Transformational leadership and employee engagement amongst knowledge workers

Abstract

This study attempts to add to the previous research conducted on the relationship between specific leadership styles and employee engagement in the workplace. There are numerous studies of factors influencing organisational and team performance and these have attempted to find relationships amongst numerous key variables in order to predict organisational success. A significant contributor towards organisational performance identified, particularly within knowledge worker companies, is the vigour dedication and absorption, otherwise defined as engagement, of the employees at work. The influence of leadership specifically is viewed as a significant determinant of employee engagement.This descriptive research therefore attempts to specifically illuminate the relationship between transformational and transactional leadership behaviours, initially articulated by Bass (1985), and employee engagement levels within a South African company of knowledge workers. Correlation and crosstabulation tables are used to identify the existence of a positive association. Key findings include a contradiction of the current literature that transformational leadership has a positive relationship with employee engagement at a statistically significant level. Transactional leadership is also shown to have higher predictive qualities than previously found. The research also adds to the case for further study of situational and cultural moderators of transformational leadership’s effectiveness in predicting employee motivation and engagement.