The impact of selected leadership styles on employee engagement at a tertiary institution in the western cape province

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted human resource functions on a global scale. Since the COVID-19 pandemic first emerged, the Higher Education sector in particular has gone through trials, challenges and changes. This study empirically investigated the impact of transformational, transactional and servant leadership styles on employee engagement in the new normal. The study was conducted among administrative and support staff (AASS) at one higher education institution in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The shortened Work Engagement scale (WES-3), the Global Transformational leadership scale (GTL), the Transactional leadership scale, and the 7-item Servant leadership scale were the four selfreporting questionnaires distributed to the participants. One hundred and ninety-eight participants made up the sample for this study, out of a total of two hundred and seven (N=207) respondents by means of convenience sampling. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 28, was used to analyse the data in light of the proposed hypotheses. Additionally, descriptive statistical techniques were used to analyse the data. To ascertain the individual and combined effects of the three independent factors on the dependent variable, multiple regression analysis was utilised. The intercorrelation between employee/work engagement and transformational, transactional, and servant leadership styles was also investigated using Pearson correlation analysis.