Congruence of Leader-follower Evaluations and the Effect of Leadership Styles on Work Engagement

Authors

  • Heléna Krén
    Affiliation
    Doctoral School of Business and Management, Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Műegyetem rkp. 3., H-1111 Budapest, Hungary
    Department of Ergonomics and Psychology, Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Műegyetem rkp. 3., H-1111 Budapest, Hungary
  • Márta Juhász
    Affiliation
    Department of Ergonomics and Psychology, Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Műegyetem rkp. 3., H-1111 Budapest, Hungary
https://doi.org/10.3311/PPso.22489

Abstract

The shift into relationship-oriented, positive leadership theories in recent decades brought with it a deeper investigation of leader-follower interactions. Transformational and engaging leadership styles are widely assumed to be proven determinants of work engagement, although these conclusions are based mostly on followers' evaluations. Therefore, we analysed followers' and leaders' evaluations simultaneously and used congruent results to test which leadership dimensions positively impact followers' work engagement. Our results show that follower-rated passive and charismatic leadership negatively affect work engagement. In contrast, follower-rated inspirational communication and passive leadership rated by leaders positively affect above-average work engagement. From them, inspirational communication seemed to be the most influential factor. These results draw attention to the importance of leaders' communication and emphasise its role in leader-follower interactions.

Keywords:

leadership style, work engagement, leader-follower congruence, inspirational communication

Citation data from Crossref and Scopus

Published Online

2023-11-30

How to Cite

Krén, H., Juhász, M. (2024) “Congruence of Leader-follower Evaluations and the Effect of Leadership Styles on Work Engagement”, Periodica Polytechnica Social and Management Sciences, 32(2), pp. 148–156. https://doi.org/10.3311/PPso.22489

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Section

Articles