Date of Conferral

2018

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Rebekah Cardenas

Abstract

The fast food industry is experiencing issues related to employee engagement and retention. Researchers have shown that managers' transformational leadership behaviors impact employee engagement and turnover intent in various work environments; however, no research to date has evaluated its influence on the fast food industry's hourly-wage, nonmanagement workforce. Building on the theoretical research of Burns and Bass, this study was conducted to examine the relationships among managers' 5 transformational leadership behaviors of idealized influence attributes, idealized influence behavior, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration and employee engagement and turnover intent. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire , the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and Turnover Intention Measure were used to assess (N = 116) hourly-waged, nonmanagement fast food employees' engagement and turnover intent. Stepwise regression analyses were used to determine whether managers' transformational leadership behaviors predicted employee engagement and turnover intent. Results indicated that Intellectual Stimulation was a statistically significant predictor of employee engagement and turnover intention at the .05 alpha level. These findings supported the transformational leadership model in a different work environment, potentially increasing its generalizability. Additionally, findings suggest transformational leadership that encompasses facets of intellectual stimulation would be a better fit for the fast food industry. The study findings might promote positive social change by encouraging the fast food industry to train leaders in behaviors that can result in greater employee engagement and lower turnover intent.

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