Employee Engagement in Smes: Transparency, Audit & Justice With Transformational Leadership as a Moderator
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This study investigates that how the financial transparency, internal audit effectiveness, and organizational justice influence employee engagement in small & medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It further examines moderating role of transformational leadership. A quantitative, cross-sectional survey was conducted among 380 employees and managers from textile and glass SMEs in Faisalabad, Pakistan. Data were collected using validated 5-point Likert scales. The proposed model was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with moderation testing. The results reveal that financial transparency, internal audit effectiveness, and organizational justice each significantly enhance employee engagement. Moreover, transformational leadership moderates the relationships, indicating that governance, audit, and fairness practices are more strongly linked to engagement when employees perceive their leaders as inspirational, motivating, as well as supportive. This study develops fit multidisciplinary model linking finance, auditing, along with the ethics to employee engagement, while identifying leadership style as boundary condition. Thus, it provides novel insights for SMEs in emerging economies seeking to strengthen workforce commitment and productivity.
Authors: Khalid Hussain, Raheel Mumtaz, Muhammad Farooq Rehan
Institution: Government College University, Faisalabad
Language: English
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7108327148
FWCI:
Cites:
Cited by:
Related to: