Leadership style and service orientation: the catalytic role of employee engagement

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the roles of leadership style and employee engagement (EE) as drivers of service orientation (SO). The competing models approach used in this study examines three models of influence on SO. The first model evaluates the influence of leadership on SO, the second focuses on the influence of EE on SO and the third explores the influence of leadership on SO through EE. The study provides evidence to support that the relationship between leadership styles and SO is impacted by EE. The results suggest that organizations need to develop systems and processes that focus on the employee and EE for definitive service outcomes. At a theoretical level, the paper provides a direction for further exploration of an integrated theory of leadership and engagement to drive SO in organizations. Design/methodology/approach This empirical study uses a cross-sectional descriptive design. Hierarchical regression and mediation analysis were applied to process the data that were collected from more than 400 front-line employees from five service sector organizations in the Delhi-National Capital Region (Delhi-NCR) of India using validated instruments. Findings The results from this study reveal both direct and indirect relationships among the variables. EE emerged as a critical variable that influences SO of employees. EE partially mediates the transformational leadership style-SO relationship and also the passive-avoidant-SO relationship and it fully mediates the transactional leadership-SO relationship. While all relationships of leadership-engagement, leadership-SO and engagement-SO are significant, the mediating effects accentuate the importance of EE in organizations. Practical implications Leadership style on its own has a direct bearing on EE and SO of employees, the three associations are significantly impacted under the mediating influence of EE. With EE emerging as a critical factor, organizations need to ensure engaging behaviors are measured and enhanced throughout the employee-life-cycle including hiring, training, rewarding and managing performance. The results of the study suggest that an integrated approach of developing and inculcating leadership styles that drive EE could be the basis for leadership development programs especially in the service sector organizations. Originality/value The originality of the paper is derived from the three variables studied in the context of the sample characteristics (front-line employees, young), industry sector (across service sector) and geographical location (Delhi-NCR-India). Not many empirical studies on these variables are available from the region. The empirical evidence on the influence of EE adds weight to the growing strategic importance of EE in organizations. The research also highlights leadership and EE together influence specific employee attitudes and behavior (SO).

Does transformational leadership influence TQM practices? A comparison analysis between manufacturing and service firms

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Mediating Effect of Leaders’ Behaviour on Organisational Knowledge Sharing and Manufacturing Firms’ Competitiveness

“…Consequently, leaders' behaviour is a key ingredient to team success (Schaubroeck et al, 2011). Leaders' behaviour determines the working environment of the organisation; their attitude either promotes or supresses a conducive working environment, which eventually affects the productivity of the workforce (Lambert, 2002;Popli & Rizvi, 2017). Therefore, leaders are expected to practice effective communicative and response system with their workforce to ensure professionalism, smooth work process and conducive environment for team success (Valentine & Prater, 2011).…”

Turizm İşletmelerinde Çalışan Mutluluğunun Önemi Üzerine Kavramsal Bir Değerlendirme

“…In addition, Chaiprasit and Santidhirakul (2011) emphasize that organizational values, relationships with colleagues, quality of work environment and motivation of managers have an impact on happiness in terms of business life. On the other hand, meeting the expectations of employees from the workplace may affect employee happiness (Cifre et al, 2013;Salas-Vallina et al, 2017) and some incentives such as social support provided by the workplace also affect happiness (Quiñones et al, 2013). In this context; Joo and Lee (2017) underline that issues such as employee engagement and career satisfaction have an impact on employee happiness at work.…”