Leadership styles, work engagement and outcomes among information and communications technology professionals: A cross-national study

Habtamu Kebu Gemeda; Jaesik Lee

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e03699

Leadership styles, work engagement and outcomes among information and communications technology professionals: A cross-national study

Heliyon. 2020 Apr 6;6(4):e03699. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e03699. eCollection 2020 Apr.

Authors

Habtamu Kebu Gemeda¹, Jaesik Lee²

Affiliations

¹ Adama Science & Technology University, School of Humanity & Social Sciences, Ethiopia.
² Pusan National University, Keumjeong-Gu, Jangjeon-Dong, San 30, Busan, 609-735, South Korea.

Abstract

The present study examined relationships among leadership styles, work engagement and work outcomes designated by task performance and innovative work behavior among information and communication technology professionals in two countries: Ethiopia and South Korea. In total, 147 participants from Ethiopia and 291 from South Korea were made to fill in the self-reporting questionnaire intended to assess leadership styles, work engagement, task performance, and innovative work behavior. To test the proposed hypotheses, multiple linear regression analysis was utilized. The results showed that transformational leadership style had a significant positive relationship with employees' work engagement and innovative work behavior, while transactional leadership style had a significant positive relationship with employees' task performance. However, laissez-faire leadership style had a significant negative relationship with task performance. Work engagement had significant positive relationships with the indicators of work outcomes. Besides, work engagement partially mediated the relationship between leadership styles and work outcomes. The observed associations and mediation were consistent across the two national samples considered, indicating the soundness of the assumptions across countries. The findings provide insights into how leadership styles correspond with employees' work outcomes.

Keywords: Behavioral psychology; Human resource management; Human resources; Industry; Innovation; Leadership; Organization; Organizational psychology; Organizational theory; Performance; Technology management; Transaction; Transformation; Work engagement; Workplace.