Positivity at the workplace: Conceptualising the relationships between authentic leadership, psychological capital, organisational virtuousness, thriving and job performance

Workplace ostracism influencing turnover intentions: Moderating roles of perceptions of organizational virtuousness and authentic leadership

Workplace Ostracism is known to be a physically and emotionally painful experience. Even if it has a temporary and minor impact, it strongly predicts employee turnover intentions. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating effects of perceptions of Organizational Virtuousness (OV) and Authentic Leadership (AL) in explaining the relationship between Workplace Ostracism (WO) and employees' Turnover Intentions (TI). Data were collected from 686 full-time employees using a non-probabilistic convenience sampling in India's Information Technology (IT) companies. The reliability and validity of scales were assessed using confirmatory factor analysis. Multiple hierarchical regression modeling was used to test the proposed hypotheses using IBM SPSS 23.0 with Process Macro 3.5. The present study's findings suggest that workplace ostracism is significantly related to employees' turnover intentions. Furthermore, perceptions of organizational virtuousness and authentic leadership moderated the relationship between workplace ostracism and employee turnover intentions. Employee turnover is a gigantic problem for IT firms in India. The present study offers valuable insights to managers to create awareness of workplace ostracism. Implementing managerial strategies rooted in positive psychology can help organizations create a more inclusive, supportive, and psychologically healthy work environment. This, in turn, can reduce the occurrence of workplace ostracism and turnover intentions.

Responses to COVID-19, small and medium enterprises’ corporate social responsibility and psychological capital of employees: From the mediating perspective of affective commitment

The influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on employees' positive psychological capital in stressful situations remains unexplored in the literature for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This study aims to examine how CSR could assist employees in developing psychological capital during the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to understand the aforesaid relationship, an attempt is made to study the mediation effect of affective commitment. Structural equation modelling (AMOS 21.0) was used for data analysis and hypothesis testing on a sample of 545 employees from 356 Malaysian SMEs. The results of this study showed that SMEs' CSR policies helped to improve the positive psychological capital of their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, affective commitment complementary mediates the relationship between CSR and psychological capital. During the COVID-19 pandemic, SMEs should come up with a consistent way to implement CSR policies and procedures to improve employees' psychological capital and increase their affective commitment toward the enterprise. There are two main contributions to the literature from this study, in addition to enriching previous empirical research on CSR. As a first contribution to the CSR literature, it examines how CSR impacts employees' psychological capital during a pandemic. COVID-19 is one of the recent pandemics that offers an opportunity to examine its effects on employee psychological state. Secondly, the results of the study add to the growing body of empirical research that supports affective commitment's significant relationship with CSR and enhances employees' psychological capital during a pandemic in a developing market.

Exploring the role of individual-focused transformational leadership in facilitating taking charge: mediating mechanism of psychological capital and thriving at work

Purpose

Drawing on the “conservation of resources” theory, the current study examines the mechanisms by which individual-focused transformational leadership (i.e. individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation) is associated with employees' taking charge by investigating the mediating roles of psychological capital and thriving at work.

Design/methodology/approach

A three-wave research study was conducted, and the data for the study included 220 employees’-supervisors’ dyads from Indian IT (information technology) organizations. Further, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was utilized to assess the measurement model, and study hypotheses were tested using Process macro.

Findings

The study results showed that individual-focused transformational leadership (IFTL) is strongly associated with psychological capital, thriving at work and taking charge. The findings of Process macro analyses indicated that IFTL, directly and indirectly, impacts taking charge behavior via psychological capital and thriving at work.

Practical implications

The study offers significant practical implications to managers, counsellors and HRM practitioners for crafting workplace interventions to augment employees taking charge behavior. The study findings would aid HRM practitioners in designing individualized-oriented leadership programs for building employees' positive psychological capabilities and thriving experiences for taking charge.

Originality/value

This paper broadens the existing leadership literature by proposing new pathways through which IFTL encourages employees to take charge. Mainly, research studies need to shed more light on leadership characteristics that influence employees' positive psychological behavior, that is psychological capital and thriving at work. Consequently, this study examined the underlying mechanism through which leadership, psychological capital and thriving interact to stimulate employees taking charge behavior.

Linkages of organizational commitment and leadership styles: a systematic review

Purpose

This paper aims to examine how the linkages between organizational commitment (OC) and five leadership styles, namely, authentic leadership, benevolent leadership, ethical leadership, moral leadership and spiritual leadership, have been investigated in the literature.

Design/methodology/approach

This systematic literature review applies a matrix method to examine the significant literature in leadership and OC, specifically considering themes of self-development, self-awareness, self-regulation, self-discipline and self-motivation necessary for individuals and organizations. The papers from Australian Business Deans Council, Scopus and Web of Science listed journals were reviewed. Forty-three peer-reviewed English publications from 20 journals were selected and analysed.

Findings

The synthesis of these empirical studies revealed that the relationship between OC and these leadership styles had primarily been mostly quantitatively investigated in many countries and sectors. Additionally, ethical leadership remains the most commonly researched style. Furthermore, there are mediating mechanisms and boundary conditions in the relationship between these styles and OC.

Research limitations/implications

The literature search in this study was mainly focused on English articles only; therefore, some papers in other languages may not have been included. Additional qualitative studies based on these linkage themes need to be conducted in human resource development (HRD) contexts.

Practical implications

This review offers an overall picture of the existing knowledge of OC and leadership that will be fruitful for HRD practitioners to understand and replicate these concepts.

Originality/value

There are few systematic literature reviews on the relationship between OC and leadership styles. This paper is among the first systematic reviews to analyse how leadership has been associated with OC and provides potential research directions. HRD practitioners and academia should find the results of this study helpful.

Conceptualising the relationship between green dynamic capability and SME sustainability performance: the role of green innovation, organisational creativity and agility

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework that establishes the linkages among green dynamic capability (GDC), green innovation (GI), organisational creativity (OC) and organisational agility (OA), which influence small and medium enterprises (SMEs) sustainability performance (SP) in trade and service sectors in Thailand.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper conducts a search of existing literature regarding SMEs SP. A conceptual framework is provided that can be used by SMEs to enhance their SP driving sustainable business growth.

Findings

A framework for SMEs sustainability is proposed, which demonstrates the connection between GDC and SME SP, with GI and OC as mediators and OA as a moderator.

Research limitations/implications

This paper is limited in terms of the scope of SME sustainability in the context of the trade and service sector. Future empirical study should be conducted to validate the proposed framework and hypotheses in this study.

Practical implications

This study forms the basis for the enhancement of SMEs SP in relation to boosting their GDC, GI, creativity and agility.

Originality/value

This paper presents a comprehensive framework that leads to the conceptualisation of SME SP. It will help practitioners and academics to better understand the causes of SMEs SP.

Reframing positive leadership within the context of Australian not-for-profit organisations

Purpose

This paper aims to integrate the extant literature on the impact of positive leadership on organisational outcomes within the Australian not-for-profit (NFP) organisations, identifies existing gaps in the literature and proposes a framework capturing feasible pathways for future research on positive leadership in NFP organisations.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a systematic review of the existing literature on positive leadership and external/environmental factors and organisational values as applied to Australian NFP organisations mainly based on journal articles.

Findings

This paper proposes a plausible conceptual framework postulating how Australian NFP organisations could attain superior performance outcomes when there is a perfect alignment between positive forms of leadership, external/environmental factors and organisational values. We explain the conceptual framework through testable research propositions explaining interrelationships between positive leadership, external/environmental factors, organisational values and organisational performance.

Research limitations/implications

The review focused on two positive forms of leadership (i.e. transformational and servant) and could benefit by including other closely related leadership styles and behaviours (like authentic and ethical leadership). In addition to the positivist paradigm and quantitative approach adopted by this paper, interpretative and critical paradigms and related qualitative approaches may also lend themselves well to exposing pertinent issues and relationships that have not been imagined before in the under-researched NFP sector.

Practical implications

Leaders within NFP organisations need to understand when and how to align positive forms of leadership, external/environmental factors and organisational values to maximise limited resources available to Australian NFP organisations.

Originality/value

This systematic review adds to the limited literature exploring the impact of positive forms of leadership within Australian NFP organisations. The proposed framework offers unique insights into the relationships between positive forms of leadership, external/environmental factors, organisational values and organisational performance.

Positive Organizational Practices, Life Satisfaction, and Psychological Capital in the Public and Private Sectors

Public and private sector employees confronted stressful life circumstances that affected the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, new knowledge on possible psychological and organizational resources is needed. This study aimed to explore positive organizational practices, psychological capital, and life satisfaction of employees in the public and private sectors. The survey applied the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the Psychological Capital Questionnaire—PCQ-24, validated in the Lithuanian population (the Lith-PCQ-21), and the Positive Organizational Practices Questionnaire. The sample consisted of 582 employees, including 443 public sector and 139 private sector employees. The respondents’ mean age was 42.0981 years (SD = 13.23083). The CFA results confirmed the six-factor structure of positive organizational practices, χ2 = 270,884.785; Df = 406; CFI = 0.996; TLI = 0.996; NFI = 0.995; RMSEA = 0.074 [0.070–0.078]; SRMR = 0.043, the four-factor structure of psychological capital, χ2 = 32,780.109; Df = 190; CFI = 0.983; TLI = 0.980; NFI = 0.978; RMSEA = 0.082 [0.076–0.088]; SRMR = 0.067, and one factor structure of life satisfaction, χ2 = 10,588.246; Df = 10; CFI = 0.999; TLI = 0.999; NFI = 0.999; RMSEA = 0.022 [0.000–0.066]; SRMR = 0.014. The findings revealed that private sector employees demonstrated higher scores of dignity, support, care, forgiveness, and overall positive organizational practices than public sector employees. Private sector employees demonstrated higher optimism scores than public sector employees, and public sector employees demonstrated higher self-efficacy scores than private sector employees. Male employees demonstrated significantly higher scores on dignity, meaning, and forgiveness than females. Significant positive correlations were found between age and resilience, care and age, care and number of working years, care and number of working years in the current organization. Psychological capital mediated the link between positive organizational practices and life satisfaction. Positive organizational practices were linked to life satisfaction and psychological capital in both employees’ groups, but the features of links were distinctive in the public and private sectors. These results signify the importance of positive organizational practices and psychological capital for the life satisfaction of employees.

Do Organizational Virtues Enhance Work Well-being? The Mediator Role of HRM Practices

ABSTRACT Context: over the last decades, positive psychology has brought up the need for research on positive emotions and attitudes, such as organizational virtues and well-being at work. Moreover, there is evidence that virtues may influence the perception about human resource management practices, constituting a driver of well-being in work context. However, literature signalizes the gap regarding research models covering the relation between these three variables. Objective: this study aimed to evaluate the relation between organizational virtues and well-being at work, mediated by the perception of HRM practices. Methodology: the research is classified as quantitative, carried out through a survey, with 286 participants, using structural equation modeling through the JASP software. Results: results confirmed the partial mediation played by HRM practices in the proposed model, bringing a theoretical contribution by joining the three variables into a single model, with psychometric evidence of the strong prediction of organizational virtues on HRM practices and well-being at work. Conclusion: as a managerial implication, our findings compose a diagnosis that shed light on the relevance for managers in organizations to prioritize organizational virtues and HRM practices in order to enhance healthier work environments.

All you need is love: the relationship between agape and work outcomes

Purpose

The purpose of this paper was to lay the necessary conceptual and empirical groundwork of agape in organizations. Specifically, the authors reviewed literature on agape; advanced formal definition of agape; explained the relationship of agape with related variables; developed a scale to measure agape and provided evidence of its reliability and construct validity; showed how agape uniquely predicted employee outcomes beyond transformational leadership; and showed how agape compensated for the lack of transformational leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted a survey with 214 working executives who rated their manager on transformational leadership and agape behaviours, and later indicated their own work attitudes. Next, the authors conducted a 20-min between-subjects vignette experiment with 147 business management students who were provided with a description of a supervisor and asked to indicate their work attitudes under the supervisor.

Findings

The authors advanced an operational definition and a scale to measure agape. The findings of this study indicated that agape was a unidimensional construct with high reliability. It had significant positive relationships with followers’ job satisfaction, faith and loyalty, team commitment, satisfaction and risk-taking; explained incremental variance in employee outcomes beyond transformational leadership; and compensated for the lack of transformational leadership.

Research limitations/implications

The present research has the potential to inform recruitment, selection, training, promotion and performance evaluation decisions in organizations.

Originality/value

The authors responded to calls for developing a clear and consistent conceptualization and operationalization of agape for improving scholarly research and leadership training and development.

Do high-commitment work systems engage employees? Mediating role of psychological capital

Purpose

Although managers and academicians have recognised the importance of high-commitment work systems (HCWS), work engagement and psychological capital (PsyCap) in service firms, many questions remain unanswered. This study aims to fill the gaps in the area of work engagement by considering the relationships among HCWS, PsyCap and work engagement. In this cross-sectional study, the author drew on the social exchange theory to analyse these relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

Cross-sectional data from 309 employees from India’s services sector was collected to investigate HCWS and work engagement associations. The data were analysed by structural equation modelling.

Findings

The study findings integrate the existing literature on human resource (HR) systems and positive psychology by identifying the critical role of PsyCap in passing the positive effects of HCWS to engage employees in their work. Further, it supports the assumption that PsyCap is formed primarily based on organisational practices, thereby addressing the paucity of research that examined the antecedents of PsyCap.

Practical implications

Owing to study findings, service firms are encouraged to carry out human resource development intervention(s) to make their employees psychologically capable. Since PsyCap is a state-like construct, it can be developed among individuals. Thus, managers can develop their employees’ PsyCap through various training interventions.

Originality/value

The mediating role of PsyCap in the HCWS and work engagement in India’s service industries settings was tested. The present study’s findings contribute to the theory of strategic human resource management by explaining how HCWS can help employees engage better in their work.

Linking authentic leadership and management capability to public hospital performance: the role of work engagement

Purpose

This paper aims to propose a model of the effect of both authentic leadership and management capability on hospital performance. This model proposes work engagement as an intervening mechanism between the aforesaid links.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 380 medical staff working in Jordanian Public hospitals and were analysed using the structural equation modelling analysis technique.

Findings

The results suggest that both authentic leadership and management capability have a positive effect on hospital performance. Although positive, the direct effect of management capability on performance was not significant. Furthermore, work engagement demonstrated to play a full mediation effect between management capability and hospital performance and a partial mediation effect between authentic leadership and hospital performance.

Practical implications

This study may be of use for public medical services providers in general and other services sectors in terms of the role authentic leadership and management resources can play in contributing to positive work-related outcomes at the individual and organisational levels.

Originality/value

Considering the mainstream literature in health-care management, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to date to integrate the impact of both authentic leadership and management capabilities in the public health-care sector. Further, the research model has not previously been introduced when taking into account the role that work engagement can play between the examined variables.