Citation

Tan, Jue Xin (2025) Antecedents of benevolent leadership and its effects on banking employees' engagement mediated by psychological empowerment. PhD thesis, Multimedia University.

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Abstract

As the hybrid workplace is becoming a common and preferable working mode, a remote-integrated supervision may be necessary for this new workforce demand. Benevolent leadership has been proposed as a leadership style that is derived from Confucian philosophy of kindness, which extends the concerns beyond the workplace. This study discusses the effect of a benevolent workplace in the banking industry in Malaysia, which is a highly regulated industry where employee discretion is lacking. Therefore, psychological empowerment of employees was proposed to be the mediator affecting how benevolent leadership leads to higher employee engagement. The past literature has shown that it is known as one of the rewarding leadership styles that lead to various positive organisational outcomes. However, the antecedents of benevolent leadership have not been sufficiently explored thus far. Thus, this study aimed to examine the antecedents of benevolent leadership and the relationship between benevolent leadership and employee engagement with psychological empowerment as a mediator. Skill theory and social exchange theory were adopted in explaining the relationships. This is a positivist study, and a quantitative survey method was adopted. A total of 288 usable questionnaires were collected from the employees who work at different levels in banks around the major cities in Malaysia, including the Klang Valley area, Penang, and Johor Bahru. Structural equation modelling was utilised for hypothesis testing. The results revealed that, other than perspective taking, the other antecedents (perceived leader’s characteristics, perceived leader’s integrity, and emotional intelligence) are positively related to benevolent leadership. The indirect effect is found to be statistically significant, and an insignificant direct effect of benevolent leadership on employee engagement via psychological empowerment. The result of this study is expected to expand the understanding of benevolent leadership and serve as a reference for banks in cultivating a favourable leadership style to cope with modern workforce demand. It provides valuable insights for the enhancement of employee engagement through training, activities and culture shaping. This research also provides suggestions in the areas of recruitment and selection, training and development, and succession planning of the organisations, particularly in the banking industry of Malaysia.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Additional Information:	Call No.: HD57.7 .T36 2025
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Leadership (Management)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28-70 Management. Industrial Management > HD57.7 Leadership
Divisions:	Faculty of Management (FOM)
Depositing User:	Ms Nurul Iqtiani Ahmad
Date Deposited:	15 Apr 2026 08:48
Last Modified:	15 Apr 2026 08:48
URII:	http://shdl.mmu.edu.my/id/eprint/15706

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