The Influence of Participative Leadership on Agricultural Extension Officers’ Engagement

Abstract

Employee engagement has garnered a great deal of interest because of its positive effect on employee performance, but the interest has not resulted in in-depth studies on how variables such as participative leadership determine employee engagement. In this study, the role of participative leadership on the three dimensions of engagement experienced by agricultural extension officers is examined. Data from a cross-sectional survey of 189 agricultural extension officers from four provinces in South Africa are analyzed using regression analysis. As hypothesized, results show that participative leadership influences the three dimensions of engagement. The implications of the results are discussed, emphasizing possible ways participative leadership practices could be used to facilitate the engagement of agricultural extension officers.

Leadership Styles and Innovation Performance: The Role of Coopetition Capability and In-Learning in Financial Service Firms

“…This implies that leadership style is a facilitative behavior to enhance coopetition capability that leads to better innovation performance. This is consistent with the logic of Ponomariov et al (2021) and Usadolo (2020), who argued that leadership style consisting consideration and participation helps create a sense of support and collaboration in problem-solving and tacit knowledge obtaining. This finding also adds to the study of Steele and Day (2020) by assessing the function of leadership by a survey-based design.…”

“…First, we measured leadership style on the basis of Cortes and Herrmann (2020) and Usadolo (2020), who proposed that leadership style is a facilitative behavior, including consideration and participation behaviors. The measure of these two behaviors was furthered by Strese et al (2016b), thus being employed in our study.…”

“…For example, considerate leaders build interpersonal relationships using exchange and trust to promote a positive workplace that increases cross-functional competition (Strese et al, 2016b). Usadolo (2020) also posited that participation leadership allows followers to involve in decision-making processes and encourage new ideas and collaboration across organizational units. Seepana et al (2020) acknowledged that coopetition capability involves both cooperativity and competitivity in obtaining valuable technologies that lead to organizational innovations.…”

“…Second, consideration leadership style supports an open discussion of disagreements and mutual bargaining among employees, as a means of managing competitive situations more effectively (Ponomariov et al, 2021). This enables coopetition among employees, as they are willing to solve conflicts since they do not fear reprisal to voice their thoughts (Usadolo, 2020). This usually affects how people perform their duties and responsibilities and how their learning can be used and built back into the organizational system to improve quality and performance (Strese et al, 2016a).…”

Agricultural Leadership Development Program Participant Personality and Demographic Characteristics: An Empirical Analysis

“…Although the limitations of the present study have been noted, there is the potential for the results to help inform curricular decisions, particularly as it relates to adult agricultural leadership development programs. Engaged agricultural leaders are needed (Usadolo, 2020) and, therefore, enhancements in the way personality characteristics are used to equip and prepare this group of learners to meet challenges will remain an ongoing priority.…”