Person-supervisor fit, needs-supplies fit, and team fit as mediators of the relationship between dual-focused transformational leadership and well-being in scientific teams

Reviewing the influence of positive leadership on worker well-being: A comprehensive analysis

The study provides a review of existing empirical studies on the impact of positive leadership on worker well-being. The aim it to integrate current knowledge and provide directions for future research. The study analyses the content of 118 articles retrieved mainly from Google Scholar and Scopus database published between 2004 and 2022. Findings revealed that most of the studies are atheoretical with the dominant theory applied being conservation of resource theory. Furthermore, most of the studies were cross-sectionally designed, used convenient sampling and self-reported questionnaire. A conceptual framework is presented which synthesizes findings from prior works and shows the various dimensions of positive leadership practices and worker well-being. Additionally, a comprehensive future research agenda for theoretical and empirical advancement is suggested. The study offers a comprehensive framework that synthesizes and integrates the existing literature on positive leadership and worker well-being. The findings offer researchers in leadership a common platform for discourse.

Leaders' Role in Shaping Followers' Well-Being: Crossover in a Sample of Nurses

The link between well-being at work and leadership has received considerable attention. Leaders have the power to influence followers not only due to formal position, but also their positive behaviors could reinforce the followers' positive working experience. Following the crossover model (Westman, 2001), this study investigates whether leaders' work-related positive psychological states (i.e., work engagement) cross over to those of the followers (i.e., work engagement and job satisfaction) through the mediation of the latter's perception of transformational leadership. We used MPlus 8 to test two multilevel mediations in a sample of 1505 nurses nested in 143 groups led by as many leaders (87.19% of nurses and 56.50% of head nurses of the entire population). Results show that while there is not a crossover of leader work engagement to nurse work engagement, manager work engagement can cross over to nurse job satisfaction, enhancing their well-being through transformational leadership behaviors. This study adds further insights both on crossover theory and on the importance of leaders in expanding and transferring resources to followers at work. Fostering work engagement at a managerial level in the healthcare sector could be the driver to facilitate the well-being of nurses at work, address negative outcomes, and promote positive ones.

Giving what they want: How congruence between expected feedback quality and delivered feedback quality influences leader-member exchange and job performance

As an attempt to solve the mixed results between leader feedback quality and employee job performance, this study proposes that employees' expected feedback quality plays a key role in how employees react to leader feedback. Specifically, drawing on needs-supplies fit and social exchange theory, we posit that congruence between expected feedback quality and delivered feedback quality positively relates to employee task performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) through leader-member exchange (LMX). Further, we posit that learning goal orientation may strengthen the positive effect of congruence between expected feedback quality and delivered feedback quality on LMX. Multi-wave data collected from 226 employees from China showed that congruence between expected feedback quality and delivered feedback quality improves LMX and in turn benefits task performance and OCB. Moreover, learning goal orientation intensifies the indirect effect of congruence between expected feedback quality and delivered feedback quality on task performance and OCB through LMX. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

The impact of knowledge distance on turnover intention of millennial employees: from the perspective of Mianzi

Purpose

The reasons for turnover intention of millennial employees show intergenerational differences and gradually have become a hot topic in the field of management. From the perspective of knowledge management, this paper aims to explore the mechanism of individual knowledge distance on the turnover intention of millennial employees. Based on the social comparison theory and the person-environment fit theory, this study discusses the moderation role of individual perception of organizational innovation climate in this model by integrating social and cultural factors into the cognitive behavior model, and empirically tests the impact of individual knowledge distance on the turnover intention of millennial employees.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, 585 valid questionnaires were collected from the millennial employees, and the moderated intermediary model was empirically tested by using hierarchical regression analysis and conditional process analysis.

Findings

The results show that the knowledge distance between individuals has a significant positive impact on the turnover intention of the millennial employees; the ability-based Mianzi stress has a significant positive impact on the turnover intention of the millennial employees; in organizations with a high innovation climate perception, the ability-based Mianzi stress partially mediates the positive impact of the knowledge distance between individuals on the turnover intention; the organizational innovation climate perception positively moderates the influence of individual knowledge distance on ability-based Mianzi stress, and the boundary condition of ability-based Mianzi stress is discussed, which shows that knowledge distance can induce ability-based Mianzi stress only when individual are able to perceive organizational innovation climate.

Originality/value

This study explores the influence mechanism between knowledge distance and employee turnover intention from the perspective of Mianzi, which is a supplement and enrichment to the study of millennial employees’ turnover intention. It enlightens managers to take effective measures to reduce the negative impact of knowledge difference among millennial employees in the process of actively creating innovation climate in the organization. Because Western countries also have face problems, the conclusion of this study is also of practical significance to managers in Western countries.

How Authoritarian Leadership Affects Employee's Helping Behavior? The Mediating Role of Rumination and Moderating Role of Psychological Ownership

Interpersonal helping behaviors, i.e., voluntarily assisting colleagues for their workplace related problems, have received immense amount of scholarly attention due to their significant impacts on organizational effectiveness. Among several other factors, authoritarian leadership style could influence helping behavior within organizations. Furthermore, this relationship could be mediated by workplace stressor such as rumination, known as a critical psychological health component leading to depressive symptoms, hopelessness and pessimism. In the meantime, less research attention has devoted to probe the crucial role of psychological ownership, which can buffer the adverse effects of authoritarian leadership upon rumination. Building on conservation of resources theory, this study investigates the adverse impacts of authoritarian leadership on employees' helping behaviors through mediating role of rumination, and also examines the moderating effect of psychological ownership between the relationship of authoritarian leadership and rumination. The data were collected from 264 employees in education and banking sectors and the results show: (i) authoritarian leadership has adverse impacts on helping behavior, (ii) rumination mediates the relationship between authoritarian leadership and employees' helping behaviors, and (iii) psychological ownership moderates the positive relationship between authoritarian leadership and rumination. This study concludes that authoritarian leadership has adverse impacts upon helping behavior, which needs to be controlled/minimized. The findings are of great significance for managers, employees, and organizations in terms of policy implications. The limitations and future research directions are also discussed.

Improving Millennial Employees' OCB: A Multilevel Mediated and Moderated Model of Ethical Leadership

In the field of organizational behavior, the influence of leadership in organizations and the organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) of employees have always been two hot topics studied by scholars. However, previous studies have mainly examined the OCB of baby boomers and Generation Xers. With millennials now entering the workforce, they will highly likely not take the initiative to engage in OCB due to their different values. Scholars have found that millennials respond well to ethical leadership. Although this statement has a theoretical basis, empirical research regarding this topic is still insufficient. Thus, this study explores whether ethical leadership can effectively promote millennials' OCB. Moreover, the mediating effect of group-level ethical climate and individual-level affective well-being, and the moderating effect of individual-level moral identity, were examined. The study hypotheses were verified based on 384 valid questionnaires collected from 61 teams using Mplus 8.3. The results showed that (1) ethical leadership was a positive predictor of millennials' OCB; (2) ethical climate and affective well-being partially mediated the relationship between ethical leadership and OCB; and (3) moral identity moderated the relationship between ethical leadership and affective well-being and the indirect impact of ethical leadership on OCB. These findings provide empirical support for applying social learning theory, social information processing theory, and conservation of resources (COR)theory. This research also provides several managerial implications through which managers can more effectively improve the OCB of millennial employees.

The effect of corporate social responsibility on employee advocacy behaviors: a perspective of conservation of resources

Purpose

Despite past studies revealed the positive effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on consumer advocacy behavior, little research has paid attention to employee advocacy behavior. This research aims to examine the relationship between CSR and employee advocacy behavior, the mediating role of meaningful work as well as the moderating effect of person–supervisor fit on CSR perception – meaningful work relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used 263 employee samples to examine the relationship between CSR and employee advocacy behavior and its influence mechanism. Hierarchical regression analyses and bootstrap approach were applied to analyze the data.

Findings

The results show that CSR perception is positively related to employee advocacy behavior, meaningful work mediates the link between CSR perception and employee advocacy behavior, and the strength of the relationship between CSR perception and meaningful work depends on person–supervisor fit.

Research limitations

This study only investigated the effect of perceived CSR on employee advocacy behavior, future studies should explore the alternative mediation mechanism through which external/internal CSR perception or different CSR dimensions influence employee advocacy behavior.

Practical implications

This study has practical implications for organizational managers. First, firms should undertake CSR practices and make employee interpret them in a right way. Second, meaningful work is of significance for employees and training and development, challenging jobs and job rotation are conducive to create a sense of meaning in employees’ work.

Originality/value

This study discussed how and when CSR influences employee advocacy in the Chinese context.

The Dual Effect of Transformational Leadership on Individual- and Team-Level Performance: The Mediational Roles of Motivational Processes

Using matched four-stage data from 477 team members and their 132 team leaders in Chinese companies, we examined a cross-level model in which group- and individual-focused transformational leadership (TFL) and their influence on team and member performance from the perspective of multilevel model of motivation in teams. The results indicated that group-focused TFL exerts positive effects through sequential mediation of team efficacy and team process whereas individual-focused TFL has a positive effect on team members' performance through sequential mediation of followers' self-efficacy and individual regulation process. In addition, we also find significant cross-level mediation effects demonstrating that group-focused TFL was positively related to self-efficacy through the mediator of team efficacy, team efficacy was positively related to the individual regulation process through the mediator of the team process, team process was positively related to individual performance through the mediator of the individual regulation process. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.

The influence of organisational stressors on the well-being and performance of operational police members

Orientation: Studies on the influence of organisational stressors on the well-being and performance of operational members of the South African Police Service in the visible policing and detective service programmes in rural areas, like the Vhembe district, Limpopo province, South Africa, have not been conducted yet.Research purpose: The aim of this study was to explore and interpret operational members’ experiences of organisational stressors, which influence their well-being and performance when attending to critical incidents of rape, domestic violence, murder and road accidents, in the Vhembe district, Limpopo province.Motivation for the study: The study proposes ways of dealing with organisational stressors that influence the well-being and performance of operational members when performing their tasks.Research approach/design and method: An interpretative phenomenological research design was used and 17 South African Police Service participants were selected through purposive sampling. Unstructured face-to-face interviews, diary entries and telephonic interviews were conducted and field notes were used to collect the data, which were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis guidelines.Main findings: The results highlight internal, external, task-related and individual organisational stressors among operational members of the South African Police Service that led to psychological distress, including negative perceptions of self and work, job dissatisfaction, considerations of resignation, increased training needs and strained working relationships.Practical/managerial implications: A need for a systems perspective on problem-solving, with top-bottom and bottom-up approaches, is proposed to manage organisational stressors among operational members of the South African Police Service in the Vhembe district.Contribution/value-add: The study contributes towards the contextual understanding and management of organisational stressors in rural operational policing.