ANALYSIS OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEADERSHIP STYLES AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

This paper examines the correlation between leadership styles and employee engagement. For the purpose of our research, we have used a random sample of 594 respondents who are employed in both the public and the private sector in Slovenia. The main goal of the research is to contribute to the understanding of how one independent variable (X1- a Dummy variable for Leadership style; X1= 0 mostly or over 50% of the leaders use the autocratic style of leadership; X1= 1 otherwise) impacts the Y variable (employee engagement). Online surveys combined with face-to-face as well as online interviews were carried out from 4 January to 14 March 2016. For statistical analysis, IBM SPSS 20 has been used and linear regression analysis applied. Based on the linear regression F (1, 586) =1.786, p-value = 0.182, R-square = 0.003), we have found out that there is not any statistically significant (at the 5% significance level) correlation between leadership style and employee engagement. We have also come to a conclusion that autocratic style is mainly used in employee management by Slovenian leaders. Moreover, there is no statistically significant difference at the 5% significance level in leadership styles that are used between genders.