“Transformational behaviors: Increasing work engagement in multinational environments”

The role of a leader is fundamental to increase organizational culture and facilitate em- ployee engagement. However, organizations are not providing clear guidance on how to do it. This study aims to determine the relationship between leadership styles and em- ployee engagement as well as to understand whether there is a correlation between an engaged employee and extra effort. The study uses a Multi-Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-5x Rater Form) to measure employee perception of the leader styles and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-17) to determine employee engagement. The scope of the study is limited to a sample of 167 employees from 7 different multinational companies and 31 different nationalities. Results show that all the transformational behaviors and, concretely the idealized behav- ior, are significantly positively related to work engagement in multinational environments. Results also reveal a strong correlation between employee engagement and extra effort. The study concludes that leaders or managers should use transformational behaviors if they want to increase engagement and extra effort with their teams. They should increase transformational behaviors like being transparent, consistent, and having a strong sense of purpose to catalyze a collective engagement. These results expand previous studies of transformational leadership and work engagement in multinational environments. keys to increase employee engagement levels. The current study intends to acknowledge the relationship between a leader and an engaged employee by detecting, which leadership style or behavior creates higher engagement. Additionally, the study aims to understand the relationship between an engaged employee and extra effort. Studies have shown that one of the most critical factors to have a better work engagement is leadership (Rao et al., 2021). Findings could lead to a better understanding of how to improve leadership and company success. The current study seeks to find the keys to answer these questions and guide leaders and managers towards better employee engagement.


INTRODUCTION
Leaders and managers are responsible to drive teams towards set goals to achieve company growth and success. They could be defined as an influencer force, which exercises power and gives others direction to execute companies' goals. Leadership is a significant factor to drive an organization towards the path of success or to turn towards its failure (Rahbi et al., 2017).
Moreover, leaders also realize that productiveness does not come only from a pleased team. The most productive employee for a company is known as an engaged employee (Rao et al., 2021). This is the main reason why leaders are seeking to identify the keys to increase employee engagement levels. The current study intends to acknowledge the relationship between a leader and an engaged employee by detecting, which leadership style or behavior creates higher engagement. Additionally, the study aims to understand the relationship between an engaged employee and extra effort. Studies have shown that one of the most critical factors to have a better work engagement is leadership (Rao et al., 2021). Findings could lead to a better understanding of how to improve leadership and company success. The current study seeks to find the keys to answer these questions and guide leaders and managers towards better employee engagement.

LITERATURE REVIEW
A wide range of leadership models is developed. One of the most validated models is "the fullrange model of leadership" (Bass & Avolio, 1994). Alloubani Bass and Avolio (2004) identified nine leadership factors and the development of transformational, transactional, and passive-avoidance styles. The transformational style is based on Bass and Avolio's theory (1994) and exhibits five main behaviors (referred to as the 5I's): idealized attributes (high level of trust), idealized behavior (leading by example), inspirational motivation (ability to inspire others), intellectual stimulation (promote intelligence and problem solving), and finally individualized consideration (recognize individuality among employees). Secondly, the transactional style is a task-oriented style in which the leader focuses basically on the completion of goals. Following Bass and Avolio (2004), the transactional style includes two behaviors: contingent reward (task-oriented) and management by exception: active (monitors and calibrates). Finally, the passive-avoidance style is characterized by leaders who avoid decision-making. Bass and Avolio (2004) further defined the passive-avoidance style by establishing two dimensions: management by exception: passive (waits for mistakes) and laissez-faire leadership (do nothing).
Transformational leadership has accumulated sizeable scholarly attention since its origination and it remains to be a utilized leadership framework (

AIMS
The study aims to clarify whether transformational style has a better positive impact on job engagement versus transactional and passive-avoidance styles. In addition, the aim is to determine which transformational behavior has a stronger significance relationship with work engagement and, finally, to which extent an engaged employee is related to extra effort. By addressing these three questions, the study seeks to identify the keys that could increase team engagement from a leader or manager stance.

METHODOLOGY
The overall study used the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) developed by Bass and Avolio (2004) to assess leadership style and extra effort perceptions, as well as Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-17) to determine engagement perception. MLQ and UWES surveys (Microsoft forms -56 questions) were administered to employees of diverse nationalities at different companies. Twenty questions were assessed to evaluate the transformational 5I's behaviors (four questions for each behavior), eight questions were assessed for transactional, and eight more for passive-avoidance. Moreover, three questions were defined to determine extra effort. Finally, UWES-17 survey was composed of seventeen questions.
The sample of the study, which includes 167 respondents, is rather balanced in gender (56% male, 44% female) and is relatively young; 75% of the respondents were born after 1980. This workforce also has a high level of education: 35.3% have a bachelor's degree, 56.3% have a master's degree and 1.2% have a doctorate. Also, workers from the study have a certain level of previous working experience with different companies as well as stability in their present company; 67% of the respondents have worked in at least more than 3 companies. The country with more respondents is Spain (52).
The data collected were transferred to SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) software to run the analyses. Mean calculation, bivariate correlation, and multiple regressions analysis were assessed to understand the perception and relation of the leadership behaviors on work engagement.
Cronbach's alpha was used to evaluate the scale of reliability and consistency. In the present study, all the variables were showing an alpha above 71%, meaning the model was reliable, the transformational leadership construct or scale has a Cronbach's alpha of .95 or 95%. Transactional has a Cronbach's alpha of 71%, the passive-avoidance style has an alpha of 83%, and extra effort 80%. Finally, work engagement had an alpha of 92%. Table 1 displays the mean calculation of the perceived leadership styles in the companies, the work engagement, and extra effort by the employees. Three main types of leadership were assessed: the transformational, the transactional, and the passive-avoidance leadership styles.  Transformational, transactional and extra effort are strongly and positively correlated with work engagement (p < .01). On the other hand, passive-avoidance leadership is strongly and negatively correlated with work engagement (p < .01). Note: a means correlation is significant at the .01 level (2-tailed).

RESULTS
Multiple regression was done to evaluate the prediction of leadership styles (independent variables) on work engagement (dependent variable). Table 3 presents a summary of the model in which the item of interest is adjusted R 2 statistics, which is .22.  Table 4 presents the analysis of ANOVA results, also known as model fit. It is important to highlight that the results show that F-statistics is p < .01, meaning the model has the power to predict work engagement from leadership style scores.   Table 6 presents the results of the coefficients of the regression model for extra effort and work engagement. Firstly, these results show that the work engagement significantly encourages a positive increase in extra effort, standardized β = .55, (p < .01). Table 7 presents the results of bivariate correlation based on Pearson's correlation statistics. All transformational behaviors (5I's) are strongly and positively correlated with work engagement (p < .01). The most correlated is idealized behavior.
The study shows that there is a remarkable positive relationship between transformational style (MLQ 5x-Short) and employee engagement (UWES-17). These results are aligned with several pieces of evidence, which link transformational style and employee engagement (Breevaart et al., 2014; Ghadi et

CONCLUSION
The first aim of the current study was to determine the relationship between leadership styles and employee engagement. Based on the current findings, the paper concludes that the transformational leadership style has a significant positive influence on work engagement. On the other hand, transactional and passive-avoidance styles could not be validated. Leaders and managers need to improve their ability to bring high levels of trust, promote intelligence, bring questioning to the table, use continuous learning and clear measurement of goals if they want to increase work engagement.
The second aim was to determine which transformational behavior is the most related to work engagement. Results also show that idealized behavior is the most correlated, however, the study does not appreciate a significant difference between other transformational behaviors and consequently cannot be firmly validated. Leaders who demonstrate high moral standards and principles that share professional-related or personal-related values or beliefs may tend to have a higher engagement with their teams.
The last aim was to determine whether an engaged employee is related to extra effort, and based on the current findings, the study concludes that there is a positive relationship between engagement and an employee who runs an extra mile (extra effort), meaning a higher engagement would lead to a higher effort. A suggestion for future studies should be to validate the influence of transactional and passive-avoidance styles and also to corroborate if idealized behavior has a higher impact on work engagement versus other transformational behaviors.
To wrap it all up, the study concludes that if a leader or manager desires to improve employee engagement, the leader should incorporate all the described transformational behaviors and avoid other styles, which may lead to an unknown level of engagement. Leaders, who desire better results and outcomes, should understand their leadership style and identify the level of engagement of their team, find the principal causes and implement transformational behavioral approaches. The current study demonstrates why transformational behaviors are the keys for a leader to increase employee engagement and, ultimately, better business outcomes. Note: a means correlation is significant at the .01 level (2-tailed).