Inspiring employee voice through leader–member exchange

• Published date: 01 February 2022
• Author: Marymagdaline Enowmbi Tarkang,Ruth Yunji Nange,Ali Ozturen
• Date: 01 February 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2317

ACADEMIC PAPER

Inspiring employee voice through leader–member exchange

Marymagdaline Enowmbi Tarkang

1

| Ruth Yunji Nange

2

| Ali Ozturen

2

1

Faculty of Economics, Administrative and

Social Science, Istanbul Gelisim University,

Istanbul, Turkey

2

Faculty of Tourism, Eastern Mediterranean

University, Famagusta, Turkey

Correspondence

Marymagdaline Enowmbi Tarkang, Cihangir,

S¸ehit Jandarma Jandarma Komando Er, J. Kom.

Er Hakan Öner Sk. No:1, 34,310 Avcılar/

_

Istanbul, Turkey.

Email: memtarkang@gelisim.edu.tr

The competitiveness in the hotel setting around the world is increasingly developing

worldwide, as hotels try to follow innovative strategies to cultivate, and as customers

have more alternatives to make choices. This paper makes use of 3 and 4 star hotels

in the South-west region of Cameroon. Five-star hotels were not included in the

study because none were found in the region. Leader–member exchange (LMX)

induces good employee job performance and innovative outcomes through work

engagement. Good behaviour can be seen in their positive innovations and voice

contributions. As a result, leadership should be an essential part in the management

setting; this work examines the influence of LMX on employees work engagement

(EWE), and subsequently the effect of EWE on innovative work behaviour (IWB) and

employee voice behaviour (EVB) in the hotels in the South-west region of Cameroon.

Poor relationship between leaders and their subordinates hinders employee's pro-

gress and threatens the organizations' productivity and long-term success. Data used

for the present study included 272 usable responses from hotel employees using

three waves of collection with self-administered questionnaire. Correlation, confir-

matory factor and path analysis were implored for data analysis. According to the

results, it was confirmed that leader's positive interactive behaviour could have an

expressive influence on their follower's engagement levels, propagated their innova-

tion and positive voice suggestions. Staffs with EWE can express innovative behav-

iour and pursue innovation by voluntarily performing behaviours that are not

included in their roles. Hence LMX inspired employee's engagement, and the study

has great theoretical and practical implications included.

1|INTRODUCTION

In a rising competitive environment, there is the question of how to

support and enhance leadership in an organization. Leadership has

been created as a powerful factor in leader–member exchange (Jussi

et al., 2019), but very little or no attention has been given to these

mechanisms, especially in three and four star hotels in the South-west

region of Cameroon. Four-star hotels in this region are: Splendeur

hotel, Seme Beach hotel, etc., while 3* hotels are Victoria Guest

House, Fini down town hotel, LK hotel, etc. (Tripadvisor, South west,

Cameroon hotel deals, 2020). Five-star hotels were not chosen as a

part of the study because none can be found in this region. Elaborat-

ing on the link between LMX and EWE, EWE and IWB, EWE and EVB

and LMX on IWB, LMX and EVB. Prior studies have elaborated on the

fact that the so-called “hidden fact”among these contracts might be

linked to the well-being of employees, precisely in relation to EWB

(Jussi, Liisa, & Riitta, 2018). EWE is relatively linked to IWB, and all

these link up to the joy and happiness of the employees. EVB is a form

of employees responding to their needs and wants at their jobsite.

EVB allows employees to speak-up, providing information related to

decisions made by their bosses or supervisors (Silla, Gracia, &

Peiró, 2020). The tourism industry is one of the fastest growing indus-

tries in the globe nowadays, and CMR, in particular; in this sector,

much have been done on EWE, employees' voice and turn over

List of Abbreviations: LMX, leader–member exchange; EWE, employee work engagement;

IWB, innovative work behaviour; EVB, employee voice behaviour; CMR, Cameroon; SET,

social Exchange Theory.

Received: 7 April 2020 Revised: 7 June 2020 Accepted: 18 July 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2317

J Public Affairs. 2022;22:e2317. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1of13

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2317