Transformational leadership, employee engagement and quality assurance in education: a meta-analytical study

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to synthesise empirical evidence on the relationship between transformational leadership and employee engagement in educational institutions and to examine its relevance for quality assurance (QA) in education. Design/methodology/approach A meta-analysis was undertaken of nine empirical studies conducted in educational settings that used the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. A pooled correlation coefficient was calculated to estimate the overall effect size, and methodological issues associated with meta-analysis in the social sciences were explicitly considered. Findings The results indicate a medium-to-large positive relationship between transformational leadership and employee engagement (r = 0.42). The findings demonstrate that transformational leadership is a consistent and significant antecedent of engagement across educational contexts, reinforcing its importance for sustaining internal quality processes and meeting external accountability and accreditation demands. Research limitations/implications Endogeneity issues in the social sciences limit the absolute precision of r values resulting from meta-analyses. However, despite this inherent limitation, the present study reveals a substantive relationship between transformational leadership and employee engagement. Accordingly, the findings of this study confirm that transformational leadership significantly enhances employee engagement across educational contexts. Practical implications The study highlights the importance of leadership development strategies that promote transformational behaviours as a means of enhancing employee engagement and strengthening institutional quality cultures. Social implications The study’s findings have important implications for institutional policy and governance, one of which is that senior education leaders and governing bodies should recognise employee engagement as a quality indicator, not solely a human resource outcome. Originality/value This paper extends the QA and educational leadership literature by providing one of the first meta-analytical estimates of the transformational leadership–employee engagement relationship in education, offering a robust empirical foundation for leadership and QA policy at institutional and system levels.