Inclusivity and Work Meaningfulness as Mediators Between Leader’s Cultural Intelligence and Work Engagement: A Two-Wave Multilevel Study

Abstract

Work engagement, a key driver to job performance, has been highly researched in the literature, yet most studies have looked at it from a job demands-resources perspective. In addition, research has rarely tapped into the social aspect of resources, which are important in work relationships. In this era of globalization, employees come from various backgrounds making the workplace more diverse than ever. From the perspective of social capital theory, the current study hypothesized that leadership can be the driver of social capital, specifically that employees’ perceptions of their leader’s cultural intelligence would be related to a stronger sense of inclusivity among employees, which then would be related to higher levels of perceived work meaningfulness and work engagement. This study used a two-wave multilevel approach where three hundred and seven employees from 71 teams in Malaysian organizations participated. As hypothesized, employees’ collective perceptions of leaders’ cultural intelligence at Time 1 were positively related to employee perceptions of inclusivity, work meaningfulness, and work engagement at Time 2. Perceptions of inclusivity also mediated the relationship between collective perceptions of leaders’ cultural intelligence and work meaningfulness while work meaningfulness mediated the relationship between inclusivity and work engagement. The findings clarify that leaders who are seen as culturally intelligent can provide social capital for employees by increasing inclusivity in the workplace, indirectly making work more meaningful which can result in higher work engagement.