thesis-2013-0220.pdf

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The Role of Transformational Leadership Behaviors in Affective Employee

Engagement: An empirical study in the two industries of retail and financial

services in Ho Chi Minh City

ABSTRACT

According to many previous studies, the effective leaders are one of the most

important factors in engaging the employees to the organization; leveraging the

human capital to create sustainable competitive advantage for the organization

efficacy and leading to organizational benefits. The purpose of this study was to

investigate the relationship between transformational leadership behaviors and

affective employee engagement and to examine their impact on employees’ level of

affective engagement in private and foreign-owned companies in Ho Chi Minh

City. Total participants in the research were 320 full-time employees from the

industry of retailing and financial services in Ho Chi Minh City. The majority of

employees have worked in private organizations (55.3%) and followed by foreign-

owned companies (44.7%); in financial services (53.4%) and in retail industry

(46.6%) respectively.

The findings of the study indicated that transformational leadership behaviors

including intellectual stimulation, idealized influence behaviors and individual

consideration have significant and positive correlations with affective employee

engagement. Among the independent variables, individual consideration is found to

be the most important factor in driving affective employee engagement.

The research results have contributed to the literature and provided more evidences

for the managers in their decisions of their workforce planning. However, the

sample for the research is still limited due to the application of convenient sampling

method and surveyed only in Ho Chi Minh City. Therefore, the generalization is not

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so high; the study might have not covered all the demographic factors; and also

some other important variables were not considered all due to the scope of the

study. All the restrictions will motivate the next researchers in this interesting topic.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am deeply grateful to my advisors, Dr. Nguyen Huu Lam and Dr. Nguyen Dinh

Tho for the guidance and comments through the process of completing this thesis.

Without the support and encouragement from Dr. Lam and Dr. Tho, the thesis

might not be possible in meeting the requirements and expectations of the research.

I also extend my thanks my classmates in sharing with me the ideas; store managers

in Crescent Mall in district 7 and MBA students at the University of HCMC

Economics in filling in the questionnaires.

I would like to acknowledge the support and encouragement of my family in the

concession of time, money and effort to complete the program. Most of all, I would

like to be grateful to my Buddha for giving me good health, optimism and strength

to finish the study.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ 1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................ 4

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................... 8

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY ................................................................. 8

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM .............................................................. 10

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY .................................................................... 11

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ............................................................................. 12

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ................................................................ 12

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY ............................................................................... 13

1.7 STRUCTURE OF THE STUDY .................................................................... 13

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................... 14

2.1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................... 14

2.2 THE CONCEPT OF LEADERSHIP .............................................................. 15

2.3 THE EVOLUTION OF LEADERSHIP THEORIES ..................................... 15

2.4 LEADERSHIP MODEL ................................................................................. 17

2.5 FIVE DIMENSIONS OF TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP

BEHAVIORS ........................................................................................................ 18

2.5.1 Idealized influence (Attributes) (IIA): leaders instill pride and build trust

........................................................................................................................... 18

2.5.2 Idealized influence (Behaviors) (IIB): leaders emphasize collective sense

of mission, talk about values and beliefs .......................................................... 18

2.5.3 Inspirational motivation (IM): leaders communicate and express

enthusiasm, optimism, confidence, and emotional appeals. ............................. 18

2.5.4 Intellectual stimulation (IS): leaders stimulate followers to view the

world from new perspectives; encourages problem solving, critical thinking

and creativity. .................................................................................................... 18

2.5.5 Individual consideration (IC): leaders develop, coach, and teach each

follower to grow individually by paying attention to individual needs, desires

and assigning projects. ...................................................................................... 18

2.6 THE CONCEPT OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT .................................... 19

2.7 THE EVOLUTION OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT ............................... 20

2.8 TWO DIMENSIONS OF AFFECTIVE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT ...... 21

2.9 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRANSFORMATIONAL

LEADERSHIP BEHAVIORS AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT ................. 22

2.10 RESEARCH MODEL AND HYPOTHESES .............................................. 24

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................... 26

3.1 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ........................................................................ 26

3.1.1 Sampling ................................................................................................... 26

3.1.2 Data collection and In-depth interview ................................................... 26

3.2 QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH ..................................................................... 27

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3.2.1 Response rate and sample size ................................................................. 27

3.2.2 Data sources and type .............................................................................. 29

3.2.3 Data gathering instruments ..................................................................... 30

3.2.3.1 Multifactor leadership questionnaire ............................................... 30

3.2.3.2 Affective employee engagement questionnaire ................................. 31

3.2.4 Independent and dependent variables of the study .................................. 32

3.2.5 Data analysis and presentation procedures ............................................ 33

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND FINDINGS .................................................... 34

4.1 DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PARTICIPANTS .......... 34

4.2 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS FOR TRANSFORMATIONAL

LEADERSHIP BEHAVIORS AND AFFECTIVE EMPLOYEE

ENGAGEMENT ................................................................................................... 36

4.2.1 Employees perception to Transformational leadership behaviors .......... 37

4.2.2 Employees perception to their organizational engagement..................... 37



ENGAGEMENT ................................................................................................... 38

4.4 SCALE ASSESSMENT ................................................................................. 40

4.4.1 Cronbach Alpha ....................................................................................... 40

4.4.2 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) ......................................................... 42

4.4.2.1 Independent variables ....................................................................... 43

4.4.2.2 Dependent variables ......................................................................... 44

4.5 CORRELATION AND REGRESSION ANALYSIS .................................... 44

4.5.1 Correlation analysis ................................................................................. 44

4.5.2 Regression analysis .................................................................................. 45

4.5.2.1 Assessment of the model .................................................................... 45

4.5.2.2 Testing of the hypotheses .................................................................. 49

4.6 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ..................................................................... 51

4.6.1 Regression analysis .................................................................................. 51

4.6.1.1 Intellectual stimulation ..................................................................... 51

4.6.1.2 Idealized influence behaviors............................................................ 52

4.6.1.3 Idealized influence attributes and inspirational motivation ............. 52

4.6.1.4 Individual consideration ................................................................... 52

4.6.2 Industry analysis ...................................................................................... 53

4.6.3 Discussion of the results .......................................................................... 53

4.6.4 Summary ................................................................................................... 54

CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION, RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION 55

5.1 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................. 55

5.2 THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE STUDY .................................................. 56

5.2.1 Contributions to the literature ................................................................. 56

5.2.2 Contributions to the practices .................................................................. 56

5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................ 57

5.3.1 Recommendations for the organizations and managers in Ho Chi Minh

City .................................................................................................................... 57

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5.3.2 Recommendation for future research ....................................................... 59

5.4 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY .................................................................. 60

REFERENCES .......................................................................................................... 61

Appendix A: Total Variance Explained .................................................................... 66

Appendix B: Rotated Component Matrixa ................................................................ 67

Appendix C: Total Variance Explained .................................................................... 68

Appendix D: Rotated Component Matrixa ................................................................ 69

Appendix E: KMO and Bartlett's Test ...................................................................... 69

Appendix F: KMO and Bartlett's Test ...................................................................... 69

Appendix G: ANOVAa ............................................................................................. 70

Appendix H: Histogram Dependent Variable AC .................................................... 70

Appendix I: Normal P-P Plot of Regression Standardized Residual Dependent

Variable AC .............................................................................................................. 71

Appendix J: Scatterplot Dependent Variable AC ..................................................... 72

Appendix K: ANOVAa ............................................................................................. 72

Appendix L: Histogram Dependent Variable SC ..................................................... 73

Appendix M: Normal P-P Plot of Regression Standardized Residual Dependent

Variable SC ............................................................................................................... 74

Appendix N: Scatterplot Dependent Variable SC .................................................... 75

Appendix O: Questionnaire (in English) .................................................................. 76

Appendix P: Questionnaire (in Vietnamese) ............................................................ 81

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Location for paper survey, sample size and response rates ........................ 28

Table 2: Independent and Dependent variables ........................................................ 32

Table 3: Summary of Employees’ profile ................................................................. 35

Table 4: Mean and Standard Deviations of Transformational Leadership Behaviors

and Affective Employee Engagement for employees’ responses ............................. 36

Table 5: Pearson correlation matrix between transformational leadership behaviors

and affective employee engagement dimensions ...................................................... 39

Table 6: Cronbach Alpha .......................................................................................... 41

Table 7: Result of EFA for Independent variables ................................................... 43

Table 8: Result of EFA for Dependent variables ...................................................... 44

Table 9: Correlation analysis .................................................................................... 45

Table 10: Summary (AC) .......................................................................................... 46

Table 11: Summary (SC) .......................................................................................... 46

Table 12: Anova (AC) ............................................................................................... 46

Table 13: Anova (SC) ............................................................................................... 47

Table 14:Profile of Independent variables ................................................................ 47

Table 15: Profile of Independent variables ............................................................... 48

Table 16: Summary of results of hypotheses ............................................................ 50

Table 17: Industry analysis ....................................................................................... 53

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Proposed Research Model ......................................................................... 24

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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

In Vietnam News (2002), it showed that:

More than 43% of employees in Vietnam express high levels of commitment

to both their job and the company they work for. In its global employee

commitment report 2002 Taylor Nelson Sofre says the commitment

percentage in Vietnam is higher than the average in the Asia-Pacific region

and Europe, but slightly lower than in the United States and Latin America.”

And then in Thanhnien News (2008), it is suggested that:

Vietnam needs more skilled workers since its WTO accession. The survey by

Grant Thornton, a global accounting, tax and business advisory firm which

involved over 7,800 privately held businesses in 34 countries shows that 84

percent of Vietnamese companies focus on recruiting and retaining staff,

compared to a global average of only 59 percent. Vietnamese companies

focus more on attracting and retaining employees than do companies

elsewhere.

Employee retention is considered the greatest challenge for businesses in Vietnam

and becomes a hot topic for discussions for any workshops of human resource

managers. Vietnamese employees aggressively accelerate their career to better

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positions, challenging jobs and better pay. In a survey of Navigos Group, the

leading and largest executive recruitment solution provider reported in Vietnam

Plus (2010) “63,8 percent of respondents from 168 companies operating in Vietnam

including foreign-invested ones ranked the employee retention as the number one

human resource challenge in 2010”. And it also confirmed “getting the right people

into the right job with the right skills and to have them stay and grow are missions

which will keep human resource personnel busy in 2010. As long as this is the fact,

employee retention is hard work.”

According to Towers Watson (2011) in a briefing of engagement indicator survey,

Vietnam labor market has experienced a fierce talent war in which Vietnamese

employers are trying to engage their talent through some employee engagement

programs. In the Towers Watson’s data, it also showed that “employee engagement

levels in Vietnam have remained steady over the last five years (currently 78%

favorable) and higher than employee engagement levels in the overall Asia Pacific

Region (currently 74% favorable). However, employee intent to continue working

for their current companies is lower in Vietnam (54%) compared to Asia Pacific

(61%). In other words, the war for talent is fiercer in Vietnam than elsewhere in

Asia Pacific because employees are at higher risk of leaving.”

It is clear evidence that employee engagement has become one of the most leading

priorities for human resource practitioners and senior managers in the organization

today in Vietnam. It is also the role of HR managers and line mangers to understand

what are the critical factors affecting employees to get their high commitment to the

company. Based on that, the managers come up with strategic action plans to

engage their employees into the sustainability of the organization. These

requirements from the reality are really urgent for the managers in Vietnam to deal

with them in their daily managerial works.

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1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Nowadays, the workplace changes day by day and requires products and services to

keep in line with this demand. In order to remain competitive, employee

engagement is one of the most important factors in the face of these pressures.Since

employee engagement is strongly correlated to the leadership behaviors of direct

mangers and this concerns a focus on improving the quality of leadership in

achieving greater employees to engage to the organization and its sustainable

growth, and the profitability as well. Many researchers have revealed that employee

engagement and leadership behaviors are of crucial determinants in the

organizational success. However, leadership is one of the least understood concepts

in the corporate world and the term of employee engagement should also be

considered in many dimensions to result in a full picture of this relationship.

Beverly and John (2008) shows indisputable links between employee engagement

and various measurements of financial success in which a US survey of 24 publicly

listed traded companies with a total of over 250,000 employees over the last 5 years

recognized the stock prices of 11 companies with highest engagement increased an

average of 19.4% in comparison to only 8% of those in the same industries. Several

surveys also reveals that companies with high employee engagement levels

experienced a higher operating margin, net profit margin, revenue growth and

earnings per share than those with low employee engagement.

It is clear that employee performance or behavior on the job is influenced by his or

her immediate manager and its positive relationship will be essential to

strengthening employee engagement. So, to improve the quality of leadership and

management can be the most important step in keeping the employee committed to

the organization.

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On the contrary, engagement is also complicated and continuous for further

research then it requires a simultaneous solution as the employees can be

emotionally engaged, cognitively engaged or physically engaged.

According to Towers Watson (2012), the voluntary turnover rate in Vietnam was

15,8% in 2010 and 13,1% in 2011. The main reason is due to the conflicts and

disagreement with their direct managers’ behaviors. Academicians, researchers and

practitioners have highlighted the significant influence that managers can have on

engagement levels of the employees. Effective managers can have more engaged

staffs and the quality of the relationship between a manager and employees is one of

the most crucial factors driving engagement. Towers Perrin (2006, as cited in

Gemma and Carl, 2009) posits that “many of the factors that influence employee

engagement and retention are factors directly and indirectly within the manager’s

control.”

Many previous researches have demonstrated the positive relationship between

leadership behaviors and employee engagement. However, the number of studies

conducted in Vietnam in general and in specific organizations or industries are

lacking and limited. Therefore, this research is considered important to test the link

between transformational leadership behaviors and affective employee engagement

in the industry of retail and financial services in Ho Chi Minh City and also to

explore employees’ perceptions on these behaviors.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The research is to explore the relationship between transformational leadership

behaviors and affective employee engagement in the industry of retail and financial

services in Ho Chi Minh City. To achieve the goal, the specific objectives of the

study are:

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To examine the relationship between transformational leadership behaviors

and two dimensions of affective employee engagement.

To identify the employees’ perceptions about the transformational leadership

behaviors and two dimensions of affective employee engagement.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Specific research questions are:

1) What are the perceptions of employees in the industry of retail and financial

services about transformational leadership behaviors and two dimensions of

affective employee engagement?

2) What is the relationship between transformational leadership behaviors and

two dimensions of affective employee engagement?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Firstly, the result of the research is important to bring the awareness to the

managers in Ho Chi Minh City about the determinant variables in influencing the

engagement level of the employees in their organization.

Secondly, it will be useful as the reference or guidance for the others to conduct

further studies in related topics and other organizations regards to similar problems.

Thirdly, it is believed the research can add more value to the literature on leadership

behaviors and employee engagement, especially in Vietnam setting.

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1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The focus of this study is to examine the relationship between transformational

leadership behaviors and affective employee engagement in the industry of retail

and financial services in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Of course, the data for the

study is delimited to the surveyed employees of the two industries in Ho Chi Minh

City.

The study can also cover its limited share of the sampling frame which only

considered a particular group and therefore the results cannot be generalized to

represent for the whole industry or other various types of organizations in Vietnam.

1.7 STRUCTURE OF THE STUDY

The thesis is organized into five chapters as follows

Chapter one: presents the background of the study, describes the problem

statements, research objectives, significance of the study.

Chapter two: provides literature review.

Chapter three: focuses on the research methodology, describes data

collection and analysis methods.

Chapter four: analyses and presents the research findings by showing how

each of the questions has been answered and how the findings contribute to

the purpose of the study.

Chapter five: provides the conclusions, limitations and recommendations.

The end of the thesis includes references, appendices and questionnaires of the

survey form to collect primary data for the work.

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CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Leadership refers to the tools, behaviors and capability that a person needs in order

to be successful at motivating and directing others. While employee engagement

(Kahn, cited in Jessica and Helena, 2011) concerns the degree to which individuals

make full use of their cognitive, emotional, and physical resources to perform role-

related work.

When people talk about high-performing employee retention, they often focus on

financial and non-financial incentives. However, researches from all over the world

show that there is another mutual link of leadership behaviors in keeping the staff

engaged at work. All organizations expect to have engaged employees and willingly

to spend their resources to improve employee engagement. And one of the

antecedents of employee engagement is leadership behaviors.

Researchers believe that leadership is one of the most important organizational

factors having direct impact on the motivation, satisfaction and the performance of

individuals. Tichy and Cohen (as cited in Salman, Riaz, Saifullah, and Rashid,

2011) said that “the scarcest resource in the world today is the leadership talent

capable of continuously transforming organizations to win in tomorrow’s world.

The individuals and organizations that build leadership engines and invest in leaders

developing other leaders have a sustainable competitive advantage”.

Moreover, Kotter and Haskett (as cited in Salman et al, 2011) consider leadership as

a single most important factor in making organizational change and establish its

strategic direction. In reality, the relationship between the leaders and employees is

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a causal link and has a mutual link on each other. The leader behaviors will have a

direct impact on staff performance and engagement.

2.2 THE CONCEPT OF LEADERSHIP

There is no single correct definition of leadership as various researchers explore in

different aspects and leadership is also a complex phenomenon involving the leader,

the followers and the situation. Researchers may focus on the relationships between

the leader and the followers; the physical traits, behaviors, personality; or the

situations that affect the ways the leader acts.

Leadership can be understood in different definitions as the process a leader induces

a subordinate to behave in a desired manner; direction and coordination for the

work of group members; an interpersonal relation others comply because they want

to; the process of influencing a group towards achieving the goals; or the actions

that focus resources to create opportunities (Richard, Robert, and Gordon, 2009).

2.3 THE EVOLUTION OF LEADERSHIP THEORIES

Leadership traits

The theory considers leaders to possess some abnormal abilities to set them apart,

make them different from others and bring them to success. It also supports the

leaders might obtain some universal characteristics that the others cannot. The study

of leadership is to attend to the traits of the person, also called Great Man theory

and assumes leaders are born rather than are made (Sharon, 2003).The

shortcomings of this theory are that they cannot measure the leader’s performance

and attend to different circumstances.

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Leadership behaviors

The approach focuses on what the leaders do rather than what are their qualities. It

also considers the correlation of leaders’ behaviors, effectiveness, and task.

If the leaders can show these behaviors, they will satisfy the members, enhance the

relationship and social stability of the group.

Situational leadership

The approach considers the effectiveness of a leader to depend on some specific

situations, the nature of the work, the nature of environment, and subordinates. So it

proposes the styles of leadership might be different in different levels in the

organization.

Situation leadership also can be leadership traits or leadership behaviors depending

on the leaders’ actions or responses in a given situation.

Contingency leadership

It is to focus on the situational variables to predict the appropriate leadership styles

in comparison to the given circumstances. In the same meaning, the leadership

effectiveness is combined both the qualities of the leaders and the demands of the

situations. In order to make a good decision, the leaders have to address to

situational variables.

Transactional leadership

The model focuses on social contract between the leaders and the followers in

relation to the effectiveness; the mutual benefits which the leaders deliver to

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followers the rewards or recognition in exchange for the commitment or loyalty of

the followers.

Transformational leadership

Transformational leadership does not aim to replace the transactional leadership but

to contribute to describe more attributes of the leaders. Transformational leaders

focus on the needs of the followers, engage them to the organization and implement

the organizational performance.

2.4 LEADERSHIP MODEL


The concept of transformational leadership was firstly introduced by Burns with the

definition of transformational leadership as a process both the leaders and the

followers promote each other to motivation, rationality, problem solving and

morality.

Transformational leaders enhance the followers’ capability by creating new

demands and values so that they can grow their performance. Moreover,

transformational leaders often challenge others for changes, extraordinary works

and drive the organization effectively. They have an important role in influencing

the organization changes; designing a very clear picture for the organization and

share the vision so that the employees can be inspired of it (Burns, 1978, as cited in

Gholamreza, Hasan, and Ali, 2009).

Transformational leaders always encourage the followers to think of new

perspectives in solving problems; help the followers to try harder their capability

and inspire them to focus on the organizational objectives. They also influence the

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followers to attempt higher results by providing new perspectives and higher efforts

in attaining the goals. “The transformational leader asks followers to transcend their

own self-interests for the good of the group, organization, or society; to consider

their longer-term needs to develop themselves, rather than their needs of the

moment; and to become more aware of what is really important. Hence, followers

are converted into leaders” (Bass, 1990, as cited in John, 2006).

Evidences from researchers show that transformational leaders focus on the task,

value and vision (Bass, 1985, as cited in Gholamreza et al, 2009). Transformational

leaders treat each employee individually, provide them personal attention and tend

to manage through inspired motivation and individualized consideration (Burns et

al, as cited in Yueh-shian, n.d.).

2.5 FIVE DIMENSIONS OF TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP

BEHAVIORS

2.5.1 Idealized influence (Attributes) (IIA): leaders instill pride and build trust

2.5.2 Idealized influence (Behaviors) (IIB): leaders emphasize collective sense of

mission, talk about values and beliefs

2.5.3 Inspirational motivation (IM): leaders communicate and express enthusiasm,

optimism, confidence, and emotional appeals.

2.5.4 Intellectual stimulation (IS): leaders stimulate followers to view the world

from new perspectives; encourages problem solving, critical thinking and creativity.

2.5.5 Individual consideration (IC): leaders develop, coach, and teach each

follower to grow individually by paying attention to individual needs, desires and

assigning projects.

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The five constructs are measured by MLQ form 5X (Bass & Avolio, 1997, as cited

in Ronald and Rebecca, 2008).

2.6 THE CONCEPT OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

Numerous definitions of employee engagement can be referred to a condition in

which the employee has an organization purpose and show their enthusiasm,

effectiveness, effort, commitment, involvement, passion to the work. In

engagement, employees tend to express themselves physically, cognitively and

emotionally during their role performances. Employee engagement also captures the

extent to which employees are motivated to contribute to the organizational success

and provide discretionary effort to accomplishing their tasks for the achievement of

organizational goals.

According to Nitin (2005), employee engagement is the level of commitment and

involvement that an employee has towards their organization and its value. An

engaged employee can be aware of business context and works to improve

performance for the benefit of the organization. Kahn (as cited in Sandeep, Mark,

Chris, Emma, and Katie, 2008) defines “employee engagement is the harnessing of

organization members’ selves to their work roles.”In addition, engagement also

relates to the degree of discretionary effort that the employees willingly apply in

their work; choose whether to contribute at minimum level of their performance or

to go beyond the minimum to offer outstanding effort (Beverly and John, 2008).

There are three components of employee engagement: cognitive engagement refers

to ‘thinking’, affective or emotional engagement refers to ‘feeling’, and behavioral

engagement refers to ‘doing’. The cognitive aspect concerns the employees’ belief

about the organization; their managers and working conditions. The emotional or

affective aspect refers to how employees feel whether they have positive or negative

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attitudes. And the physical or behavioral aspect implies the physical energies of the

employees to accomplish their roles.

2.7 THE EVOLUTION OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

Wave 1 (1990-1999)

This wave begins with the concept of personal engagement by Kahn (as cited in

Mary, 2011) as “the harnessing of organizational members’ selves to their work

roles; in engagement, people employ and express themselves physically,

cognitively, and emotionally during role performance”. Then Buckingham and

Coffman (as cited in Mary) come up with the definition of an engaged employee if

he or she can answer yes to all 12 questions of Gallup questionnaire.

Wave 2 (2000-2005)

This wave witnesses the emergence of many consultancy firms in measuring

employee engagement through the perceptions of work and the satisfaction with the

organization. And Harter (as cited in Mary) defines “employee engagement as a

combination of cognitive and emotional antecedent variables in the workplace. This

omits Kahn’s (1990) behavioral element represented by his physical engagement

component.”

Schaufeli and Bakker (as cited in Mary) influence the concept in reference to the

organization context and job engagement with dimensions: cognitive, emotional and

physical.

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Wave 3 (2006-2010)

In this period, Saks extended Kahn’s viewpoint in considering both job engagement

and organization engagement. And the CIPD (as cited in Mary) with the literature

support from some academics also identifies the three dimensions of employee

engagement: “emotional engagement (being very involved emotionally with one’s

work; cognitive engagement (focusing very hard while at work); and physical

engagement (being willing to go the extra mile for your employer).”This wave also

draws the interest of many researchers such as: Macey and Schneider, Kular, Shuck

and Wollard, Attridge, Albrecht to contribute to the diversifications of the literature

review of employee engagement.

2.8 TWO DIMENSIONS OF AFFECTIVE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

Affective employee engagement comprises two components: affective commitment

and supervisory commitment.

Affective engagement is a multi-dimensional construct focusing on the individuals’

relationships with their roles, organizational commitment, job involvement and job

satisfaction. Researches from academicians and practitioners have showed a strong

correlation between the work outcomes and the line manager, leadership and

follower thinking and behavior. Therefore, affective engagement is measured by the

employee’s feelings of commitment to their immediate supervisor in particular and

the organization in general.

According to Allen and Mayer (1990, as cited in Dilys, Sarah, and Sue, 2004),

affective commitment is the most important form of commitment because it

indicates the most potential benefits for the organizations. Employees with high

affective commitment will go beyond their role and duty for the good of the

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organization. Moreover, affective engagement is a positive feeling about doing a

good job (Kerstin, Catherine, Emma, Chris, and Mark, 2010).

Supervisory commitment engagement is also a multi-dimensional construct to

attend to the relationships between the direct supervisor and the subordinates. The

employees tend to engage to the organization if they commit to their line manager.

Researches from academicians and practitioners also provide positive correlation

between the line manager and the followers.

The construct of affective commitment is measured by Allen and Mayer’s

organizational commitment scale and the construct of supervisory commitment is

measured by Becker’s job satisfaction (as cited in Jonnie, 2009).


LEADERSHIP BEHAVIORS AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

According to Hai Nam and Sherif (2011), transformational leadership lies in the

leaders’ ability to inspire trust, loyalty and admiration in followers. It builds

relationships, gives larger meaning to activities and enlists followers by focusing on

intangible qualities such as vision, shared values, and ideas.

Transformational leadership is strongly positively correlated with follower job

satisfaction, follower motivation and organizational commitment (Jessica and

Helena, 2011). In addition, transformational leadership behaviors are associated

more with positive attitudes from employees; result in higher levels of individual,

group, and organizational performance (Bass, 2003, as cited in Nichola, Matthew,

Lew, Calum, and James, 2009); look for potential motives in followers, seek to

satisfy higher needs, and engage the full person of the follower (Burns, 1978, as

cited in Priyanka and Venkat, 2000); predict higher follower OCB, employee

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performance, satisfaction and perceived leader effectiveness (Bass & Avolio, 1990,

as cited in Caroline, 2007); and enhance job satisfaction, reduction of work

pressures and increase on employees’ morale (Dahlen, 2002, as cited in Sulieman,

Hussein, and Ayat, 2011).

Report from Lowe et al (as cited in Caroline, 2007) shows meta-analytical evidence

to support the findings that transformational leadership is effective, productive,

innovative, and satisfying to followers. Transformational leadership uses soft

influence tactics, such as inspirational appeals and ingratiation to motivate

followers (Charbonneau, 2004, as cited in Caroline, 2007).

Individuals exhibiting transformational leadership are considered to be more

effective leaders. It is also true for higher and lower level leaders in public and

private settings (Lowe et al, 1996, as cited in Sulieman et al, 2011). The ability of

the transformational leaders has an important influence on individual outcome and

perceptions of justice (Greenberg, 2003, as cited in Azman, Mohd, Hassan,

Nurhana, and Karen, 2010); serves the function to engage followers into their work

and generates task performance (Tsang-lang, Li-chu, Chih-wei, and Yi-li, 2011).

From the above-mentioned evidences, the transformational leadership behaviors

provide clear links with engagement constructs. Transformational leaders move

followers beyond their self-interest for the great good of the organization by

creating a blame-free environment and building trust in leader to enable employee

engagement (Kahn, as cited in Jessica and Helena, 2011); to engage the followers’

higher needs (Hunt, 1996, as cited in Robert and Beverly, 2000); to positively

correlate with how effective subordinates perceive leaders, how much effort they

will expend, how satisfied they are and how well subordinates perform as rated by

the leader (Hater and Bass, 1988, as cited in Cheryl, Delene, and Gert, 2003).

24

2.10 RESEARCH MODEL AND HYPOTHESES

Based on the literature review and prior research, I propose:

Research Model:

Independent variables Dependent variables

Transformational leadership behaviors Affective employee engagement

Figure 1: Proposed Research Model

H5b+

H4b+

H3b+

H2a+

H2b+

H1b+

H4a+

H5a+

H3a+

H1a+

Idealized influence

attributes (IIA)

Idealized influence

behaviors (IIB)

Inspirational

motivation

(IM)

Intellectual

stimulation

(IS)

Individual

consideration

(IC)

Affective

commitment

(AC)

Supervisory

commitment

(SC)

25

Hypotheses:

H1: Idealized influence (attributes) is related positively to both affective

commitment and supervisory commitment.

H2: Idealized influence (behaviors) is related positively to both affective

commitment and supervisory commitment.

H3: Inspirational motivation is related positively to both affective commitment and

supervisory commitment.

H4: Intellectual stimulation is related positively to both affective commitment and


H5: Individual consideration is related positively to both affective commitment and


26

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter shows the methods studying the relationships between independent

variables and dependent variables. It also outlines the research design, unit of

analysis, the population, the sample, the sampling technique, the measurement, the

collection and administration of data, the technique of analyzing data. The study

was intended to be carried out in Ho Chi Minh City and was designed for the

quantitative study to collect the relevant information regard to transformational

leadership behaviors and employee engagement. It is also considered as survey

research.

3.1 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

The qualitative research was conducted in October 2012 to assess the scales in the

questionnaire; to test the model; to modify the scales; and also to refine scale items

if possible before moving to the quantitative research.

3.1.1 Sampling

Six participants were attended in the investigation and the prerequisite for the

participants as respondents was that he or she must have worked for at least one

year under the current manager and the employees also had at least 3 years of

working experience so that they could have enough capability to understand and

answer the survey.

3.1.2 Data collection and In-depth interview

Firstly, the interviews were conducted by asking the employees how they

understood the measurement scales. Secondly, they received the questionnaire and

27

went into details of each item. And finally, the researcher recorded the results for

further in-depth interviews.

Based on the results, the measurement scales were modified into the questionnaire.

After that, the second interviews were conducted by also asking the same questions

in the first interview. The result this time showed clear evidence that the

participants had understood the meaning and the Vietnamese translation of the

measurement scales. Then the quantitative research was implemented for further

explorations.

3.2 QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

The purpose of the study is to explore the relationship between transformational

leadership behaviors and affective employee engagement by surveying the

employees. The target population of the study included the employees in Ho Chi

Minh City currently working in the industry of retailing and financial services.

In summary, the combination of purposive and simple convenient sampling

techniques was applied to select samples. It was to ensure the target groups within

the population are adequately represented in the sample and to improve efficiency

by gaining greater control on the composition of the sample.

3.2.1Response rate and sample size

The sample consisted of participants of the study surveyed in Ho Chi Minh City. I

combined both paper survey distributing the questionnaires to the employees in

Crescent Mall, in the University of HCMC Economics and online survey through

Google Docs.

28

The study includes 26 variables in which 15 variables are independent and 11

variables are dependent. As a general term, the sample size should be greater than

100 and the minimum sample should obtain the ratio of 5 observations per variable.

As such, the minimum sample size is equal to 130 at least (Hair, Black, Babin, and

Anderson, 2010).

However, in order to increase the accuracy of the data for further analysis a sample

of 320 respondents was selected from the employees in Ho Chi Minh City currently

working in the industry of retailing and financial services.

For paper survey, I distributed 130 questionnaires to the employees in Crescent

Mall and 115 questionnaires to the employees currently joining MBA, Finance

major at night time in the University of HCMC Economics whereas 104 employees

questionnaires in Crescent Mall and 109 employees questionnaires in the University

of HCMC Economics were successfully completed and returned with a non-

response rate of 20% and 5,2% respectively. The total sample size of 213

respondents including the employees in Crescent Mall and in the University of

HCMC Economics were used in this study amounting to a total non-response rate of

13,1% from the beginning sample.

Table 1: Location for paper survey, sample size and response rates

No Location for paper survey Sample

size

Responses Non-response

rate

1 Crescent Mall (Retailing industry) 130 104 20%

2 University of HCMC Economics

(Financial industry)

115 109 5,2%

Total 245 213 13,1%

29

The questionnaires were distributed to the employees by handout and online survey

in October 2012 in which handout contributed to 213 samples and online survey

contributed to 107 samples.

3.2.2 Data sources and type

In order to come up with the relevant data for the study, both primary and secondary

date sources were applied. Primary data is the information that the researcher finds

out by himself/herself regard to the specific topic and the advantage of this type of

data collection is to help collect the information fit for the researcher’s purpose. The

information resulting from this type is more consistent with the research questions,

purpose and directly linked to the study.

As the study is empirical in nature, primary data was collected from the employees

in Crescent Mall and in the University of HCMC Economics to answer the

questions. So, the questionnaires were designed on Likert scale of measurement

basis to collect primary data and the variables were ranked to measure the degree of

their strength, agreement or disagreement of the respondents.

Secondary data is to serve the researcher to better understand and explain the

research problem. So it is necessary to review the existing data for what to be

accomplished in the study. This saves time and effort for the researcher because

he/she can discard the data that is not fit for the study and also results in the

information that can only serve for the specific study. The secondary data of this

study is also referred to many sources to get better insight on the research topic and

to establish the theoretical framework for the research; to design the sample frame

and questionnaire for primary data. It was also considered to validate and compare

the data with the questionnaire and existing literature, articles as well.

30

3.2.3 Data gathering instruments

The quantitative methodology involving the questionnaire with 5-point Likert scale

was used as the measurement instrument. The instruments included multifactor

leadership questionnaire (MLQ) and employee engagement questionnaire was

employed in the research to get the quantitative information on transformational

leadership behaviors and affective employee engagement respectively.

3.2.3.1 Multifactor leadership questionnaire

Before selecting the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire for the research, other

instruments such as 360 degree leadership feedback, managerial grid, situational

leadership questionnaire were also considered as optional measurements of

leadership behaviors. Since the subscales and items of these instruments do not

focus on the differentiation of the transformational leadership behaviors but to place

emphasis on identifying the behaviors appropriate for situational or task basis, then

none of them was suitable for the research.

The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire has been introduced and improved since

1985 and it was also developed through many versions of the questionnaire. Bass &

Avolio (1995) introduced the MLQ form 5X with nine subscales of leadership

behaviors.

Participants were asked to judge the extent to which they recognized the

transformational leadership behaviors of their manager measured by the MLQ. The

MLQ form 5X is self-scoring and used 15 items to measure 5 subscales (3 items for

each) in the study. The items using a 5-point Likert scale labeled as 1= strongly

disagree, 2= disagree, 3= neutral, 4= agree, 5= strongly agree. High score shows

high effectiveness of transformational leadership behaviors of the manager.

31

Examples of items from the MLQ form 5X questionnaire:

Idealized influence attributes (IIA): instills pride in me for being associated with

him/her

Idealized influence behaviors (IIB): talks about the most important values and

beliefs

Inspirational motivation (IM): talks optimistically about the future

Intellectual stimulation (IS): re-examines critical assumption to question whether

they are appropriate

Individual consideration (IC): spend time teaching and coaching

3.2.3.2Affective employee engagement questionnaire

For this specific study the affective commitment and supervisory commitment were

selected as the measure of affective employee engagement. Affective commitment

scale was employed from Meyer & Allen (1990, as cited in Jonnie, 2009) and

Supervisory commitment scale was from Becker, Eveleth & Gilbert (1996, as cited

in Jonnie, 2009).

The affective employee engagement consists of two dimensions as affective

commitment and supervisory commitment. The selected questionnaire is also a self-

scoring and the responses to each of 11 items (5 items for affective commitment and

6 items for supervisory commitment) are rated by a 5-point Likert scale labeled as

1= strongly disagree, 2= disagree, 3= neutral, 4= agree, 5= strongly agree. High

score shows high employees’ engagement perception to the organization and low

score implies low perception in the scale.

Examples of items from the affective employee engagement questionnaire:

32

Affective commitment: I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career in this

organization

Supervisory commitment: When I talk about my supervisor, I usually say “we”

rather than “they”

3.2.4 Independent and dependent variables of the study

The variables in Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ form 5X) were

considered as independent variables with the subscales inside. In addition, two

separate measures of affective employee engagement were employed as dependent

variables including affective commitment and supervisory commitment as follows

in the table 2.

Table 2: Independent and Dependent variables

Independent variable measures

Instrument Variables Scales/Subscales

Multifactor Leadership

Questionnaire

(MLQ Form 5X)

(Bass & Avolio, 1997)

Transformational

leadership behaviors

- Idealized influence attributes

- Idealized influence behaviors

- Inspirational motivation

- Intellectual stimulation

- Individual consideration

Dependent variable measures

Instrument Variables Scales/Subscales

Employee Engagement

Questionnaire

(Meyer & Allen, 1990;

Becker, Eveleth & Gilbert,

1996)

Affective Employee

Engagement

- Affective commitment

- Supervisory commitment

33

3.2.5 Data analysis and presentation procedures

After the data was collected, the statistical techniques were employed to analyze the

information as the quantitative research. So, the survey data was processed by

Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS); the relevant data was coded and

then transferred to SPSS for analysis and presentation.

The analysis of data begins with reliability test for the scales through Cronbach

Alpha. And in Cronbach Alpha’s reliability analysis, the closer it is to 1.0 the higher

the internal consistency reliability. In addition, two-tailed Pearson correlation

coefficient analysis was carried out to investigate the relationship between

transformational leadership behaviors and affective employee engagement

dimensions.

Then multiple regression analysis was also conducted to examine which among the

five independent variables is the most important in explaining affective employee

engagement. In this part, the correlation coefficient R will indicate the strength of

relationship between the variables and also provide how much of the variance in the

dependent variables explain. R Square is also provided to show the amount of

variance in explaining the dependent variables, F statistic and the significance level

help interpret the results.

In the research presentation, frequency table was to summarize the respondents

profile of frequency and percentages whereas the descriptive statistics such as mean

and standard deviations of employees’ answers to transformational leadership

behaviors and employees commitment to the organization. The details of the

presentation on variables with the interpretations will be discussed in the next

chapter.

34

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND FINDINGS

The chapter presents, discusses the results of the study and also provides the

association amongst transformational leadership behaviors and affective employee

engagement.

The main purpose of the study is to examine the relationship amongst the

independent variables namely IIA, IIB, IC, IS, IM with the dependent variables

namely affective commitment and supervisory commitment. It targets to achieve the

research objectives, to answer the research questions in the chapter one and to

verify the hypotheses in the chapter two.

The statistical method of Pearson correlation is to determine the existence of the

relationships between the independent and dependent variables. Regression analysis

is to examine which among the five levels of independent variables which one is the

most important in explaining employee affective engagement. Findings on the

demographics of the participants and the statistical analyzes are also presented to

interpret and understand the results.

4.1 DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PARTICIPANTS

There was a total sample of 320 full-time employees participating in this study from

the industry of retailing and financial services in Ho Chi Minh City. In the summary

of employees’ profile, male and female were equal in the percent by sharing 50%

for each. The majority’s age group was between 26 to 35 years (49.4%), followed

by those under 26 years old (46.9%).

Most of the employees have worked for their current organization under 3 years

(60.3%), followed by 3 to 5 years (25.3%); worked under the current manager 2 to 3

years (45.3%), followed by under 2 years (37.5%) as the minimum requirement was

35

that the employees had at least 3 years of working experience and at least 1 year of

working under the current manager.

The majority of employees have worked in private organizations (55.3%) and

followed by foreign-owned companies (44.7%); in financial services industry

(53.4%) and in retail industry (46.6%) respectively. From the total participants,

most of the employees were single (76.3%), followed by 23.8% married; 80.6% of

the employees had bachelor degree, followed by 16.3% for master degree.

Table 3: Summary of Employees’ profile

Demographic Categories Frequency Percent

Gender Male

Female

160

160

50

50

Worked for current company Under 3 years

3 to 5 years

Above 5 years

193

81

46

60.3

25.3

14.4

Worked under current Manager Under 2 years

2 to 3 years

Above 3 years

120

145

55

37.5

45.3

17.2

Company type Private

Foreign-owned

177

143

55.3

44.7

Industry/ Department Retail

Financial services

149

171

46.6

53.4

Age group Under 26

26 to 35

36 or older

150

158

12

46.9

49.4

3.8

Education

(Academic qualification)

High school

Bachelor

Master

10

258

52

3.1

80.6

16.3

Marital status Single

Married

244

76

76.3

23.8

36

4.2 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS FOR TRANSFORMATIONAL


ENGAGEMENT

The descriptive statistics was used to examine the mean, standard deviation and

other information that are not clear in the data. It was also employed to determine

the employees’ perception to the transformational leadership behaviors and

employee engagement. Table 4as below contained descriptive data for five

transformational leadership subscales and two employee engagement scales. The

distribution of scores for the sample showed reasonable variance and normality in

subsequent analyses.

Table 4: Mean and Standard Deviations of Transformational Leadership

Behaviors and Affective Employee Engagement for employees’ responses

Variables N Mean Std. Deviation

Idealized influence attributes (IIA) 320 3.64 .80

Idealized influence behaviors (IIB) 320 3.43 .77

Intellectual stimulation (IS) 320 3.58 .89

Inspirational motivation (IM) 320 3.62 .72

Individual consideration (IC)


320

3.17

3.49

1.00

Affective commitment (AC) 320 3.10 .99

Supervisory commitment (SC)

Affective engagement

320

2.88

2.99

.97

Valid N (listwise) 320

Note:

N= 320

37

Each subscale of transformational leadership behaviors has 3 items

Subscale of affective commitment and supervisory commitment has 5 items and 6

items respectively

4.2.1 Employees perception to Transformational leadership behaviors

The sample size of 320 for all variables showed that the purpose of the research was

to determine employees’ perception to the current organization’s transformational

leadership behaviors and their engagement to the organization. The mean values for

each of transformational leadership behaviors’ subscales ranged from 3.17 to 3.64;

individual consideration had the highest standard deviation 1.00, followed by

inspirational motivation scored at 0.89.

The overall scores of data for transformational subscales were fit for the ideal levels

for effective leadership which suggests the mean of 3.0 or higher for idealized

influence attributes, idealized influence behaviors, inspirational motivation,

intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration.

4.2.2 Employees perception to their organizational engagement

In addition to the scores of transformational leadership behaviors, the mean and

standard deviations of the employee engagement to their organization also were

presented in the table 4 as indicated by the respondents. The mean and standard

deviation scores for each of the affective employee engagement scales ranked by

respondents as affective commitment (AC) has 3.10 and 0.99, supervisory

commitment has 2.88 and 0.97 respectively.

From the table, the respondents perceived their affective engagement with higher

mean of 3.10 whereas their supervisory engagement was at 2.88. The standard

38

deviation score of affective engagement was also higher than supervisory

engagement.

According to some previous researchers, they did not provide the benchmarks for

average, required or ideal mean scores for affective engagement or supervisory

engagement but focused on identifying the relationship amongst the different types

of organizational commitment, the outcomes, the findings, and the level of

influence. However, they also proposed the required ranking from affective

commitment as the leading factor, then other kinds of commitment.

The results of the study reflected the mean scores were consistent with the above-

mentioned by showing that the affective commitment had the highest score,

followed by the supervisory commitment. This also indicated the employees had a

strong affective commitment towards their organizations where they considered

themselves as belonging to the organizations. In addition, they also committed to

engage with their manager and organization through the high mean score of

supervisory commitment only after affective commitment.



ENGAGEMENT

In the section, the relationship between transformational leadership behaviors and

affective employee engagement was explored by two-tailed Pearson correlation

analysis.

It also provided correlation coefficients which indicated the strength and direction

of relationship; the p value also indicated the probability of the significance of the

relationship. The findings are presented below.

39

Table 5: Pearson correlation matrix between transformational leadership

behaviors and affective employee engagement dimensions

AC SC IIA IIB IS IM IC

AC

Pearson Correlation 1 .729**

.134* .203

** .247

** .111

* .547

**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .016 .000 .000 .048 .000

N 320 320 320 320 320 320 320

SC

Pearson Correlation .729**

1 .114* .180

** .237

** .103 .614

**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .042 .001 .000 .065 .000

N 320 320 320 320 320 320 320

IIA

Pearson Correlation .134* .114

* 1 .249

** .168

** .348

** .189

**

Sig. (2-tailed) .016 .042 .000 .003 .000 .001

N 320 320 320 320 320 320 320

IIB


.180**

.249**

1 .125* .227

** .134

*

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .001 .000 .026 .000 .017

N 320 320 320 320 320 320 320

IS


.237**

.168**

.125* 1 .217

** .216

**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .003 .026 .000 .000

N 320 320 320 320 320 320 320

IM

Pearson Correlation .111* .103 .348

** .227

** .217

** 1 .193

**

Sig. (2-tailed) .048 .065 .000 .000 .000 .001

N 320 320 320 320 320 320 320

IC


.614**

.189**

.134* .216

** .193

** 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .001 .017 .000 .001

N 320 320 320 320 320 320 320

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

40

From the results, individual consideration (IC) had significant positive correlation

with supervisory commitment (0.614**), affective commitment (0.547**); followed

by intellectual stimulation with 0.237** and 0.247**; idealized influence behaviors

with 0.180** and 0.203** respectively for supervisory commitment and affective

commitment.

The findings suggested that there was a positive relationship between individual

consideration (IC) and both supervisory commitment and affective commitment.

This resulted in managers to focus more on spending time teaching and coaching,

treating employee as an individual rather than just as a member of a group, helping

employee to develop their strengths.

4.4 SCALE ASSESSMENT

4.4.1 Cronbach Alpha

41

Table 6: Cronbach Alpha

Scale Mean if Item

Deleted

Scale Variance if

Item Deleted

Corrected Item-Total

Correlation

Cronbach's Alpha if

Item Deleted

Idealized influence attributes: Alpha = 0.887

IIA1 7.27 2.584 .844 .781

IIA2 7.29 2.807 .766 .850

IIA3 7.27 2.794 .730 .882

Idealized influence behaviors: Alpha = 0.801

IIB4 6.81 2.617 .655 .720

IIB5 7.00 2.520 .621 .758

IIB6 6.75 2.614 .666 .709

Inspirational motivation: Alpha = 0.759

IM7 7.18 2.492 .555 .715

IM8 7.24 2.367 .603 .663

IM9 7.28 2.148 .614 .650

Intellectual stimulation : Alpha = 0.784

IS10 7.18 3.355 .672 .654

IS11 7.29 3.374 .636 .694

IS12 7.03 3.736 .565 .769

Individual consideration: Alpha = 0.831

IC13 6.36 4.301 .678 .778

IC14 6.30 4.342 .706 .750

IC15 6.37 4.422 .686 .770

Affective commitment: Alpha = 0.940

AC36 12.63 15.658 .802 .933

AC37 12.17 16.496 .808 .931

AC38 12.28 15.715 .845 .924

AC39 12.39 15.580 .896 .915

AC40 12.47 16.018 .839 .925

Supervisory commitment: Alpha = 0.876

SC41 15.16 20.111 .646 .861

SC42 15.37 19.618 .723 .848

SC43 15.14 18.826 .776 .838

SC44 15.23 18.501 .816 .830

SC45 15.09 19.466 .748 .843

SC46 14.39 23.624 .376 .899

42

All the scale items satisfied the requirement with the Alpha was higher than 0.7 and

Corrected Item-Total Correlation higher than 0.5, except for the item SC46 would

be eliminated (0.376 < 0.5). And this resulted in increasing the Cronbach Alpha of

Supervisory commitment from 0.876 to 0.899.

4.4.2 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)

The EFA extracted principle axis factoring with the rotation of promax and all the

components satisfied KMO higher than 0.5, significance smaller than 0.05,

eigenvalues higher than 1, eigenvalues cumulative % higher than 60% and factor

loading greater than 0.5.

43

4.4.2.1 Independent variables

Table 7: Result of EFA for Independent variables

Component

1 2 3 4 5

IIA1 .895

IIA2 .881

IIA3 .856

IIB4 .830

IIB5 .808

IIB6 .861

IM7 .794

IM8 .763

IM9 .830

IS10 .870

IS11 .834

IS12 .767

IC13 .841

IC14 .866

IC15 .851

The five components satisfied KMO equivalent to 0.753, significance equivalent to

0, eigenvalues higher than 1, eigenvalues cumulative % equivalent to 73,72%

(Donald and Pamela, 2006 and Nancy, Karen, and George, 2005). The analysis

showed that five components explain 73,72% the variance of the data.

44

4.4.2.2 Dependent variables

Table 8: Result of EFA for Dependent variables

Component

1 2

AC36 .743

AC37 .864

AC38 .853

AC39 .863

AC40 .807

SC41 .637

SC42 .842

SC43 .836

SC44 .828

SC45 .677

The two components satisfied KMO equivalent to 0.932, significance equivalent to

0, eigenvalues higher than 1, eigenvalues cumulative % equivalent to 76,73%. The

analysis showed that two components explain 76,73% the variance of the data.

4.5 CORRELATION AND REGRESSION ANALYSIS

4.5.1 Correlation analysis

The correlation analysis was implemented amongst the variables of affective

commitment (AC), supervisory commitment (SC) and idealized influence attributes

45

(IIA), idealized influence behaviors (IIB), inspirational motivation (IM), intellectual

stimulation (IS) and individual consideration (IC).

Table 9: Correlation analysis

Variables IIA IIB IS IM IC

Pearson Correlation

AC Sig. (2-tailed)

N

.134*

.016

320

.203**

.000

320

.247**

.000

320

.111*

.048

320

.547**

.000

320

Pearson Correlation

SC Sig. (2-tailed)

N

.114*

.042

320

.180**

.001

320

.237**

.000

320

.103

.065

320

.614**

.000

320

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

4.5.2 Regression analysis

4.5.2.1 Assessment of the model

The R square was used to assess the research model; however the adjusted R square

would be selected in examining the conformity of the model.

Function:

AC= F (IIA, IIB, IM, IS, IC)

SC= F (IIA, IIB, IM, IS, IC)

46

Table 10: Summary (AC)

Model R R Square Adjusted R

Square

Std. Error of the Estimate

1 .577 .333 .322 .81454

Table 11: Summary (SC)

Model R R Square Adjusted R

Square

Std. Error of the Estimate

2 .632 .400 .390 .75912

R Square was equal to 0.333 and 0.4 respectively, so they were suitable for further

analysis.

Table 12: Anova (AC)

Model Sum of

Squares

df Mean Square F Sig.

1

Regression 103.824 5 20.765 31.297 .000b

Residual 208.333 314 .663

Total 312.157 319

a. Dependent Variable: AC

b. Predictors: (Constant), IC, IIB, IS, IIA, IM

47

Table 13: Anova (SC)

Model Sum of

Squares


2

Regression 120.498 5 24.100 41.820 .000b

Residual 180.949 314 .576

Total 301.447 319

a. Dependent Variable: SC


From the table 12 and 13, F was equal to 31.297 and 41.820 respectively; the Sig.

was 0.000 and 0.000 respectively. So the model 1 and 2 were fit for the data and

could be used for the analysis.

Table 14: Profile of Independent variables

Model Unstandardized

Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients

t Sig.

Collinearity

Statistics

B Std. Error Beta Tolerance VIF

1 (Constant) .636 .328 1.942 .053

IIA -.001 .062 -.001 -.012 .991 .833 1.201

IIB .166 .062 .129 2.661 .008 .908 1.101

IS .145 .054 .130 2.699 .007 .913 1.095

IM -.062 .069 -.045 -.897 .370 .828 1.208

IC .504 .048 .511 10.596 .000 .915 1.093

From the table 14, it showed that:

- The variables of IC, IS and IIB had a positive impact on the affective

commitment.

48

- The variables of IIA and IM had a negative impact on the affective

commitment.

- The Sig. of IIA and IM was 0.991 and 0.370 respectively, above the standard

of 0.05 to show no statistical reflect on the affective commitment. VIF of all

variables was less than 2 to show no collinearity happened.

- The histogram and normal probability plot also satisfied the regression (see

Appendix H, I, J).

Table 15: Profile of Independent variables

Model Unstandardized

Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients

t Sig.

Collinearity

Statistics

B Std. Error Beta Tolerance VIF

2 (Constant) .524 .305 1.715 .087

IIA -.030 .058 -.025 -.525 .600 .833 1.201

IIB .133 .058 .105 2.281 .023 .908 1.101

IS .122 .050 .112 2.439 .015 .913 1.095

IM -.068 .065 -.050 -1.045 .297 .828 1.208

IC .573 .044 .590 12.915 .000 .915 1.093

From the table 15, it showed that:

- The variables of IC, IS and IIB had a positive impact on the supervisory

commitment.

- The variables of IIA and IM had a negative impact on the supervisory

commitment.

- The Sig. of IIA and IM was 0.600 and 0.297 respectively, above the standard

of 0.05 to show no statistical reflect on the supervisory commitment. VIF of

all variables was less than 2 to show no collinearity happened.

49

- The histogram and normal probability plot also satisfied the regression (see

Appendix L, M, N).

4.5.2.2 Testing of the hypotheses

- Hypothesis H1 was suggested to have a positive relationship between

idealized influence attributes and both affective commitment and supervisory

commitment.

However, Beta = -0.001 and P = 0.991 > 0.05 in model 1.

Beta = -0.030 and P = 0.600 > 0.05 in model 2.

So the hypothesis is unsupported.


idealized influence behaviors and both affective commitment and


Beta = 0.166 and P = 0.008 < 0.05 in model 1.


So the hypothesis is supported.


inspirational motivation and both affective commitment and supervisory

commitment.

However, Beta = -0.062 and P = 0.370 > 0.05 in model 1.

Beta = -0.068 and P = 0.297 > 0.05 in model 2.

So the hypothesis is unsupported.


intellectual stimulation and both affective commitment and supervisory

commitment.

50





individual consideration and both affective commitment and supervisory

commitment.




Table 16: Summary of results of hypotheses

Hypothesis Content P-value Result

H1 a positive relationship between

idealized influence attributes and

both affective commitment and

supervisory commitment

0.991 > 0.05

0.600 > 0.05

Unsupported


idealized influence behaviors and

both affective commitment and


0.008 < 0.05

0.023 < 0.05

Supported


inspirational motivation and both

affective commitment and


0.370 > 0.05

0.297 > 0.05

Unsupported


intellectual stimulation and both



0.007 < 0.05

0.015 < 0.05

Supported


individual consideration and both



0.000 < 0.05

0.000 < 0.05

Supported

51

4.6 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.6.1 Regression analysis

Model 1

(YAC = 0.636 - 0.01 XIIA + 0.166 XIIB + 0.145 XIS - 0.62 XIM + 0.504 XIC)

Affective commitment = 0.636 – 0.01 idealized influence attributes + 0.166

idealized influence behaviors + 0.145 intellectual stimulation – 0.62 inspirational

motivation + 0.504 individual consideration

Model 2

(YSC = 0.524 - 0.3 XIIA + 0.133 XIIB + 0.122 XIS - 0.68 XIM + 0.573 XIC)

Supervisory commitment = 0.524 – 0.3 idealized influence attributes + 0.133

idealized influence behaviors + 0.122 intellectual stimulation – 0.68 inspirational

motivation + 0.573 individual consideration

The purpose of the study is to examine the transformational leadership behaviors to

affect affective employee engagement. From the results of regression, there were

some conclusions as follows.

4.6.1.1 Intellectual stimulation

It was the smallest regression coefficient in both first function and second function,

0.145 and 0.122 respectively. As such, intellectual stimulation would dramatically

impact on affective employee commitment and supervisory commitment. Managers

obtaining high intellectual stimulation might positively influence on affective

employee engagement.

52

4.6.1.2 Idealized influence behaviors

It was the second largest regression coefficient in both first and second function,

0.166 and 0.133 respectively. As such, idealized influence behaviors would

dramatically impact on affective employee commitment and supervisory

commitment. Managers obtaining high idealized influence behavior might

positively influence on affective employee engagement.

4.6.1.3 Idealized influence attributes and inspirational motivation

They had no statistical meaning in the regression model. As such, idealized

influence attributes and inspirational motivation showed no impact on affective


4.6.1.4 Individual consideration

It was the largest regression coefficient in both first and second function, 0.504 and

0.573 respectively. As such, individual consideration played a very important role

in impacting on affective employee commitment and supervisory commitment.

Managers obtaining high individual consideration behavior positively influenced on

affective employee engagement.

53

4.6.2 Industry analysis

Table 17: Industry analysis

Industry AC SC

Retail Mean 3.2134 3.0295

N 149 149

Std. Deviation .98328 .98375

Financial services Mean 2.9953 2.7462

N 171 171


Total Mean 3.0969 2.8781

N 320 320


Depending on the mean value of affective commitment and supervisory

commitment, it could be concluded that the employees in the industry of retail were

more engaged to their organization than the employees in the financial services.

4.6.3 Discussion of the results

Transformational leadership behaviors including intellectual stimulation, idealized

influence behaviors and individual consideration were fit for this study after each by

each influencing on the affective employee engagement. The variables of idealized

influence attributes and inspirational motivation were not correlated with affective

54

engagement. This can be explained as the employees have not recognized these

behaviors showing in their managers.

4.6.4 Summary

This chapter presents the results of the sample with statistical descriptions,

inspection of scale items and hypotheses. From the Cronbach Alpha and EFA, it

indicated all the variables were satisfactory, not any variables eliminated and the

scales items were suitable for the analysis. After the inspection, the hypotheses of

H2, H4, H5 are kept. Next chapter will summarize the overall study, contributions,

implication for managers, limitations and recommendations for future research as

well.

55

CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION, RECOMMENDATION AND

CONCLUSION

5.1 CONCLUSIONS

The main objective of the research was to examine the relationship between

transformational leadership behaviors and affective employee engagement in Ho

Chi Minh City. According to the analysis, results and discussion of the study,

conclusions are made on the nature and the relationship of transformational

leadership behaviors and affective employee engagement as well. This chapter will

present the summary of the research results; discuss the findings and contributions

to the practical management. The last part of the chapter will also provide some

limitations of the research and recommendations for further studies.

Most of the employees have worked for their current organization under 3 years

(60.3%) and 2 to 3 years working under their current manager (45.3%). The mean

scores for transformational subscales are fit for the ideal levels of effective

leadership for idealized influence attributes, idealized influence behaviors,

inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration.

Consistent to findings from other researchers, affective commitment also has the

high mean score, followed by supervisory commitment. It means the employees’

perceptions of organizational commitment are positive.

The important finding of the study is that transformational leadership behaviors

have a significant influence on affective commitment and supervisory commitment

in which individual consideration involves spending time teaching and coaching,

treating employee as an individual rather than just as a member of a group, helping

employee to develop their strengths. In general, the findings are in line with earlier

research and confirm the transformational leadership behaviors are effective in

56

influencing on both employees’ affective commitment and supervisory

commitment.

5.2 THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE STUDY

The study has positively contributed to the literature review and practices as well in

understanding employee engagement in Ho Chi Minh City.

5.2.1 Contributions to the literature

Studying on employee engagement is necessary for the organization in planning for

their workforce accordingly. This research has contributed to the literature by

building the model explaining the factors affecting the affective employee

engagement in Ho Chi Minh City. It also expanded the current knowledge regarding

transformation leadership behaviors and their effects on the process of engagement.

The model was built on the literature of Bass & Avolio (1997) and provided a full

picture of the model and research problems. In addition, the scale items were

surveyed in developed countries, and the research had to modify to be fit for Viet

Nam situation through the empirical data. So, the study will contribute to the

literature and help the researchers to understand more on these variables in Vietnam

setting.

5.2.2 Contributions to the practices

Through identifying factors influencing affective employee engagement, the study

has provided to the managers a clear viewpoint of the employees’ perception on

their engagement to the organization and the transformational leadership behaviors

of the managers. So the managers can refer to findings of the study to increase their

57

employees’ engagement to the organization, satisfy their expectation and create

opportunities for the development of the employees’ career within the organization.

At a practical level, the research has highlighted the importance of immediate leader

behaviors in the employee engagement process. Understanding of these antecedents

can be fed into management training and organizational initiatives.

5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS

In order to keep the organization for sustainable growth, the managers have to think

how to keep the talents engage to their organizations. Based on the findings of the

study, I suggest some critical points to the organizations and managers in Ho Chi

Minh City and also provide some recommendations for future research.

5.3.1 Recommendations for the organizations and managers in Ho Chi Minh City

Leadership behaviors might be different in the type of the organization, the culture,

the industry. However, the findings of the study suggest that transformational

leadership behaviors play an important role in affecting the attitude of the

employees towards engagement to the organization.

It is suggested that the managers in Ho Chi Minh City should pay attention to

developing their employees through the transformational leadership behaviors

especially individual consideration, idealized influence behaviors and intellectual

stimulation. It is because the managers can build the employee engagement by

ensuring the organization always tries to increase the attachment of the employees

to their organization.

The managers who act in ways that treat employees as an individual; coach and

teach the employees; develop their strengths can expect to have followers who show

58

higher levels of affective engagement. It is also imperative to establish a fair system

of benefits, promotion, development from the within to enhance the employees’

engagement to their organization and productivity of the organization.

The findings also contributed positively to the practical management as some

conclusions as follows:

Firstly, the findings have showed that individual consideration is the most important

factor in deciding the affective employee engagement with the largest regression

coefficient. This can be considered fit for the reality as the employees expect for

being treated as an individual, coaching and teaching from their managers,

developing their strengths.

Secondly, idealized influence (behaviors) is also an important factor affecting on

employee engagement. The employees have a high perception of affective

engagement in the organization if the managers often talk about their most

important values and beliefs, consider the moral and ethical consequences of

decisions, and emphasize the importance of having a collective sense of mission.

Thirdly, intellectual stimulation also plays a key role in affecting employee

engagement. The employees have a high perception of affective engagement in the

organization that the managers can re-examine critical assumption to question

whether they are appropriate, seek differing perspectives when solving problems,

suggest new ways of looking at how to complete assignments.

Lastly, idealized influence attributes (instill pride in the employees for being

associated with the manager, go beyond self-interest for the good of the group, act

in ways that builds the employees’ respect) and inspirational motivation (talk

optimistically about the future, talk enthusiastically about what need to be

accomplished, express confidence that goals will be achieved) do not affect

59

affective employee engagement. The reason might be because the employees have

not perceived these behaviors in their managers and their managers also have never

represented these behaviors.

In summary, the findings have showed that each factor influenced on each other

depending on specific situations, objectives and unit of analysis. So, the managers

can base on the results to restructure and plan in keeping the employees with the

organization by applying these transformational leadership behaviors.

5.3.2 Recommendation for future research

The study confirms the link between transformational leadership behaviors and

affective employee engagement. More evidence is needed to show the links

between the relationship of transformational leadership behaviors and affective


Future research can benefit from this study to examine other leadership behaviors

such as transactional leadership and together with other variables such as cognitive

engagement, behavioral engagement, loyalty, self-efficacy, satisfaction, or

innovation to increase the accuracy of the factors affecting employee engagement.

The findings of the study of course cannot cover the all the industries and different

types of the organization. Generalization of the present findings should be examined

in further research in other types of the organization, different samples and different

industries to enhance the consistency of the results.

The study also needs to be replicated in other business contexts and to explore other

demographic variables (e.g. gender, age, tenure) to ascertain if the findings may

vary by the context. In addition, the recommendations for future research offer

60

additional opportunities to investigate the variances in which the leadership

behaviors help to explain in different types of employee engagement.

5.4 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Of course the research also has some limitations as follows:

Firstly, the research was only conducted in Ho Chi Minh City and cannot cover all

the demographics dimensions. The generalization of the study will be more valid if

it can be surveyed in a larger scope to other provinces.

Secondly, the fit for the research model is also not so high as some items did not

correlate to the dependent variables. Next researches should focus more on the

variables of idealized influence behaviors and inspirational motivation.

Thirdly, the research only focused on the industry of retail and financial service. So,

next researches should focus more industries to understand the factors.

Lastly, this is also the first time that the research performs the research and does not

have a deep expertise in conducting this kind of study. The researcher also found

that it is an interesting and challenging task as it requires high level of experience

and capability. In some perspectives, this can affect the outcomes of the research

indirectly.

61

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Appendix A: Total Variance Explained

Component

Initial Eigenvalues

Extraction Sums of Squared

Loadings

Rotation Sums of Squared

Loadings

Total

% of

Variance

Cumulative

% Total

% of

Variance

Cumulative

% Total

% of

Variance

Cumulative

%

1 4.082 27.216 27.216 4.082 27.216 27.216 2.471 16.476 16.476

2 2.086 13.903 41.120 2.086 13.903 41.120 2.250 15.002 31.479

3 1.750 11.666 52.786 1.750 11.666 52.786 2.181 14.542 46.020

4 1.713 11.419 64.206 1.713 11.419 64.206 2.117 14.112 60.132

5 1.427 9.511 73.716 1.427 9.511 73.716 2.038 13.584 73.716

6 .609 4.057 77.773

7 .559 3.729 81.502

8 .443 2.956 84.458

9 .419 2.793 87.251

10 .413 2.752 90.002

11 .388 2.584 92.586

12 .362 2.415 95.001

13 .305 2.035 97.036

14 .282 1.877 98.913

15 .163 1.087 100.000

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

67

Appendix B: Rotated Component Matrixa

Component

1 2 3 4 5

IIA1 instills pride in me for being associated with him/her .895

IIA2 goes beyond self-interest for the good of the group .881

IIA3 acts in ways that builds my respect .856

IIB4 talks about the most important values and beliefs .830

IIB5 considers the moral and ethical consequences of

decisions

.808

IIB6 emphasizes the importance of having a collective

sense of mission

.861

IM7 talks optimistically about the future .794

IM8 talks enthusiastically about what need to be

accomplished

.763

IM9 expresses confidence that goals will be achieved .830

IS10 re-examines critical assumption to question whether

they are appropriate

.870

IS11 seeks differing perspectives when solving problems .834

IS12 suggests new ways of looking at how to complete

assignments

.767

IC13 spends time teaching and coaching .841

IC14 treats me as an individual rather than just as a member

of a group

.866

IC15 helps me to develop my strengths .851


Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization.

a. Rotation converged in 5 iterations.

68

Appendix C: Total Variance Explained

Compone

nt Initial Eigenvalues

Extraction Sums of

Squared Loadings

Rotation Sums of

Squared Loadings

Tota

l

% of

Varian

ce

Cumulati

ve %

Tota

l

% of

Varian

ce

Cumulati

ve %

Tota

l

% of

Varian

ce

Cumulati

ve %

1 6.57

2

65.723 65.723 6.57

2

65.723 65.723 4.08

1

40.812 40.812

2 1.10

1

11.006 76.729 1.10

1

11.006 76.729 3.59

2

35.917 76.729

3 .505 5.047 81.776

4 .399 3.985 85.762

5 .348 3.483 89.245

6 .289 2.895 92.139

7 .253 2.526 94.665

8 .213 2.132 96.797

9 .184 1.844 98.641

10 .136 1.359 100.000


69

Appendix D: Rotated Component Matrixa

Component

1 2

AC36 .743

AC37 .864

AC38 .853

AC39 .863

AC40 .807

SC41 .637

SC42 .842

SC43 .836

SC44 .828

SC45 .677


Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization.

a. Rotation converged in 3 iterations.

Appendix E: KMO and Bartlett's Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .753

Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 1967.442

df 105

Sig. .000

Appendix F: KMO and Bartlett's Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .932

Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 2684.747

df 45

Sig. .000

70

Appendix G: ANOVAa

Model Sum of

Squares


1

Regression 103.824 5 20.765 31.297 .000b

Residual 208.333 314 .663

Total 312.157 319

a. Dependent Variable: AC


Appendix H: Histogram Dependent Variable AC

71

Appendix I: Normal P-P Plot of Regression Standardized Residual Dependent

Variable AC

72

Appendix J: Scatterplot Dependent Variable AC

Appendix K: ANOVAa

Model Sum of

Squares


1

Regression 120.498 5 24.100 41.820 .000b

Residual 180.949 314 .576

Total 301.447 319

a. Dependent Variable: SC


73

Appendix L: Histogram Dependent Variable SC

74

Appendix M: Normal P-P Plot of Regression Standardized Residual

Dependent Variable SC

75

Appendix N: Scatterplot Dependent Variable SC

76

Appendix O: Questionnaire (in English)

I am graduating MBus program at the University of Economics in Ho Chi Minh

City. This questionnaire is designed to survey your perception of the

transformational leadership behaviors or your immediate manager and your

affective engagement to your organization. Participation in this survey is voluntary

and no individual data will be reported. Please indicate the extent of your agreement

or disagreement with each statement by circling a number from 1 to 5. The

information is used for academic purpose only and strictly confidential. So I would

like to thank you in advance for your indispensable cooperation.

Strongly disagree

1

Disagree

2

Neutral

3

Agree

4

Strongly agree

5

No Measurement scales Rating scale

Idealized influence attributes

1

Instills pride in me for being associated with him/her

1 2 3 4 5

2

Goes beyond self-interest for the good of the group

1 2 3 4 5

3

Acts in ways that builds my respect

1 2 3 4 5

Idealized influence behaviors

1 2 3 4 5

4

Talks about their most important values and beliefs

1 2 3 4 5

5

Considers the moral and ethical consequences of decisions

1 2 3 4 5

77

6

Emphasizes the importance of having a collective sense of mission

1 2 3 4 5

Inspirational motivation

1 2 3 4 5

7

Talks optimistically about the future

1 2 3 4 5

8

Talks enthusiastically about what need to be accomplished

1 2 3 4 5

9

Expresses confidence that goals will be achieved

1 2 3 4 5

Intellectual stimulation

1 2 3 4 5

10

Re-examines critical assumption to question whether they are

appropriate

1 2 3 4 5

11

Seeks differing perspectives when solving problems

1 2 3 4 5

12

Suggests new ways of looking at how to complete assignments

1 2 3 4 5

Individual consideration

1 2 3 4 5

13

Spend time teaching and coaching

1 2 3 4 5

14

Treats me as an individual rather than just as a member of a group

1 2 3 4 5

15

Helps me to develop my strengths

1 2 3 4 5

Affective commitment

1 2 3 4 5

16

I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career in this organization

1 2 3 4 5

78

17

I really feel as if this organization’s problems are my own

1 2 3 4 5

18

I do not feel like “part of my family” at my organization

1 2 3 4 5

19

I do not feel “emotionally attached” to this organization

1 2 3 4 5

20

I do not feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization

1 2 3 4 5

Supervisory commitment

21

When someone criticizes my supervisor, it feels like a personal insult

1 2 3 4 5

22

When I talk about my supervisor, I usually say “we” rather than “they”

1 2 3 4 5

23

My supervisor’s successes are my successes

1 2 3 4 5

24

When someone praises my supervisor, it feels like a personal

compliment

1 2 3 4 5

25

I feel a sense of “ownership” for my supervisor

1 2 3 4 5

26

If the values of my supervisor were different, I would not be as

attached to my supervisor

1 2 3 4 5

Demographic questions

1) What is your gender?

Male

Female

79

2) How long have you worked for the current organization?

Under 3 years

3 to 5 years

Above 5 years

3) How long have you worked under your current manager?

Under 2 years

2 to 3 years

Above 3 years

4) What is the type of your organization?

Private

Foreign-owned

Other

5) What is the industry you are working in?

Retail

Financial services

Other

6) What is your age group?

Under 26

26 to 35

36 or older

7) What is your highest level of education?

High school

80

Bachelor

Master

8) What is your marital status?

Single

Married

81

Appendix P: Questionnaire (in Vietnamese)

Hành vi Lãnh đạo ảnh hưởng sự gắn kết của Nhân viên đối với Doanh nghiệp

K nh ch o c c Anh Ch , t i hi n l h c vi n c a tr ng i H c Kinh T , ang

th c hi n lu n v n nghi n c u khoa h c v “H nh vi l nh o c a c p tr n nh

h ng s g n k t c a nh n vi n i v i doanh nghi p”. V v y, k nh mong nh n

c s c m nh n v s nh gi c a Anh Ch v hành vi lãnh đạo củacấp

trên của mình và quan điểm của Anh/Chị về việc gắn bó với tổ chức

Anh/Chị đang làm việc.

C c c u tr l i c a Anh Ch kh ng c ng hay sai, ch ng u l nh ng ng

g p r t c gi tr v thi t th c i v i t i nghi n c u.

Vi c tr l i kh ch quan c a Anh Ch sẽ g p phần quy t nh s th nh c ng c a

nghi n c u, v v y r t mong Anh Ch d nh ch t th i gian qu b u v c n nh c

tr l i từng c u d a theo t nh hu ng v quan iểm ri ng c a c nh n Anh Ch .

T t c c c c u tr l i c a từng c nh n Anh Ch sẽ c gi k n, t i chỉ c ng b

k t qu tổng h p.C m ơn s h p t c c a Anh Ch .

Tr n tr ng

BCH s : …….Phỏng v n l c____gi , ng y ___ ___ 2012.

Phỏng v n vi n:__________________________________

ể tr l i cho m i ph t biểu, Anh Ch h y khoanh tr n con s thể hi n ng nh t

quan iểm c a m nh ngang d ng v i ph t biểu , theo qui c sau:

82

R t kh ng ồng ý

1

Kh ng ồng ý

2

Trung l p

3

ồng ý

4

R t

ồng

ý

5

Khuy n kh ch c c Anh Ch kh ng dùng m c ộ 3 (trung l p)

STT Các Chỉ Tiêu Đánh Giá Mức độ đồng ý

Đánh giá hành vi lãnh đạo của cấp trên của anh/chị

1 C p tr n l m cho t i t h o khi c cộng t c l m vi c

cùng anh y c y

1 2 3 4 5

2 C p tr n h ng t i g t bỏ l i ch c nh n ể h ng n

l i ch t p thể

1 2 3 4 5

3 C ch h nh xử c a c p tr n l m cho t i t n tr ng 1 2 3 4 5

4 C p tr n th ng c p v c c gi tr v ni m tin trong

c ng vi c

1 2 3 4 5

5 C p tr n th ng xem xét c c y u t o c li n quan

khi ra quy t nh

1 2 3 4 5

6 C p tr n th ng nh n m nh tầm quan tr ng c a tinh thần

t p thể

1 2 3 4 5

7 C p tr n c p nh ng i u l c quan v t ơng lai 1 2 3 4 5

8 C p tr n say m h ng h i trao ổi v c c c ng vi c cần

t c

1 2 3 4 5

9 C p tr n thể hi n t tin cao ộ v c c mục ti u s p c

ho n t t

1 2 3 4 5

10 C p tr n th ng xem xét c c t nh hu ng, k ch b n ể

nh gi c c quy t nh

1 2 3 4 5

11 C p tr n t m ki m c c quan iểm v c ch nh n nh n kh c

nhau khi gi i quy t v n

1 2 3 4 5

12 C p tr n g i ý, xu t nh ng c ch nh n nh n m i mẻ ể

ho n th nh c ng vi c

1 2 3 4 5

13 C p tr n d nh th i gian o t o v hu n luy n nh n vi n

d i quy n

1 2 3 4 5

14 C p tr n quan t m n từng c nh n 1 2 3 4 5

15 C p tr n gi p t i ph t triển c c iểm m nh c a m nh 1 2 3 4 5

Đánh giá sự gắn kết của anh/chị đối với tổ chức/ công ty

16 T i sẽ r t vui khi l m vi c tr n i cho tổ ch c c ng ty

này

1 2 3 4 5

17 T i nh n th y v n c a tổ ch c cũng l c a ch nh m nh 1 2 3 4 5

18 T i kh ng c m nh n tổ ch c nh l một phần c a gia

nh m nh

1 2 3 4 5

19 T i kh ng c m th y g n b m t thi t v i tổ ch c 1 2 3 4 5

20 T i c m th y m nh thuộc v tổ ch c c ng ty n y 1 2 3 4 5

83

21 Khi ai chỉ tr ch c p tr n, t i xem nh l chỉ tr ch

chính tôi

1 2 3 4 5

22 Khi t i n i v c p tr n, t i dùng từ “ch ng t i” thay v

anh y hay c y

1 2 3 4 5

23 S th nh c ng c a c p tr n cũng l th nh c ng c a t i 1 2 3 4 5

24 Khi ai khen ng i c p tr n, t i xem cũng l khen

ng i m nh

1 2 3 4 5

25 T i c m nh n m nh g n k t m t thi t v i c p tr n c a

mình

1 2 3 4 5

26 T i sẽ kh ng g n k t v i c p tr n n u ch ng t i kh c ch

h ng, quan iểm

1 2 3 4 5

Phần thông tin cá nhân của Anh/Chị:

1. Gi i t nh c a anh ch ?

Nam

N

2. Tổng th i gian anh ch l m vi c cho c c c ng ty tổ ch c l bao l u?

D i 3 n m

Từ 3 n m n 5 n m

Tr n 5 n m

3. Anh ch l m vi c v i c p tr n hi n t i bao l u?

D i 2 n m

Từ 2 n m n 3 n m

Tr n 3 n m

4. Lo i h nh doanh nghi p tổ ch c anh ch ang l m vi c?

Doanh nghi p T nh n

Doanh nghi p c v n ầu t n c ngo i

Khác

5. Ng nh ngh anh ch ang l m vi c?

B n lẻ

84

Tài chính

Khác

6. Vui l ng cho bi t tuổi c a anh ch ?

D i 26

Từ 26 n 35

Từ 36 tr l n

7. Tr nh ộ h c v n c a anh ch ?

T t nghi p trung h c

Cử nh n

Th c sỹ

8. T nh tr ng h n nh n c a anh ch ?

C gia nh

ộc th n

thesis-2013-0220.pdf

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