How leadership communication drives employee engagement: the moderating role of psychological safety

Abstract

Employee engagement is steadily decreasing worldwide. As the contributions and engagement of employees are valuable resources for an organisation, the impact of disengaged employees can lead to unnecessary costs and the potential loss of valuable skills that are difficult to replace. Disengagement does not only affect the organisation but it can also have negative consequences for employees. Effective leader communication and psychological safety are resources that can influence employee engagement. This study uses these resources in line with the Job Demand-Resource (JD-R) theory to examine whether it influences employee engagement. Psychological safety was used as both a predictor and as a moderator to determine whether it strengthens the relationship between effective leader communication and employee engagement. The data for this quantitative cross-sectional research study were collected via an online survey. Of the 205 responses, only 145 were suitable for this research study. The data were coded and analysed using single- and multiple linear regression. The results suggest that effective leader communication and psychological safety individually contribute to an increase in employee engagement. With the introduction of psychological safety as a moderator, there was no significant impact on the relationship between communication and engagement.