Agile Leadership and Employee Engagement Among Convenience Stores

This study examined the association between perceived agile leadership and employee engagement among convenience-store employees in Batangas. A descriptive, cross-sectional survey design was employed, with data collected from 201 store-level employees in franchised and independent convenience stores. A structured questionnaire, subjected to expert validation and pilot testing, was administered using a four-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistics (weighted mean and ranking) were used to summarize agile leadership dimensions and engagement indicators, while Spearman’s rho was used to test relationships. Overall assessments indicated favorable perceptions of agile leadership (overall mean = 3.32) and employee engagement (overall mean = 3.37). Within agile leadership, vision and purpose-driven leadership obtained the highest mean, whereas empowerment and self-organizing teams obtained the lowest. Within engagement, relationship and teamwork ranked highest, while autonomy and empowerment ranked lowest. Correlational results revealed strong, positive, and highly significant associations between agile leadership dimensions and engagement indicators (ρ = 0.659–0.840; p < .001), with particularly strong linkages involving continuous improvement and learning. Based on the findings, a plan of action was proposed emphasizing decentralized decision-making, leadership and problem-solving capacity building, and structured feedback and suggestion mechanisms. The results underscore the practical alignment between agile leadership practices and employee engagement in the convenience-store context.