Transformational leadership, work engagement and performance among employees in the Public Service of Uganda

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the mediating effect of work engagement on transformational leadership and performance among employees of the public service in Uganda. The objectives that guided the study included examining the associations between transformational leadership and work engagement, work engagement and performance as well as transformational leadership and performance. The Multi factor Leadership questionnaire (2000) was used to measure transformational leadership, the Utrecht Work engagement scale (2002) was used to measure work engagement and the Individual work performance questionnaire (2014) version 1.0 was used to measure employee performance. The study employed a correlational design using a quantitative approach and convenient sampling was used on the population comprised of 198 employees from the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development Headquarters in Kampala. The data collected was analysed using SPSS version 21 and the hypotheses were tested using Pearson’s correlation coefficient while the regression analysis was tested using Baron and Kenny (1986). From the findings, transformational leadership was shown to positively and significantly relate with work engagement. Transformational leadership was shown to positively and significantly relate with employee performance. And work engagement was shown to fully mediate the relationship between transformation leadership and employee performance. Therefore, on the basis of these findings, the study recommends training leaders in transformational leadership abilities which will inspire an environment of work engagement and ultimately enhance the performance of employees.