Leadership styles, motivating language, and work engagement: An empirical investigation of the hotel industry

This study examines the relationship between leadership style (servant and transformational leadership), motivating language and work engagement. A sample of 391 lower and mid-level Bangladeshi hotel employees, selected via simple random sampling, participated in a cross-sectional survey. The mediating effects of motivating language regarding the association between the two leadership styles and work engagement were examined using partial least square-structural equation modelling. Both leadership styles and three types of motivating language have positive relationships with work engagement. Even though all three types of motivating languages mediate the link between servant leadership and work engagement, the link between transformational leadership and work engagement is only mediated by direction-giving and empathetic language. This study is novel in its application of the speech act theory to the investigation of the mediating effects of motivating language on the relationship between the two leadership styles and work engagement. Practical and theoretical contributions are also discussed.