Equity Leadership and Employee Engagement: A Case Study

Abstract This paper explores equity leadership and its potential to enhance employee engagement. It builds on Homans’ social exchange theory and incorporates elements from Alderfer’s ERG theory. Equity leadership adopts a tiered approach in which leaders address employees’ needs. This phenomenological qualitative case study examined participants’ experiences in detail. The study focused on mid-level managers at a Midwest company with around 2,000 employees who practiced equity leadership. This approach enabled researchers to gain insight into equity leadership and employee engagement. The guiding research question was: How does Equity Leadership influence employee engagement? Researchers used thematic analysis. The thematic coding process identified twelve codes, which were consolidated into the main theme of organizational synergy. Specifically, equity leadership fosters this synergy and enhances employee engagement. Participants described equity leadership through leaders’ support of resources, relationship, and opportunity needs, aligning the original 12 codes with these constructs. While organizational synergy was the primary theme, the identified codes supported the EL construct of employee resources, relationships, and opportunities.