Leadership Styles and Holistic Employee Well-Being in the Steel Sector: An Empirical Study in Chhattisgarh
Leadership Styles and Holistic Employee Well-Being in the Steel Sector: An Empirical Study in Chhattisgarh
Authors:
Naveen K Tiwari1,*, Dr Neha Soni2
1Research Scholar, Department of Management, Shri Shankaracharya Professional University, Bhilai, Chhattisgarh.
2Associate Professor, Department of Management, Shri Shankaracharya Professional University, Bhilai, Chhattisgarh
*Corresponding Author: Naveen K Tiwari, +91 94079 80348, nkt153@gmail.com
Abstract:
Although leadership has been widely studied as a determinant of organizational outcomes, its differential impact on the multiple dimensions of employee well-being remains insufficiently examined, particularly within the hazardous and demanding environment of the Indian steel industry. Drawing on Full-Range Leadership Theory (Bass & Avolio, 2004) and multi-dimensional well-being frameworks (Ryff, 1989; Pradhan & Hati, 2019), this study investigates how five distinct leadership styles—autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire, transactional, and transformational—simultaneously predict employees' psychological, work-related, and financial well-being. Using a stratified proportionate sampling strategy, primary data were gathered from 253 employees across major public and private steel enterprises located in Chhattisgarh, India, encompassing plants in Bhilai, Raipur, Raigarh, and Bilaspur. A structured questionnaire anchored on validated scales was administered, and data were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics Version 28. Three separate multiple linear regression models were estimated, with each well-being dimension serving as the dependent variable. The findings reveal that transformational and democratic leadership are the most consistent positive predictors of all three well-being dimensions. Transactional leadership significantly predicts psychological and work-related well-being but not financial well-being. Notably, autocratic and laissez-faire leadership exhibit positive—rather than the theoretically expected negative—associations with most well-being outcomes in this industrial context, suggesting that sector-specific and cultural moderating dynamics warrant deeper examination. Collectively, the three regression models account for 91.8% to 94.2% of variance in the respective well-being outcomes. These results carry meaningful implications for HR practitioners and industrial leaders in the steel sector seeking to engineer leadership environments that holistically support employee flourishing.
Keywords: leadership styles, employee well-being, transformational leadership, steel sector, Chhattisgarh, multiple regression, psychological well-being, financial well-being.