TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND SERVICE ENGAGEMENT

OF COMMISSIONED POLICE OFFICERS

A Thesis Proposal
Presented to the Faculty
Of the College of Criminal Justice Education
University of Mindanao
Davao City

In fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Bachelor of Science in Criminology

________________________

ZEN DOMINIC
PRECY JULIENNE
PRINCE NESTOR

December 2022

This sample outline is courtesy of Ms. Mechelle Gempesao, MSCJ student, UM PS (Modified)
 INTRODUCTION

Problem Situation (DV)

Service engagement for law enforcers is providing services to the

community and eradicating criminality, maintaining peace and order in society.

However, confusion set in when one asks who the police officers are servicing

because most are protecting the government officials and sees all people as

criminals when the people protest the certain policy of the government that are

abusive’ when clearly the criminal justice system spelled out that it is the

community where the police should engage with and render their services by

eradicating criminal in their midst (Mendoza, Ilac, Francisco, & Casilao, 2020).

Importance of Studying the DV

The importance of studying service engagement has a significant and

positive link to an organization’s performance according to Kumar and Pansari

(2016), . Furthermore, the benefits of service engagement are a positive

workplace environment, interpersonal relationships, and general wellbeing

(Anitha, 2014). Generally, many benefits accrue to organizations from an effective

service engagement strategy, including increased employee performance and

competitive advantage (Anitha, 2014).

Link Between IV and DV

It was pointed out that service engagement is essential to achieving

organizational goals, and researchers, therefore, took an interest in service

engagement to identify the elements that would encourage or discourage

employee engagement (Gelderman, Semeijn, and Bruijn, 2015). Bakker and

Albrecht (2018) suggested that employee engagement maintained its popularity

because it can predict organizational outcomes. Several studies have

This sample outline is courtesy of Ms. Mechelle Gempesao, MSCJ student, UM PS (Modified)
demonstrated that positive leadership styles, such as transformational leadership,

provide a critical role in developing employee service performance and outcomes.

Moreover, service leadership style more specifically related to the service context

has received substantial attention in the extant literature (Zheng, Graham,

Epitropaki, and Snape, 2020).

Literature and Related Studies

Efficient service engagement among employees in the public sector has

increasingly become a topic of great interest. The service engagement of

employees is a vital concept within the field of positive consciousness and plays a

critical and important role in the sustainable process of organizational

development and change because it concerns the focused energy aimed at

organizational goals. For employees in the public sector, a high degree of

engagement could be highly conducive to fostering the quality of public services

(Bakker & Albrecht, 2017; Kim et al., 2016). However, employees in the public

sector are inclined to engage less than those in the private sector.

The transformational leadership is defined as a leadership approach that

causes a change in individuals and social systems. In its ideal form, it creates

valuable and positive change in the followers with the end goal of developing

followers into leaders. Transformational leadership is a kind of leadership, in

which a leader has an extraordinary ability to influence Transformational leaders,

can unite all their subordinates, and can change subordinates’ personal beliefs,

attitudes, and goals. Subordinates will have trust, admiration, pride, loyalty, and

respect for superiors, and therefore, they are motivated to do something more

than expected, when they are led by a transformational leader (Mousa, 2019).

This sample outline is courtesy of Ms. Mechelle Gempesao, MSCJ student, UM PS (Modified)
 Based on the study conducted by Gozukara and Simsek (2015), they found

out that transformational leadership influences service engagement. Also, in the

study of Lai, et al., (2020), they argue that transformational leadership styles, that

are well implemented, can increase employee work performance. However,

Stewart (2012) proved that transformational leadership has not been able to

increase work engagement significantly. From previous researchers above,

viewed from the influence of transformational leadership on work engagement, it

is known that there are gaps in research results.

Surprisingly, Balwant (2017) and Mousa (2019) found out that each of the

vision-focused transformational leadership behaviors stimulates employee

engagement. First, a clear vision helped employees to internalize the

organization’s goals and values and understand how valuable their contributions

and set goals are towards achieving this vision. Second, the use of inspirational

communication engaged employees via emotional contagion, a non-conscious

process by which moods are transferred through mimicry of displays. Third,

intellectual stimulation involved leaders’ challenging employees to critically

examine situations and find creative solutions to organizational problems. Fourth,

a leader’s use of supportive leadership and personal recognition was related to

employee engagement in accordance with social exchange theory.

Police' psychological connection with their work has gained critical

importance in the information/service economy of the 21st century. Contemporary

police organizations need police officers, who are psychologically connected to

their work; who are willing and able to invest themselves fully in their roles; who

are proactive and committed to high-quality performance standards. They need

police officers who are engaged with their work (Bakker & Leiter, 2010).

This sample outline is courtesy of Ms. Mechelle Gempesao, MSCJ student, UM PS (Modified)
 Similarly, due to the multiple roles, the police are expected to perform,

along with the myriad of external and internal influences that tend to shape police

policy and public expectations, the right measure of discretionary authority by the

police is essential. For police officers, ethical conduct is especially important

because of the authority granted to them and because of the difficulty of

overseeing the daily behavior of police officers on the street. The police should be

regarded as responsible and accountable for their actions, both the organization

as a whole and individuals performing their police duties (Stone, & Travis, 2011).

Theoretical Framework

This study is anchored on the Bass’s Transformational Leadership Theory

(developed in 1985 (McCleskey, 2014). Accordingly, a transformational leader can

influence the engagement of subordinates to the performance of the services

required from them. Moreover, this theory has been validated in various fields

such as the military, education, project management, and coaching. Community

policing is modifying police officers’ work, making them autonomous at work.

Furthermore, they stated that trust, admiration, pride, loyalty, and respect for

superiors, and therefore, they are motivated to do service engagement ethically

more than expected, when they are led by a transformational leader. Thus, it can

be stated that transformational leadership has an orientation towards

subordinates or employees.

Conceptual Framework

Shown in Figure 1 is the conceptual framework of the study consisting

independent variable and dependent variable. The independent variable is

transformational leadership (Hughes, 2014) with the following indicators, namely:

idealized influence, which refers to employees’ perceptions of what having

This sample outline is courtesy of Ms. Mechelle Gempesao, MSCJ student, UM PS (Modified)
transformational leaders who behave in ways that result in their being role models

for their followers; inspirational motivation, which refers to the leader's ability to

inspire confidence, motivation and a sense of purpose in his followers; intellectual

stimulation, which refers to having a leader who encourages innovation and

creativity, as well as critical thinking and problem-solving; and individualized

consideration referring to the extent to which a leader attends to each follower's

needs and is a mentor, coach or guide to the follower.

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Transformational Leadership Service Engagement

 Idealized Influence  Physical Engagement
 Inspirational Motivation  Emotional Engagement
 Intellectual Stimulation  Cognitive Engagement
 Individualized
Consideration

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework of the Study

On the other hand, the dependent variable is service engagement (Jojo,

2016) among police personnel in Davao City indicated with physical engagement,

refers to the extent to which employees expend their efforts, both physical and

mental, as they go about their jobs; emotional engagement, that refers to the

This sample outline is courtesy of Ms. Mechelle Gempesao, MSCJ student, UM PS (Modified)
emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals; and

cognitive engagement, that refers to the need for employees to be acutely aware

of and aligned with the organizational strategy and know what they need to deliver

the optimal return on their work effort.

The following terms are defined operationally for a clear understanding of

the readers. Service Engagement refers to the job engagement of police

personnel as a result of commissioned police officers’ transformational leadership,

which will be gauged in this study through domains physical engagement,

emotional engagement, and cognitive engagement. Transformational Leadership

refers to the leadership style practiced by commissioned police officers in Davao

City Police Office measured through parameters idealized influence, inspirational

motivation, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration. Personal Ethics

refers to the individual moral principles practiced by commissioned police officers

towards their subordinates as well as that of police personnel towards the

community.

Primary and Specific Objectives

The main objective of the study will be to determine the relationship of the

transformation leadership and service engagement of police officers. Specifically,

it aims to provide answers to the following objectives; first, ascertain the level of

transformational leadership among Davao City police commissioned officers in

terms of idealized influence; inspirational motivation; intellectual stimulation; and

individualized consideration. The second is to assess the level of service

engagement of Davao City police officers in terms of physical engagement;

emotional engagement; and cognitive engagement. And lastly, to determine the

This sample outline is courtesy of Ms. Mechelle Gempesao, MSCJ student, UM PS (Modified)
significant relationship between transformational leadership and service

engagement.

Hypothesis

Furthermore, the formulated null hypotheses will be tested at the level of

significance of 0.05. It assumes that there is no significant relationship between

transformational leadership and service engagement.

Significance of the Study

The study will provide baseline data, wherein police organizations from

various nations may pick relevant pointers as to how the organization functions

effectively by employing transformational leadership that would ethically motivate

police officers to appropriately perform quality service engagement. Davao City

Police Office will also benefit from the study by fully utilizing transformational

leadership with the touch of commissioned officers’ personal ethics mobilizing the

police personnel to render quality service engagement. Police officers both

commissioned and non-commissioned will also realize their role under

transformational leadership, wherein personal ethics could play a role for the

subordinate police officers to render service engagement in line with the goal of

the organization. The future researcher may use the result of the study as their

premise and reference pursuing another study such as lived experiences of police

personnel in rendering community service engagement.

This sample outline is courtesy of Ms. Mechelle Gempesao, MSCJ student, UM PS (Modified)
 METHOD

Presented in this section are the methods that will be used in the study

such as study research subject, instruments, as well as design and procedure.

Research Respondent

The respondents of the study will be the police officers of Davao City Police

Office (DCPO) in Davao City; all are non-commissioned police officers,

considering that leadership will be gauged in the study. Davao City has one of the

lowest crime rates in the world averaging at 0.8 in every 10,000 persons per

month. The Davao City Police Office has consistently been chosen as the Best

Police Office in the entire country. It has been recognized by the Philippine

National Police (PNP) for being an outstanding police unit in the region.

The study will employ a stratified random sampling technique, wherein only

the available and willing police officers of the mentioned police organizations,

especially those who have been assigned to the organization for more than one

year comprise the headquarters, namely Camp Vicente Leonor and the 12 police

precincts located in the strategic areas of Davao City will be taken as respondents

of the study. The researcher will take around 400 Police Officers as respondents

to the study. Stratified random sampling is typically used when trying to evaluate

data from different subgroups or strata. It allows them to quickly obtain a sample

This sample outline is courtesy of Ms. Mechelle Gempesao, MSCJ student, UM PS (Modified)
population that best represents the entire population being studied (Qualtrics,

2022).

Instruments

The questionnaire that will be used in this study consists of two variables

adapted from their sources, one for each variable. For the independent variable it

was adapted from Hughes (2014), and the dependent variable from the research

of Jojo (2016). The preliminary draft will be forwarded to the research adviser for

checking and possible suggested enhancements, and then it will be forwarded to

the validating panel to check its reliability and validity.

The questionnaires consisted of two parts as follows: Part I is the

independent variable transformational leadership of commissioned Police officers

with indicators of idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual

stimulation, and individualized consideration; Part II is the dependent variable

service engagement with indicators physical engagement, emotional engagement,

and cognitive engagement.

The variables of the study will be rated using 5-level Likert Scaling system

as follows:

Rating Range of Descriptive Meaning

Mean Level

5 4.20-5.00 Very High Respondents strongly agree with the

stated attributes of Commissioned
Police Officers

4 3.40-4.19 High Respondents agree with the stated

attributes of Commissioned Police
Officers

3 2.60-3.39 Moderate Respondents moderately agree with the

stated attributes of Commissioned
Police Officers

This sample outline is courtesy of Ms. Mechelle Gempesao, MSCJ student, UM PS (Modified)
 2 1.80-2.59 Low Respondents disagree with the stated
attributes of Commissioned Police
Officers

1 1.00-1.79 Very Low Respondents strongly disagree with the

stated attributes of Commissioned
Police Officers

Design and Procedure

Quantitative non-experimental research utilizing the descriptive-correlation

technique will be employed in this study. Correlation design is used to identify the

strength and nature of the association between two or more variables it was

applied and dealt with the relationship that correlating variables could vary directly

with one another and vary inversely as one decreases and the other increases as

vary independently with each other (Creswell, 2003). This design is appropriate in

determining the transformation leadership and service engagement of police

officers.

Moreover, the study will follow the necessary steps in conducting the study.

The first step after confirming the validity and reliability of the questionnaire will be

to prepare letters address to the City Director of DCPO noted by the Dean of

College of Criminal Justice Education asking permission to conduct a survey

among the police personnel. After securing the approval, questionnaires will be

administered to the police officers in a face-to-face manner considering the lenient

situation today; however, if at the time of conducting a survey, stricter health

protocol will be implemented, the researchers will resort to online survey using the

Google form. The answered questionnaires will be collected by the researcher

and only valid ones will be included by tallying the same and forward it to the

This sample outline is courtesy of Ms. Mechelle Gempesao, MSCJ student, UM PS (Modified)
school statistician for the computed data, which will be analyzed and interpreted in

the succeeding sections.

The study will use Mean, and Pearson Product Moment Correlation. Mean

will be used to measure the levels of transformational leadership and service

engagement among Davao City police commissioned officers. Lastly, Pearson

Product Moment Correlation will be utilized to determine the relationships

between transformational leadership and personal ethics.

This sample outline is courtesy of Ms. Mechelle Gempesao, MSCJ student, UM PS (Modified)
 References

Ancarani, A., Di Mauro, C., Giammanco, M.D., & Giammanco, G. (2017). Work
engagement in public hospitals: a social exchange approach. Public
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Anitha, J. (2014). Determinants of employee engagement and their impact on

employee performance. International Journal of Productivity and
Performance Management, 63, 308–323. doi:10.1108/IJPPM-01-2013-
0008

Bakker, A.B. & Albrecht, S.L. (2018). Work engagement: current trends. Career
Development International, 23(1), 4–11.

Bakker, A. B. & Leiter, M. P. (2010). Work engagement: Introduction. In A. B.

Bakker (Ed.) & M. P. Leiter, Work engagement: A handbook of essential
theory and research (pp. 1–9). Psychology Press.

Balwant, P.T. (2017). Stay close! leader distance, transformational leadership,

engagement, and performance in teams. Academy of Management
Proceedings, 2017(1), 10785.

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Free Press.

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Christensen, B. & Johnson, L. (2012). Educational Research : Quantitative,
Qualitative, and Mixed Approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE
Publications.

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services. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 21, 1-8.

Gozukara, I. & Simsek, O.F. (2015). Linking transformational leadership to work

engagement and the mediator effect of job autonomy: a study in a Turkish
private non-profit university. World Conference on Technology, Innovation
and Entrepreneurship. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 195(1),
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Jojo, A. (2016). Occupational stress and intrinsic motivation as determinants of

job engagement in the South African police service in Greater Kokstad
Municipality. University of Port Hare

Kim, W., Khan, G.F., Wood, J., Mahmood, M.T. (2016). Employee engagement
for sustainable organizations: keyword analysis using social network
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Lai, F.-Y., Tang, H.-C., Lu, S.-C., Lee, Y.-C., & Lin, C.-C. (2020). transformational
leadership and job performance: The mediating role of work engagement.
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leadership and leadership development. Journal of Business Studies
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Mendoza, R.; Ilac, E.J.; Francisco, A.T. & Casilao, J.M. (2020). Diagnosing
factors
behind officers’ performance in the Philippine National Police. Pages 1408-
1424 | Received 14 Feb 2020, Accepted 04 Jul 2020, Published online: 26
Jul 2020

Mousa, M. (2019). Responsible leadership, diversity and organizational

commitment: A study from Egypt. International Journal of Emerging
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Conducts
to Organization Performance.
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/33425257.pdf

This sample outline is courtesy of Ms. Mechelle Gempesao, MSCJ student, UM PS (Modified)
 .

SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND SERVICE ENGAGEMENT

OF COMMISSIONED POLICE OFFICERS

Dear Respondent,

The undersigned graduate student of the University of Mindanao is

currently conducting a research study entitled: “TRANSFORMATIONAL
LEADERSHIP AND SERVICE ENGAGEMENT OF COMMISSIONED POLICE
OFFICERS”.

As a PNP personnel under Davao City Police Office Region XI, the
undersigned researcher wishes to include you as one of the respondents of the
study. Rest assured that your answers will be kept confidential.

Thank you so much and God bless!

Respectfully yours,

ZEN DOMINIC
PRECY JULIENNE
PRINCE NESTOR
The Researcher
_________________________________________________________________

Name (Optional): _________________________________

This sample outline is courtesy of Ms. Mechelle Gempesao, MSCJ student, UM PS (Modified)
Unit Assignment: __________________________________________________

PART I. LEVEL OF TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP AMONG DAVAO

CITY POLICE OFFICERS

Idealized influence 5 4 3 2 1
Our immediate commissioned Police Officers…
1. instill pride in followers (charismatic)
2. goes beyond their self interest for the greater good of the
organization
3. displays a sense of power and confidence
4. talk about their most important values and beliefs
5. emphasize collective mission

Inspirational Motivation 5 4 3 2 1
Our immediate commissioned Police Officers…
1. talk optimistically about future
2. able to articulate a compelling vision for the future
3. talk about what needs to be accomplished; express confidence
that goals will be achieved
4. create exciting image of what is essential to consider
5. encourage team-spirit, general enthusiasm

Intellectual stimulation 5 4 3 2 1
Our immediate commissioned Police Officers…
1. seek differing perspectives
2. get others to look at problems from differing angles
3. encourage non-traditional thinking
4. suggest new ways of looking at completing assignments
5. re-examine critical assumptions

Individualized consideration 5 4 3 2 1
Our immediate commissioned Police Officers…
1. spend time coaching and teaching followers.
2. promote self-development.
3. treat team members as individuals.
4. identify differing needs, abilities, and aspirations for team
members.
5. listen to others’ concerns.
6. help develop others’ strengths.

Hughes, Tawney A., "Idealized, Inspirational, and Intellectual Leaders in the

Social Sector: Transformational Leadership and the Kravis
Prize" (2014). CMC Senior Theses. Paper 906.
http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/906

This sample outline is courtesy of Ms. Mechelle Gempesao, MSCJ student, UM PS (Modified)
PART II. LEVEL OF SERVICE ENGAGEMENT AMONG DAVAO CITY POLICE
OFFICERS

Physical engagement 5 4 3 2 1
1. I work with intensity on my job
2. I exert my full effort to my job
3. I devote a lot of energy to my job
4. I try my hardest to perform well on my job
5. I strive as hard as I can to complete my job
6. I exert a lot of energy on my job

Emotional engagement 5 4 3 2 1
1. I am enthusiastic in my job
2. I feel energetic at my job
3. I am interested in my job
4. I am proud of my job
5. I feel positive about my job
6. I am excited about my job

Cognitive engagement 5 4 3 2 1
1. At work, my mind is focused on my job
2. At work, I pay a lot of attention to my job.
3.At work, I focus a great deal of attention on my job.
4. At work, I am absorbed by my job.
5. At work, I concentrate on my job.
6. At work, I devote a lot of attention to my job.

Jojo, A. (2016. Occupational stress and intrinsic motivation as determinants of job

engagement in the South African Police Service in Greater Kokstad Municipality.

This sample outline is courtesy of Ms. Mechelle Gempesao, MSCJ student, UM PS (Modified)