The Impact of Leadership Behavior on Employee Engagement

Organizations throughout the world have invested significant resources to boost employee engagement since employee engagement has been identified as a key driver of organizational performance. Many studies cite the importance of leadership to employee engagement, but do not adequately demonstrate the relationships between leadership and employee engagement. This study attempts to demonstrate these relationships by investigating the impact of three specific types of leadership behavior - task-oriented, relation-oriented, and change-oriented leadership behavior - on employee engagement. Leadership behavior was measured by Managerial Practice Survey (MPS); employee engagement was measured by the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES).;This study employed a quantitative design, in which data were collected from 117 participants in 13 countries through an online survey. The psychometric properties of employee engagement and leadership behavior were evaluated using Cronbach's coefficient alpha to test internal consistency (as an index of reliability); confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test construct validity. Regression analyses were conducted to test the relationships between the three types of leadership behavior (task-oriented, relation-oriented, and change-oriented) and employee engagement, and the moderating effects of age, seniority, and management status (having subordinates).;Results of this study suggest that all three types of leadership behavior (task-oriented, relation-oriented, and change-oriented) have positive impact on employee engagement, with change-oriented leadership behavior having the strongest impact on employee engagement. This study also found that the impact of leadership behavior on employee engagement is moderated by certain employee's characteristics, such as employee age and management status. This study has implications that leaders can and should focus on leadership behavior that is most closely aligned with the organization's mission, strategies and goals without jeopardizing employee engagement. Leaders should also be aware of those factors that have helped improve their engagement and invest extra efforts to apply those factors among their team members. In situations where the organization needs to focus on improving employee engagement, it should select candidates with characteristics of change-oriented leadership behavior for leadership positions. Organizations should also be sensitive to the fact that the impact of engagement strategies on employees varies with employee's age and management status.