Transformational, Transactional, Laissez-faire Leadership Styles and Employee Engagement: Evidence From Vietnam’s Public Sector

Abstract

Leadership style is considered one of the critical factors in employee engagement with the leader, the organization, and the organization’s success. So far, there have been studies on the relationship between leadership style and employee engagement. However, there has been no research on the relationship between leadership style and the engagement of civil servants in Vietnam’s provincial public sector, which is a gap that needs to be researched. Therefore, this study examines the relationship between three leadership styles, namely transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and laissez-faire leadership concerning engagement to work and performance of public sector employees, and at the same time determines the relationship of leadership styles with demographic variables and with employee engagement in the Vietnamese public sector. The study data were collected from a convenient sample of leaders from the departmental level to the board of directors, and the survey sample was also collected from employees in state agencies who were feedback by answering questionnaires at a time. A total of 325 people, who are leaders and civil servants in the provincial public sector in Vietnam, responded. SPSS statistical software version 26.0 was used to process the data obtained through surveying the opinions of respondents in the leadership style questionnaire and the employee participation questionnaire. The results of the analysis show that leadership styles are closely related to employee engagement. The study also discovered that the level of an employee’s engagement to work depends largely on leadership style. Recommendations are made when a leader practices the right leadership style to increase employee engagement and vice versa.