Leadership Styles and Employee Engagement: Generation Z Perspective in Russia

The foremost aim of this study is to measure the direct relationship between leadership styles, namely: Servant and Authentic leadership and Work Engagement among Gen Z' employees in Russia. In addition, this study also examines the mediating role of Psychological Capital between the above mentioned variables. Data was collected among tourism faculty students with experience no less than 6 months in three high education institutions in the city of Krasnodar, Russian Federation. The empirical study was conducted with the cooperation of lecturers of tourism faculty of the selected institution from the beginning of January to the end of March 2019. The statistical methods included descriptive statistics, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and bootstrap analysis. The value of the study is parallel with uniqueness, aligned with the knowledge of the author. Moreover, this interaction is examined for the first time in literature of hospitality. As a result, leadership styles significantly influenced Gen Z employees’ PsyCap and Work Engagement; specifically, servant and authentic leadership which positively predicted Gen Z employees’ PsyCap and Work Engagement. Also, compared with Servant leadership, Authentic leadership had stronger predictive power to Gen Z employees’ PsyCap and Work Engagement. Furthermore, Gen Z employees’ PsyCap acts as a partial mediator between leadership styles and employees’ Work Engagement. The discussion part includes theoretical contributions, as well as, recommendations provided for future exploration.