Transformational leadership and employee voice: a model of proactive motivation

From Struggle to Strength: Coping with Abusive Supervision in Project Teams through Proactive Behavior and Team Building

While considerable attention has been devoted to positive leadership patterns in the realm of project management, the dark side of leadership has rarely been studied within project teams. To address this gap, we focus on abusive supervision in project teams and develop a team-level moderated mediation model to examine whether, how, and when abusive supervision influences project outcomes by drawing from the Proactive Motivation Theory. Survey data were collected from 132 project teams containing 132 project managers and 392 project members using a multi-source time-lagged survey design. Our findings reveal significant negative relationships between abusive supervision and both project performance and project team creativity. Furthermore, we found that a team's proactive behavior plays a mediating role in these relationships. More importantly, our study identifies that team building mitigates the direct negative impact of abusive supervision on proactive behavior and the indirect effects of abusive supervision on project performance and project team creativity. These findings provide valuable theoretical and managerial implications for abusive supervision and project management scholars and practitioners.

Transformational leadership and organizational learning culture in the health sector: The mediating and moderating role of intrinsic work motivation

BACKGROUND

Transformational leadership and organizational learning culture have become exciting topics to be explored over the last few decades. However, several previous studies have shown certain inconclusive findings regarding the link between transformational leadership and organizational learning culture.

OBJECTIVE

This study fills this gap by developing a clear model and aims to examine the extent of the impact of (1) transformational leadership on organizational learning culture and intrinsic work motivation, (2) intrinsic work motivation on organizational learning culture, (3) intrinsic work motivation in mediating and moderating the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational learning culture.

METHODS

The data of this study are collected from employees working at the community health center in Indonesia. A partial least squares (PLS) based structural equation modeling (SEM) technique is used to analyze the data by utilizing the SmartPLS 3.0 software package.

RESULTS

First, the results concluded that transformational leadership has a significant impact on organizational learning culture and intrinsic work motivation. Second, intrinsic work motivation has a significant impact on organizational learning culture. Third, intrinsic work motivation fully mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational learning culture. Also, intrinsic work motivation moderates these variables' relationships.

CONCLUSION

The theoretical model of previous research on the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational learning culture with intrinsic work motivation as a mediator and moderator variable has yet to be fully developed both in public and private organizations, particularly in the health sector.

Unraveling the relationship between workplace dignity and employees’ tacit knowledge sharing: the role of proactive motivation

Purpose

Drawing on social exchange theory (SET) and proactive motivation model, this study aims to examine the relationship between workplace dignity and employees’ tacit knowledge sharing (TKS) and assess the mediating role of psychological safety and organizational identification in this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

Data are collected in the three waves from 307 first-line supervisors and professionals of high- and medium-high-tech manufacturing organizations of Pakistan. Partial least squares structural equation modelling technique is applied using SmartPLS 4 software to test hypothesized relationships.

Findings

Results reveal that workplace dignity is directly and positively related to TKS and psychological safety and organizational identification mediate this relationship.

Practical implications

This study highlights the importance of workplace dignity as a vital determinant of TKS. Findings of this research underscore the need for enactment of humanistic and employee-oriented organizational policies and practices that signal workplace dignity which can result in increased psychological safety and enhanced organizational identification leading towards higher TKS.

Originality/value

This research proffers novel understanding of the nexus between an embryonic socio-emotional element of workplace context, namely, workplace dignity and TKS. This study not only advances knowledge management literature from dignity perspective but also contributes to SET and proactive motivation model.

More humility for leaders, less procrastination for employees: the roles of career calling and promotion focus

Purpose

Based on the conservation of resources theory, the authors explore the relationship between humble leadership and employee procrastination by introducing career calling and promotion focus, and constructing a moderated mediation model aiming to reveal the influence of humble leadership on employee procrastination.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 217 valid samples were obtained using a two-time point paired questionnaire. The proposed hypotheses were tested using hierarchical regression.

Findings

Hierarchical regression results indicated that humble leadership had a significant negative effect on employee procrastination. Career calling played a fully mediating role in humble leadership and employee procrastination. Promotion focus not only plays a positive moderating role between humble leadership and career calling but also moderates the mediating role of career calling.

Practical implications

Managers should pay attention to the cultivation of their own character of humility in the process of communicating with their subordinates, increase employees' career calling from various aspects to improve employees’ sense of meaning and value for their work and understand employees' situation for personalized management.

Originality/value

This study reveals for the first time the inhibitory effect of humble leadership on employee procrastination through the conservation of resources theory. This helps in expanding research on the antecedents of procrastination behavior and enriching research on the effects of implementing humble leadership. For this reason, the study contributes to the literature on humble leadership, employee procrastination and the conservation of resources theory.

Transformational leadership and work engagement in public organizations: promotion focus and public service motivation, how and when the effect occurs

Purpose

The purpose of the present study is twofold. First, the authors examine the potential mediating role of promotion focus in terms of the relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement. Second, the authors set out to examine whether the indirect effect of transformational leadership and follower work engagement through promotion focus is stronger when followers' public service motivations are higher versus lower.

Design/methodology/approach

The present study examines the association between transformational leadership behavior and employees' work engagement. Data included measures of transformational leadership behavior and promotion focus as well as public service motivation and work engagement. Utilizing a field sample of 316 employees, the study tested the proposed relationships with robust data analytic techniques. Results were consistent with the hypothesized theoretical framework, in that promotion focus mediated the relationship between transformational leadership behavior and work engagement stronger when public service motivation was high and weaker when public service motivation was low. Based on the findings, the study concludes that the connection between transformational leadership behavior and work engagements partially mediated by promotion focus and this mediated connection is stronger when employees' public service motivation is high and weak when employees' public service motivation is low—thereby yielding a pattern of moderated mediation.

Findings

The study findings suggest five main conclusions. First, consistent with previous studies (Aryee et al., 2012; Bui et al., 2017; Hetland et al., 2018; Li et al., 2021; Ng, 2017; Tims et al., 2011; Zhu et al., 2009), the study found a positive relationship between transformational leadership and employees' work engagement. Second, along the same lines of previous research (Brockner and Higgins, 2001; Hetland et al., 2018; Johnson et al., 2017; Kark et al., 2018; Tung, 2016), this study found a positive association between transformational leadership and employees' promotion focus. Third, as hypnotized, the study found a positive association between employees' promotion focus and their work engagement. Fourth, as hypothesized using regulatory focus theory, promotion focus positively mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and employees' work engagement. This result elucidates the underlying mechanism that enables leadership to influence employees' work engagement, particularly, through the self-regulatory promotion focus. The result demonstrates that leadership relates to and affects basic motivations of the promotion systems, which have been known as a basic human need for development and growth. The study demonstrates that leaders may be able to promote followers' motivations by provoking a promotion focus frame and this motivational frame further shapes followers' outcomes in terms of employees' work engagement. Hence, this finding support previous research claiming that promotion focus acts as a mediating mechanism in the relationship between transformational leadership and various outcomes(e.g. Johnson et al., 2017; Kark et al., 2018). However, this study adds significantly to existing research by being the first study to empirically test and pay attention to the promotion focus frame as the underlying psychological mechanism through which transformational leaders motivate followers to higher levels of work engagement. Finally, consistent with the study hypothesis, public service motivation has a moderating effect on the promotion focus-work engagement association. In addition, as the study hypothesized, public service motivation has a moderating effect on the mediating relationships between transformational leadership and employees' work engagement through promotion focus in public sector organizations. It appears that the relationship between transformational leadership and followers' work engagement through promotion focus is enhanced by the role of employees' PSM. In other words, the employees' public service motivation increases employee engagement further for employees with high situational promotion focus than for employees with a low situational promotion focus, which could be explained by the fact that more public service motivation is more meaningful to followers with promotion focus motivational framework to be more engaged. That is, public servants who are predisposed to respond to motives grounded primarily or exclusively in public institutions and organizations are more engaged at work due to their self-regulatory promotion focus spirit. This result is in congruence with findings that indicate that PSM is an important driver of organizational performance and has a positive impact on organizational behavior (Ritz et al., 2016). This finding does provide support to Bakker's (2015) proposition that PSM may strengthen the positive relationship between personal resources (e.g. optimism and self-efficacy) and work engagement because public servants with high levels of enduring PSM find their work important and meaningful. Therefore, they are likely to invest their resources in public service work, be engaged in their work and perform well.

Research limitations/implications

First, it examines the extent to which transformational leadership contributes to employee work engagement. That is, the current study adds to the literature by using promotion focus attributes to probe the underlying mechanism through which transformational leaders enhance employee engagement in the workplace (Kark and van Dijk, 2019). Second, by combining insights obtained from the literature on the self-regulatory theory (Higgins, 1997) and the PSM theory (Perry and Wise, 1990), this study adds to work engagement literature by showing the importance of PSM as an institutional factor in work engagement. Lastly, the study expands the transformational leadership literature by using a moderated mediating model that recognizes PSM as a situational variable in the mediating relationship between transformational leadership and employee engagement.

Practical implications

The results have several implications for practice. Findings reveal that transformational leaders can enhance follower work engagement by inducing their promotion focus orientation. Managers can, therefore, display more transformational behaviors, such as providing a compelling vision, communicating high expectations, promoting new ideas and giving personal attention to each employee in the workplace. In addition, managers may develop a promotion-focus orientation among their followers by appealing more to their ideals and aspirations than to their duties and responsibilities (Brockner and Higgins, 2001). Organizations, on the other hand, could offer leadership training and development programs designed to enhance transformational leadership Behaviors. As for employees' PSM, public organizations have to be more creative in attracting, selecting and retaining employees with high levels of public service motives (Kim, 2021). Public organizations can also train their employees on public service values and enhance their incentives structures to align their motivational predispositions with the organization mission and values.

Originality/value

The present study adds to the existing theory in two ways. First, despite significant progress in exploring the process and boundary conditions for transformational leadership with beneficial work behaviors, the study findings paid attention to the underlying psychological mechanism, precisely the self-regulatory promotion focus frame through which transformational leaders motivate followers to higher levels of work engagement. A second theoretical contribution of the present study is that it adds to the long line of research supporting a more concerted effort to understand both the moderating and mediating mechanisms that link transformational leadership to follower outcomes. By using the moderated mediating model, this study shows that transformational leaders can induce a promotion focus within followers who have developed a public service motivation profile to be more willing to engage in their organizations. The current study also has several practical implications that can be drawn from the study findings. First, organizations should become more sensitive to their employees' (promotional and preventive) self-regulatory foci. Managers should be trained to be strategically oriented toward people's growth and development. Second, by serving as role models, managers can shape their subordinates' regulatory foci. The more managers' actions suggest that they are focused on promotion, the more likely it is that their subordinates will follow suit. Third, managers may emphasize the use of positive feedback, such as praise, by giving it when employees succeed and withholding it when they fail. This feedback style is more likely to elicit a promotion focus, especially if the praise for success focuses on what the employee was able to accomplish (e.g. “You aided in the advancement of an important task!”) rather than negative occurrences that the employee was able to avoid (e.g. “You were extremely cautious and as a result, you avoided making the wrong judgment.”) (Brockner and Higgins, 2001). Moreover, the moderating role of public service motivation in the effects of transformational leadership on work engagement through a promotion focus mechanism suggests that managers should not assume all employees would engage in their work similarly to their transformational leadership behaviors. Managers may find that followers who have values that are consistent with public service are more inclined to their promotion focus frame and thus are likely to internalize both motivations, which ultimately leads to more work engagement. As a result, managers should help employees, for example, feel a sense of accomplishment and recognize that they are contributing to society as an intrinsic reward. Finally, human resource managers must be mindful of their selection and placement decisions. Ensure that members are highly motivated to serve in the public sector and have the desired regulatory focus.

Ambidextrous Leadership and Employee Voice Behavior: The Role of Work Motivation and Ambidextrous Culture

Purpose

In the current competitive environment of increased uncertainty and instability, it is of significance to promote employee voice behavior. To discuss the issue of how to promote employee voice behavior both effectively and reasonably, this study focuses on ambidextrous leadership, which consists of two seemingly opposite yet potentially complementary behaviors-transformational and transactional leadership-and investigates its influence mechanism on employees' voice behavior, using work motivation as a mediator and ambidextrous culture as a moderator.

Methods

Enterprise employees and their direct supervisors from 78 work teams in China were surveyed, and 387 sets of paired data were analyzed using data analysis software, such as HLM, SPSS, and AMOS.

Results

The results reveal that ambidextrous leadership can significantly positively predict employee voice behavior. Employee work motivation plays a partial mediating role in the positive correlation between ambidextrous leadership and voice behavior. Additionally, organizational ambidextrous culture positively moderates the correlation between ambidextrous leadership and the work motivation of employees. The greater the ambidextrous culture of teams is, the stronger the positive correlation between ambidextrous leadership and the work motivation of employees.

Conclusion

Leadership plays an important role in promoting employee voice behavior. Therefore, understanding how ambidextrous leadership style can effectively promote voice behavior is important for companies to utilize the power of their employees to respond quickly to change and drive innovative transformation. This study contributes to existing research by revealing how ambidextrous leadership impact employee voice behavior through work motivation, which provides new evidence for the emerging ambidextrous leadership theory and helps to understand the relationship between employee work motivation and voice behavior more comprehensively; it also identifies organizational ambidextrous culture as organizational context factor which moderate the effect of ambidextrous leadership on work motivation.

Leader humor and newcomer adjustment: The mediating role of role breadth self-efficacy

Purpose

Despite the increasingly growing empirical research on leader humor, the critical issue of how and when leader humor affects newcomer adjustment was largely overlooked. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between leader humor and newcomer adjustment. Based on social information processing theory, the authors identify newcomers' role breadth self-efficacy (RBSE) as the mediator and suggest that newcomers' cognitive flexibility moderates the effects.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were obtained from a 2-wave sample of 195 newcomers. The authors utilized the PROCESS procedure developed by Hayes to assess the hypothesized moderated mediation model.

Findings

The findings showed that leader humor could boost newcomers' RBSE which, in turn, was beneficial to newcomer adjustment. Besides, newcomers' cognitive flexibility plays a moderating role in the relationship between leader humor and newcomers' RBSE.

Research limitations/implications

This study utilized a cross-sectional research design, making the design difficult to obtain causal conclusions. Moreover, the data were all based on self-reports from newcomers, which may raise a concern of common method bias.

Originality/value

This paper extends the literature on leader humor and newcomer adjustment by treating RBSE as the mediator and newcomers' cognitive flexibility as the moderator. This study is one of several empirical studies to test the link between leader humor and newcomer adjustment.

Let's work together, especially in the pandemic: finding ways to encourage problem-focused voice behavior among passionate employees

Purpose

This study seeks to unravel the relationship between employees' passion for work and their engagement in problem-focused voice behavior by identifying a mediating role of their efforts to promote work-related goal congruence and a moderating role of their perceptions of pandemic threats to the organization.

Design/methodology/approach

The research hypotheses were tested with quantitative data collected through a survey instrument administered among 158 employees in a large Portuguese-based organization that operates in the food sector, in the midst of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The Process macro was applied to assess the moderated mediation dynamic that underpins the proposed theoretical framework.

Findings

Employees' positive work-related energy enhances their propensity to speak up about organizational failures because they seek to find common ground with their colleagues with respect to the organization's goals and future. The mediating role of such congruence-promoting efforts is particularly prominent to the extent that employees dwell on the threats that a pandemic holds for their organization.

Practical implications

The study pinpoints how HR managers can leverage a negative situation—employees who cannot keep the harmful organizational impact of a life-threatening virus out of their minds—into productive outcomes, by channeling positive work energy, derived from their passion for work, toward activities that bring organizational problems into the open.

Originality/value

This study adds to HR management research by unveiling how employees' attempts to gather their coworkers around a shared work-related mindset can explain how their passion might spur reports of problem areas, as well as explicating how perceived pandemic-related threats activate this process.

The effects of transformational leadership on perceived organizational support and organizational identity

BACKGROUND: This study examines the relationship among transformational leadership dimensions, perceived organizational support, and organizational identity in the banking sector which has been scarce theoretically and tested empirically in a Turkish context. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study to explore the impact of transformational leadership on perceived organizational support and organizational identity. It is predicted that transformational leadership will stimulate organizational identity of employees working in banking sector through their perceived organizational support. METHODS: Using the survey method, 227 responses were collected from employees. A partial least squares structural equation model was constructed to test the reliability and validity of the measurement and the structural model. RESULTS: The study results show that inspirational motivation and individual consideration dimensions of transformational leadership are found to influence employees perceived organizational support whereas perceived organizational support has a strong effect on employees’ organizational identity. However, perceived organizational support is found to mediate the relationship between inspirational motivation dimension of transformational leadership and organizational identity. The study also found a significant impact of individual consideration dimension of transformational leadership on employees’ organizational identity. CONCLUSIONS: We believe that strong genuine organizational identity should result in organizational commitment. In the long run, we need to keep caring and addressing the maturity of individual consideration in the relationship between the employee and the organization within transformational leadership model.

A contingency perspective on employees' voice behavior in response to career plateau beliefs

With a conceptual basis in conservation of resources theory, this paper investigates the relationship between employees' career plateau beliefs and their voice behavior, using parallel arguments that reflect resource-conservation versus resource-acquisition logics. The career plateau beliefs–voice behavior link, whether negative or positive, might be invigorated when employees encounter adversity in the workplace, such as due to work pressures (work overload and work–family conflict) or because of how their organization makes decisions (organizational politics and organizational underperformance). Survey data from employees in the Canadian information technology sector provide empirical support for the resource-acquisition logic: career plateau beliefs enhance employees' propensity to offer ideas for organizational improvement, particularly if they suffer from excessive workloads or conflicting work–family demands, perceive organizational decision making as political, and are unhappy about their organization's performance. These novel insights point to the critical role of a stagnated career in triggering, instead of dampening, proactive voice behaviors.

The effect of differential leadership on employees’ thriving at work in China: a moderated mediating model

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to test the mediating role of perceived insider status (PIS) on the relationship between differential leadership and thriving at work, and the extent to which this mediating role is moderated by proactive personality.

Design/methodology/approach

This study conducts a questionnaire with 332 employees from China, taking certain traditional cultural factors and social exchange theory into consideration. This paper then analyzes the responses using a structuring equation model with SPSS 24.0 and LISREL 8.7.

Findings

The results show that PIS mediated the relationship between differential leadership and thriving at work. In addition, proactive personality was found to moderate this mediating pathway, whereby a high proactive personality increased the mediating role of perceived insider status.

Originality/value

This study explores how and why differential leadership is positively related to thriving at work. This paper verifies the moderated mediation model relationship among the research variables and contributes to the literature on differential leadership.