Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

Persistent Identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10950/5168

Abstract

This study explores how chief executives officers (CEOs) influence top management team (TMT) members' employee engagement. Using a constructivist phenomenological approach, the research examines ways CEOs shape TMT's employee engagement. Fifteen TMT professionals participated in semi-structured interviews, and the data were analyzed through a three-step coding process: open coding to identify key concepts, axial coding to refine categories by examining relationships, and thematic coding to organize the data into central themes. Findings revealed that CEOs influence TMT's employee engagement by addressing needs at three levels: individual, team, and organizational. Each level of needs aligns with specific CEO leadership styles and essential qualities required to meet these needs. These attributes were shown to enhance TMT's employee engagement, providing practical and future research implications for HRD.

Comments

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.© 2026 The Author(s). Human Resource Development Quarterly published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

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