View article

Although leaders can play an important part in shaping employees' workplace attitudes, we know little about the ways in which their work engagement affects follower engagement. Drawing on leader-member exchange and crossover theory, we examine how leaders' work engagement can spread to followers and highlight the role of leader-member exchange (LMX) as an underlying explanatory process. Specifically, we argue that leaders who are highly engaged in their work have better relationships with their followers, which in turn explains elevated employee engagement. We surveyed 511 employees nested in 88 teams of a large service organization, as well as their supervisors. Employees and supervisors provided data in this multi-source survey study. Multilevel path analysis revealed that leaders' engagement enhanced LMX quality, which further boosted employee engagement. Finally, employee engagement was positively linked to performance, and negatively linked to turnover intentions. We discuss leaders' work engagement as a key to positive leader-follower relationships and a means for promoting employee engagement and performance.