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

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.