1 Tiina Saari, Harri Melin, Evgeniya Balabanova & Azer Efendiev Better leadership, higher work engagement? Comparative study on Finnish and Russian private sector employees Abstract Purpose: This article focuses on the relationship between leadership and work engagement in Finnish and Russian private sector organizations. The research aims of the study were to analyze how Finland and Russia differ 1) in the level of work engagement; 2) in the level of satisfaction with leadership and 3) in specific components of leadership as most important antecedents for work engagement. Design/methodology/approach: The empirical analysis of this study is based on survey data collected in Finland and Russia. The analysis focuses on 1570 Finnish and 490 Russian private sector, full-time employees with permanent contracts, who have no managerial responsibilities. The data are analyzed using descriptive methods and binary logistic regression analysis. Findings: The results show, first, that both satisfaction of leadership and work engagement are higher in Finland than in Russia. Second, work engagement in Finland is facilitated by nearly all components of leadership – both materialistic- and relationship-based – while in Russia work engagement is predicted by rewarding good performers and such relationship-based practices as feedback, delegating responsibility, discussing work matters, and building trust. Contrary to our hypothesis, such materialistic-based components as providing equal treatment turned out to be insignificant for work engagement in Russia. Practical implications: Organizations should invest in leadership quality to enhance work engagement and thus, to get a competitive advantage. Originality/value: This study adds to the limited comparative research on work engagement and its predictors. Key words: work engagement, leadership, trust, employee voice, feedback. This is the post print version of the article, which has been published in International journal of sociology and social policy. 2018, 38(11/12), 922-943.http://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-12-2017-0181.