The reflection of transformational, pseudotransformational and laissez-faire leadership in employee engagement, trust and innovation (pilot phase - movie method)

Objectives. The aim of the paper is to present the pilot phase of the second part of the research on verifying the new leadership concept (transformational - TL, pseudotransformational -PTL and laissez-faire - LFL) in terms of employee engagement, trust and innovation. Method. In a between-subject experimental design, categories of leadership were manipulated by the movie method (12 Angry Men). The role of the participants was to focus attention on selected characters (leaders) while watching the film and then respond to self-assessing scales (engagement, trust, innovation). The sample of the pilot study consisted of 36 students. Results. The results were analysed by variance analysis (ANOVA) and showed statistically significant differences in engagement, trust and innovation depending on the type of leadership. Participants perceived the highest engagement, trust and innovation in the TL condition, the lowest in the condition with PTL. Conclusions. The TL reiterated its positive effects on working attitudes and behaviour; on the other hand, PTL again appears to be the "worst" among the selected leadership styles. The LFL did not appear as negative in our research as it is described in the literature. We consider the pilot study to be a necessary step to carry out research on a target sample of employees. Limits. The limit of research is undoubtedly the size of the sample, the use of self-assessing scales and the risk of the possible impact of the movie's character un / sympathy on the outcome.