Exploring the Work Values, Self-Leadership, and Leadership Styles of Millennials

Because millennials are now dominating the workplace accounting for a significant share in the labor force, their influence on the workforce is inevitable. This study determined the millennials’ leadership style, self-leadership strategies, and work values. The study involved 202 randomly selected millennial employees from six organizations located in a major city and province of Southern Philippines. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to confirm the hypothesized model. Findings revealed that the millennial employees’ practice of both transformational and transactional leadership styles is promising and shows their capability to be directive and empowering in any situation. The structural model showed a strong influence of self-leadership on leadership style, sending a powerful message to organizations about the urgency of enhancing further the millennial employees’ self-leadership. The model also revealed that self-leadership was strongly associated with work values, encouraging organizations to enhance self-influence considering the high values of self-transcendence and openness to change. Findings suggest that strong self-leadership skill leads to greater transformational and transactional leadership styles, suggesting that high awareness of oneself leads to understanding others better.

Keywords: Millennials, work values, self-leadership, leadership styles