Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Management

Advisor

David Goodman

Abstract

This study examined the degree to which the views of transformational and transactional leadership style, based on gender, influence leader-follower employee engagement. The study was conducted using a non-experimental quantitative research design, resulting in a proposed theoretical model that defines gender as a moderating variable on leadership style that predicts leader-follower employee engagement. The sample frame was drawn from entry-level front-line employees located in the Southeastern US region. Employing multiple regression analysis, this quantitative investigation analyzed participants utilizing MLQ-5X leadership scores and employees’ ISA Engagement Scale scores. Participants (N = 102) completed both survey instruments. The research examined one research question: To what extent does gender moderate the relationship between leadership style and leader-follower employee engagement? The interaction term was statistically significant (β = -0.32, t = -2.66, p = .009). When examining both female leaders and male leaders, at the equally highest levels of transformational leadership for both male and female leaders, male leaders had significantly higher leader-follower employee engagement than female leaders. The findings indicate that a more extensive investigative study providing a deeper exploration and analysis into leadership styles of supervisors’ and gender could impact employee engagement at all levels. The social or general problem associated with this study was that there may be a disproportional level of a specific gender of a leader resulting in the opposite gender being more successful, which can cause employees to perceive the leadership styles differently and engage at different levels.

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