This session demonstrates the results after analyzing the data collected in order to examine the proposed relationship between leader mindfulness, employee engagement, goal congruence and social interaction.
Hypotheses examined in this study were: (1) Leader mindfulness is positively related to employee engagement, (2a) The positive relationship between leader mindfulness and employee engagement is moderated by goal congruence, such that the relationship is stronger when goal congruence is higher, and (2b) The positive relationship between leader mindfulness and employee engagement is moderated by social interaction, such that the relationship is stronger when social interaction is higher. Correlation analysis was used to examine the relationship among variables and hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the relationship further.
Descriptive Statistics
Table 4.1. provides the details of the characteristics of each participant, which include gender, age, marital status, education and tenure. This type of analysis helps the reader have an overview of characteristics of the participants regarding frequencies and percentages. These were the characteristics this study intended to find out because the author considers that they are important when it came to analyze the relationship among variables of the study.
Of the total participants, the majority was female 60.5% while male and other accounted for 38.7% and .8% respectively. For the age item, employees who were 26 to 30 years old represented 43.4%. Besides, employees who were 20 to 25 years old were 40.6% of the sample. Thus, these two groups represented the highest percentage of participants of the entire sample. Then, the employees who were 31 to 35 years old had 14.1%. Only 1.6% of participants were 36 to 40 years old. Finally, the lowest percentage were those who are 41 to 45 years old, which only had .4%.
On the analysis of marital status, more than half of participants remained single, accounting for 67.2%. While 32.4% of participants were married, the rest .4% already divorced or separated.
Furthermore, regarding to the educational background, .4% were employees at high school level or below while the percentage of those from college was 2.3%. Then, the employees with bachelor’s degrees constituted 60.2% of the responses, 34.4% employees had a master’s degree and finally only 2.7% had a doctoral degree. Lastly, in terms of tenure on current organization, the majority of the population had 1 year but less than 2 years of experience, accounting for 27%. The second highest percentage was 26% for employees working from 2 but less than 3 years. 24% of
34
responses had less than 1-year experience. Those employees with 3 but less than 4 years represented 17%, 4 but less than 5 years constituted 3%, and finally 5 years above of tenure represented 4%.
Table 4.1.
Participants Demographic Statistics (N=256)
Variable Category Frequency Percentage (%)
Gender Female 155 60.5
Male 99 38.7
Other 2 0.8
Age (years) 20-25 104 40.6
26-30 111 43.4
31-35 36 14.1
36-40 4 1.6
41-45 1 .4
Marital status Single 172 67.2
Married 83 32.4
Divorced or Separated 1 .4
Education High school or below 1 .4
College 6 2.3
University 154 60.2
Master 88 34.4
Ph.D. 7 2.7
Tenure (years) Less than 1 year 61 24
1 year but less than 2 years 68 27
2 year but less than 3 years 67 26
3 year but less than 4 years 43 17
4 year but less than 5 years 8 3
5 years and above 9 4
35
Correlation Analysis
The correlation analysis was conducted in order to examine the relationship between all variables. Table 4.2. listed the mean, standard deviation (SD), correlation, and reliability of the variables. Firstly, the analysis included the control variables: gender and tenure. Then, independent variable was leader mindfulness and the moderator of the research model were goal congruence and social interaction. Moreover, it also comprised the dependent variable employee engagement.
When it comes to the independent variable of this study, leader mindfulness, Table 4.2.
showed that it is significantly and positively correlated with the dependent variable, employee engagement (r = .744, p < .01). However, it is significantly and negatively related to goal congruence (r = -.618, p < .01) and social interaction (r = -.667, p < .01).
Dependent variable, employee engagement, is significantly and negatively related to goal congruence (r = -.654, p < .01) and social interaction (r = -.719, p < .01).
In summary, leader mindfulness is significantly and positively correlated with employee engagement. In other words, higher leader mindfulness can result in higher employee engagement.
Through correlation analysis, the hypothesis of this study, leader mindfulness is positively related to employee engagement, was supported. Moreover, the Cronbach Alpha values of all variables were above 0.8, suggesting that all the measurements had an acceptable reliability.
Table 4.2.
Mean, Standard Deviation, Correlations and Reliability of Variables (N=256)
Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Gender 1.621 .502
2. Tenure 2.594 1.292 -.027
3. Leader mindfulness 3.901 1.087 -.135* .117 (.946)
4. Goal congruence 2.002 .905 .172** -.115 -.618** (.829)
5. Social interaction 1.921 .892 .169** -.115 -.667** .686** (.846) 6. Employee
engagement
3.062 .856 -.138* .202** .744** -.654** -.719** (.916) Note. N=256; Cronbach's alpha value are on the diagonal in parentheses ⁎p < .05, ⁎⁎p < .01
36
Hierarchical Regression Analysis
Hierarchical Regression was used to analyze the relationship between leader mindfulness and employee engagement. When conducting the regression, control variables were entered first.
Thereafter, the independent variable (leader mindfulness) was entered to test its effect to dependent variable. The results of the linear regression are displayed in Table 4.3.
Hypothesis 1 stated that leader mindfulness is positively related to employee engagement.
The results in Table 4.3. indicate that 50.9% of the total variance of employee engagement can be explained by leader mindfulness (F = 110.416, p < .001). The result of the analysis also showed that leader mindfulness was significantly and positively related to employee engagement (β = .287, p < .001). Therefore, hypothesis 1 was supported.
Table 4.3.
Results of Regression Analysis for the Relationship between Leader Mindfulness and Employee Engagement (N=256)
Employee Engagement .287***
F 7.862*** 110.416*** interaction on the relationship between leader mindfulness and employee engagement. Control variables considered for this analysis were gender and tenure. Three steps were conducted to test the moderating effect as above mentioned. Firstly, control variables were entered, followed by the independent variable (leader mindfulness) and the moderator. Goal congruence and social interaction were entered as individual moderators.
Hypothesis 2a predicted that the positive relationship between leader mindfulness and employee engagement is moderated by goal congruence, such that the relationship is stronger
37
when goal congruence is higher. The findings for this hypothesis were designated in the Table 4.4.
It can be seen that the interaction term in the hierarchical regression analysis added a significant incremental variance for model 3 (∆R² = .021, p < .001).
In order to display the effect of moderator in detail, the interaction effect was plotted in the Figure 4.1. to test slope differences. Goal congruence was divided into high and low groups. This figure shows that the slope of high goal congruence is greater than that of low goal congruence. In other words, for employees with higher levels of goal congruence, high leader mindfulness can result in more employee engagement, while for employees with lower levels of goal congruence, high leader mindfulness can result in less employee engagement. Therefore, the result reveals that goal congruence strengthen the positive relationship between leader mindfulness and employee engagement. Thus, hypothesis 2a was supported.
Table 4.4.
Results of Regression Analysis for the Relationship between Leader Mindfulness and Employee Engagement, Goal Congruence as Moderator (N=256)
Variable β
1 2 3
Step 1: Control variables
Gender -.133 -.010 .002
Tenure .198 .104 .100
Step 2: Main effect
Leader Mindfulness .542*** .478***
Goal Congruence -.305*** -.319***
Step 3: Interaction
Leader Mindfulness x Goal Congruence .157***
F 7.862*** 104.386*** 91.121***
R² .059 .625*** .646***
Adj. R² .051 .619*** .639***
∆R² .059 .566*** .021***
∆F 7.862 189.211*** 14.916***
Note. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001
38
Figure 4.1. Moderating effect of goal congruence on the relationship between leader mindfulness and employee engagement
Hypothesis 2b predicted that the positive relationship between leader mindfulness and employee engagement is moderated by social interaction, such that the relationship is stronger when social interaction is higher. The findings for this hypothesis were designated in the Table 4.5. It can be seen that the interaction term in the hierarchical regression analysis added a significant incremental variance for model 3 (∆R² = .007, p < .05).
In order to examine the effect of moderator in detail, the interaction effect was plotted in the Figure 4.2. to test slope differences. Social interaction was divided into high and low groups. This figure shows that the slope of high social interaction is greater than that of low social interaction.
In other words, for employees with higher levels of social interaction, high leader mindfulness can result in more employee engagement, while for employees with lower levels of social interaction, high leader mindfulness can result in less employee engagement. Therefore, the result reveals that social interaction strengthen the positive relationship between leader mindfulness and employee engagement. Thus, hypothesis 2b was supported.
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Low Leader Mindfulness High Leader Mindfulness
Employee Engagement
Low Goal Congruence High Goal Congruence
39 Table 4.5.
Results of Regression Analysis for the Relationship between Leader Mindfulness and Employee Engagement, Social Interaction as Moderator (N=256)
Variable β
Figure 4.2. Moderating effect of social interaction on the relationship between leader mindfulness and employee engagement
Summary and Discussions
The present study was conducted to examine the relationship between leader mindfulness, goal congruence, social interaction, and employee engagement. After conducting the correlation analysis and Pearson’s correlation analysis firstly, it was found that leader mindfulness is
1
40
positively related to employee engagement. In other words, leader with higher level of mindfulness may lead to more employee engagement. According to the study of Saks (2006), it is usually more complicated for employees to measure their levels of job performance. Therefore, the social exchange theory can explain the fact that levels of engagement is utilized by employees to recompense the support from their supervisors and organizations (Cropanzano & Mictchell, 2005).
The result also shows that goal congruence has a moderating effect on the relationship between leader mindfulness and employee engagement. This is consistent with De Clercq et al.
(2011) who suggested that goal congruence assist employees to understand more clearly about the mechanism that their performance are influenced by decisions. That is to say, employees may be persuaded that mindful leaders are offering a safer and meaningful working environment (Brown
& Leigh, 1996; Kahn, 1990). The results in this study provide support for hypothesis 2a. The positive relationship between leader mindfulness and employee engagement is moderated by goal congruence, such that the relationship is stronger when goal congruence is higher.
Besides, this study also finds a moderating effect of social interaction on the relationship between leader mindfulness and employee engagement. As stated by Uzzi (1997), solid social acquaintances reinforce gratitude of employees towards what mindful leaders propose to reduce conflicting perspectives. In addition, leader mindfulness may help the followers form a deeper perception on how this mindfulness can be applied to bring about argument resolutions as well as originate securer individual working contexts (Brown & Leigh, 1996). Thus, hypothesis 2b is also supported. The positive relationship between leader mindfulness and employee engagement is moderated by social interaction, such that the relationship is stronger when social interaction is higher.
Table 4.6. below summarizes the results of the data analysis, followed by a more detailed description of each supported hypothesis.
41 Table 4.6.
Hypotheses Testing Results Summary
Hypotheses Result
H1 Leader mindfulness is positively related to employee engagement Supported H2a The positive relationship between leader mindfulness and employee
engagement is moderated by goal congruence, such that the relationship is stronger when goal congruence is higher
Supported
H2b The positive relationship between leader mindfulness and employee engagement is moderated by social interaction, such that the relationship is stronger when social interaction is higher.
Supported
43