International Journal of Current Research and Academic Review

Int.J.Curr.Res.Aca.Rev. 2014.2(1): 121-136

The effects of leadership styles and sociability trait emotional intelligence on employee engagement A study in Binh Duong City, Vietnam

Mai Ngoc Khuong* and Nguyen Hoang Yen

School of Business Administration, International University, Vietnam National University HCMC, Vietnam

A B S T R A C T

The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the effect of leadership styles on employee engagement in Binh Duong City. In addition, the effect of employee sociability on employee engagement and its mediation were also examined. Quantitative approach was the major method used, with statistical techniques applied, including factor, multiple regression, and path analyses. The unit of analysis was at individual level with the sample size of 269 office employees of five dominant industries in Binh Duong. The findings of this study indicated that the higher levels of employee sociability, ethical leadership and visionary were positively associated with the higher level of the employee engagement. In contrast, the transactional leadership style had negatively correlated with the employee engagement. Besides that, this study also found that ethical leadership and visionary leadership positively affected employee sociability. Based on the results of the data analysis, this research recommended that in order to enhance engagement of employee, companies should apply visionary leadership and ethical leadership, avoid or limit using transactional leadership styles. Companies should also select employee who are high sociability in order to have higher level of employee engagement

Keywords

Leadership style; employee engagement; employee sociability.