The role of Motivational Factors on Employee Engagement at Readymade Garments Industry, with Leadership as Moderator

The current study aims to extend the literature by examining the moderating effect of leadership styles on the relationship between motivational factors and employee engagement in the context of the readymade garments (RMG) industry of Bangladesh where both leadership styles, motivational factors and employee engagement are known to be at an unsatisfactory level. The study used Herzberg’s two-factor theory and the full range leadership model. Quantitative technique had been used and the hypotheses were investigated through path coefficient analysis of 387 employees at the RMG industry of Bangladesh. The findings show that extrinsic motivational factors, intrinsic motivational factors, transactional leadership style and transformational leadership style have significant effect on employee engagement as well as transactional leadership style moderates the relationship between intrinsic motivational factors and employee engagement. The paper discusses the implications of the findings and provides constructive suggestions on how to use motivational factors and leadership styles to positively impact employee engagement. The conclusions recommend that the industry focuses on leadership styles and motivational factors in order to fulfil more ambitious targets and sustain business for the long term.