Leadership, trustworthiness and employee engagement: an insight during the COVID-19

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the associations between leadership, trustworthiness, and employee engagement during COVID-19.

Design/methodology/approach

In this cross-sectional, quantitative study, surveys of Sri Lankan male and female managers were conducted via standardized questionnaires. The sample size was 297 respondents. The Smart-PLS version 3.36 structural equation model analyzed the data set.

Findings

Both leadership and employee engagement and trustworthiness and employee engagement were found to have a statistically significant relationship. It has been found that leadership indirectly contributes to a higher degree of employee engagement through increased trustworthiness. According to the findings, employee engagement rises when they have the trustworthiness of the leadership in the virtual environment.

Research limitations/implications

According to the findings of this study, organizations need to introduce rules to improve leadership manager roles in a virtual environment, which can improve trustworthiness and employee engagement. It also suggests that organizations should build trustworthiness between employees and leadership through a positive culture in a virtual environment that can improve employee engagement and organizational performance.

Originality/value

Research on leadership and trustworthiness improves employee engagement in a virtual environment is the contribution of this study.

Citation

Iddagoda, A., Dissanayake, H. and Bagienska, A. (2023), "Leadership, trustworthiness and employee engagement: an insight during the COVID-19", Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEAS-08-2022-0183