Self-determined leadership and motivation: relating two European constructs of engaging leadership and six dimensions of employee work motivation

Main Abstract Content: Purpose Test two independent engaging leadership (EL) construct’s prediction of work motivation. Design Quantitative methods sampled Australian healthcare employees, twice (T1-T2=6 months, Nt1=131, response rate 53.2%, 62.4% male; Nt2 =113, response rate 34.0%, 57.5% male). Measures: Engaging Transformational Leadership Questionnaire© with intercorrellated (r=.56-.76) multidimensional subscales, showing genuine concern, enabling, being honest and consistent, networking and achieving, and being decisive, that highly interrelate (ETLQ, Alban-Metcalfe & Alimo-Metcalfe, 2000). Engaged Leadership Scale© with intercorrelated items (r=.64-.85), and potentially multidimensional subscales, strengthening, connecting, empowering and inspiring (ELS, Schaufeli, personal correspondence, 2016). Multidimensional Work Motivation Scale has six reliable subscales, α=.71-.90 (Gagne, et al., 2015). Analyses: SPSS24 sub-scale optimisation was highly-reliable, α=.74-.98. AMOS24 SEM confirmed a superior-fitting, replicable and representative model nested within longitudinal data (CFI=.994, TFI=.991, RMSEA=.017). Results Measurement residuals modelling found a consistent model in T1 and T2 data. EL, including both EL constructs, significantly negatively predicted Amotivation (β=-.31, p<.001), non-significantly predicted Social Extrinsic Regulation (β=.06, ns), Material Extrinsic Regulation (β=-.07, ns), and Introjected Regulation (β=.06, ns), and significantly positively predicted Identified Regulation (β=.30, p<.001), and Intrinsic Motivation (β=.49, p<.001), over time. Limitations State-trait aggregation, self-report, one source. Implications Self-determined leadership works in collaboration with work motivation. Leaders motivate using self-determined EL behaviours. Employees work using self-determined motivational patterns nurtured by the leader. Value ETLQ and ELS are complimentary, independently viable, and valid, internationally. Constructs predict patterns of highly-intrinsic motivation.