Determining the relationship between middle management leadership qualities and employee engagement: The case of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between middle management leadership qualities and employee engagement in the DAFF. A sample of 100 participants was identified by way of stratified random sampling from a target population of 397 middle managers. Participants were classified according to salary levels, race and gender. The self-administered Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) and Employee Engagement Questionnaire were developed and sent to participants through email. The study was conducted by using the quantitative design and MLQ which was composed of scales that measure the transformational, transactional and passive/avoidant (laisses-fare) leadership qualities while the Employee Engagement Questionnaire was composed of scales that measure the three psychological conditions of employee engagement, which are meaningfulness, safety and availability. A response rate of seventy-eight percent was achieved. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) was employed to do the in-depth data analysis. The Spearman’s rho correlation coefficients were used to test the hypothesis. The results of this study confirm some earlier findings that transformational leadership enhances employee engagement. However, the study shows that transactional leadership is a stronger predictor of employee engagement. The study found a negative and not statistically significant relationship between passive/avoidant leadership behaviours and employee engagement.