Orientation: Employee engagement has become an impetus behind business success and a deciding factor for service delivery, especially in the Zimbabwean public sector. Research purpose: This study sought to investigate the antecedents of employee engagement and their effect on public sector service delivery with reference to selected government departments in Harare. Motivation for the study: The government departments in Harare have witnessed gross employee disengagement as indicated by reduced employee commitment and high absenteeism. Research approach/design and method: A quantitative research design was adopted for this study. A structured questionnaire was developed, validated and distributed to 260 employees and management working in five selected government departments. Main findings: This study showed that the antecedents of employee engagement such as effective leadership, training and career development, compensation and incentive programmes, and organisational policies and procedures greatly influenced employee engagement in the public sector. The study also noted that employee engagement positively impacted service delivery in the public sector. Practical/managerial implications: An important implication of this study is the need for the public sector management to understand the significance of the social exchange for employee engagement and to provide employees with resources and benefits that would oblige them to perform productively. Contribution/value-add: This study is expected to enrich the empirical evidence on the antecedents of employee engagement and also provide recommendations for practitioners in investigating the influence of employee engagement on service delivery in the public sector.