Numerous studies on employee engagement in the HRD (human resource development) field have contributed to the promotion of employee engagement in organizations, yet issues and challenges remain. The purpose of this study is to investigate how employee engagement has been discussed in four representative HRD journals: "Human Resource Development Review" ("HRDR"), "Human Resource Development International" ("HRDI"), "Human Resource Development Quarterly" ("HRDQ"), and "Advances in Developing Human Resources" ("ADHR"). We conduct a literature review based on Torraco's ("Hum Resour Dev Rev" 4(3):356-367, 2005) framework, resulting in the selection of 24 articles for further review: 10 empirical articles and 14 conceptual articles. These articles are then classified, summarized, and synthesized by year of publication, research type and aim, and analysis of findings. Based on the results of the literature review, we analyze and identify the current state of employee engagement research in the HRD field and suggest implications for HRD scholars and practitioners.