they are filled with positive emotions such as happiness, excitement, and enthusiasm; they have more excellent psychological health and pass on their enthusiasm to others (Bakker et al., 2008). Hence, this work was necessitated to ascertain the role OC could play in galvanizing the employees for better performance through exhibiting greater engagement to their jobs and organizations as a whole. The study specifically seeks to: a) Examine the relationship between Distributive Justice Climate and Employee Job Satisfaction in Commercial Banks in South-East Nigeria.

b) Ascertain the relationship existing between Open Communication Climate and Positive
Meaning in Commercial Banks in South-East Nigeria.

Organizational Climate (OC)
The way employees perceive the environment of their internal organizations defines what organizational climate (OC) is all about. It is the perceptions employees hold about the operational atmosphere in their workplace. Burton, Lauridsen and Obel (2004) state that it is defined as the sum of employees' opinions of the organization, including its level of trust, conflict, morale, reward equality, leader credibility, reluctance to change, and scapegoating. It is organizational members' shared thoughts, sentiments, and attitudes regarding the organization's core features that reflect the established norms, values, and attitudes of the organization's culture and impact people' behavior positively or negatively (Gerber, 2003). Al-Shammari (1992) opines that OC is the "organizational ideals, values, philosophies, and traditions." On their part, Moran and Volkwein (2002) OC is a generally permanent quality of an organization that distinguishes it from other organizations, according to this definition and that: : I. Embody members' collective perceptions of their organization in terms of autonomy, trust, cohesiveness, support, recognition, innovation, and justice. It comes through the interaction of members. II.
Situations could be interpreted through it III.
Reflects widely held beliefs that organizational climate is a reasonably long-lasting quality that separates one organization from others: and Behaviours could be shaped as a result of it.

Distributive justice climate
Distributive justice is one of the types or dimensions of organizational justice: the perception of fairness at work. One of these elements is organizational justice, which is represented in an individual's view of the fairness of an organization's overall attitude and treatment of its employees (Gozukara, 2017). Distributive justice, just like the name implies, has to do with the perceived fairness in the distribution of organizational reward to its members. It is related to honesty and fidelity showed during organizational resources distribution (Tutar, 2007). However, it is important to note here that the resources here are not salaries and or fringe benefits alone. The resources could be promotion, punishment, workloads etc. Buttressing this point, Tutar (2007) states that distribution justice focuses on wage increases, performance evaluations, promotions and punishments. Similarly, Ali and Saifullah (2014) posit that distributive justice refers to the fair allocation of benefits and workloads in the organization.
In terms of distributive justice, what matters is the employees' opinion in the fairness of their share of the resources distributed. (Akbolat, Isik, Yilmaz & Akca, 2015). When individuals evaluate what they get and compare it with their input or what their colleagues get, then they are interested in the distributive justice system in the organization. It is the sense of fairness that an employee has as a result of contrasting his work commitments and the outcomes of those commitments, such as rewards, tasks, and responsibilities, with the commitments and outcomes that other employees have (Colquitt, 2001). It suggests that the outcomes should be appropriate in terms of equity (rewarding employees for their contributions), equality (paying each employee roughly the same), and need (offering benefits depending on one's needs). (Ali & Saifullah, 2014).
Employees are more satisfied when their respective organizations fairly reward them for the work they have done, ensuring that such rewards are solely based on their genuine contribution to the achievement of the organization's goal and are consistent with the rewards and recognition policies of their respective organizations (Khan, Jan& Baloch, 2017). This point of view may affect their attitudes, and the behaviors of these individuals may change with respect to their attitudes (Ozdevecioglu, 2003). communication evokes a shared or common meaning in another person. In an organization, communication is defined as the supervisor's availability for listening and advice, effective communication, and clear expectations and feedback required for improved work performance. (Yee & Ananthalakshmi, 2017).
The hallmark of effective communication is timeliness, openness and accessibility of information in the workplace and this could support a healthy work climate. Warne, Ali and Pascoe (2004) state that in organizations, information availability, sharing, and flow, as well as other communication elements, can all contribute to good performance. Effective communication allows for the flow of information, which invariably aids both management and employees in taking full responsibility for building a positive work environment throughout the firm and ensuring employee buy-in and involvement. (Tukiainen, 2001).
Trust, openness, information adequacy, information quality, information flow, participative management, and reinforcement of good communication practices, as well as shared responsibilities for making communication effective, all contribute to the atmosphere of communication in organizations (Ijaduola, 2008). The organizational and psychological processes of communication, problem-solving, learning, motivation, efficiency, and production, as well as innovation and job satisfaction, are all influenced by the organizational environment. (Rahimić, 2013).

Employee engagement
Employee engagement is measured by the way they are committed and enmeshed in the organization, the extent to which they have a burning desire for the organization to succeed. Employees who are engaged in their firm have an emotional attachment to their organization. Bringing this emotional connection to light, Viljoen (2009) states that employees who are engaged have a deep emotional attachment to the company where they work. This is linked to people who are willing to recommend the organization to others and who are willing to put in the time and effort to assist the organization to succeed (Corporate Leadership Council of Canada, 2004). All the positive attributes may not be possible in a toxic or negative OC. A weak OC marked by a lack of recognition, trust, cohesion, organizational support, responsibility, and so on, is likely to result in low worker morale and commitment/engagement, low productivity, low profitability, diminishing market share, and possibly significant employee turnover (Umoh, Amah & Wokocha, 2013).
Employees who are engaged are committed to duty; they are involved in their jobs, are enthusiastic and put a lot of effort into making sure that they discharge their duties well. Recognizing qualities of engaged employees in their definition, Viljoen (2009) states that engagement deals with the trait of sincere and steadfast fixity of purpose, a man of energy and commitment and the act of binding oneself to a course of action. On the other hand, Rothbard (2001) described engagement as being psychologically present. Engaged employees are fully involved in and enthusiastic about their work (Agu, 2015). Schaufeli and his colleagues (2003)opine that EE is a positive, work-related state of fulfillment. Macey and Schneider (2008) EE is a desired organizational situation that entails involvement, commitment, passion, excitement, focused effort, and energy. It is the act of "committing, pledging or engaging oneself" or "the state of being bound emotionally or intellectually to a course of action or another person or persons" (Macey & Schneider, 2008, p.3) There are different ways of measuring EE, but the most used are vigor, dedication and absorption. Work engagement has three interrelated dimensions (Schaufeli, Bakker & Salanova, 2006;Salanova, Agut & Peiro, 2005): a) Vigor is marked by tremendous energy, mental toughness, and a readiness to put up extra effort and perseverance in one's work. b) Dedication, which relates to having a strong sense of purpose, excitement, inspiration, pride, and challenge in one's profession.. c) Absorption, which denotes concentration, satisfaction with one's work, and being thoroughly and completely absorbed in one's work, where time flies by and separation from one's work is difficult.

Job satisfaction
Job satisfaction of an employee is a thing of the mind but could manifest in physical forms by the disposition of the employee towards an organization. An employee who is satisfied with the job could easily be noticed among other employees who are dissatisfied with the job. This is because they put in more effort, are always punctual and excited about their duties. Hence, job satisfaction is manifested in the attitude of employees. Fajana (2001) states that job satisfaction is the general job attitudes of employees. It is a general expression of workers' positive attitudes towards their jobs (Olajide, 2015).
The definition of job satisfaction enjoys varying degrees of definition. Job satisfaction is a multidimensional topic with various definitions and associated notions that has been examined for many years in a range of areas. (Olajide, 2015). In essence, organizational behavior and management academics believe that the phenomenon (satisfaction) concept is complex, incomprehensible, and mythical. (Malik, 2011). Edem and Lawal (2006) assert that the term "work satisfaction" has been defined in a variety of ways by different people. They go on to say that job satisfaction is a pleasurable or positive emotional state that comes from evaluating one's work experiences. Reichers (2006) extended the definition to include an attitudinal variable that assesses how a person feels about his or her employment, taking into account various aspects of the job.
The level of contentment an employee has with the job could be used to measure how satisfied or dissatisfied an employee is with the job. This was the position of Ajila (2012), who posits that job satisfaction refers to how happy a person is with his or her job. As a result, when people are happy with their jobs, they have a good attitude. (Weiss, 2002). Emery and Barker (2007) view it as an end state of feeling, while Jha and Pathak (2003) point out that it is a part of life satisfaction and the nature of one's environment off-the-job.

Positive meaning
Positive meaning in the context of this study has to do with how valued and important an employee perceives his or her job to be to him or her, to the organization and the society in general. Wrzesniewski, LoBuglio, Dutton and Berg (2013) opine that positive work meanings are the associations, frameworks, or features of work that employees use to define work as a valued constructive activity.
People who are engaged in an organization are likely to have a positive meaning of their jobs as this is the desire of most people; to have a palatable perception of the job they do. This was captured by Baumeister and Vohs (2005), who aver that people have an innate desire to make meaning from the world surrounding them and from their job. Similarly, Wrzesniewski, LoBuglio, Dutton and Berg (2013) believe that the meaning of work is at the heart of employees' employment experiences. Work meanings act as lenses through which employees understand and respond to their work, whether they believe their work contributes to making the world a better place, allows them to interact with people in ways that lead to important innovations, or provides an opportunity to earn a living in order to support a family or various causes. (Wrzesniewski, McCauley, Rozin & Schwartz, 1997).

Distributive justice climate and job satisfaction
Organizational justice has three basic dimensions; procedural justice, distributive justice and interactional justice. The main concern here is, however, on distributive justice, which deals with the level of fairness embedded in the reward employees receive in terms of wages, fringe benefits, promotions and others. Distributive justice refers to the interest or gain of an individual with the allocation of resources or outcomes associated with such allocation in an organization (Khan, Jan & Baloch, 2017). With distributive justice, employees may perceive what they receive as fair or unfair. Akbolat, Isik, Yilmaz and Akca (2015) posit that Individuals may view outputs as fair or unfair, according to this theory (income, bonus, promotion, social rights, etc.). They make comparisons between their results and those of others. As a result, people may believe they are being treated unfairly. Hence, it has been observed to be a significant predictor of employee engagement and performance by affecting their commitment and job satisfaction level.
According to studies, distributive fairness is a strong predictor of organizational commitment and work satisfaction among employees (Ali & Saifullah, 2014). Job satisfaction is directly influenced by procedural justice, while organizational commitment is influenced by distributive justice (Sareshkeh, Ghaziani, & Tayebi, 2012). Alvi and Abbasi (2012) discovered that two key characteristics of organizational justice, distributive and procedural justice, have a significant positive association with employee engagement, although distributive justice has a greater influence on satisfaction than procedural and interactional justice (Martinez-Tur, Peiro, Ramos, & Moliner, 2006). Adekanbi (2000) showed that employees with a high level of perceived justice are satisfied with their jobs. Hence, distributive justice relates to job satisfaction. Emery and Barker (2007) suggest that a dynamic relationship exists between job satisfaction and organizational climate. The justice climate as it relates to reward in an organization exerts a considerable amount of influence on employee job satisfaction. Organizational climate is generally believed to exert a considerable influence on job satisfaction and the behavior of employees (Billingsley & Cross, 2002). Adeniji (2012) avers that OC and job satisfaction, which are reflected in a number of human resource practices, are major predictors of organizational success, and there is a link between the two variables.

Open communication climate and positive meaning
Communication is said to be the exchange of information through words, writing or using other mediums for such purposes. It entails sending or receiving information that conveys meaning to the receiver. A meaningless message or untimely message may not have the desired effect on the receiver and the sender may not achieve the purpose of sending the message, hence, for communication to be effecting, it has to be timely, accurate, simple, complete, use appropriate language and medium and the audience or the receiver must be in the right frame to listen or encode the message. Communication in organizations may be closed or one-directional, in which case it flows from the top alone to the bottom or vice-versa without feedback. It could also be open or bi-direction, in which case messages are shared in both ways and feedback or input is elicited from different angles. This is the hallmark of open communication. This will utilize the initiative of the employees as they are required to contribute or make suggestions and make them have a positive feeling of belonging to the organization.
The cooperative tendencies of employees can largely be influenced by the kind of communication climate in place in an organization. Open communication makes for the open-mindedness of employees and vice versa. Good communication among the employees and upper management forms a good organizational climate and boosts employees' satisfaction, involvement of employees, and gives them positive meaning at work (Sanad, 2016). Hence, communication is a good antecedent for good feeling (positive meaning) at work, which will manifest in the level of engagement such an employee(s) have for their organization.

Research Methodology
The study adopted a survey research design based on its nature, which is to collect data using a questionnaire from sampled respondents. The area of the study is the Southeast region of Nigeria. The population of the study consists of 988 employees of 50 randomly selected commercial banks in the region (10 banks each from the five states in the region), complete enumeration or census method was adopted. A structured questionnaire was used in collecting data from the study sample. The instrument was validated using a team of management experts. It was also tested for consistency through the application of Cronbach Alpha, which returned a coefficient of .879. The method of data analysis used was regression analysis, using the Ordinary Least Square Method. Hypotheses were tested at a 5% level of significance. A total of 948 copies of the questionnaire were analyzed as 40 of the distributed copies were not retrieved due to loss or inability to meet the people they were given.

Data presentation and analysis Research Question One
What nature of relationship exists between Distributive Justice Climate and Job Satisfaction in Commercial Banks in South-East Nigeria? Source: Field Survey, 2021 Table 1 shows the distribution of responses for distributive justice climate and job satisfaction. The analysis is based on the mean of the individual questionnaire items, with the acceptance threshold being 3 and above while the rejection benchmark being below 3. For distributive justice, when it was enquired from the respondents if their bank rewards then fairly, the result judging from a mean of 2.74 is on the negative. The same negative result was seen when they were asked if the job they do is considered before rewarding them in their banks with a mean of 2.46. However, when they were asked if there are issues of bias in the way they are rewarded in their bank, they accepted it with a mean of 3.30. A mean of 3.24 also shows that they accept that the reward they get for their job is not always transparent in their banks, with a mean of 3.24. When it was asked if appreciation to employees is done in such a way that does not encourage hard work in their bank, they concurred with a mean of 3.05. They also agreed that their banks need to improve with the way the reward is allocated, with a mean of 3.79.
For the dependent variable, which is job satisfaction, the respondents disagreed with a mean of 2.0 that they enjoy what they do in their bank because they get rewarded for it. They also rejected that their job gives them pleasure with a mean of 2.38. They also disagreed that they look forward to coming to work daily with a mean of 2.73. In the same line of response, they disagreed that they get very unpleasant each time I come to work with a mean of 2.94. When they were asked if they get very uncomfortable doing what they do at work and whether their happiness is tied to their duties at work, they disagreed in both questions with a mean of 2.58 and 2.15, respectively.

Hypothesis one
H1: There is no significant relationship existing between Distributive Justice Climate and Job Satisfaction in Commercial Banks in South-East Nigeria.  Table 2 gives details of the regression analysis result for hypothesis one. From the table, it is revealed that a positive relationship exists between the variables (Distributive Justice Climate and Job Satisfaction) as shown by the correlation coefficient (R = .962). It is also revealed from the coefficient of determination (R-Square = .926) that a 93% change in the dependent variable (Job Satisfaction) is explained by changes in the independent variables (Distributive Justice Climate) in Commercial Banks in South-East Nigeria.   Table 4 gives details of the distribution of responses for open communication climate and positive meaning. The mean of the individual questionnaire items will be used in the analysis, with the benchmark for acceptance being 3 and above while for rejection will be below 3. For the independent variable, which is communication climate, the respondents agreed that communication flows just from the top in their banks with a mean of 3.75. They also agreed that their banks do not care about feedback from employees, with a mean of 3.48. However, they rejected that employees are encouraged to always air their views in their bank with a mean of 2.32. A mean of 2.73 also shows that the respondents do not concur that the communication process in their banks is such that it flows in different directions. Similarly, their responses as judged by the mean 2.23, also suggest that they disagreed that their banks ensure that employees' opinions are considered in issues concerning them. They strongly disagreed that communication in their banks is very open, with a mean of 2.05.
For positive meaning, the dependent variable, the respondents disagreed with a mean of 2.78 that they are proud of their job in their banks. A mean of 2.80 also suggests that they do not get excited with what they do in their banks. When they were asked if they feel important about their job, they disagreed with a mean of 2.88. They, however, agreed that their job at the bank makes them feel less of themselves, with a mean of 3.37. With a mean of 3.55 and 3.49, the respondents agreed that they feel they deserve better than what they are currently doing at work and do not enjoy doing what they are doing in the banks, respectively.

Hypothesis two
H2: there is no significant relationship existing between Open Communication Climate and Positive Meaning in commercial banks in South-East Nigeria.  Table 5 shows the regression analysis result for hypothesis two. The table shows a positive relationship between the variables (Open Communication Climate and Positive Meaning) as indicated by the correlation coefficient (R = .982). It is also shown from the coefficient of determination (R-Square = .965) that a 97% change in the dependent variable (Positive Meaning) is explained by changes in the independent variables (Open Communication Climate) in Microfinance Banks in South-East Nigeria.  Table 6 gives the ANOVA result as produced in the regression analysis process for hypothesis two. From the result, it is seen that F statistics is [13000.304] and the sig (p-value) [.000]. This shows that the relationship seen between Open Communication Climate and Positive Meaning in Microfinance Banks in South-East Nigeria is statistically significant as the p-value is lesser than the level of significance used (p-value < .05). Implication: Accept the alternate hypothesis. This means a statistically significant relationship exists between Open Communication Climate and Positive Meaning in Microfinance Banks in South-East Nigeria.

Conclusion
One of the essential differentiating factors between organizations is the climate of work in such organizations, which is termed organizational climate. It has a way of influencing how things are done and how employees perceive the same. It is, therefore, pertinent for originations to take cognizance of the way actions and inaction are perceived and interpreted by the workforce they have. This is because it affects the performance of employees, as established by the findings of this study.

Recommendations
Following the findings of the study, it is recommended that: a) The justice system in banks, most especially how promotion, fringe benefits and incentives are given, needs to be transparent and predictable as possible to make the employees see and perceive it as fair and just. This will enhance the satisfaction level the employees will get from their job.
b) An open communication system needs to be encouraged. The management gives and expects feedback from the employees, interacts with them, and gives them a voice in certain aspects that deal directly with their job. This will enhance the self-image and esteem of the employees and make them have positive meaning at work.