On the Link between Transformational Leadership and Employees’ Work Engagement: The Role of Psychological Empowerment
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24837/pru.v17i2.291Keywords:
transformational leadership, work engagement, psychological empowerment, motivational processAbstract
The results of previous studies have consistently supported the relationship between transformational leadership style and work engagement, yet the focus is now on the explanatory mechanisms. This study aims to investigate whether psychological empowerment could be a potential mediator of the relationship between the two constructs. Featuring new knowledge reported in the literature, a non-experimental, cross-sectional study based on a sampleof 174 participants from different industries was conducted. The results of the statistical analysis showed that transformational leadership style is a significant predictor of engagement.Moreover, psychological empowerment partly mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and employees’ work engagement. These findings reiterate both the importance and the efficiency of the transformational leader in relation to the positive outcomes of the subordinates.Also, it highlights a potential motivational process that underpins these results.
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References
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Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2007). The Job Demands‐Resources model: state of the art. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 22(3), 309-328. https://doi.org/10.1108/02683940710733115
Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2014). Job Demands-Resources Theory. In C. L. Cooper (Ed.), Wellbeing (pp. 1-28). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118539415.wbwell019
Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2017). Job demands–resources theory: Taking stock and
looking forward. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 22(3), 273.
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173.
Bass, B. M. (1999). Two decades of research and development in transformational leadership. European Journal of Work and Organisational Psychology, 9–32.
Bass, B. M., Waldman, D. A., Avolio, B. J., & Bebb, M. (1987). Transformational Leadership and the Falling Dominoes Effect. Group & Organization Studies, 12(1), 73-87. https://doi.org/10.1177/105960118701200106
Blau, P. M. (1968). Social exchange. International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 7, 452-457.
Blomme, R. J., Kodden, B., & Beasley-Suffolk, A. (2015). Leadership theories and the concept of work engagement: Creating a conceptual framework for management implications and research. Journal of Management & Organization, 21(02), 125-144. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2014.71
Breevaart, K., & Bakker, A. B. (2018). Daily job demands and employee work engagement: The role of daily transformational leadership behavior. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 23(3), 338-349. https://doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000082
Bui, H. T. M., Zeng, Y., & Higgs, M. (2017). The role of person-job fit in the relationship between transformational leadership and job engagement. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 32(5), 373-386. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-05-2016-0144
Buil, I., Martínez, E., & Matute, J. (2018). Transformational leadership and employee performance: The role of identification, engagement and proactive personality. International Journal of Hospitality Management. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2018.06.014
Burns, J. M. 1978. Leadership. New York: Free Press.
Cavanaugh, M. A., Boswell, W. R., Roehling, M. V., & Boudreau, J. W. (2000). An empirical examination of self-reported work stress among US managers. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(1), 65.
Conger, J. A., & Kanungo, R. N. (1988). The empowerment process: Integrating theory and practice. Academy of Management Review, 13(3), 471-482.
Cropanzano, R., & Mitchell, M. S. (2005). Social Exchange Theory: An Interdisciplinary Review. Journal of Management, 31(6), 874-900. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206305279602
Enwereuzor, I. K., Ugwu, L. I., & Eze, O. A. (2018). How Transformational Leadership Influences Work Engagement Among Nurses: Does Person–Job Fit Matter? Western Journal of Nursing Research, 40(3), 346-366. https://doi.org/10.1177/0193945916682449
Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Buchner, A., & Lang, A. (2014). G∗ Power Version 3.1. 9.2 [Computer Software]. Uiversität Kiel, Germany.
George, L., & Sabhapathy, T. (2010). Work motivation of teachers: Relationship with transformational and transactional leadership behavior of college principals. Academic Leadership Journal, 8(2), 201-207.
Harter, J. K., Schmidt, F. L., & Hayes, T. L. (2002). Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(2), 268-279. https://doi.org/10.1037//0021-9010.87.2.268
Hayati, D., Charkhabi, M., & Naami, A. (2014). The relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement in governmental hospitals nurses: a survey study. SpringerPlus, 3(1), 25. https://doi.org/10.1186/2193-1801-3-25
Hayes, A. F. (2018). Partial, conditional, and moderated moderated mediation: Quantification, inference, and interpretation. Communication Monographs, 85(1), 4-40.
Hayes, A. F., & Preacher, K. J. (2014). Statistical mediation analysis with a multicategorical independent variable. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 67(3), 451-470.
Hoch, J. E., Bommer, W. H., Dulebohn, J. H., & Wu, D. (2018). Do ethical, authentic, and servant leadership explain variance above and beyond transformational leadership? A meta-analysis. Journal of Management, 44(2), 501-529.
Howell, J. M., & Shamir, B. (2005). The role of followers in the charismatic leadership process:
Relationships and their consequences. Academy of Management Review, 30(1), 96-112.
Kanter, R. M. (1987). Men and women of the corporation revisited. Management Review, 76(3), 14.
Kark, R., Shamir, B., & Chen, G. (2003). The two faces of transformational leadership: Empowerment and dependency. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(2), 246-255. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.2.246
Li, Y., Castaño, G., & Li, Y. (2018). Linking leadership styles to work engagement. Chinese Management Studies, 12(2), 433-452. https://doi.org/10.1108/cms-04-2017-0108
Macsinga, I., Sulea, C., Sârbescu, P., Fischmann, G., & Dumitru, C. (2013). Engaged, Committed and Helpful Employees: The Role of Psychological Empowerment. The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2013.874323
McAllister, I. (2016). The mediating role of psychological empowerment on the relationship
between job and personal resources and employee engagement.Master's Theses. 4728.DOI: https://doi.org/10.31979/etd.z89s-q6ff. Retrieved fromhttps://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/4728
Mhatre, K. H., & Riggio, R. E. (2014).Charismatic and transformational leadership: Past,
present, and future. In D. V. Day (Ed.), Oxford library of psychology. The Oxford handbook of leadership and organizations (pp. 221-240). https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199755615.013.012
Pieterse, A. N., van Knippenberg, D., Schippers, M., & Stam, D. (2009). Transformational and transactional leadership and innovative behavior: The moderating role of psychological empowerment. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31(4), 609-623. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.650
Quiñones, M., den Broeck, A. V., & De Witte, H. (2013). Do job resources affect work engagement via psychological empowerment? A mediation analysis. Revista de Psicología Del Trabajo y de Las Organizaciones, 29(3), 127-134. https://doi.org/10.5093/tr2013a18
Rafferty, A. E., & Griffin, M. A. (2004). Dimensions of transformational leadership: Conceptual and empirical extensions. The Leadership Quarterly, 15(3), 329-354. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2004.02.009
Rich, B. L., Lepine, J. A., & Crawford, E. R. (2010). Job engagement: Antecedents and effects on job performance. Academy of management journal, 53(3), 617-635.
Saks, A. M. (2019). Antecedents and consequences of employee engagement revisited. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness:People and Performance, 6(1), 19-38. https://doi.org/10.1108/joepp-06-2018-0034
Salanova, M., Lorente, L., Chambel, M. J., & Martínez, I. M. (2011). Linking transformational leadership to nurses' extra-role performance: the mediating role of self-efficacy and work engagement. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 67(10), 2256-2266.
Schaufeli, W. B., Bakker, A. B., & Salanova, M. (2006). The Measurement of Work Engagement With a Short Questionnaire: A Cross-National Study. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 66(4), 701-716. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164405282471
Schaufeli, W. B., Salanova, M., González-Romá, V., & Bakker, A. B. (2002). The measurement of engagement and burnout: A two sample confirmatory factor analytic approach. Journal of Happiness studies, 3(1), 71-92.
Seibert, S. E., Wang, G., & Courtright, S. H. (2011).Antecedents and Consequences of Psychological and Team Empowerment in Organizations: A Meta-Analytic Review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(5), 981.
Simpson, M. R. (2009). Engagement at work: A review of the literature. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 46(7), 1012-1024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2008.05.003
Spreitzer, G. (1995). Psychological empowerment in the workplace: Dimensions, measurement, and validation. Academy of Management Journal, 38(5), 1442-1465.
Spreitzer, G. (2008). Taking Stock: A Review of More than Twenty Years of Research on Empowerment at Work. În The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Behavior: Volume I - Micro Approaches (pp. 54-72). https://doi.org/10.4135/9781849200448.n4
Thomas, K. W., & Velthouse, B. A. (1990). Cognitive elements of empowerment: An “interpretive” model of intrinsic task motivation. Academy of Management Review, 15(4), 666-681.
Tims, M., Bakker, A. B., & Xanthopoulou, D. (2011). Do transformational leaders enhance their followers’ daily work engagement? The Leadership Quarterly, 22(1), 121-131.
van Knippenberg, D., & Sitkin, S. B. (2013). A Critical Assessment of Charismatic—Transformational Leadership Research: Back to the Drawing Board? The Academy of Management Annals, 7(1), 1-60. https://doi.org/10.1080/19416520.2013.759433
Vîrgă, D., Zaborilă, C., Sulea, C., & Maricuţoiu, L. (2015). Roumanian adaptation of Utrecht Work Engagement Scale: The examination of validity and reliability. Psihologia Resurselor Umane, 7(1), 58-74.
Babcock-Roberson, M. E., & Strickland, O. J. (2010). The Relationship Between Charismatic Leadership, Work Engagement, and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors. The Journal of Psychology, 144(3), 313-326. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223981003648336
Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2007). The Job Demands‐Resources model: state of the art. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 22(3), 309-328. https://doi.org/10.1108/02683940710733115
Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2014). Job Demands-Resources Theory. In C. L. Cooper (Ed.), Wellbeing (pp. 1-28). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118539415.wbwell019
Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2017). Job demands–resources theory: Taking stock and
looking forward. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 22(3), 273.
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173.
Bass, B. M. (1999). Two decades of research and development in transformational leadership. European Journal of Work and Organisational Psychology, 9–32.
Bass, B. M., Waldman, D. A., Avolio, B. J., & Bebb, M. (1987). Transformational Leadership and the Falling Dominoes Effect. Group & Organization Studies, 12(1), 73-87. https://doi.org/10.1177/105960118701200106
Blau, P. M. (1968). Social exchange. International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 7, 452-457.
Blomme, R. J., Kodden, B., & Beasley-Suffolk, A. (2015). Leadership theories and the concept of work engagement: Creating a conceptual framework for management implications and research. Journal of Management & Organization, 21(02), 125-144. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2014.71
Breevaart, K., & Bakker, A. B. (2018). Daily job demands and employee work engagement: The role of daily transformational leadership behavior. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 23(3), 338-349. https://doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000082
Bui, H. T. M., Zeng, Y., & Higgs, M. (2017). The role of person-job fit in the relationship between transformational leadership and job engagement. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 32(5), 373-386. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-05-2016-0144
Buil, I., Martínez, E., & Matute, J. (2018). Transformational leadership and employee performance: The role of identification, engagement and proactive personality. International Journal of Hospitality Management. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2018.06.014
Burns, J. M. 1978. Leadership. New York: Free Press.
Cavanaugh, M. A., Boswell, W. R., Roehling, M. V., & Boudreau, J. W. (2000). An empirical examination of self-reported work stress among US managers. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(1), 65.
Conger, J. A., & Kanungo, R. N. (1988). The empowerment process: Integrating theory and practice. Academy of Management Review, 13(3), 471-482.
Cropanzano, R., & Mitchell, M. S. (2005). Social Exchange Theory: An Interdisciplinary Review. Journal of Management, 31(6), 874-900. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206305279602
Enwereuzor, I. K., Ugwu, L. I., & Eze, O. A. (2018). How Transformational Leadership Influences Work Engagement Among Nurses: Does Person–Job Fit Matter? Western Journal of Nursing Research, 40(3), 346-366. https://doi.org/10.1177/0193945916682449
Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Buchner, A., & Lang, A. (2014). G∗ Power Version 3.1. 9.2 [Computer Software]. Uiversität Kiel, Germany.
George, L., & Sabhapathy, T. (2010). Work motivation of teachers: Relationship with transformational and transactional leadership behavior of college principals. Academic Leadership Journal, 8(2), 201-207.
Harter, J. K., Schmidt, F. L., & Hayes, T. L. (2002). Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(2), 268-279. https://doi.org/10.1037//0021-9010.87.2.268
Hayati, D., Charkhabi, M., & Naami, A. (2014). The relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement in governmental hospitals nurses: a survey study. SpringerPlus, 3(1), 25. https://doi.org/10.1186/2193-1801-3-25
Hayes, A. F. (2018). Partial, conditional, and moderated moderated mediation: Quantification, inference, and interpretation. Communication Monographs, 85(1), 4-40.
Hayes, A. F., & Preacher, K. J. (2014). Statistical mediation analysis with a multicategorical independent variable. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 67(3), 451-470.
Hoch, J. E., Bommer, W. H., Dulebohn, J. H., & Wu, D. (2018). Do ethical, authentic, and servant leadership explain variance above and beyond transformational leadership? A meta-analysis. Journal of Management, 44(2), 501-529.
Howell, J. M., & Shamir, B. (2005). The role of followers in the charismatic leadership process:
Relationships and their consequences. Academy of Management Review, 30(1), 96-112.
Kanter, R. M. (1987). Men and women of the corporation revisited. Management Review, 76(3), 14.
Kark, R., Shamir, B., & Chen, G. (2003). The two faces of transformational leadership: Empowerment and dependency. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(2), 246-255. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.2.246
Li, Y., Castaño, G., & Li, Y. (2018). Linking leadership styles to work engagement. Chinese Management Studies, 12(2), 433-452. https://doi.org/10.1108/cms-04-2017-0108
Macsinga, I., Sulea, C., Sârbescu, P., Fischmann, G., & Dumitru, C. (2013). Engaged, Committed and Helpful Employees: The Role of Psychological Empowerment. The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2013.874323
McAllister, I. (2016). The mediating role of psychological empowerment on the relationship
between job and personal resources and employee engagement.Master's Theses. 4728.DOI: https://doi.org/10.31979/etd.z89s-q6ff. Retrieved fromhttps://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/4728
Mhatre, K. H., & Riggio, R. E. (2014).Charismatic and transformational leadership: Past,
present, and future. In D. V. Day (Ed.), Oxford library of psychology. The Oxford handbook of leadership and organizations (pp. 221-240). https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199755615.013.012
Pieterse, A. N., van Knippenberg, D., Schippers, M., & Stam, D. (2009). Transformational and transactional leadership and innovative behavior: The moderating role of psychological empowerment. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31(4), 609-623. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.650
Quiñones, M., den Broeck, A. V., & De Witte, H. (2013). Do job resources affect work engagement via psychological empowerment? A mediation analysis. Revista de Psicología Del Trabajo y de Las Organizaciones, 29(3), 127-134. https://doi.org/10.5093/tr2013a18
Rafferty, A. E., & Griffin, M. A. (2004). Dimensions of transformational leadership: Conceptual and empirical extensions. The Leadership Quarterly, 15(3), 329-354. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2004.02.009
Rich, B. L., Lepine, J. A., & Crawford, E. R. (2010). Job engagement: Antecedents and effects on job performance. Academy of management journal, 53(3), 617-635.
Saks, A. M. (2019). Antecedents and consequences of employee engagement revisited. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness:People and Performance, 6(1), 19-38. https://doi.org/10.1108/joepp-06-2018-0034
Salanova, M., Lorente, L., Chambel, M. J., & Martínez, I. M. (2011). Linking transformational leadership to nurses' extra-role performance: the mediating role of self-efficacy and work engagement. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 67(10), 2256-2266.
Schaufeli, W. B., Bakker, A. B., & Salanova, M. (2006). The Measurement of Work Engagement With a Short Questionnaire: A Cross-National Study. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 66(4), 701-716. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164405282471
Schaufeli, W. B., Salanova, M., González-Romá, V., & Bakker, A. B. (2002). The measurement of engagement and burnout: A two sample confirmatory factor analytic approach. Journal of Happiness studies, 3(1), 71-92.
Seibert, S. E., Wang, G., & Courtright, S. H. (2011).Antecedents and Consequences of Psychological and Team Empowerment in Organizations: A Meta-Analytic Review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(5), 981.
Simpson, M. R. (2009). Engagement at work: A review of the literature. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 46(7), 1012-1024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2008.05.003
Spreitzer, G. (1995). Psychological empowerment in the workplace: Dimensions, measurement, and validation. Academy of Management Journal, 38(5), 1442-1465.
Spreitzer, G. (2008). Taking Stock: A Review of More than Twenty Years of Research on Empowerment at Work. În The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Behavior: Volume I - Micro Approaches (pp. 54-72). https://doi.org/10.4135/9781849200448.n4
Thomas, K. W., & Velthouse, B. A. (1990). Cognitive elements of empowerment: An “interpretive” model of intrinsic task motivation. Academy of Management Review, 15(4), 666-681.
Tims, M., Bakker, A. B., & Xanthopoulou, D. (2011). Do transformational leaders enhance their followers’ daily work engagement? The Leadership Quarterly, 22(1), 121-131.
van Knippenberg, D., & Sitkin, S. B. (2013). A Critical Assessment of Charismatic—Transformational Leadership Research: Back to the Drawing Board? The Academy of Management Annals, 7(1), 1-60. https://doi.org/10.1080/19416520.2013.759433
Vîrgă, D., Zaborilă, C., Sulea, C., & Maricuţoiu, L. (2015). Roumanian adaptation of Utrecht Work Engagement Scale: The examination of validity and reliability. Psihologia Resurselor Umane, 7(1), 58-74.
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Published
2019-11-20
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Duțu, R., & Butucescu, A. (2019). On the Link between Transformational Leadership and Employees’ Work Engagement: The Role of Psychological Empowerment. Psihologia Resurselor Umane, 17(2), 42–73. https://doi.org/10.24837/pru.v17i2.291
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