The Effect of Inclusive Leadership on the Work Engagement: An Empirical Study from Turkey

Abstract

Motivating employee work engagement, which has emerged as one of the most significant drivers of high performance and achievement in today's dynamic environment, has become essential in gaining a sustainable competitive advantage. As widely known, leadership is a primary factor affecting work engagement. This is also directly related to a specific style of leadership exercised. Leadership styles affect the work engagement levels of the employees. The distracting nature of leadership type can have adverse impacts on individuals' behaviors. To provide a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon, this article draws on social interaction theory and social exchange theory to investigate the potential effects of inclusive leadership on work engagement within the workplace, and the mediating role of psychological safety on the relationship between inclusive leadership and the work engagement. Here, psychological safety is needed by employees to avoid and manage negative feelings. SPSS and AMOS software was applied to survey data obtained from (n = 373) employees. Results revealed that inclusive leadership is a strong predictor for work engagement, and psychological safety partially mediates the link between inclusive leadership and work engagement. Implications for theory and practice alongside limitations are discussed.

1. Introduction

Employee work engagement has been viewed as one of the most critical drivers of business success (Strom et al., 2014), and leadership is a major factor affecting work engagement. As suggested by Bakker et al. (2011), an increase in the level of work engagement can be achieved by exercising a specific style of leadership. According to Aldulaimi (2021), leadership is the foundation of every achievement. However, few studies, especially empirical ones, have been conducted to examine the impact of specific leadership styles (Arun et al., 2021; Okun et al., 2020) especially including inclusive leadership on employee work engagement (Choi et al., 2015).

As focused in this study, one of the ways to understand the crucial role of inclusive leadership in organizations is to look for its effect on the main organizational outcomes such as work engagement which highly depends on the employees’ sense of inclusion. Supervisor’s words and deeds will affect subordinates’ sense of inclusion (Wasserman et al., 2008) which enhances work engagement. Therefore, examining the inclusive leadership’s effect on work engagement as well as determining any possible mediating effect on this relationship may provide new insight into inclusion’s utility.

Despite comparable streams of research within social work and social psychology that rely on social interaction theory and social exchange theory, the concept of inclusion is relatively nascent in the workplace (Shore et al., 2011; Xiaotao et al., 2018). Although inclusion has recently garnered increased attention in the management field, there are still gaps in understanding the utility of inclusion, both theoretically and practically, which is important in modern complex workplaces.

This study investigated the relationship between inclusive leadership and work engagement in Turkish manufacturing workers. Relatively limited empirical studies have found a positive relationship between inclusion and employee outcomes (Shore et al., 2011), and most of them were conducted in western countries. Besides, it explored the effect of the mediating role of psychological safety in the relationship between inclusive leadership and work engagement due to little is known about the mediating role of psychological safety in the relationship between inclusive leadership and work engagement.

While engaging to work, one needs to have a work related state of mind characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption (Schaufeli et al., 2002) which may cause errors or failure. However, psychologically safe employees need not be fearful. In engaging with work, employees need psychological safety to avoid and manage negative feelings. Because, psychological safety causes comfortability to be oneself (Edmondson, 1999), and enhances showing one’s self without fear of negative consequences to self- image, status, or career (Kahn, 1990). Inclusive leadership respects employees’ self-value by encouraging them to provide their opinions and views (Carmeli et al., 2010) and improves psychological safety (Detert & Burris, 2007). Thus, psychological safety is a mediating mechanism that mediates the relationship between inclusive leadership and work engagement.

In the current study first, we review the pertinent literature on inclusive leadership and the relation with work engagement and explain why inclusive leadership has an effect on work engagement. Second, we reviewed the literature to understand and clarify the role of psychological safety on the relationship between the dependent and independent variables of our study. Then, we formally test the hypotheses concerning relationships among supervisor’s inclusive leadership, work engagement and, psychological safety. Finally, we present a discussion of our findings, implications of our results, and what we suggest for future research. We believe that understanding the effect of inclusive leadership on work engagement and the mediating role of psychological safety on this effect could enrich social interaction theory and social exchange theory.

2. Literature Review and Hypotheses Development

2.1. Inclusive Leadership

Nembhard and Edmondson (2006, p. 947) defined inclusive leadership as ‘words and deeds by a leader or leaders that indicate an invitation and appreciation for others’ contributions’. The word inclusive means an ability to gather around a table where any employee at the table can see the status and power distance of other employees around the table and the leader respects the opinions of others (Nembhard & Edmondson, 2006). According to Carmeli et al. (2010), inclusive leadership refers to leaders who exhibit openness, availability, and accessibility in their interactions with their followers. As this definition shows, inclusive leadership is seen as a specifically important workplace factor, and a leader’s openness, availability, accessibility, caring for employees’ opinions, and being available to talk and discuss different ideas are the strongest aspects of inclusive leadership (Carmeli et al., 2010). Inclusive leadership has been accepted as a relational leadership model in that the leader gives importance to the needs of her/his followers and that the followers can reach him/her (Hollander, 2009). Similarly, while explaining inclusive leadership, Carmeli et al. (2010) stated that the inclusive leader focuses on the wishes and needs of the followers by displaying an open, appropriate, and accessible behavior, and therefore stated that inclusive leadership is at the center of relational leadership.

With openness, availability, and accessibility, inclusive leaders communicate effectively in their interactions with their followers (Carmeli et al., 2010; Hollander 2009). Since inclusive leaders are willing to listen to, care about and discuss their followers’ thoughts and ideas (Carmeli et al., 2010), they develop a safe social context for followers to express their thoughts and contribute to business processes (Choi et al., 2017). Hollander (2009) claimed that inclusive leaders always support followers. Hollander (2009) stated that inclusive leaders are ready and willing to deal with their followers’ expectations and needs by encouraging open communication to invite input from their followers.

Inclusive leaders emphasize recognition, respect, responsiveness, and responsibility that legitimize and approve the actions of leaders and followers (Hollander, 2009, 2012). Inclusive leadership facilitates creating an environment where subordinates are of equal status and do not differentiate between outgroup members and ingroup members (Nishii, 2013). Inclusive leaders also seek to bridge differences between themselves and their followers and ensure that their followers’ contributions are appreciated, regardless of their hierarchical level in the workplace. Finally, inclusive leadership means that subordinates work together across roles, levels, and demographic boundaries to solve shared problems through a participatory decision making process (Zhao et al., 2020).

2.2. Inclusive Leadership and Work Engagement

Kahn (1990) described the concept of engagement as a process in which employees are physically, cognitively, and emotionally involved in their job roles. In this study, we have used the definition of work engagement as “a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind which is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption” (Schaufeli et al., 2006, p. 701). Vigor, a high level of energy and mental flexibility when working with, is expressed by a willingness to put effort into one’s work and perseverance even in the face of difficulties. Dedication is considered to be adapting to one’s job as a sense of importance attributed to one’s job. Absorption, on the other hand, refers to the individual’s deep immersion in his work (Schaufeli et al., 2006; Schaufeli et al., 2002; Truong et al., 2020).

Inclusive leadership is positively associated with work engagement through a variety of factors. First, inclusive leaders provide support to their employees (Hollander, 2009). Inclusive leaders always support their followers in meeting their expectations, needs, and wishes and realizing their ideas through openness, availability, and accessibility (Carmeli et al., 2010; Hollander, 2009). Inclusive leaders also provide emotional support that builds trust in their interactions with their followers. Inclusive leaders gain the trust and loyalty of employees because they respond to employees’ ideas and value their contributions (Javed et al., 2018; Javed et al., 2019a). In particular, a supportive climate perception formed with the support of inclusive leaders in the organization against other leadership approaches (Choi et al., 2017) supports the development of followers and contributes to the development of their ability to take responsibility and adapt (Zeng et al., 2020). According to Choi et al. (2017), followers feel freer to share information about the job and express their real thoughts. In addition, inclusive leaders take the initiative to support their followers in their business processes and motivate their followers to overcome their business needs (Bannay et al., 2020). Therefore, the supportive behavior of the inclusive leader will increase the internal satisfaction of the employees and positively affect their work dedication.

Second, within the framework of the social interaction theory, inclusive leaders provide useful resources for the development of the knowledge and skills of their followers (Bannay et al., 2020). The job demands-resources model (Bakker et al., 2014; Bakker & Demerouti 2014) is often used to explain the concept of WE. According to the model, resources are the social and organizational aspects of the job that can reduce business demands, achieve business purposes and help personal development (Cenkci et al., 2020). The positive perception that the useful resources provided by the inclusive leaders to their followers for their knowledge and skills to improve, will motivate their followers to contribute and to be more dedicated to their business roles (Choi et al., 2015; Jalil, 2017; Strom et al., 2014).

Third, inclusive leaders challenge and encourage their followers to contribute to the organization (Hollander, 2009, 2012). Inclusive leaders give their followers a high degree of freedom and discretion (Carmeli et al., 2010; Hollander, 2009), encouraging them to contribute to business processes and to work independently and participate in decision making processes (Javed et al., 2019a; Zeng et al., 2020) by caring about their followers’ thoughts and ideas (Javed et al., 2018). For this reason, providing various challenges and support for decision-making and implementation of business processes by inclusive leaders will increase the devotions and engagement of the followers (Carmeli et al., 2010; Choi et al., 2015). As a matter of fact, some of the previous studies, in parallel to the grounds mentioned above, found that there is a positive relationship between inclusive leadership and dedication to work (Bannay et al., 2020; Bhutto et al., 2021; Carmeli et al., 2010; Chen et al., 2020; Choi et al., 2015). Thus, the following hypothesis is constructed.

H1: Inclusive leadership has a significant positive effect on work engagement.

2.3. The Mediating Role of Psychological Safety

Psychological safety is being able to show and employ one’s self without fear of negative consequences of self- image, status, or career. It can be defined as a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. In psychologically safe teams, team members feel accepted and respected (Edmondson, 1999; Kim, 2021). It is a subjective perception of convenience and security (Zeng et al., 2020). Leaders can build psychological safety by creating the right climate, mindsets, and behaviors within their teams. By setting the tone for the team climate through their own actions, team leaders have the strongest influence on a team’s psychological safety. (Edmondson, 2004). When employees feel comfortable asking for help, sharing suggestions informally, or challenging the status quo without fear of negative social consequences, organizations are more likely to innovate quickly, unlock the benefits of diversity, and adapt well to change (Edmondson, 1999; Edmondson, 2004; Edmondson & Lei, 2014).

Employee engagement (Walters & Diab, 2016), also expressed as work engagement and job engagement in the literature is the connection of the individual’s self with the job role and is characterized by the full use of the individual’s physical, cognitive, and emotional resources (Kahn, 1990). Job engagement is defined as the extent to which employees feel passionate about their jobs, are committed to the organization, and put discretionary effort into their work (Soares & Mosquera, 2019). Employees who feel connected to their organization work harder, stay longer and motivate others to do the same. Employee engagement affects just about every important aspect of the organization, including profitability, revenue, customer experience, employee turnover, and more (Kahn, 1990). Work engagement, which is generally considered as the interest and participation of the employee in his/her work, includes the identification of the employees with their work and the motivation of the work itself, and the employees’ self-expression through work (Aslan, 2019; Barkhuizen & Rothmann, 2006).

According to the ‘model of commitment’ by Kahn (1990), psychological safety is an important antecedent of work engagement. In addition, trust in the leader is an important feature of the social context of the job; therefore, trust in the leader will increase the commitment of the employees to work (Basit, 2017). Therefore, in our study, we think that psychological safety has an increasing impact on the effect of inclusive leadership on work engagement.

Psychological factors are among the important antecedents of work engagement (Ge, 2020). May et al. (2004) examined the relationship between psychological conditions and work engagement and stated that there is a positive relationship between psychological conditions, including psychological safety, and work engagement. While applying for their job roles, employees do not hesitate to share their knowledge and skills and take risks in a work environment when they perceive it as psychologically safe (Tiwari & Lenka, 2016). Since psychological safety is a work environment where risk taking is encouraged (Edmondson, 1999), it creates an environment where employees can see and detect their weaknesses and unsuccessful characteristics (Carmeli & Gittell, 2009). For this reason, employees who feel psychologically safe in the working environment will be more courageous in expressing their thoughts and criticize their job roles without worrying about anything (Zeng et al., 2020). In addition, uncertainty, unpredictability, and an uncomfortable working environment that is psychologically unsafe can prevent employees from expressing themselves and reduce their commitment to work (Rothmann & Rothmann, 2010). Therefore, psychological safety not only removes employees’ anxiety about negative consequences but also contributes positively to the physiological skills and energy required for employees to commit to their job roles (Basit, 2017). As a matter of fact, in many studies examining the relationship between psychological safety and work engagement, it has been stated that psychological safety positively affects work engagement (Carmeli et al., 2010; Ge, 2020; Liu & Ge, 2020; Lyu, 2016; Walters & Diab, 2016).

Since inclusive leaders interact with their followers directly, they define the behavior that should create the perception of psychological safety that employees need (Nembhard & Edmondson, 2006). Inclusive leadership behaviors can affect psychological safety in many ways. First, they always support their followers in meeting their expectations, needs, and desires and realizing their ideas by exhibiting openness, availability, and accessibility behaviors within the framework of Social Exchange Theory (Carmeli et al., 2010; Hollander, 2009). A supportive climate perception allows employees to feel free to share information about the job and express their genuine thoughts (Choi et al., 2017). For this reason, inclusive leaders contribute to the shaping of the workplace environment in which employees will feel psychologically safe and experience more psychological safety, thanks to the support they provide to their employees (Javed et al., 2019b). Second, inclusive leaders challenge and encourage their followers to contribute more to the organization and business processes (Hollander, 2009, 2012). Since inclusive leaders encourage employees to work independently and participate in decision-making processes, employees who feel that their contribution and thoughts to business processes are appreciated will develop a sense of psychological safety (Carmeli et al., 2010). Third, within the framework of leader-member exchange theory, inclusive leaders contribute to the creation of an interactive, fair and pleasant work environment. Such an environment will lead to the formation of a sense of psychological safety that allows employees to avoid interpersonal conflicts (Zeng et al., 2020). Indeed, in many studies examining the relationship between inclusive leadership and psychological safety, it has been stated that inclusive leadership positively affects psychological safety (Carmeli et al., 2010; Hirak et al., 2012; Javed et al., 2019b; Khan et al., 2020; Zeng et al., 2020; Zhao et al., 2010; Wang & Shi, 2020).

Leaders build trust in their teams. Trust between leaders, subordinates, and team members is a requirement of psychological safety. Through transparency, a leader can create an environment of psychological safety. This will increase the trust in the leader as well as the individual’s participation in the decision-making process (Maximo, 2015). In addition, employees who perceive a psychologically safe workplace environment freely share their thoughts and feelings and do not hesitate to take risks in acquiring new knowledge and skills (Tiwari & Lenka, 2016). For this reason, employees who feel psychologically safe in a working environment created by an inclusive leader increase their work commitment (Bannay et al., 2020; Ge, 2020; Maximo, 2015; Walters & Diab, 2016; Tiwari & Lenka, 2016). The above arguments show that inclusive leadership indirectly increases work engagement through psychological safety. Therefore, we hypothesize as follows;

H2: Psychological security has a mediating role in the effect of inclusive leadership on work engagement.

3. Research Method

In this research, which intends to evaluate the mediating role of psychological safety in the influence of inclusive leadership on work engagement, first, information regarding the population and sample of the research, as well as the scales used in the research, is provided in this study. After that, analyses were performed for the research model, which was built using the data from the research sample. Confirmatory factor analysis of the scales was conducted in this context, and correlations between research variables were determined. The structural equation model established within the framework of the research model and the goodness-of-fit tests of the research model were conducted and the results of the regression analysis between variables and the bootstrap mediation test were also presented.

Within the scope of the research, the model shown in Figure 1 was created to reveal the relationships between the variables.

Figure 1: Research Model

3.1. Sampling and Data Collection Procedure

The population of the research consists of textile production companies. The sample is the employees of the carpet manufacturing companies in Gaziantep, which were selected by convenience sampling method. 500 people were surveyed through the human resources departments of the companies that agreed to participate in the research. Only 373 surveys were found suitable for the analysis. 25.5% of the employees are women and 74.5% are men; 34% of the employees are aged 18–29, 50.1% are aged 30–45 and 15.8% are aged 46 and over. In terms of work experience, 24.9% of the employees have 1–4 years, 53.4% have 5–10 years and 21.7% have 11 years or more work experience.

3.2. Scales

Inclusive leadership and psychological safety in the study were carried out with a five-point Likert-type scale (1 = Strongly Disagree, 5 = Strongly Agree). Work engagement was carried out on a 7-point Likert-type scale (Never = 0, Almost Never = 1, Rarely = 2 Sometimes = 3 Often = 4 Very Often = 5 Always = 6). Inclusive Leadership Scale was adapted from Carmeli et al. (2010), which consists of 9 expressions and three dimensions - openness (3 expressions), availability (4 expressions), and accessibility (2 expressions). Sample items are “The manager is open to hearing new ideas” (openness), “The manager encourages me to access him/her on emerging issues” (accessibility), and “The manager is available for consultation on problems.” (availability). The reliability of the scale was found to be 0.94.

Psychological Safety Scale was adapted from Edmondson (1999). Sample items are “If you make a mistake on this team, it is often held against you.” “Members of this team are able to bring up problems and tough issues.” “People on this team sometimes reject others for being different”. The reliability of the scale was found to be 0.95. Work Engagement Scale was adapted from Schaufeli and Bakker (2004) and revalidated by Schaufeli et al. (2006) - UWES-9 (Utrecht Work Engagement Scale) scale with 9 items (vigor = 3 items, dedication = 3 items, and absorption = 3 items). Sample items are “At my work, I feel bursting with energy”. (vigor), “I am enthusiastic about my job.” (dedication), and “I feel happy when I work intensely.” (absorption). The reliability of the scale was found to be 0.92.

4. Data Analysis and Results

4.1. Measurement Model

The data obtained was analyzed in SPSS and AMOS software. The confirmatory factor analysis was performed to examine the structural validity of the model given in Table 1.

Table 1: The Goodness of Fit Statistics

According to the goodness of fit values of the scales and measurement model used in the research, it is seen that the CMIN/DF, AGFI, IFI, CFI, TLI, RMSEA values are within the limits of good fit (Kline, 2016). Table 2 shows the mean-variance (AVE) values for the structural variables as explained by the structure, the combined reliability (CR) values, the Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficients, and the correlations between the variables.

Table 2: Average Variance Extracted (AVE), Composite Reliability (CR), Cronbach Alpha, and Correlations.

Note:**, p < 0.01, Significant at the 0.05 level, n = 373, Cronbach’s Alpha reliability values are given in parentheses.

When Table 2 is examined, positive and significant relationships were observed among the research variables. To ensure convergent validity in a CFA model, the CR value must be greater than 0.70 and the AVE value must be greater than 0.50 (Hair et al., 2014). It is seen that the CR values of the research variables are between 0.92 and 0.97, the AVE values are between 0.77 and 0.82, and CR > AVE, providing the component validity of the scales (Hair et al., 2014). In the next part of the research, the structural equation model in Figure 2 was established to test the research hypotheses. To examine the significance of the indirect effects for the test of the mediation role, the Monte Carlo parametric bootstrap option and the highest likelihood method with a 95% confidence interval consisting of 5000 samples were used. The lower and upper values of the confidence intervals are presented in Table 3.

Figure 2: Structural Equation Model

Table 3: Mediating Analysis

Note: n = 373 (5.000 Boostrap sample); BC 95% CI = Bias corrected 95% Confidence interval; X = Inclusive Leadership; Y = Work

Engagement; M = Psychological Safety; a = the effect of X on M; b = the effect of M on Y; c = the total effect of X on Y; c’ = the effect of X on Y. ***; p < 0.001; Significant at the 0.05 level.

The research hypotheses were tested on the structural model. The research model provides goodness of fit values (χ²/df = 1.93; AGFI = 0.900; IFI = 0.977; TLI = 0.974; CFI = 0.977; RMSEA = 0.050). The analysis results show that inclusive leadership has a significant and positive effect on work engagement (total: β = 0.600, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.47, 0.71], direct: β = 0.409, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.27, 0 .55]), which indicates that hypothesis H1 (Inclusive leadership has a significant positive effect on work engagement) was supported. In addition to that, inclusive leadership has a significant and positive effect on psychological safety (β = 0.440, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.25, 0.58]); and psychological safety has a significant positive effect on work engagement (β = 0.433, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.30, 0.55]).

In addition, inclusive leadership was found to have an indirect (β = 0.191, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.12, 0.27]) significant effect on job engagement via psychological safety. In this case, H2 (Psychological security has a mediating role in the effect of inclusive leadership on work engagement) was supported. Since the obtained Boostrap confidence interval values do not include 0 (zero) value, psychological safety has a partial mediating role in the effect of inclusive leadership on work engagement. This result shows that employees who feel psychologically safe in a working environment created by an inclusive leader increase their work engagement.

5. Discussion and Conclusion

The primary motivation for this study comes from the need to explore the potential effects of inclusive leadership on work engagement, and the mediating role of psychological safety on the link between inclusive leadership and work engagement. For this purpose, the data collected from 373 people through questionnaires were analyzed.

Our findings revealed that inclusive leadership has a positive and significant effect on work engagement, implying that inclusive leadership increases work engagement. These findings are consistent with the results of studies examining the relationship between inclusive leadership and work engagement (Bannay et al., 2020; Bhutto et al., 2021; Carmeli et al., 2010; Chen et al., 2020; Choi et al., 2015;). These finding, within the framework of social interaction theory, also shows that inclusive leaders who exhibit open, available and accessible behaviors provide useful resources for the development of their followers’ knowledge and skills (Bannay et al., 2020). In addition, according to the job demands-resources model (Bakker et al., 2014; Bakker & Demerouti 2014), the useful resources provided by inclusive leaders for the development of their followers motivates the followers to contribute to their job roles, and increase their levels of dedication (Choi et al., 2015; Jalil, 2017; Strom et al., 2014).

The main goal of the study was to determine the mediating role of psychological psychological safety in the effect of inclusive leadership on job engagement. From the mediation analysis, it was found that psychological safety plays a mediating role in the relationship between inclusive leadership and work engagement. Our findings show that psychological safety has an indirect increasing role in the effect of inclusive leadership on work engagement, which means employees who feel psychologically safe in a working environment created by an inclusive leader, increase their work engagement (Bannay et al., 2020; Ge, 2020; Maximo, 2015; Tiwari & Lenka, 2016; Walters & Diab, 2016).

Besides these findings, this empirical work inherits several limitations, which provide several opportunities for future research. First, the study’s data is obtained from a single source using a cross-section design, which limits causal inference. On this account, we recommend future work in this research stream use multi-source, time-lag, and experimental design to draw a causal inference. Second, the study data came from a single country and context, which limits the generalizability and applicability of findings to other countries, industries, and contextual settings. Third, the 5-point and 7-point Likert scales were created to determine whether or not to agree with certain statements. However, common method deviation may occur as a result of using the same scale type (Likert, semantic differences, etc.) for the variables. This means that the relationships between the variables determined as a result of the research are likely to be affected by the measurement method. To put it more clearly, in this research; measuring all three variables with the Likert method may have an impact on the evaluations of the participants (Güğerçin & Ay, 2016).

Finally, in terms of cultural context, inclusive leadership should not be overlooked. Therefore, future research on inclusive leadership should be conducted in the cultural context and with intercultural applications in mind, possibly giving a new breath to this field of research.