Received: 26 February 2022 | Revised: 10 April 2023 | Accepted: 18 May 2023

DOI: 10.1111/beer.12556

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Inclusive leadership and work engagement: Exploring the

role of psychological safety and trust in leader in multiple
organizational context

Saeed Siyal

School of Economics and Management,

Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Abstract
Beijing, PR China
Building on social information processing theory and social exchange theory, this re-
Correspondence search advances the emerging concept of work engagement and inclusive leadership.
Saeed Siyal, School of Economics and
Surprisingly, there is no study linking work engagement and inclusive leadership style
Management, Beijing University of
Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, PR in the setting of multiple organizations in China. The main purpose of this study is to
China.
identify the effective leadership style affecting work engagement directly and indi-
Email: saeed@[Link]
rectly through psychological safety. The trust in leader further moderated the direct
relationships. Using multi-­source data of 390 responses from leaders-­subordinates
dyads working in 20 Chinese companies (which include textile, manufacturing, con-
struction, and trading), this study tested how inclusive leadership increased the work
engagement of their subsequent subordinates. The mediating role of psychological
safety and moderating role of trust in leader therein. The findings introduced an in-
teractive motivational framework that revealed the positive influence of inclusive
leadership on the work engagement of subordinates. Further, psychological safety
mediated the direct relationship between inclusive leaders and work engagement.
The role of trust in leader strengthened the direct relationship of inclusive leadership
with psychological safety and work engagement. This is among the first studies to
integrate inclusive leadership, psychological safety, trust in leader, and work engage-
ment into a single interactive framework. Further, it provides empirical evidence in
the context of predicting and increasing the work engagement of subordinates.

KEYWORDS
China, construction, inclusive leadership, manufacturing, psychological safety, textile, trading,
trust in leader, work engagement

1 | I NTRO D U C TI O N have also identified numerous factors affecting the work engage-
ment of employees which include performance (Kim et al., 2013),
In today's complex and diverse work environments, work engage- job crafting and personal resources (Van Wingerden et al., 2017),
ment is getting attention in academia and management practice due and leadership style (Cenkci et al., 2020) which greatly influences
to its significance role in improving employee and organizational per- the emotions and willingness of the employees to get engaged in
formance, thus it is also considered one of the most critical drivers their work. Out of the several leadership styles, inclusive leader-
for the success of organizations and businesses (Strom et al., 2014). ship has emerged as a critical factor in promoting employee work
Several empirical studies have reported a positive impact of work en- engagement and organizational success. Inclusive leaders create a
gagement on employees and organizations (Xiang et al., 2017). Some work environment that values and respects individual differences,

Business Ethics, Env & Resp. 2023;00:1–15. [Link]/journal/beer © 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. | 1
2 | SIYAL

encourages open communication, and fosters collaboration among inclusive leadership take the form of social information which is
team members. A survey conducted in about 140 countries con- spread among the subordinates working with them (Kolzow, 2014).
cluded that the average work engagement across the globe is ap- Second, besides work engagement, I also focus on the leadership
proximately 13%. Out of which, the US constitutes only 30%, while style that increases the work engagement of subordinates because
others such as Australia reported 24%, South Korea made it to each employee is found to experience work engagement through-
11%, Japan reached 7% and the lowest percentage was reported in out the whole working population within a group or organization
China which was only 6% (Gallup Inc, 2013; Gallup Institute, 2013; (Schaufeli et al., 2006) but the specific leadership style improving it
Poll, 2013). One essential aspect of inclusive leadership is the es- has unclear prevalence. Third, this study identifies an effective mech-
tablishment of psychological safety and trust between the leaders anism of psychological safety that indirectly increases the impact of
and subordinates. Psychological safety refers to the belief that one inclusive leadership on the work engagement of subordinates. When
can speak up and take interpersonal risks without fear of negative leaders are more open, willing to share their experiences, and easy
consequences. Trust, on the other hand, involves the confidence and to reach out to, it reflects in the working ability of the subordinates,
reliance that team members have in their leader. This notifies a seri- because they feel immensely safe and protected working under such
ous concern to investigate how the work engagement of employees leadership. This motivates employees to increase their engagement
in China can be improved as it is the largest global market in terms of in assigned tasks. Moreover, an additional contribution of modera-
production and export. Hence, this study takes it forward to identify tion has been revealed in this research which confirmed that trust in
the factors influencing the work engagement of employees in China. leader further strengthened the influence of inclusive leadership on
Previous research has witnessed leadership as a major factor in- the work engagement and psychological safety of the subordinates.
fluencing the work engagement of employees due to the reason that Finally, this research provides methodological advancements in the
leaders are always found as a source of inspiration and satisfaction current research by testing the proposed model in a multi-­level sam-
for their subordinates and help them create a healthy environment ple of leaders-­subordinates working in teams. Using social exchange
which assists to improve their work engagement (Bakker et al., 2011). theory and social information processing theory, a moderated me-
However, very few studies have tried to investigate the role of differ- diation model is developed and tested empirically on multi-­source
ent leadership styles in improving the work engagement of employ- data from 20 companies in China. The findings broaden the under-
ees such as transformational leadership (Ghadi et al., 2013), authentic standing of how inclusive leadership can effectively improve work
leadership (Hassan & Ahmed, 2011), and ethical leadership (Den engagement by examining important mechanisms and moderators.
Hartog & Belschak, 2012). However, the work engagement of employ- The overall proposed model is delineated in Figure 1.
ees may require a specific leadership style due to diverse teams and
work characteristics as endorsed by (Bakker, 2011). Leaders focusing
on fulfilling the needs of their subordinates are likely to increase their 2 | TH EO RY A N D H Y P OTH E S E S
work engagement (Shuck & Herd, 2012). Thus, inclusive leadership D E V E LO PM E NT
due to its specific characteristics can be best accommodated to the
current diverse work environments within the groups and organiza- 2.1 | Inclusive leadership and work engagement
tions. The study proposed that using inclusive leadership would best
fit in increasing the work engagement of subordinates working in dy- The concept of work engagement has emerged in the fields of or-
adic forms. However, this specific style has the characteristics to work ganizational and behavioral psychology and raised the attention of re-
in close association with their team members and create a healthy en- searchers and practitioners in recent years, owing to the rise in positive
vironment. In addition, this study introduces an effective mechanism psychology research (Schaufeli et al., 2002) defined work engagement
of psychological safety which created an indirect influence of inclusive as a positive and gratifying emotional and motivational state linked
leadership on the work engagement of employees in the dyadic forms with work due to the recognized key quality factors: enthusiasm,
in 20 companies across China. Moreover, the moderating role of trust dedication, and immersion. Employees with greater work engagement
in leaders further strengthened the direct link of inclusive leadership often put in even more physical and psychological energy than the
with work engagement and psychological safety. The overall study is one with low work engagement (Schaufeli, 2012). Professionals who
supported from the lens of social exchange theory and social informa- are more engaged at work commit more time, resources, and energy
tion processing theory. to their tasks, demanding a leadership style capable of continuously
The findings of this study are set out to contribute to work en- and positively sustaining their enthusiasm for their jobs. Employee en-
gagement and leadership research in multiple ways. First, the re- gagement refers to the extent to which workers are physically, men-
search aims to unfold the factors influencing the work engagement tally, and emotionally committed to the job that they undertake more
of employees and specifically the leadership style as it is the most often (Rodriguez, 2018). It is a pleasurable, fulfilling, job-­related frame
important factor. For this, I have identified the inclusive leadership of mind that is characterized by vigor dedication, and absorption” in
style that has specific characteristics (openness, availably, and ac- which one is immersed in one's work (Schaufeli et al., 2002). Engaged
cessibility) to increase the work engagement of employees. Social employees have a high level of energy and mental flexibility when it
information processing theory explains that the characteristics of comes to their job, which is evidenced by a willingness to work hard
SIYAL | 3

F I G U R E 1 Conceptual framework.

and persevere even when things are difficult. An individual's work is been scarce, particularly empirical ones, to evaluate the influence of
given significance because of his or her hard work, commitment, and certain leadership styles (Arun et al., 2021; Okun et al., 2020) such
dedication. When it comes to an employee's complete and absolute as the influence of inclusive leadership on employee work engage-
immersion in his or her work, refers to their capacity of absorption ment. One method to examine the critical role that inclusive leader-
(Cenkci et al., 2020). The employees with both the characteristics of ship plays in businesses and organizations is to look at its impact on
work engagement are always liked and encouraged by the leaders key organizational outcomes like work engagement, which is heavily
and organizations, and specifically the inclusive leadership due to its dependent on employees' feelings of inclusion that greatly affect
specific characteristics can be the best choice in fostering the work their perceptions of work engagement. Employees are highly in-
engagement of subordinates. clined to be engaged at work if they believe they are being included
Nembhard and Edmondson (2006) were the first to introduce the by their manager (Choi et al., 2015). The value of inclusive leadership
notion of inclusive leadership into the study of organizational behav- may be better understood by looking at how it affects employee en-
ior. Researchers have characterized inclusive leadership in three ways. gagement and identifying any effects on this.
Inclusive leadership empowers people to work autonomously and Indeed, the concept of inclusion in the workplace and inclusive
participate in decision-­making as per the leader-­member relationship leaders' role in fostering work engagement is still in its early stages,
viewpoint The leaders treat the workers with respect, appreciate their contrary to prevalent opinion, as shown by research in the disciplines
worth, and understand their requirements. They also assist and advise of social work and psychology that use theories of interpersonal inter-
(Carmeli et al., 2010). To be truly inclusive, leadership must also be action and social exchange as their underpinnings. Even in the man-
fair to all its employees, which means treating them the same way no agement sector, there is still more work to be done to make inclusion
matter where they work (Nembhard & Edmondson, 2006). This will a high priority. Several positive aspects relate to higher levels of work
help the subordinates to be open-­minded about others' beliefs, and engagement when it comes to inclusive leadership. First and foremost,
actions and make it easy for them to accept their mistakes without inclusive leaders help their staff succeed (Hollander, 2012). Flexibility,
any hesitation (Tang et al., 2015). As a result, inclusive leadership is a accessibility, and responsiveness are the hallmarks of inclusive leaders
helpful, participatory, fair, and fault-­tolerant leadership style that has who constantly help their followers in achieving their goals and fulfilling
a substantial influence on subordinates' work engagement. Past re- their desires (Carmeli et al., 2010). Emotionally engagement from inclu-
search has also witnessed the Leadership style as an important feature sive leaders helps establish a strong connection in their relationships
of organizations having a significant effect on employees' involvement with subordinates. It is because inclusive leaders recognize and react to
in their work (Rabinowitz & Hall, 1977) that will lead to increase in subordinates' ideas and earn their confidence (Siyal, Xin, et al., 2021).
their work engagement. Inclusive leadership prioritizes the formation By supporting inclusive leaders, follower development and adaptability
of good ties among employees. At the same time, when dealing with are aided by the organizations' culture of inclusion. (Zeng et al., 2020)
employees, they treat them with care and respect, which should have use social media sites like Twitter, which is used by individuals more
an impact on their attitudes and performance. likely to share information about their workplaces and express their
Employee work engagement is strongly influenced by leadership views. Leaders need to help and encourage their subordinates if they
(Strom et al., 2014), which is recognized as one of the most crucial want them to succeed in the workplace (Bannay et al., 2020).
drivers of corporate success. As stated by (Bakker et al., 2011), Previous studies have explored work engagement in relation to the
employing a certain kind of leadership style may result in a rise in role of leadership style, such as (Strom et al., 2014) investigated the
employees' commitment to their work which increases their work role of leadership and found two leadership styles (transactional lead-
engagement. Leadership is considered the heart of all success with- ership and transformational leadership) that strengthened the work
ing work groups and organizations (Aldulaimi, 2021). Research has engagement of employees working in different sized organizations in
4 | SIYAL

the United States. Another study conducted on students at a large increases the frequency with which employees experience worrying
Western university confirmed the positive influence of charismatic thoughts and mood changes (Aryee et al., 2012). Inclusive leaders are
leadership on the work engagement of students (Babcock-­Roberson open, accessible, and available to their subordinates at all times. It is
& Strickland, 2010). The consistent findings have also been reported widely accepted in the academic literature that inclusive leadership
by several studies in different contexts which include ethical lead- ensures subordinates credit for their input and contribution, regardless
ership and work engagement of employees working in numerous of their position in the team and organization (Carmeli et al., 2014).
business organizations in South Africa (Engelbrecht et al., 2017). A Workplace psychological safety represents an environment where em-
recent study by (Rahmadani et al., 2020) has revealed the positive ployees can take interpersonal risks without fear of being shamed or
influence of change leadership and transformational leadership in en- ridiculed (Wanless, 2016).
hancing the work engagement of employees working in one of the The behaviors of leaders play an important role in developing the
largest Indonesian state-­owned companies of the agriculture min- perception of psychological safety in their subordinates in general
istry. Hence, these studies highlight a clear gap in investigating the (Nembhard & Edmondson, 2006), and specifically, the characteristics
role of effective leadership styles (inclusive leadership) in predicting of inclusive leaders facilitate the development and strengthening of
and improving the work engagement of employees. Thus, I choose psychological safety in the subordinates. This research examines the
to address this gap by choosing inclusive leadership. This study also dilemma of how inclusive leadership develops psychological safety
gets support from the social information processing theory (Salancik in their subordinates, and their desires to expand efforts as well as
& Pfeffer, 1978) which states that employees' attitudes and actions participate in behaviors that contribute in any way. Inclusive leaders
are influenced by the information they get from their social environ- encourage their subordinates to come up with new ideas and take the
ment. The way people behave is influenced by how they think and initiative for working on them without any fear of failure. By being
how they perceive social circumstances. To a considerable degree, accessible, approachable, and available always, Inclusive leaders make
employees' attitudes and actions are influenced by the environment themselves known to their subordinates (Carmeli et al., 2010). When
in which they work. In the workplace, leaders are a key source of so- the leaders are open, accessible and available for their subordinates, it
cial information, and subordinates pay close attention to them and gives them a feeling of ease and safe to communicate with their lead-
look for directions and signals (Boekhorst, 2015). A supportive atti- ers and discuss their plans and difficulties if any. According to (Hassan
tude of equality, tolerance, and respect is created in the workplace by & Jiang, 2021), leaders need to prioritize inclusiveness to guarantee
inclusive leaders as compared to other leadership styles. While inclu- that all subordinates are given the appreciation they deserve for their
sive leaders help their people grow, they also help their staff adapt work. Hence, inclusive leaders are approachable, caring and follower-­
to the changing environment by providing guidance, support, and helping behavior helps to build high-­quality leader-­member relations,
assistance. On the one hand, this leadership style shows that the or- such high-­quality interpersonal relationships have been shown to fa-
ganization values the employees' values, supports their growth, and cilitate the development of psychological safety. Thus, this study pro-
encourages their participation. On the other hand, inclusive leaders poses the following hypothesis:
allow for contradictory viewpoints, tolerate employee mistakes, and
encourage work engagement, which reduces the psychological and H2. Inclusive leadership has a positive influence on
material costs of making an error. Employees are more likely to take psychological safety.
control if these factors are taken into consideration. Based on the
discussion and theoretical support, it is hypothesized that.
2.3 | Psychological safety and work engagement
H1. Inclusive leadership is positively related to work
engagement. The success of an organization is intimately related to the well-­being
and psychological safety of its employees. To put it another way,
a work environment that fosters psychological safety enables the
2.2 | Inclusive leadership and psychological safety engagement of employees in their work, forms relationships, grows,
and adopts new approaches to their work. Employees who feel safe
Psychological safety refers to the state of mind that is characterized in their passion for their job are more likely to succeed in getting
by stable trait characteristics and is open to change in response to engaged in their work. A study conducted in Indonesia (Ariani, 2015)
new stimuli (Carmeli et al., 2014). It is the perception of individuals revealed a significant correlation between psychological safety and
regarding the consequences of risks taken in completing their assigned the work engagement of employees in several companies. A psy-
tasks (Edmondson, 2004; Kahn, 1990). It represents the comfortable chologically safe workplace has also been shown to increase em-
state of subordinates in being themselves and expressive regardless of ployee engagement (Nelson, 2016). Psychological safety is closely
any fear of image, status, and career within the team and organization. associated with the capacity of employees to focus on their goals
Employees' psychological health may be adversely affected by stress despite the discomforts connected with new experiences and ideas
connected to their professional responsibilities, which in turn activates (Wanless, 2016). Employee psychological safety is critical to the suc-
psychological safety. Repeated exposure to fear and uncertainties cess of learning outcomes in organizations because it encourages
SIYAL | 5

staff to be engaged and committed to their work. Employees' dedi- creativity of their subordinates. (Lee & Dahinten, 2021) found that
cation and involvement have also been shown as linked to psycho- psychological safety increased the indirect influence of leaders on
logical safety. Thus, psychological safety creates a common mindset the voice behavior of nurses in three hospitals in South Korea. The
among the members of a team that allows them to take interpersonal employees having psychological safety were observed to raise their
risks without fear of failure or reprisal (Kim et al., 2020). Employees voices in their work groups as compared to those who had no or
who feel safe in the workplace are more likely to be engaged in their weak psychological safety. They researchers included two distinct
work. (Carmeli et al., 2014) argued that workplace interventions that concepts in the voice behavior of nurses that included speaking up
focus on the psychological safety of employees can improve their and withholding voice. Both the concepts showed improved results.
work engagement. Individuals are less likely to engage in experi- Moreover, the assumptions of this study are also supported by the
ences that could help them grow and improve at work if they do not social information processing theory (Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978) and
feel safe. Moreover, the level of engagement in the workplace ap- social exchange theory (Blau, 1964). The tenets of both theories re-
pears to be influenced by employees' perceptions of their psycho- flect hypothesis of mediating mechanisms of psychological safety.
logical safety. Thus, it is hypothesized that: Thus, the crent study hypothesizes that:

H3. Psychological safety has a positive influence on H4. Psychological safety mediates the relationship
work engagement. between inclusive leadership and work engagement.

2.4 | Mediating role of psychological safety 2.5 | Moderating role of trust in leader

Psychological safety refers to the sense of self-­confidence in one's Trust refers to the psychological state that comprises the intention
ability to express and use without fear of damaging self-­image (Aryee of accepting vulnerability based on positive and fair expectations or
et al., 2012). It represents the perceptions of employees regarding the behavior from others (Rousseau et al., 1998). It echoes the confidence
risks undertaken in accomplishing their responsibilities at the work- in the competence and willingness of others to work fairly and ethi-
place. These perceptions help employees remain in a comfort zone cally (Mayer et al., 1995; Tschannen-­Moran & Hoy, 2000). While the
of being themselves and standing out regardless of any fear of self-­ trust in leader represents the psychological state of the subordinates
image, position, career, capacity for self-­expression, social standing, regarding the behavior and intentions of their leaders in situations that
or professional status. In terms of teamwork, many team members entail risk (Gao et al., 2011). The subordinates' trust in leader shows
believe they may take risks with one another without fear of out- that the leaders must be kind, honest, fair, and supportive for them.
comes. Employees who work in situations where they may feel safe It has been explored in several ways; (Den Hartog & Belschak, 2012)
and respected are more productive (Kim, 2021). According to (Zeng explored that these leaders are sincere, gentle, committed, and able to
et al., 2020), it is a subjective experience of comfort and safety. make fair as well as balanced decisions in terms of the matters within
Inclusive leaders can establish an environment of psychological safety their team. Leaders with these characteristics are said to impart values
within their teams by encouraging the proper attitudes and behaviors to their employees and set clear standards for the workplace. As a
among their subordinates. As a result of their behavior, team leaders result, the subordinates will have greater confidence in their leader.
(inclusive leaders) have the biggest impact on the psychological safety Moreover, allowing subordinates' participation in the decision-­making
of their subordinates, and when they feel comfortable asking for as- process empowers them, developing their psychological safety and in-
sistance, expressing ideas, or questioning established norms, they are creasing work engagement. Inclusive leaders are more trusted by their
more likely to develop strong psychological safety. employees due to their honesty and integrity.
Previous research has suggested a positive relationship between Employees look for personal relationships for guidance in to-
psychological safety with inclusive leadership (Wang & Shi, 2021; day's fast-­changing environment, especially those that provide them
Zeng et al., 2020), and work engagement (Frazier et al., 2017; respect and boost their status (Randel et al., 2018), which further
Ge, 2020) in several studies conducted in diverse contexts. Several strengthens the employees' meanings at work. As a result, when fol-
studies have independently investigated the association between lowers are treated well by their leaders (i.e., when they have had
psychological safety, inclusive leadership, and work engagement an inclusive leadership experience), they regard the connection as
in different cultures and organizations. Very few have analyzed high quality and are likely to reciprocate by putting in more effort to
the mediating role of psychological safety in relation to leadership, enhance their psychological safety and work engagement. However,
such as (Zhu et al., 2020) studied the mediating role of psychologi- according to Almarshoud (2021), the amount of trust determines the
cal safety in the link between inclusive leadership and creativity in quality of these interactions. Employees who have faith in a leader
a sample of frontline employees from two different organizations are willing to be susceptible to the leader's actions because they
(one was related to information technology and other was related know their rights will not be violated.
to research). Their findings revealed a positive influence of psycho- A number of studies such as Hidayat (2016), Gündoğdu (2010),
logical safety in increasing the influence of inclusive leaders on the Zhang et al. (2021) investigated the moderating role of “trust.” The
6 | SIYAL

key reason is that both institutional and interpersonal relationships from the previous studies. The questionnaires were distributed through
are built on trust (Allen et al., 2021). Trust is a critical idea for effec- an online link and hard copies (where the access was distorted) among
tive leadership and is widely acknowledged as critical to an organi- the employees and leaders in these companies in China. The data col-
zation's success. A high degree of mutual trust between a leader and lection process took about 2–­3 months as the author needed to contact
a follower can lead to a strong connection (Siyal et al., 2023), which the human resource department of the companies and heads of the dif-
can influence the work engagement of followers at work. ferent departments in the targeted companies. The heads and human re-
Previous studies have mostly investigated the direct influence sources personnel were given a short briefing on the details and purpose
of trust on different leadership styles, some have also analyzed the of the data collection by email and other modes of communication and in
mediating impact of trust in leader. Results from a study by (Chan & face-­to-­face meetings. They were requested to identify the supervisor-­
Mak, 2014) found a mediating role of subordinates' trust in leader in the subordinate dyads in their respective organizations and request their vol-
link between leadership and job satisfaction. According to (Podsakoff untary participation by email or face-­to-­face meetings. The participants
et al., 1990), the degree of trust the follower places in the leader is an were briefed about the questionnaire and the purpose of the research
important aspect of leadership. They found followers' trust in leader as which is only academic research. They were asked to read each question
a mechanism to indirectly influence the impact of transformational lead- carefully and respond as per their understanding as there was no concept
ership on organizational citizenship behaviors. The author found only of right and wrong answer here. They were ensured of the confidentiality
one study that has attempted to study the moderating role of trust in of their personal information and data. A two-­stage approach was adopted
leader in a sample of MBA students at a university in Turkey (Ötken during the whole data collection process. In the first phase, the employees
& Cenkci, 2012). Their research findings revealed that trust in leader (subordinates) were requested to fill in the questions related to inclusive
moderated the relationship between paternalistic leadership and ethical leadership, psychological safety, and trust in leader as per their perception.
climate. Although there are very few studies on the role of trust in lead- In the second phase, the participation of leaders of subsequent teams was
ership and employee outcomes, it may be worth looking into it further, requested to complete the questionnaire having the items related to the
especially given the current interest in inclusive leadership. work engagement of their subordinates as per their perceptions. A total of
With this in mind, trust in leader is viewed as a moderating vari- 600 questionnaires were distributed online and in face-­to-­face meetings
able in the link of IL with employees' work engagement and psycho- with the participants. I received back 450 and excluded the incomplete
logical safety. Since trust is an important component of everyday responses and used the 390 complete responses with a response rate of
activities and well-­established relationships, as well as a requirement 75%. Systematic procedures have been followed to minimize the bias as
for organizational collaboration (Islam et al., 2021; Novitasari et al., recommended by (Podsakoff et al., 2003). The detailed demographic in-
2021). It is believed that when employees have trust in their leaders, formation of the participants for this research is given in Table 1 below.
the sense of belonging and individuality that comes with inclusive
leadership fosters high-­
quality connections between supervisors
and followers, and as a result, they are more likely to reciprocate by 3.2 | Measures
achieving better at work. Hence, to further generalize the findings,
the study proposes the following: Following the procedures recommended by (Brislin, 1980), this study
used the conventional “translate-­back translate” method to convert
H5. Trust in leader moderates the direct relationship the English language survey questionnaire into Chinese to avoid any
between inclusive leadership and work engagement inconvenience and enable the Chinese respondents to understand
such that the direct relationship is strong in the pres- properly before choosing their answers. Two professors from the
ence of trust in leader and vice versa. management department helped to identify the discrepancies in
translation and resolve the same. The study used a five-­point Likert-­
H6. Trust in leader moderates the direct relation- scale (1 = “strongly disagree,” to 5 = “strongly agree”) for all items.
ship between inclusive leadership and psychological
safety such that the direct relationship is strong in the
presence of trust in leader and vice versa. 3.3 | Inclusive leadership

The current research used the 9 items from the (Carmeli et al., 2010)
3 | R E S E A RC H M E TH O D O LO G Y study to assess the three dimensions of inclusive leaders: openness, avail-
ability, and accessibility. The employees (subordinates) were asked to rate
3.1 | Sample and procedure these items for their direct supervisors. Sample items relating to all three
attributes of inclusive leadership include “The manager is open to hearing
The target population for this research is selected from the 20 compa- new ideas” (openness), “The manager encourages me to access him or her
nies in China that included textile, manufacturing, construction, and on emerging issues” (accessibility), and “The manager is ready to listen to
trading. The data was collected using a survey questionnaire adopted my requests” (availability). The Alpha reliability of this scale was .897.
SIYAL | 7

TA B L E 1 Demographic Information.
3.7 | Analytical procedures
Variable Category Frequency Percentage

Gender Male 210 53.84 The current research adopted PLS-­SEM path modeling to test the

Female 180 46.15 proposed motivational model of this study. The existing literature
highlights certain rationales that helped in choosing the PLS-­SEM
Age <24 years 75 19.23
as an analytical approach for this research. First, the PLS-­SEM path
24–­3 0 120 30.76
modeling is being frequently used in the field of management and
31–­36 80 20.51
social sciences since its introduction (Sarstedt et al., 2014; Siyal,
37–­42 65 16.66
Saeed, et al., 2021; Siyal, Xin, et al., 2021). Second, following the
43–­49 40 10.25
recommendation of (Hair et al., 2011), this approach closely relates
50 and above 10 2.56 to the objective of this research as we intended to assess the out-
Education Graduation 160 41.03 come variable. Finally, previous research has acknowledged that this
Postgraduation 230 58.97 approach is the most advanced as well as common variance-­based
Experience Less than 3 years 80 20.51 SEM technique mostly used to analyze path modeling relationships
03–­0 8 100 25.64 (McDonald, 1996; Siyal et al., 2020). After these considerations, I
09–­14 120 30.76 used Smart PLS 3 to test the proposed relationships of this research
15–­19 65 16.66 (Richter et al., 2016). Before testing the consistency, rationality, path

More than 25 6.41 structures, and numerous assumptions related to the normality as
20 years well as multicollinearity, I checked the common method bias by fol-
lowing the recommendations of (Hair Jr et al., 2017; Podsakoff &
Organ, 1986).
3.4 | Work engagement For the current research, the whole analytical procedures were
completed in a two-­step process; (1) assessing the measurement
Work engagement was measured by using the 5 items scale from model, and (2) assessing the structural model to assess and report
the study of (Schaufeli et al., 2002). The leaders (supervisors) were the findings depicted from PLS-­SEM (Henseler et al., 2009; Sarstedt
asked to rate the items related to the work engagement of their di- et al., 2014).
rect subordinates. The items used for measuring work engagement
include “I feel strong and vigorous in my work”, and “At my work, I
feel bursting with energy”. The Alpha reliability for this construct 3.8 | Measurement model assessment
was (α = .848).
Assessing the measurement model requires calculating the psy-
chometric properties such as reliability, discriminant validity, and
3.5 | Psychological safety convergent reliability as recommended by (Hair Jr et al., 2014). The
internal consistency of the research instrument is measured by cal-
Psychological safety was measured by using the 3-­item scale adopted culating Cronbach's alpha (α) value of all the studied constructs. All
from the study of (Edmondson, 1999). The employees (subordinates) the calculated values are significant and meet the minimum thresh-
were asked to rate the items related to psychological safety. Examples old (>0.70) as per the recommendation of (Nunnally & Bernstein,
of the items include, “If you make a mistake on this team, it is often 1994). Moreover, the outer loadings of all the items added must be
held against you”, and “Members of this team are able to bring up >0.40 (Hair et al., 2012; Henseler et al., 2014) which meets the re-
problems and tough issues”. The Alpha reliability for this construct sults of loadings (refer Table 2). Hence, internal consistency is found
was (α = .756). to be a good fit. Convergent validity shows the correlation of a meas-
ure with its alternative measure and is calculated through two crite-
rions, i.e., composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted
3.6 | Trust in leader (AVE). Following the recommendations from previous studies, the
minimum acceptable threshold for CR is 0.70 (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988),
Trust in leader was measured by using the items from the study and for AVE is 0.50 and above (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). Thus, the
(McAllister, 1995). The employees (subordinates) were asked to current study results show all the values of CR and AVE up to satis-
rate the items related to the trust in leader and express their level factory levels (refer Table 2).
of trust in their leader. Examples of the items include, “Most team For calculating the discriminant validity, I followed the procedure
members trust and respect the leader (supervisor)”, “I can talk freely recommended by (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). According to this rule
to the leader/supervisor about difficulties I am having on the team of thumb, the square root of the average variance extracted (AVE)
and know that he will want to listen”. The Alpha reliability for this must be higher than the correlation between all the constructs.
construct was (α = .929). Thus, after comparing the square root of AVE of each construct with
8 | SIYAL

TA B L E 2 Measurement model.
Constructs Item Loadings Cronbach's alpha CR AVE

IL IL1 0.786 .897 0.916 0.549

IL2 0.796
IL3 0.718
IL4 0.735
IL5 0.655
IL6 0.695
IL7 0.688
IL8 0.752
IL9 0.828
WE WE1 0.729 .848 0.891 0.622
WE2 0.767
WE3 0.840
WE4 0.824
WE5 0.776
PS PS1 0.838 .756 0.860 0.673
PS2 0.856
PS3 0.764
TIL TIL1 0.765 .929 0.941 0.639
TIL2 0.837
TIL3 0.885
TIL4 0.862
TIL5 0.886
TIL6 0.680
TIL7 0.717
TIL8 0.792
TIL9 0.744

Abbreviations: AVE, average variance extracted; CR, composite reliability; IL, inclusive leadership;
PS, psychological safety; TIL, trust in leader; WE, work engagement.

all other constructs, I found those greater which confirmed that it TA B L E 3 Discriminant validity.
meets the minimum acceptable levels (refer Table 3). Hence, the re-
Constructs 1 2 3 4
search findings of this study suggest that the measurement mode
has satisfactory results for its reliability, convergent validity, and dis- Inclusive leadership 0.741

criminant validity. Psychological safety 0.523 0.820

Trust in leader 0.570 0.496 0.800
Work engagement 0.597 0.716 0.633 0.788
3.9 | Structural model Note: Values in bold at diagonal are the discriminant validities.

Following the measurement of the assessment model, the next step was analyzed by following the principal criterion recommended
was to evaluate the structural model. Structural model was assessed by (Preacher & Hayes, 2004, 2008). After applying bootstrapping,
by applying the bootstrapping of 500 samples to calculate the t-­ the results indicated a positive mediation impact in the relation-
values that are given in Table 4. The findings indicate that inclusive ship of inclusive leadership with work engagement (β = .135, p < .01,
leadership is positively related to work engagement (WE) (β = .121, t = 4.403). Moreover, it is also suggested that there should not be
p < .01), and psychological safety (PS) (β = .303, p < .01). In addition, any zero in between the indirect effects with 0.147, 95% boot con-
psychological safety also showed positive relationship with WE fidence interval (CI; for WE, lower limit [LL] = 0.080, upper limit
(β = .446, p < .01). Hence, these results confirmed that H1, H2 and [UL] = 0.198). The findings indicated that mediation hypothesis is
H3 are accepted for the current study (Table 5). supported by this research.
In line with this, the mediation effect of psychological safety For assessing the predictive relevance of the studied model, I fol-
(H4) in the link between inclusive leadership and work engagement lowed the systematic procedure suggested by (Hair et al., 2013) and
SIYAL | 9

evaluated the cross-­validated measure of redundancy (Q2) due to the on work engagement (Ghadi et al., 2013) and organizational goals
exogenous nature of endogenous variables. Predictive relevance is done (Kanungo, 2001) in a single organization. While this research has taken
to validate the model and avoid the mixing up of valid and invalid mod- inclusive leadership which constitutes the most effective way to in-
els (Hair Jr et al., 2014; Henseler & Sarstedt, 2013). The rule of thumb crease the work engagement of employees in different sectors, that
states that the Q2 value should be greater than zero; the research models also responded to the call (Shuck & Herd, 2012) for conducting a study
having a value greater than zero are considered to have good predictive focusing on the needs of subordinates to engage them efficiently and
relevance (Henseler et al., 2009). The findings indicated that the current effectively. The findings have demonstrated a positive and significant
research model has a good predictive relevance (refer Table 6). impact of inclusive leadership on the work engagement of the em-
For testing the moderation effects, this research followed the ap- ployees working in the dyadic form in various companies across China
proach by (Hu & Bentler, 1998, 1999) to determine the moderating that include textile, manufacturing, construction, and trading. The re-
impact in the relationship between endogenous and exogenous con- sults found no difference in the nature of the work that employees are
structs. Hence, an interaction term was created among the inclusive engaged in, only the inclusive leaders were there to increase their en-
leadership, psychological safety, and work engagement that indicated gagement by showing all three attributes (openness, accessibility, and
the moderating effect between the inclusive leaders and work en- availability) that motivated the employees at their workplace and in-
gagement (H5), and inclusive leadership and psychological safety (H6) creased their knowledge and skills (Bannay et al., 2020) as well as dedi-
for testing the subsequent moderation hypotheses. This indicated cation level (Jalil, 2017). They were found motivated and enthusiastic in
the moderating effects of trust in leader. The findings revealed that completing their assigned tasks and getting engaged in the new task as
both proposed moderation hypotheses were accepted (refer Table 7 they were sure of the support and help from their leaders in all the diffi-
& Figure 2). The results of H5 indicated that the moderation of trust culties that might come their way in any form. Moreover, integrating an
in leader strengthens the direct relationship between inclusive lead- important and relational leadership style in multiple settings constitutes
ership and work engagement (β = .201, p < .01, t = 5.408). While the a newer path through which the studied organizations can increase the
results of H6 are consistent with the H5, as the moderating effect work engagement of their employees regardless of the nature of work
of trust in leader in the direct relationship between inclusive leader- and assignments. To do so, the studied organizations may need to direct
ship and psychological safety also strengthens their relations when the their managers and leaders to adopt and follow the inclusive leadership
trust in leader is high and vice versa (β = .155, p < .01, t = 3.337). style which has been proved effectual in increasing the engagement of
subordinates as indicated in the findings of this study.
Besides the direct effect of inclusive leadership on work engage-
4 | DISCUSSION ment, this research also investigated the indirect effect through a
mediating mechanism, i.e., psychological safety. Through the analysis
The current research findings make a valuable contribution to the un- of this, we came to know that psychological safety played a mediat-
derexplored facet of inclusive leadership in terms of engaging employ- ing role and showed an indirect impact on the work engagement of
ees in multiple sectors directly and indirectly via effective mechanisms. the employees working in dyadic forms in various companies. It was
Few prior studies have connected leadership with work engagement, observed that psychological safety increased the influence of inclu-
but they have analyzed the impact of transformational leadership sive leadership in keeping the employees more engaged in their work
which showed its indirect effect on work engagement. The employees
TA B L E 4 Path coefficients. who had a feeling of being psychologically safe at the workplace in
an inclusive environment were seen to have increased work engage-
Path β SE t-­value
ment as compared to the ones who did not have the same feeling. This
IL → WE .121 0.040 3.064** finding is consistent with the recent studies by (Bannay et al., 2020;
IL → PS .303 0.052 5.840** Tiwari & Lenka, 2016) that also showed the same results in different
PS → WE .446 0.049 9.113** contexts and cultures. Hence, the hypotheses regarding the direct in-

Abbreviations: IL, inclusive leadership; PS, psychological safety; WE,

fluence of inclusive leadership and indirect via psychological safety on
work engagement. work engagement have been proved in this research. Hence, leaders
**p < .01. are recommended to pay attention to the psychological safety of their

TA B L E 5 Results of mediation.
CI

Hypotheses Relationship β SE t-­value 5.00% 95.00% Decision

H4 IL → PS → WE .135 0.031 4.403** 0.080 0.198 Accepted

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; IL, inclusive leadership; PS, psychological safety; WE, work
engagement.
**p < .01.
10 | SIYAL

subordinates and make that none of them is suffering from the feeling and assigned tasks. The findings proved that subordinates having psy-
of stress. It will assist the leaders in engaging them more toward work chological safety were found to be engaged more in their roles.
Moreover, incorporating the moderating effect of trust in leader

TA B L E 6 Construct cross-­validated redundancy. brought the interesting findings and a fine contribution in the areas
of inclusive leadership and work engagement of the employees work-
Q2 ing in dyadic forms. Most of the studies have used trust in leader as
Constructs SSO SSE (=1−SSE/SSO)
a mediator in testing the different relationships, such as (Podsakoff
PS 1167.000 905.775 0.224 et al., 1990) studied the mediating effect of trust in leader in the re-
WE 1945.000 1176.946 0.395 lationship between transformational leadership and organizational
Abbreviations: PS, psychological safety; SSE, sum of square of citizenship behaviors. After several years, another study by Wang
equations; SSO, sum of square of observation; WE, work engagement. et al. (2016) investigated the mediating role of trust in leader in the

TA B L E 7 Results of moderation.
CI

Hypotheses Relationship β SE t-­value 5.00% 95.00% Decision

H5 IL × TIL → WE .201 0.037 5.408** 0.129 0.275 Accepted

H6 IL × TIL → PS .155 0.046 3.337** 0.073 0.252 Accepted

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; IL, inclusive leadership; PS, psychological safety; TIL, trust
in leader; WE, work engagement.
**p < .01.

F I G U R E 2 Structural model.
SIYAL | 11

link between transformational leadership and employee feedback-­ these attributes in order to increase the work engagement of their
seeking in high-­tech firms in China. Up to the knowledge of the au- subordinates which in turn will increase their performance.
thors, only a single study has investigated the moderating role of Second, this research has proposed newer linkages that have
trust in leader (Ötken & Cenkci, 2012) in a sample of Turkish employ- not been studied before in the same settings. Incorporating the me-
ees which falls in Europe as well as Asia. That study has investigated diating impact of psychological safety in this interactive research
the moderating effect of trust in leader in the relationship between model proved useful in increasing the indirect impact of inclusive
paternal leadership and ethical climate. The findings indicated par- leadership on the work engagement of employees. The findings
tial support for the moderating role of trust in leader. This shows demonstrated that psychological safety is an important intervening
that no study has analyzed the moderating role of trust in leader in mechanism that enables employees to develop a feeling of safety at
relation to the inclusive leadership style, and perhaps this is the first their workplace (Ge, 2020; Maximo, 2015) and motivates them to get
study to do so and make an addition in the literature of inclusive engaged in their routine and other assigned work without any sec-
leadership and work engagement. In this regard, it was tried to incor- ond thought. This also increased the impact of inclusive leadership
porate the moderating role of trust in leader in the relationship be- on work engagement through its indirect impact on the mentality of
tween inclusive leaders and work engagement, psychological safety, the employees. The employees having the feeling of psychological
and work engagement to increase the generalizability of the prior safety can get engaged in work with a little support from the leaders
research. The study findings illustrated that the relations between or without that in certain circumstances. The subordinates with psy-
inclusive leadership and work engagement were found to be stron- chological safety are found to have improved work engagement as
ger in the presence of high trust in leaders and vice versa. The same compared to those with less or no psychological safety.
findings were observed in the link between psychological safety Third, research provides theoretical advancements in the leader-
and work engagement. Hence, it was proved that the results fully ship domain by introducing the moderating role of trust in leader which
supported the assumptions regarding the role of inclusive leader- was found to further strengthen the proposed relationships of inclusive
ship, psychological safety, and trust in leader in fostering employee leadership and psychological safety with work engagement in a diverse
work engagement in various companies across China. All the pro- workplace setting that include construction, trading, textile, and manu-
posed hypotheses have been proved accepted in this study which facturing. In consistence with the previous studies (Sun & Wang, 2009),
illustrated that inclusive leadership proved effective in increasing the trust in leader was found to develop a thinking of satisfaction
the work engagement of subordinates in the studied organizational among the subordinates that their needs will be taken care of by their
settings thereby building psychological safety in them. The state of leaders and full support will be available for them. This satisfaction en-
leaders showing the attributes of openness, availability, and accessi- abled them to get engaged in their work. Inclusive leaders take an ac-
bility to their subordinates strengthened their trust which ultimately tive part to build their identity of being inclusive in their group which
increased their work engagement. helps them to build subordinates' trust in them. The subordinates who
trust their leaders are found to have strong connections with them and
increased work engagement at the workplace. Hence, it is one of the
4.1 | Theoretical implications remarkable contributions of this study. Trust in leader strengthens the
bonding among leaders and subordinates in teams and organizations.
The current study enriches the current literature on work engagement Finally, the research adds contributions in terms of method-
and inclusive leadership and makes some key theoretical contribu- ological advancements by theorizing and testing the moderated
tions. First, this research revealed the role of inclusive leadership in mediation model for investigating the impact of trust in leader and
fostering work engagement of the employees working in the dyadic psychological safety in the relationship between inclusive leadership
form in multiple Chinese companies of different natures including tex- and work engagement. No prior research has examined the mod-
tile, manufacturing, trading, and construction. An inclusive leader in erating effects of trust in leaders in the relationship of inclusive
these companies is supposed to inspire subordinates and make them leadership and the work engagement of employees from multiple
feel easy at the workplace so that they may get engaged in their as- companies in China. In addition, multi-­source data was obtained with
signed tasks. The main three attributes of inclusive leaders (openness, a response rate of 75 percent to test the proposed hypotheses that
accessibility, and availability) help create an inclusive environment at minimized the chances of self-­selection bias. The large sample size
the workplace (Chen et al., 2020), no matter if it is related to construc- (N = 390) enabled us to derive more stable results for this research.
tion work, trading, textile, or manufacturing. The leaders being open Perhaps, this research is the first or among the pioneer studies to
for discussion and talk to their subordinates, easy to access and avail- test the intervening effects that strengthen the link between inclu-
able for the subordinates without such formalities, appointments, or sive leadership and work engagement in general and in the context
fear of face-­to-­face discussions like colleagues or friends enables the of textile, manufacturing, construction, and trading companies. The
subordinates to feel supported and helpful in enriching their skills with inclusive leadership is one of the best leadership styles with specific
the support of their leaders and that ultimately helped them to bring attributes which increased the work engagement of subordinates,
in new ideas which keep them engaged in their work. The leaders in strengthened psychological safety in them and trust on their leaders
the studies organizations and others alike are recommended to adopt in diverse workplace settings.
12 | SIYAL

4.2 | Managerial implications increase the work engagement and psychological safety of their subor-
dinates thereby building a sense of trustworthiness in them.
This study findings also indicated some practical implications for prac-
tice and leaders' community in various companies including the ones
studied in this research. First, the research findings illustrated that an 4.3 | Limitations and future directions
inclusive leadership style is favorable to increasing the work engage-
ment of employees working in dyadic forms in different companies. Despite several significant contributions to the theory and practice,
Therefore, employers are recommended to direct their leaders to there are a few limitations in this research. First, although the data
adopt this form of leadership that will help them to work in close as- from multi-­source has been used to derive the research findings
sociation with their subordinates by being open, accessible, and avail- against the proposed relationships. Future studies are recommended
able for discussion regarding all the matters at the workplace. This will to use the longitudinal approach in investigating the impact of inclu-
create an inclusive work environment and encourage employees to sive leadership on the work engagement of employees working in
get engaged in the assigned tasks as well as take the initiative to get dyadic forms. Getting identical findings will increase confidence in
involved in other tasks that come their way. For the leaders having dif- results. Second, the data was collected from a single country (i.e.,
ferent leadership styles, the employers are recommended to identify China), which has the possibility to limit the applicability of findings
the gaps in their inclusive leadership characteristics and engage them in other cultural settings, specifically in western settings. Future
in other assignments rather than the group leaders working in dyadic researchers are encouraged to replicate or test the model in other
forms and arrange training along with relevant courses for the manag- industries, and countries to increase the generalizability of the find-
ers to overcome the gaps and learn the inclusive leadership style. ings and implications. Third, in terms of trust in leader evaluations,
Second, the findings advance the idea that inclusive leadership chinses employees are believed to trust their supervisors and lead-
enhanced the psychological safety of employees working in dif- ers due to the collectivism and high-­power distance in their cultural
ferent settings. The specific characteristics of inclusive leaders to background (Hofstede, 2001). The study findings may raise concerns
being open, accessible, and available for their subordinates created about the application in different cultural settings. Therefore, future
a friendly environment at the workplace which enabled the subordi- studies are recommended to validate the research findings in differ-
nates to share their needs and problems with their fellows and lead- ent cultural countries or a cross-­cultural setting. Lastly, this research
ers. It also created an environment that tolerated the mistakes and investigated the medicating mechanism of psychological safety and
different opinions of subordinates that may not be right. In this way, moderating role of trust in leader. It is probable that other mediating
the leader-­subordinates built a fine mentoring relationship that pro- and moderating effects may occur in the relationship between inclu-
vided career and psychological support and the leaders acted as role sive leadership and the work engagement of the employees. It might
models for their subordinates (Scandura, 1992). A series of measures be of interest to identify the other psychological and trust mecha-
should be created for the employees to improve their psychological nisms to test the effect of inclusive leadership or other forms as well.
safety to enhance work engagement.
Third, the findings of this research are in line with guidelines is-
sued by the national health commission of China in January 2021 4.4 | Conclusion
(NHC, 2020) that recommend adopting an inclusive environment at
the workplace to support their employees to overcome the psycho- With this study, I contribute to leadership and human resources
logical crisis during the current pandemic of COVID-­19 (Li et al, 2020). management in three regards. First, I identified that there are very
Certain strategies must be formed to provide real-­time support to all few studies that investigated the impact of leadership style in gen-
the employees and those working in dyadic forms during and after the eral and inclusive leadership in particular in fostering the work
pandemic. The same recommendations apply to post covid and normal engagement of the subordinates working in dyadic forms. This ob-
circumstances. Improving employee engagement in the current sce- servation could be striking as most of the research has considered
nario of the pandemic is a real challenge for inclusive leaders, but it other leadership styles and work engagement of employees working
may be easy for them by increasing the psychological safety of their individually rather than in dyads. Their findings lack a deeper under-
subordinates to fully get engaged in their assignments. standing of work engagement and its relationship with leadership.
Finally, inclusive leaders strongly need to develop trust in their sub- Current findings revealed that inclusive leadership being the rela-
ordinates which will enable the subordinates to build a sense of trust- tional leadership style having specific attributes proved very useful
worthiness for their leaders. The leaders need to use different tactics to and effectual in increasing the work engagement of subordinates in
deal with the current and new members of their team to make them feel the multiple organizations of the largest global market. Second, we
their presence and worth within the team and workplace. Leaders need introduced an interactive motivational model that notifies the most
to be careful when reacting to their subordinates' behaviors and de- effective leadership style for increasing the work engagement of
velop healthy interactions with the team members. In addition, offering subordinates directly and indirectly via psychological safety. Here,
rewards and promotions will add to keeping the employees engaged. psychological safety played the role of motivation for the employ-
This study findings provide effective strategies for leaders looking to ees to get engaged more in their work. Third, the research findings
SIYAL | 13

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AU T H O R B I O G R A P H Y
Shuck, B., & Herd, A. M. (2012). Employee engagement and leadership:
Exploring the convergence of two frameworks and implications
for leadership development in HRD. Human Resource Development Saeed Siyal is a PhD candidate in the School of Economics and
Review, 11(2), 156–­181. Management at Beijing University of Chemical Technology.
Siyal, S., Liu, J., Ma, L., Kumari, K., Saeed, M., Xin, C., & Hussain, S. N.
He received his Masters degree from School of Public Affairs,
(2023). Does inclusive leadership influence task performance of
hospitality industry employees? Role of psychological empower- University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei China and
ment and trust in leader. Heliyon, 9(5), 1–­18. Bachelors degree from University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Sindh,
Siyal, S., Saeed, M., Pahi, M. H., Solangi, R., & Xin, C. (2021). They can't Pakistan. He has published in well reputed impact factor and
treat you well under abusive supervision: Investigating the impact
peer-­review journals. He is editing two book projects with IGI
of job satisfaction and extrinsic motivation on healthcare employ-
ees. Rationality and Society, 33(4), 401–­423. Global on entrepreneurial leadership and using crisis and disas-
Siyal, S., Xin, C., Peng, X., Siyal, A. W., & Ahmed, W. (2020). Why do high-­ ters for innovation and improvement. His research interests in-
performance human resource practices matter for employee out- clude Human resources management, organizational behavior,
comes in public sector universities? The mediating role of person–­
Leadership, technology, innovation, and education.
organization fit mechanism. SAGE Open, 10(3), 2158244020947424.
Siyal, S., Xin, C., Umrani, W. A., Fatima, S., & Pal, D. (2021). How do leaders
influence innovation and creativity in employees? The mediating role
of intrinsic motivation. Administration & Society, 53(9), 1337–­1361.
Strom, D. L., Sears, K. L., & Kelly, K. M. (2014). Work engagement: The
roles of organizational justice and leadership style in predicting en-
gagement among employees. Journal of Leadership & Organizational How to cite this article: Siyal, S. (2023). Inclusive leadership
Studies, 21(1), 71–­82. and work engagement: Exploring the role of psychological
Sun, J.-­M., & Wang, B. (2009). Servant leadership in China: safety and trust in leader in multiple organizational context.
Conceptualization and measurement. In Advances in global leader-
Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, 00, 1–15.
ship. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Tang, N., Jiang, Y., Chen, C., Zhou, Z., Chen, C. C., & Yu, Z. (2015). Inclusion [Link]
and inclusion management in the Chinese context: An exploratory

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