CHAPTER – IV

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4. INTRODUCTION:
The research is a systematic process to describe for inexplicable with a view o
improve the knowledge. Research gives the answers to the problems. A research
design gives an outline to address the information and gives the answers to the
problem under the study area. The Research design explores framework of the
problem of research. And this design guided the research to solve the problem of
research and to take and implement the action over the study systematically.
Indian Prime minister Shri. Narendra Modi said that a human capital and
workforce plays a key role in startups growth through the launch of National Flagship
Initiatives – Start-up India. But, managing talented employees and keep them engage
and stay back in the company is a challenging and competitive task. The two most
challenging tasks for the startup is recruiting the employee/ best talent and make them
give effective productivity. In this regard, it can be specified that employee
engagement leads to increasing the productivity of individuals and startups at
Bangalore.
This chapter explores some of the ways and methods which are adopted for
doing this study under this area. And data collection procedure and sampling
procedure were developed as below theoretical framework.
4.1. RESEARCH GAP:
Based on this literature review there are various studies conducted on
engagement of employees and productivity separately. There is a research gap to
understand the correlation between engagement of employee and productivity of an
organization. And most of the studies were done in well-established companies on
employee engagement (IT, manufacturing companies, educational institutions, and
banking sector). So, it is understood that there is a huge scope for research in the
domain of impact of employee engagement on the productivity of startup. The
following research gaps were identified and will be addressed through this study
based on the literature survey:

• No studies were found on contemporary methods of worker engagement

practices accompanied with the aid of start-ups.

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 • There were no studies on employee engagement and productivity in start-ups.

• No studies were found on an association between the employee engagement

and boom of start-ups.

• Lack of framework for the enhancement of employee engagement and

productiveness of the start-ups.

In light of the research gaps identified, the topic of "Employee Engagement and
Productivity among Start-ups in Bangalore City" was chosen for the present study.

4.2. RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

Basis of above mentioned gap in employee engagement studies the following

questions were developed to bridge the research gap. These questions helped the
researcher to get more information about the problem under study. And researcher
was prepared to research questions by considered as relevant, rescannable, simple,
scope, clear and interesting.

• What are the key employee engagement drivers in startups?

• How employee engagement drivers will impact the level of employee

engagement in startups?

• What is the relation between level of employee engagement and productivity

of startups and employee?

• How employee engagement and productivity are correlated among three

selected industries through a comparative study?

The above research questions impacted on the description of the problem,

objectives, and hypothesis as follows.

4.3. RESEARCH PROBLEM:

Numerous start-ups are competing to thrive in this volatile and ever-

challenging business environment. It is well known that the most important asset for
any start-up is its human resource. "A start-up is only as good as its human capital".
Without knowledgeable, dedicated, motivated, and engaged employees, any start-up
cannot function properly or run efficiently in the current market space. There are
numerous issues in the startup ecosystem both internally and externally for the
organizations to thrive, such as; operating costs, marketing funds, the growth of the

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economy, advertising funds moreover human capital. However, even start-ups that
hire the best employees can have problems if they are not properly engaged and
involved and will have a direct impact on employee productivity as well as start-ups
productivity.

So, employees need a driving force that makes them feel good about their
roles in their respective organizations to perform better with better results. Some
employees are engaged by monetary terms while others find recognition and rewards
more engaging. Engagement at workplace directly impact on employee outcome. So,
Start-up's growth depends upon how well their employees are engaged while
executing a task.

The present study is to examine various employee engagement drivers utilized

by start-ups across Bangalore city and impact of employee engagement drivers on
productivity of employees and startups.

Table 4.1 : Enlightenment of the Research Problem

Industries For the Analysis Startups in Fast Growing industries

Characteristics of Interest Employee Engagement and Productivity

Research Space Bangalore City
Source: Researcher design
4.3.1. Research Problem Description through 5W Approach:
The below table was explored that the summary of research problem through
5W approach
Table 4.2 : 5W Approach @ Problem Description

Who? Startups

What? Employee Engagement and Productivity

When? Current Startup Ecosystem

Where? Startups in IT Service, Education and Health and Life Science Industries at
Bangalore City

Why? Need to identify the engagement drivers and impact of engagement of

employee on startups

Source: Researcher analysis

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 After the problem description, research objectives were formulated and
followed by this objectives methodology and hypothesis was adopted to continue the
research.

4.3.2. Purpose of the Study:

The main purpose of this research study is to find the major drivers of
employee engagement and factors of productivity in selected startups from top three
industry sectors and the study evaluates the employee engagement impact level and
suggests the methods to improve the engagement levels. This study evaluates the level
of engagement and its impact on productivity of human capital at startup and suggests
the methods for improving the performance in selected startups from the top three
industry sectors in Bangalore city.

This research study also examines a hypothesized model of employee

engagement by exploring the relationship between the drivers of employee
engagement and the level of employee engagement, as well, the level of employee
engagement on productivity.

4.3.3. Objectives of the Study:

The following objectives were designed to understand employee engagement

and productivity among startups in Bangalore city to fill the research gap. The
following objectives give a clear picture of particular actions for the researcher to
undertake. And these objectives gave a comprehensible description of the actions.

• To find the various employee engagement drivers in start-ups

• To study on employee perception towards the impact of engagement drivers

on the level of employee engagement

• To study on employee's opinion towards the level of employee engagement

impact on the productivity of employee and Start-up.

• To draw a comparison among IT, Education and Health care & Life Science
industry sectors concerning on employee engagement drivers and productivity
in Bangalore city.

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 Followed by this, the researcher was prepared to research hypotheses with the
help of a research problem and objectives. These research hypotheses were tested
through the statistical tools to get a summary of the research.

4.3.3.1. Variables for Research:

Table 4.3 : Variables in this study

S. No DEPENDENT VARIABLE INDEPENDENT VARIABLE

1 Objective-2: To Study on employee perception towards impact of

engagement drivers on employee engagement levels

Employee engagement levels Employee Engagement Drivers

2 Objective-3: To ascertain the employee's opinion towards employee

engagement level and impact on productivity of both employee and Start-
up.

Productivity of employee and Start- Level of Employee Engagement

up

3 Objective-3: To draw a comparison among IT, Education and Health

care & Life Science industry sectors Concerning on employee
engagement drivers and level of employee engagement and productivity
in Bangalore

Employee engagement level and Employee engagement drivers

productivity among selected Level of employee engagement
Industries sectors start-ups

Source: Research model

The next part of the research drives by the hypothesis. This was formulated
based on the research problem and objectives. These hypotheses were tested through
statistical tools to solve the research problem and meet the research objectives.

4.3.4. Research Hypotheses:

Recognition of the problem and development leads to a set of assumptions or

statement which needs to be examined and inferred in the due process of research.
Three types of hypotheses were formulated based on objectives. Those were presented
below:
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Hypothesis-01: There is no significant relationship between drivers of employee
engagement and level of employee engagement. This hypothesis divided into the
following sub- hypothesis

• Hypothesis 01.1: There is no significant relationship between working

environment and the level of employee engagement

• Hypothesis 01.2: There is no significant relationship between compensation

and benefits and the level of employee engagement

• Hypothesis 01.3: There is no significant relationship between growth and

development opportunities and the level of employee engagement.

• Hypothesis 01.4: There is no significant relationship between quality of life

and the level of employee engagement.

• Hypothesis 01.5: There is no significant relationship between the nature of the

job and the level of employee engagement.

Hypothesis-02: There is no significant relationship between employee

engagement and productivity.

• Hypothesis 02.1: There is no significant relationship between level of

employee engagement and employee productivity.

• Hypothesis 02.2: There is no significant relationship between level of

employee engagement and start-up productivity.

Comparative analysis:

Hypothesis-03: There is no significant impact on employee engagement in the top

three Industries of Startups.

• Hypothesis 03.1: There is no significant impact of drivers of employee

engagement on the level of employee engagement among IT Services,
Education and Healthcare and Life Science.

• Hypothesis 03.1.1: There is no significant impact of working environment on

level employee engagement among IT Services, Education and Healthcare and
Life Science.

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 • Hypothesis 03.1.2: There is no significant impact of compensation and
benefits and level of employee engagement among IT Services, Education and
Healthcare & Life Science.

• Hypothesis 03.1.3: There is no significant impact of growth and development

opportunities and level of employee engagement among IT Services,
Education and Healthcare and Life Science.

• Hypothesis 03.1.4: There is no significant impact of quality of life and the

level of employee engagement among IT Services, Education and Healthcare
and Life Science.

• Hypothesis 03.1.5: There is no significant impact of the nature of the job and
level of employee engagement among IT Services, Education and Healthcare
and Life Science.

Hypothesis 03.2: There is no significant impact of the level of employee

engagement on the productivity of employee and startup among IT Services,
Education, and Healthcare and Life Science.

4.3.5 Hypothesized Research Model:

Figure 4.1 : Hypothesized Research Model

Source: Developed by the researcher

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 From the above literature review survey, the researcher developed a
hypothesized model on employee engagement and productivity. This research model
is based on models of employee engagement those are Gallup’s employee
engagement hierarchy model, ISR three section employee engagement model,
Refreshed employee engagement model, three-factor engagement model, Aon
Hewitt’s employee engagement model, Khan employee engagement model, Saks
antecedent and consequences of employee engagement model, Zinger model for
employee engagement, and Ezell drivers employee engagement model. All those
models explained the determents of employee engagement, employee engagement
levels, and also productivity in any organization.

The proposed research model focused on the employee engagement drivers,

and the researcher observed five key drivers, that are influencing the level of
employee engagement are growth and development opportunities, working
environment, compensation and benefits, quality of life and nature of the job. And it
explained the impact of the employee engagement level on productivity of employee
and startup.

Table 4.4 : Description of Hypothesis

Independent
Hypothesis Unit of Analysis Dependent Variable
Variable

Operational level, Growth and

Level of employee
H01.1 Managerial level, Development
engagement
Supervisor Level Opportunities

Operational level ,
Level of employee Working
H01.2 Managerial level,
engagement Environment
Supervisor Level

Operational level ,
Level of employee Compensation and
H01.3 Managerial level,
engagement Benefits
Supervisor Level

Operational level ,
Level of employee
H01.4 Managerial level, Quality of Life
engagement
Supervisor Level

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 Operational level ,
Level of employee
H01.5 Managerial level, Nature of the job
engagement
Supervisor Level

Operational level ,
Level of Employee
H02.1 Managerial level, Employee Productivity
engagement
Supervisor Level

Operational level ,
Level of Employee
H02.2 Managerial level, Startup Productivity
engagement
Supervisor Level

4.3.6. Need For the Study:

Startup India mission was launched in 2016 with more focus on increasing the
growth rate of the Indian economy and creating more employment; it is understood
from the recent trends that India will emerge as the start up destination as central
government are synergizing with the states and local bodies to ease the business
environment by providing various incentives and platforms to develop and nurture
start up culture in the country. In the recent years the growth in the startup ecosystem
has experienced a huge growth potential despite of having roadblock, young
entrepreneurs has shown great character and strength to sustain and progress in their
business. According to NASSCOM Startup India Report 2015, India was ranked at 3rd
place as a Startup Hub globally with more than 10, 000 (approximately) startups.
According to the Indian startup ecosystem in October 2018, India has witnessed an
impressive growth with the recognition of 14,600 startups from the past few years and
hence India is one of the emerging countries the world that has a diversified culture
spread across all the states.

As per current start up initiatives by our prime minister the growth of the
startup in India by launch of “National Flagship Initiatives – Startup India” in 2015,
in that initiative human capital and workforce are one of the main pillars for a startup
to thrive in the current ecosystem. Retaining and engaging talented professionals are
the most challenging and competitive activity among startups.

The existing literature of employee engagement focuses on factors of

employee engagement in large scale companies and no studies are available for

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readers in startups. Hence the main focus of this study is to find the drivers of
employee engagement in startups and also explain the impact of employee
engagement on the productivity of the employee as well as the startups. It helps HR
managers in the startups to implement employee engagement practices and strategies
with major emphasis on employee demands and this helps to enhance the level of
employee engagement in startups.

4.3.7. Employee Engagement Drivers:

1. Growth and Development Opportunities

Internal growth and development opportunities are one of the primary

essential drivers to foresight employee engagement. Companies focus on providing
attractive opportunities for employee growth and development. Organizations should
constantly check to upgrade their employees to attend the demands of their customers.
Organizations should focus on training their employees with various skill sets and
allow them to undergo all sorts of training programs to create better products and
services. When an employee senses a growth in their career they create a greater value
to their organizations and in a way create greater trust among their customers.

2. Working Environment

The working environment is an important factor for the employee to work in a

safe place. Working environment situations at the workplace where an employee is
working. It consists of physical, psychological, and social factors, which are inflecting
the working environment that makes the employee feel safe and healthy and it directly
impacts employee engagement.

3. Compensation and Benefit

Better compensation and benefits policies motivate employees toward their

job roles. And this also vastly increases employee happiness and reduces work stress
and poor management at the workplace. Compensation and benefits are considered to
have a huge influence on engagement of employee and various benefits consist of
retirement benefits, wellness benefits and programs.

4. Quality of Life

Quality of life’ comprises work-related life such as wages, working hours,

work environment, benefits and services, career prospects, and human relations,

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which help to make satisfied and engaged. And it is an essential factor for managing
the stress-related issues among employees.

5. Nature of the Job

A challenging job which needs creative thought process and a role that can
challenge your skills brings in psychological engagement at work and will add more
meaning to their roles. Job becomes meaningful and attractive to employee, there by
affecting their engagement level.

6. Level of Employee Engagement

Employee engagement, the employees are engaged in three levels such as

cognitive think, affective feel and behavioral Act.

7. Productivity

It is very clear that definitions on productivity will fall under these three
categories, while the first one being the economist way of defining productivity where
the output to the input is taken in to consideration and both are measured in monetary
terms and the second definition talks about the efficiency and effectiveness and third
definition talks about productivity as a measure that can stream line the organization
internal function better and in this we consider other factors like organizations
growth, turnover, innovation, employee absenteeism, employee retention and research
and development etc.

4.3.8. Scope of the Study:

The scope of present study is confined to a certain research area. The current
research is an endeavor to study on employee engagement and productivity in startup
companies and their influencing factors by considering employee opinion on the
impact of productivity on both start-up and their performance when they are highly
engaged and also the factors influencing the level of employee engagement in scaling
up their business. This study is confined to startups in Bangalore city.

4.3.9. Research Methodology:

In order to achieve objectives the following methodology was adopted

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4.3.9.1. Research Design:

The any research success depends on research design and researcher has used
a descriptive research design. The reason for opting descriptive research is the
generalize the data to a greater extent.

4.3.9.2
.2 Sources of Data:

The researcher collected data through both primary and secondary sources.
The researcher describes the gear and resources of statistics in this section. The
researcher knows the information amassed from assets that are essential or direct as
number one records and it alludes to the
the ones accrued from auxiliary resources to as
secondary information.

Figure 4.2 : Sources of Data

Source: Researcher Design

A). Primary Data:

The researcher used structured questionnaire for data collection to know about
opinion of an employee on employee
employee engagement practices in their respective start-
start
ups at Bangalore.

Questionnaire Framing

The questionnaire is divided into six parts (Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, and
Part V). By using Likert-Five-Point
Likert Point Scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly
stron
agree for the first four parts and from very low to very high for remaining part.

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 Table 4.5 : Variables for Questionnaire Preparation

Part Variables Number of Variable

Section – I

I Demographic Variables 8

II Employee Engagement Drivers 25

III Level of Employee Engagement 15

IV Models of employee engagement, 6

V Employee Productivity, Start-up Productivity 15

Source: Researcher Variables for Questionnaire Preparation

Part I: Questionnaire for description of respondent’s demographic profile

Part II: this included 25 variables on drivers of employee engagement (growth and
development opportunities, working environment, compensation and benefits, quality
of life, nature of the job)

Part III: This covered the level of employee engagement with 15 variables.

Part IV: This included 6 variables related Models of employee engagement and
method.

Part V: This covered 15 variables related to productivity in company.

B). Secondary Data:

The researcher used journals on business, business magazines, publications,

reports, websites, research articles, manuals, Startups reports, Blogs, and Newspapers
for this data collection.

4.4 PILOT STUDY/PRE-TESTING:

After preparing the questionnaire researcher collected from 80 respondents in

16 startups in Bangalore city for pilot study. Based on the responses and their
suggestions, relevant modifications were done by the researcher, and the
questionnaire instrument was finalized. Statistical Packages for Social Sciences
(SPSS) version 20.0 has been used for obtaining output to find out the Cronbach’s
alpha value for the reliability test. The Cronbach’s alpha value was 0.915 which is
statistically significant. It was published in the International Journal.

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 Table 4.6: Pilot Study Reliability

Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's Alpha Number of Items

.915 25

Source: Researcher Survey

4.5 SAMPLING PROCEDURE:

Sampling procedure was helped to get accurate information about the entire
population. Based on that researcher has decided that sample, sample size, and
sampling techniques. This procedure was exhibited in the below figure.

Figure 4.3 : Researcher Sampling Frame Work

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 This research was conducted in Bangalore city, according to Startup India
report Bangalore is the top startup performer with fastest startup growth with 5105
Tech and Non-Tech startups in different industries in India and Bangalore secured 21st
place as a startup hub in the world.

4.5.1. Sample Size:

In any research, two things play a major role to get the effect of results such as
sample size and chosen suitable statistical technique. This study is analysed by using
Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS) version 20.0

The researcher has described the sample size in six different stages with the
above figure 3.2. In the first stage, the researcher preferred to research at Bangalore in
India. This was identified because Bangalore is the fast-growing start-up hub (5105)
in India as per the judgmental sampling.[1] In the second stage, 692 scaling start-ups
were identified by using purposive sampling.

In the third stage, 176 scaled start-ups were identified from three Industries by
using purposive sampling. And in the fourth stage, the researcher has found 48 start-
ups which were active for more than three years from the date of incorporation. In the
fourth stage, 24 Start-ups were identified by using representative.

Finally, the researcher was got 565 respondents in that 92 were defective.
Finally, sample size confined with 473 by using convenience sampling. These 473
respondents are an operational, supervisory, and managerial level of employees
regarding drivers, level of employee, and productivity.

4.6 RESEARCH PERIOD:

The study with the literature survey started from 2016 onwards and
simultaneously discussions and soliciting permissions from the startups took up to the
beginning of 2016. The questionnaire design took another six months and the period
of data collection is from January 2018- April 2019. Questionnaires were given to
employees and data was collected in the startup at Bangalore city during this period.
Then entering of data in excel sheets, applying statistical tools through Statistical
Packages for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS 20.0), and writing inferences has completed
by November 2019.

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4.7 STATISTICAL TOOLS:

The responses collected during my survey were entered in to a spread sheet

and verified data and questionnaires that were missing. This data was then moved to
IBM SPSS 20.0 software with defined variables for data analysis. This is then taken
up for study in three phases. First phase includes data that was collected for scaling
techniques and are analyzed using reliability analysis. While in the second phase the
researcher used descriptive statistics to analyze the responses received. Final testing
of hypothesis was done using testing tools.

The following Statistical tools are used

1. Reliability Test,

2. Descriptive Statistics (Frequencies, Mean value, SD value , Skewness, and

Kurtosis ranges ),

3. Factor Analysis (Principle Component Factor Analysis), PCFA

4. Regression Analysis (Multiple and Simple)

4.8. INDUSTRIES AND START-UPS:

Table 4.7 : Sample Profile of Startups and the Respondents

Startup Startup
Wise Wise Total
City Name Of The company
Distributed Defective Sample
Sample Sample

1. Blue Bery 24 4

2. Xoxoday Private Ltd 24 5

3. Softworks Consultancy
25 2
Services Private Limited
IT
4. Jambotail Technology Private 383
Services 23 4
Limited

5. Eseof Tech Solutions Pvt Ltd 23 3

6. Reckonsys Tech Laps Pvt Ltd 27 4

7. Rapid Info Solutions 27 5

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 8. Pqube Business Solutions 24 4

9. Proforte Global Consulting Pvt

20 3
Ltd

10. 3 M Digital Networks Pvt. Ltd. 22 5

11. Navabrind It Solutions Pvt Ltd 28 4

12. Ciphercup 23 2

13. R Labs Private Limited 24 3

14. Uniizen Technology Pvt Ltd 22 4

15. Neutrinos 22 3

16. 5ine Web Solutions Pvt Ltd 25 6

17. Gyanpro 24 6

18. Encertify Private Limited 26 4

19. Teachonapp.Com 23 4
Education 119
20. Qtapultt Learning Solution
20 3
Private Limited

21. Thinkfirst Education Pvt Ltd 26 2

22. Cyclops Medtech Private

18 4
Limited
Healthcare
23. Atonarp Microsystem India
And Life 21 3 63
Private Limited
science
24. Femura Pharmaceuticals
24 4
Private Limited

Total 24 565 92 565

Source: From Survey Report

The above table was discovered in the total distributed sample and defected
samples industry sector-wise and startup wise. This was done with reference to the
previous thesis. And this research was done with 473 respondents from 24 companies
in three different industries.[2]

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4.9 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:

As every coin has two sides, the research study also has two sides there are
certain limitations, which deceive the objects of the study.

1. Respondent’s refusal to cooperate affected the accumulation of information.

2. HRs in the Start-ups doesn’t create access to collect information from their
employees.

3. Time constraints also have put a limitation on the number of respondents

surveyed.

Chapter Plan:

The dissertation is containing six chapters.

CHAPTER CHAPTER
CHAPTER CONTENT
NUMBER TITLE
1 Introduction PART- I
• Introduction

• Definition of Start-up

• Start-up Eco-system in India

• Role of Government for encouraging the

Start-ups
PART- II
• Origin of Employee Engagement

• Definition of Employee Engagement

• Level of Employee Engagement

• Benefits of Employee engagement

• Determinants of Employee Engagement

• Models Of Employee Engagement

PART – III
• Introduction about Productivity

• Employee Productivity

• Organization Productivity

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 • Relationship between Employee
Engagement and Employee Productivity

• Relationship between Employee

Engagement and Start-up Productivity.
2 Literature Review • Chapter Introduction

• Start-ups

• Employee Engagement and Productivity

3 Industry Profile • Introduction about Industries

and Select Startups
• Start-ups profile

4 Research • Chapter Introduction

Methodology
• Research Gap

• Research Questions

• Statement of the Problem and Description

• Need for the Study

• Objectives of the Problem

• Variables for Research Objectives

• Hypothesis of the Study

• Scope of the Study

• Research Design

• Sources of Data and tools for data

collection

• Sampling Procedure

• Tools for Data Analysis

• Pilot Study outcome

• Limitations of the research Study

• Chapter plan

• Chapter end note

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 5 Data Analysis • Data analysis and Interpretation

6 Finding, • Chapter Introduction

Suggestions,
• Major Findings
Limitations and
• Suggestions
Conclusion
• Scope for the Future Research

• Conclusion

Source: Researcher chapter plan

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REFERENCE:

1. https://www.startupindia.gov.in/content.sih/en/search.html?roles=starup&page
=0,2019.

2. Swarajsigh, G. R. (2016). A Study on Employee Engagement in Service

Sector of Solapur District.

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