The relationship between generic skills and organisational performance, and the moderating effects of employee engagement : a firm-level quantitative study in Australia

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of generic skills on organisational performance, and to understand whether employee engagement can intensify the contribution of generic skills to higher organisational performance. Data from 104 top performing enterprises in Australia suggest generic skills such as communication, customer service and problem solving can significantly influence organisational performance outcomes, namely sales growth; return on investment; customer satisfaction; innovation development; and products and services quality. And, Employee engagement does moderate the relationship between generic skills and organisational performance, which implies skills utilisations are partially dependent on the engagement level of employees.