Self-leadership and self-control strength in the work context

A longitudinal approach to disentangle how conscientiousness creates happy people: The mediating role of self-leadership and the moderating role of perceived leadership effectiveness

This study relied on the conservation of resources model to explore the interaction between individual differences (conscientiousness and behavior-focused self-leadership) and contextual factors (perceived leadership effectiveness) to predict well-being. Using results from a three-wave longitudinal study of working adults (N = 107*3 = 321, mean age = 46.05 years, 54% male), we examined: (1) the indirect effect of conscientiousness on well-being via behavior-focused self-leadership; and (2) the moderating role of perceived leadership effectiveness on the indirect effect. The multilevel results showed that conscientiousness influenced well-being through behavior-focused self-leadership over time. The results also showed that the indirect effect was moderated by perceived leadership effectiveness, in such a way that it became stronger when individuals had leaders perceived as less effective (versus more effective). Thus, behavior-focused self-leadership seems to be a process through which conscientiousness influences well-being; when conscientiousness was lower there was an increase behavior-focused self-leadership when the leader was perceived as effective; this contextual need decreased as conscientiousness increased. That is, it seems that when there is something external regulating the individual, s/he feels less need to self-regulate. The results highlight the role of personal (conscientiousness), cognitive (behavior-focused self-leadership) and contextual resources (perceived leadership effectiveness) for well-being.

Working from home and its challenges for transformational and health-oriented leadership

The Covid-19 crisis forced many employees to abruptly relocate their workplace from the office to their homes. As working from home is expected to remain part of our working world, consequences for leadership need to be examined. Our study aims to investigate the concrete challenges regarding the feasibility of transformational leadership and health-oriented leadership in this remote setting. Therefore, we collected quantitative and qualitative data of 23 leaders and 18 employees from various organizations in Germany. Both groups were asked to report their experiences during working from home in comparison to the traditional office setting. Findings of our study provide a comprehensive understanding regarding the underlying mechanism that impede transformational and health-oriented leadership in the remote setting. Among them participants reported a lack of social presence, limited informal chats, communication difficulties and lack of mutual trust. Based on our findings we derive practical implications for leaders and HR practitioners.

Work Overload and Self-Endangering Work Behavior

Abstract. There is increasing debate about whether worktime and workplace autonomy lead to employees coping with high workloads at the expense of their private lives, thereby willingly endangering themselves. This article also discusses the competencies required to balance job and home demands. We tested a moderated indirect effect model that assumes that both worktime and workplace autonomy amplify and self-leadership weakens the indirect relationship between work overload and emotional exhaustion via (job-to-home) spillover. The results of an online survey with 1,000 employees only supported the moderating role of worktime and workplace autonomy. Work autonomy amplified the indirect positive relationship between work overload and emotional exhaustion via spillover. Explorative analyses supported these findings only for worktime autonomy and indicated that self-leadership buffered the positive indirect association between qualitative – but not between quantitative – work overload and emotional exhaustion via spillover. These results call for differential approaches to prevent spillover and emotional exhaustion.

Managing intensity in knowledge work: Self-leadership practices among Danish management consultants

This paper examines the sources of knowledge workers’ work intensity and the self-leading strategies they apply to deal with it. The paper is based on focus group interviews with management consultants in a Danish management consultancy firm. Work intensity was identified as resulting from a combination of: (1) a results-only focus, (2) vagueness, (3) boundaryless work, and (4) low control of the quantitative load. A framework for self-leading strategies is developed based on the dimensions of reactive/proactive and self-focused/externally focused strategies in different combinations. The results indicate that while consultants expressed a belief in internal self-discipline strategies of a more reactive nature, in fact, external and proactive strategies were the most effective in practice. In conclusion, the paper contributes to an extension of self-leadership theory to better account for current research on self-control.