| Organizations striving to maintain and/or increase their economic competitiveness must retain engaged employees, especial nonprofit organizations that operate with a finite amount of resources. The ability for nonprofit organizations to maintain an engaged and productive workforce can be the difference between success and extinction. Studies have shown low employee engagement leads to a deterioration of organizational productivity and employee turnover. Additionally, studies have also demonstrated that leaders using a transformational leadership style can significantly affect the level of employee engagement and turnover. The specific problem explored by this study was the lack of knowledge about the effect of the four characteristics of transformational leadership (i.e., idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration) on employee engagement and intention to quit in the nonprofit arena. The purpose of this non-experimental quantitative correlation study was to evaluate the effect the four characteristics of transformational leadership had on employee engagement and intention to quit in the nonprofit sector. A study questionnaire was developed using questions from the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (measure employee engagement), the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (measure transformational leadership characteristics), and Boshoff and Allen's (2000) instrument (measure intention to quit). Of the 246 participants surveyed, 64 completed the required information. Spearman's correlation was used to test hypotheses 1-8. Results indicated a strong correlation between the four characteristics of transformational leadership and employee engagement (II, rs = .68, p < .01; IM, rs = .53, p < .01; IS, rs = .52, p < .01; and IC, rs = .65, p < .01) and intention to quit (II, rs = .45, p < .01; IM, rs = .41, p < .01; IS, rs = .45, p < .01; IC, rs = .55, p < .01). Study findings indicated that employee engagement and intention to quit was impacted by transformational leadership's four characteristics. This study provided evidence on the type of leadership nonprofit organization leaders could use to improve productivity and employee engagement and retention. Future recommendations for research include adding additional types of nonprofit organizations, adding burnout as a new dependent variable, and adding transactional leadership as a second independent variable. |
