The employee experience (EMX) framework for well-being: an agenda for the future
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-03-2022-0133 |
| Published date | 05 July 2022 |
| Date | 05 July 2022 |
| Pages | 993-1013 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
| Author | Wided Batat |
The employee experience (EMX)
framework for well-being:
an agenda for the future
Wided Batat
EM Normandie Business School, Metis Lab and University of Lyon 2, Paris, France
Abstract
Purpose –This conceptual review paper aims to extend the human resource (HR) management literature by
introducing a holistic employee experience (EMX) framework to conceptualizethe relationship between EMX
entities and employee well-being. Thus, the EMX framework stimulates future research in HR and
organizational studies by incorporating a transformative impact of experiences designed by organizations on
the overall well-being of their employees.
Design/methodology/approach –The paper draws on the customer experience literature in the marketing
literature and reviews the existing conceptualizations of the EMXconstruct in HR management studies, along
with other disciplines through an extensive and in-depth analysis of the academic and business literature that
examines EMX.
Findings –The EMX framework provides a comprehensive outlook on the relationship between EMX and
well-being, where the latter is considered both a driving force and an outcome of the overall EMX. EMX is a
multilevel model offering a big-picture view of how the three entities –personal, social and cultural –of the
organization referring to different levels of the EMX can affect employees’well-being in terms of their
functional, emotional, hedonic and eudaimonic needs.
Research limitations/implications –The EMX framework utilizes a richer definition of the EMX and
highlights the need for research that bridges other disciplines and paradigms outside of and within HR
management. This research develops the understanding of each component of the EMX framework with the
ultimate goal of moving the field towards the EMX approach. This research identifies some unanswered
questions related to a new management tool that enhances employee well-being, improves the delivered
customer experience and contributes in making the current body of knowledge on the EMX more organized.
The analysis of the different issues addressed by the literature suggests avenues for future research.
Originality/value –The paper contributes to the HR literature and the emerging research on the EMX by
presenting a comprehensive framework that incorporates a holistic understanding of the concept in the HR
field. The paper offers scholars and organizations that struggle with engaging employees, a modern and
practical perspective –one that helps organizations develop an in-depth understanding of today’s workplaces
in a globalized context to implement successful and engaging customer and EMXs.
Keywords Employee experience, Employee well-being, EMX framework, Holistic perspective,
Human resource management practices, Workplace
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In recent years, to better understand the link between human resource (HR) management
practices and performance, strategic HR scholars have increasingly turned their attention
toward examining employees’attitudinal and behavioral responses (e.g. job satisfaction and
turnover) as they relate to HR practices (e.g. Piening et al., 2014;Nishii and Wright, 2008).
Identifying differences between an organization’s intended HR practices and the actual
practices employees’experience is central to understanding their reactions to HR and thus the
HR management-performance link (Piening et al., 2014;Arthur and Boyles, 2007).
Despite the increasingly recognized importance of understanding employees’experiences
and their perceptions of HR management practices –whytheymaydifferfrom
The EMX
framework for
well-being
993
This paper forms part of a special section “Employee Experience and Well-Being in International
Workplaces”, guest edited by Wided Batat.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0142-5455.htm
Received 21 March 2022
Revised 15 April 2022
Accepted 19 April 2022
Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 44 No. 5, 2022
pp. 993-1013
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-03-2022-0133
management’s intentions and how the practices can affect the overall well-being of employees
–research on this issue is still in its infancy (Piening et al., 2014). Indeed, research on
employees’perceptions of workplace experiences in a globalized context remains relatively
sparse. This editorial article will, therefore, make a theoretical contribution by expanding the
knowledge of the employee experience (EMX) and the well-being of employees in the
globalized workplace. The research will also be practically important in terms of providing
guidelines on how the well-being of employees can be improved through the design of
employee-centric experiences within international workplaces.
The articlebuilds on recent literaturein the marketing field that exploresthe concept of the
customer’sexperience and its implications for thewell-being of individuals and society(Batat,
2019a). The article also examines recent studies related to the EMX as an HR management
approach in international workplaces (Plaskoff, 2017). Specifically, we question how
experiential theory can help managers and researchers improve the individual and social
well-being of employees by designing employee-centric experiences within globalized
workplaces. An EMX approach can provide important insights for understanding and
addressing a wide range of transformative international business and management research
issues comprising, but not limited to employees’engagement, commitment, motivations,
efficiency, performance and productivity. Despite major promises, until recently, there have
been only a few attempts to develop and implement an employee experiential approach to
improvethe well-being of organizationalactors witha focus on the whole workplaceexperience.
Moreover, research that has been undertaken has not focused specifically on employees in
globalized workplaces. However, this is an area of great importance given the increasing
numbers of employees working in international organizations. These employees include
organizationally assigned or self-initiated expatriates, employees in short-term or frequent
flyer positions and employees working globally in virtual teams. Furthermore, recent
attention has been given to the increasing diversity of people working internationally as
nontraditional expatriates and other forms of global workers (McNulty and Hutchings, 2016).
Consequently, there is a need to understand employees’experiences and how those
experiences can positively or negatively affec t the overall well-being of employees
throughout their experiential journeys within organizations.
The article begins by examining the definitions of the EMX and proposing a new
conceptualization of the construct. A discussion of the relationship between the EMX and
well-being is offered in the next section, along with an analysis of the findings of the articles
published in this special issue of Employee Relations. Thereafter, a new EMX framework
examining the relationship between employees’experiences and their well-being is proposed.
The framework aims to identify the core entities of the EMX and explain their effects on the
overall well-being of employees. Finally, some avenues for future research are proposed to
consider how organizational and HR scholars should examine the employee’s experience by
considering new research approaches, paradigms and methodologies.
Defining the construct of the employee experience
During the past decade, numerous academic research projects and business reports have
been published on the employee’s experience. It is a concept that gained significant attention
first by businesses in various industries and sectors (Lewis et al., 2020;Bersin et al., 2017), and
then by academics across different disciplines. The disciplines range from HR (Maylett and
Wride, 2017) and organizational studies (Plaskoff, 2017;Bersin et al., 2017), to hospitality
(Ariza-Montes et al., 2019) and marketing (Batat, 2019a,b). Scholars, such as Batat (2019a,b)
examined, from a customer experience perspective, the employee’s experience in relation to
empathy capital formation. Indeed, the employee’s experience and the customer’s experience
are interconnected and correlated. In other words, they can positively or negatively affect
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