Miya, Philile2016-02-252016-02-252015http://hdl.handle.net/10539/19734In the last two decades employee engagement has become a focus area as a talent management strategy for many organisations. This is primarily due to its close links to employee retention as well as employee and organisational performance. However the concept of employee engagement still remains relatively new, with limited academic research conducted on it in sub-Saharan Africa (Agyemang & Ofei, 2013). This is particularly true in the South African marketing industry. The purpose of this research was to examine the elements that contribute to employee engagement in a dynamic advertising agency in South Africa, Quirk. The company was founded in 1999 by the current Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rob Stokes and specialises in incubation, software development and education. The research was completed by undertaking a qualitative case study approach. In order to gather data, 12 semi-structured interviews were held between the researcher and employees at Quirk. In addition to the employees, the researcher was also afforded the opportunity to interview the CEO. A number of employee engagement models and antecedents were studied in the literature review. The findings from this research were comparable to the literature and indicated that there are five major elements that contribute to employee engagement in a South African advertising agency. These are culture, leadership, communication, development and reward. This study will add to the literature and understanding of employee engagement in the advertising and marketing sector. The research will further assist human resources practitioners and organisational leaders to design effective talent management interventions that will result in engaged employees and consequently, improved performance and profitability.enEmployee motivation -- South Africa. Organizational effectiveness -- South Africa.Thesis