| Abstract [eng] |
Modern organizations operate in a dynamic, multigenerational work environment in which, as the employee engagement crisis grows and the need for innovation increases, the ability to adapt leadership style to the characteristics of different generations becomes increasingly important. Transformational and transactional leadership are widely analysed as models explaining how leaders shape employee motivation, emotional attachment to the organization, and the tendency to create and implement innovations (Bass & Riggio, 2006; Jensen et al., 2016). In this study, employee engagement is understood as an energetic, meaningful, and deeply work–related state (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004), and innovative behaviour as a set of actions from exploring opportunities and generating ideas to defending them and implementing them in practice (De Jong & Den Hartog, 2010). At the same time, differences in values and work expectations across generations are considered, influencing how employees respond to leadership and the work environment (Twenge ir kt., 2010; Lyons & Kuron, 2014). The object of the study is the influence of managers’ leadership styles on work engagement and innovative work behaviour among employees of different generations. The aim of the research is to examine how transformational and transactional leadership are related to work engagement and innovativeness across generations. To achieve the aim, four objectives were formulated: to analyse leadership styles and the concepts of generations, employee engagement, and innovative behaviour, to prepare the research methodology, and, after an empirical study, to provide practical recommendations for organizations. To achieve the aim, a quantitative study was conducted – a survey of 306 employees in Lithuania. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analysis. The results showed that respondents generally evaluated managers’ leadership behaviour, their own work engagement, and innovativeness positively – five–point scale, scores exceeded the midpoint. Regression analysis revealed that leadership styles explain almost half of the variation in employee work engagement, with transformational leadership as the strongest factor. Innovative work behaviour was most strongly linked to transactional leadership incentives. Generational analysis revealed different leadership effects. For Baby Boomer and Generation X employees, transformational leadership was important – it was consistently associated with higher engagement and, in the case of Generation X, more frequent innovative behaviour. For Generation Y, the most favourable situation is when transformational leadership is combined with material and non–material incentives. Generation Z appeared more contradictory: transformational leadership was associated with engagement, but transactional elements – especially sanctions, reduced engagement while being linked to higher innovativeness, and engagement and innovative behaviour were negatively related. |
