On a conjecture on permutation polynomials over finite fields

Let ${\mathbb{F}}_q$ be the finite field with $q$ elements and let $p=\text{char}{\mathbb{F}}_q$. It was conjectured that for integers $e\ge 2$ and $1\le a\le pe-2$, the polynomial $X^{q-2}+X^{q^2-2}+\cdots +X^{q^a-2}$ is a permutation polynomial of ${\mathbb{F}}_{q^e}$ if and only if (i) $a=2$ and $q=2$, or (ii) $a=1$ and $\text{gcd}(q-2,q^e-1)=1$. In the present paper we confirm this conjecture.