THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEADERSHIP STYLE AND HOSPITAL EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Engagement, an important concept in the determination of overall employee output, has become an important factor within the healthcare sector, and in light of various challenges facing employees, such as high workloads and long working hours, engagement also plays a significant role in ensuring improved healthcare output. Meanwhile, leadership, which plays a major role in guiding and influencing employees toward goal achievement, is the driving force behind employee engagement. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to examine the nature of the relationship between three different leadership techniques-transformational, transactional and passive avoidant-and employee engagement in the Papua New Guinea (PNG) healthcare sector. Research has shown that transactional and transformational leadership have the highest level of impact on employee engagement as a result of the role leaders play in the inspiration and stimulation of employees. The methodology applied to examine this statement involved a random selection of 84 health employees from three PNG hospitals: ANGAU Memorial Provincial Hospital, Mount Hagen General Hospital and Port Moresby General Hospital. A correlation analysis of the quantitative research methodology was then applied to evaluate the relationship between key variables in the collected data. A final analysis of results revealed that, within the PNG healthcare sector, transformational and transactional leadership both have a positive relationship with employee engagement, while passive avoidant leadership has a negative relationship with employee engagement.