Attachment style and leader-member exchange

Exploring the limits of mindfulness during the COVID-19 pandemic: qualitative evidence from African context

Purpose

This paper is one of the first studies to examine specificities, including limits of mindfulness at work in an African organisational context, whilst dealing with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It specifically addresses the role of organisational and managerial support systems in restoring employee wellbeing, social connectedness and attachment to their organisations, in order to overcome the exclusion caused by the ongoing pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses a qualitative research methodology that includes interviews as the main data source. The sample comprises of 20 entrepreneurs (organisational leaders) from Ghana and Nigeria.

Findings

The authors found that COVID-19-induced worries restricted the practice of mindfulness, and this was prevalent at the peak of the pandemic, particularly due to very tough economic conditions caused by reduction in salaries, and intensified by pre-existing general economic and social insecurities, and institutional voids in Africa. This aspect further resulted in lack of engagement and lack of commitment, which affected overall team performance and restricted employees’ mindfulness at work. Hence, quietness by employees even though can be linked to mindfulness was linked to larger psychological stress that they were facing. The authors also found leaders/manager’s emotional intelligence, social skills and organisational support systems to be helpful in such circumstances. However, their effectiveness varied among the cases.

Originality/value

This paper is one of the first studies to establish a link between the COVID-19 pandemic and mindfulness limitations. Moreover, it is a pioneering study specifically highlighting the damaging impact of COVID-19-induced concerns on leader–member exchange (LMX) and team–member exchange (TMX) relationships, particularly in the African context. It further brings in a unique discussion on the mitigating mechanisms of such COVID-19-induced concerns in organisations and highlights the roles of manager’s/leader’s emotional intelligence, social skills and supportive intervention patterns. Finally, the authors offer an in-depth assessment of the effectiveness of organisational interventions and supportive relational systems in restoring social connectedness following a social exclusion caused by COVID-19-induced worries.

Impact of Inclusive Leadership on Innovation Performance During Coronavirus Disease 2019 Outbreak: Mediating Role of Employee Innovation Behavior and Moderating Role of Psychological Empowerment

This study investigates the effect of inclusive leadership on innovation performance with a mediating role of employee innovation behavior and the moderating role of psychological empowerment (PE). Supervisors and employees of Saudi manufacturing firms are the participants of this study. This study used a quantitative research technique with a cross-sectional approach and a self-administrative survey questionnaire to collect the data. The data were analyzed by using the Smart PLS 3 software. The results depict that inclusive leadership has a significant positive impact on the firm's innovation performance. Employees' innovation behavior has a significant mediating effect on the association of inclusive leadership and innovation performance. Findings revealed that PE has an important moderating role in the association of inclusive leadership and innovation performance. The findings of this study contribute to the body of knowledge by finding that inclusive leadership has a significant effect on the firm's innovative performance and PE is crucial to enhance innovation performance.

Inclusive leadership and voice behavior: The role of psychological empowerment

Although there have been studies in the past that have highlighted the important role of leadership in motivating employees to speak up, relational leadership has been scarcely investigated in this context. Therefore, the current research investigates the relationship between inclusive leadership, as a form of relational leadership, and employees' voice behavior directly and indirectly via psychological empowerment. Using the data collected from 252 employees and their respective supervisors working in cargo companies across the United Kingdom, this study finds a positive relationship between inclusive leadership and voice behavior. The results further confirm the mediating role of psychological empowerment in the relationship between inclusive leadership and voice behavior. We use causal attribution theory to support the findings and discuss implications for research and practice.

Career satisfaction, subjective well-being and turnover intention: an attachment style perspective

Purpose

On the basis of an attachment style perspective, the authors explored a moderated mediation model in which career satisfaction reduces employees' turnover intention by enhancing subjective well-being; this mediated relationship would be moderated by three dimensions of attachment style as follows: secure, counterdependent and overdependent.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 192 employees in South Korea and hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis and the PROCESS macro for SPSS.

Findings

Subjective well-being mediated the relationship between career satisfaction and turnover intention. The indirect relationship between career satisfaction and turnover intention through subjective well-being was significant only when employees had high-secure attachment and low-counterdependent and -overdependent attachment styles.

Practical implications

On the basis of the authors' findings that not all employees' subjective well-being translates into a lower level of turnover intention despite being satisfied with their career, the study suggests that organizations should pay more attention to how the subjective well-being of employees can be enhanced in relation to their career by considering their attachment styles.

Originality/value

The study contributes to deepening the understanding of the mechanism of when and how career satisfaction reduces turnover intention by integrating subjective well-being and attachment styles that have been neglected in prior research.

A Moderated-Mediation Analysis of Organizational Justice and Leader-Member Exchange: Cross-Validation With Three Sub-samples

In an increasingly competitive work world, managers-whose links with subordinates, and their perceptions thereof, are critical components in that relationship-need to monitor employees' mindsets to facilitate their productivity. Our paper investigates organizational justice perceptions as an antecedent to two important outcomes: organizational citizenship behaviors and counterproductive work behaviors. The moderating effect of leader-member exchange and the mediating effect of work motivation were incorporated into a parsimonious moderated-mediation model designed to assist managers in achieving the stated objective. The model was tested on 3,293 Romanian workers, randomly divided into sub-samples of 1,098, 1,098, and 1,097 participants. Indicating high data consistency and credibility for the most part, in each sub-group, all the variables associated as predicted, with the notable exception of LMX. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed, with emphasis on the investigation's cultural context.

Becoming morally disengaged: how long does it take?

Purpose

Leadership is a time-dependent process and a recent leadership research trend posits a central role of time-based variables. The dyadic tenure plays a keystone role in understanding leader–follower dynamics, especially as regards leader ethics. In line with this, from a social learning theory perspective, the authors propose a model that explains how and when ethical leaders' behaviors influence subordinates' moral disengagement.

Design/methodology/approach

With a sample of 220 employees, the present study tests the conditional indirect effect of ethical leadership on followers' moral disengagement via instrumental ethical climate (IEC), using dyadic tenure as the moderator variable. The analyses were conducted with Hayes PROCESS macro.

Findings

Results suggested that IEC fully mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and moral disengagement. Thus, when followers perceive low levels of ethical leadership, they notice higher levels of IEC, which is positively related to moral disengagement. However, IEC perception only influences moral disengagement when dyadic tenure approaches the third year.

Originality/value

This paper answers calls to include time-based variables in leadership studies. Hence, using dyadic tenure, this study gives support to previous propositions that were still awaiting empirical test.

Employees' task performance and propensity to take charge: the role of LMX and leader's task orientation

Purpose

Recent literature has focused on the outcomes associated with employee performance, but how and when it leads to work-related outcomes further is an area that has not gained due attention. Against this backdrop, this study entails investigating the effects of employee performance on their taking-charge behavior through the mediation of leader–member exchange (LMX) and the leader's task-oriented behavior's moderating role.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a questionnaire-based survey design, the study is based on a sample of 304 employees of pharmaceutical companies' sales departments. The two-stage lag approach has been used for data collection, where leader–follower dyads participated in the study.

Findings

The study's findings reveal that better-performing employees are considered in-group members by their leaders, and the presence of high LMX makes employees reciprocate by adopting charge behavior. Furthermore, a leader's task-oriented behavior fosters the performance – LMX and performance – taking charge relationship mediated through LMX, a moderated mediation mechanism exists.

Originality/value

The study offers a novel explanation by considering employee performance as a predictor instead of an outcome variable. Furthermore, recent literature has considered adverse outcomes of performance, while this study considers the positive aspects of employee performance (i.e. LMX and charge behavior). It also offers the role of both employee- and leader-specific factors in determining the LMX relationship.

Combining Associations Between Emotional Intelligence, Work Motivation, and Organizational Justice With Counterproductive Work Behavior: A Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling (PAMS) Approach

The need for better incorporation of the construct emotional intelligence (EI) into counterproductive work behavior (CWB) research may be achieved via a unified conceptual framework. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to use the Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling (PAMS) approach, and a conceptual framework that unifies motivational process with antecedents and outcomes, to assess differences in EI concerning a variety of constructs: organizational justice, CWB, emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction, and intrinsic motivation. Employing established scales within a framework unifying CWB, intrinsic motivation, EI, organizational justice, and outcome constructs, two EI-based profiles displayed associations with CWB based on responses from 3,293 employees. Both the first core profile, high overall justice and low emotional intelligence, and the second core profile, high emotional intelligence and low work motivation, displayed associations with interpersonal deviance and organizational deviance, as well as emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. The results are discussed with respect to possible underlying theory and an overarching unified motivation framework that incorporates goal choice, intrinsic motivation, antecedents, and outcomes. We also provide directions for future research and implications for managers in the workplace based on heuristic conceptual frameworks that combine multiple motivational perspectives into a unified model.

How does abusive supervision restrict employees’ feedback-seeking behavior?

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the restrictive effect of abusive supervision on employees’ feedback-seeking behavior (FSB) through organizational-based self-esteem (OBSE) and the moderation of this mediation by leader-member exchange (LMX).

Design/methodology/approach

This study conducted hierarchical regression and path analysis to analyze the 312 manager–employee dyads data gathered from five companies in China.

Findings

The authors found that abusive supervision had a detrimental effect on employee FSB, partially through OBSE, and that both the direct and indirect effects were moderated by LMX.

Practical implications

Organizations should seek to inhibit supervisors’ abusive behavior in the workplace. Supervisors should not occasionally mistreat subordinates with whom they have a good relationship.

Originality/value

This study reveals the underlying influence mechanism of abusive supervision on employee FSB using the self-concept theory and suggests that OBSE is critical in determining how abusive supervision influences employee FSB. Furthermore, LMX quality (especially high LMX) moderates the above mediation.

Supervisor Narcissism and Time Theft: Investigating the Mediating Roles of Emotional Exhaustion and the Moderating Roles of Attachment Style

Although some studies have begun to explore the factors influencing employees' time theft, it has not been uncommon to link employee time theft to leader personality traits. Based on the conservation of resources theory, this paper examines the influence of supervisor narcissism on employee time theft. It is found that supervisor narcissism positively affects employee time theft via the emotional exhaustion of employees. Further, employee's attachment styles moderate the mediation effect of emotional exhaustion between supervisor narcissism and employee time theft. This study adds important insights into employee time theft, leader negative traits and the theory and practice of organizational management.

Inclusive leadership and innovative work behavior: The role of psychological empowerment

In this article, we explored the relationship between inclusive leadership and innovative work behavior with the mediating role of psychological empowerment. We collected data from employees in the information technology and cargo sectors within the United Kingdom and Canada. The results revealed that inclusive leadership was positively related to innovative work behavior both directly and indirectly through psychological empowerment. Cognitive evaluation theory was used to support the findings. Implications of the study were discussed.