ABSTRACT
Today’s workforce is changing at a rapid pace. Organizations have become flatter and more collaborative, employee access to rewards has become increasingly complex, businesses are operating in a global marketplace, and teams are operating in virtual environments (Rousseau, 1997). While creating opportunities for employee growth and development (e.g., working from home, taking on an overseas assignment), such changes may also produce an array of unintended consequences. One such consequence is the change in the nature of interaction between leaders and their followers. More specifically, rapid business growth, “going global,” and virtual teams create leader–follower “distance;” this, in turn, changes the way leaders influence followers’ behaviors and outcomes including employee engagement. The purpose of this chapter is threefold: (1) to provide an integrative review of the academic literature for the key constructs of employee engagement and leader–follower distance; (2) to discuss how various forms of leader–follower distance moderate the relationship between leadership and employee engagement; and (3) to provide practical suggestions that distant leaders can implement to increase employee engagement in today’s dynamic workplace.
