Transformational leadership and employee outcomes: the mediating role of psychological empowerment

How Does Digital Leadership Foster Employee Innovative Behavior: A Cognitive-Affective Processing System Perspective

Employee innovative behavior is crucial for organizations to engage in innovative activities and gain competitive advantages in the context of digital transformation. Despite many studies having focused on the relationship between leadership and employee innovative behavior, the role of digital leadership and the underlying mechanisms for employee innovative behavior remain unclear. Using the cognitive-affective processing system framework, the study investigated the dual mediating role of psychological empowerment and affective commitment between digital leadership and employee innovative behavior and the moderating role of a proactive personality in such relationships. Employing data from 359 employees, the study conducted structure equation modeling to examine the hypotheses. The results show that digital leadership influences employee innovative behavior through psychological empowerment but not affective commitment. Furthermore, a proactive personality does not moderate the direct effect of digital leadership on psychological empowerment and affective commitment or the indirect effect of digital leadership on employee innovative behavior. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Transformational leadership, well-being, morale, and readiness: The mediating role of empowerment

Transformational leadership is embedded in the value system of the Canadian military ethos. Research suggests that transformational leadership can be viewed as a form of empowering leadership facilitating empowered psychological states among their followers, which in turn, enhances their performance, wellbeing, and engagement. The current study examined the associations between transformational leadership and Canadian Armed Forces members' psychological distress, morale, and pre-deployment readiness and the mediating role of psychological empowerment in these relationships. A path analysis model of the data collected through a pre-deployment survey completed by Canadian Armed Force (CAF) members (N = 2,391) revealed that transformational leadership was associated with lower psychological distress and greater morale and these relationships were partly explained by increased feelings of empowerment, namely higher levels of autonomy, competence, and meaning. Furthermore, transformational leadership was also associated with higher perceptions of pre-deployment readiness, and this was partly explained by increased feelings of meaning and competence. The results of this research suggest that transformational leadership is an effective strategy to bolster psychological resources and readiness in the CAF.

The impact of empowering and transformational leadership on innovative behaviour: the mediating role of psychological empowerment in health-care sector

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to test a four-variable research model using organizational behavior, social and technical systems, and leadership theories. This study set out to determine how different leadership philosophies, such as transformational leadership and empowering leadership, affected innovation. In addition, the model's mediating role for psychological empowerment was quantified.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

This study used a quantitative approach, which is primarily a questionnaire, to gather information from 320 health-care sector workers at four public hospitals in the Basrah Governorate.

FINDINGS

The majority of the relationships in the research model were shown to be positive by data analysis outcomes. The findings also showed how crucial the mediating variable was in preserving the link between the independent and dependent variables. Discussions were made on the theoretical and practical ramifications and suggestions for additional research.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

This study concentrated on the application of contemporary leadership styles, gathered information on them and combined them into a single model to boost innovation. This study, which was conducted in the setting of the Iraqi health-care industry, stands out from previous studies because it used a large sample to provide conclusive and significant results, making it a valuable resource for academicians who seek to cultivate innovation.

Serial multiple mediation of psychological empowerment and job burnout in the relationship between workplace bullying and turnover intention among Chinese novice nurses

AIM

This study aimed to examine the direct and indirect effects of workplace bullying on turnover intention using the serial multiple mediators of psychological empowerment and job burnout.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study was conducted.

METHODS

A convenience sample of 506 novice nurses from five Triple A hospitals in China's S province from November 2020 to February 2021 and were evaluated using online questionnaires on workplace bullying, psychological empowerment, job burnout, and turnover intention.

RESULTS

The prevalence of turnover intention was 51.9%. In the serial multiple mediator model, workplace bullying had a direct effect (c = 0.452, p < 0.001) and indirect effect (c' = 0.229, p < 0.001) on turnover intention through the serial multiple mediators of psychological empowerment (B = -0.093, p = 0.020) and job burnout (B = 0.127, p < 0.001); hence, the proposed model explained the total variance of 32.2% in turnover intention.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

Nursing managers should use effective measures for strengthening the psychological empowerment to minimize novice nurse burnout and turnover intention resulting from workplace bullying.

Transformational Leadership and Emotional Labor: The Mediation Effects of Psychological Empowerment

In order to survive the fiercer competition, more and more service firms emphasize front-line employees' role of creating excellent customer experience by displaying positive emotions during the service interactions. However, the underlying mechanisms for the relationship between transformational leadership and front-line employees' emotional labor remain unclear. Drawing upon the conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study develops a conceptual model in which transformational leadership influences front-line employees' emotional labor through the mediator of psychological empowerment. By collecting data from 436 employees in five call centers, we tested our model and hypotheses through PROCESS 3.3 macro for SPSS developed by Hayes. The results show that transformational leadership shows positive and negative effects on deep acting and surface acting, respectively. The positive effect on deep acting is partially mediated by psychological empowerment, while the negative effect on surface acting is fully mediated by psychological empowerment. Specifically, two dimensions of psychological empowerment (impact, self-efficacy) play negative mediating roles between transformational leadership and surface acting, while impact, self-determination, and self-efficacy play positive mediating roles of transformational leadership and deep acting. The findings advance our understanding about how transformational leadership influences front-line employees' emotional labor by introducing psychological empowerment as a mediator.

Transformational leadership, job performance, self-efficacy, and leader support: testing a moderated mediation model

Purpose

This article aims to examine the relationship between transformational leadership and job performance on the basis of social exchange theory and perceived organizational support theory. The article also attempts to examine the mediating role of self-efficacy and the moderated mediation role of leader support in this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

In this article, a self-report survey was collected from 524 employees and Process Macro to SPSS-23 was used to test the hypotheses.

Findings

The article found that transformational leadership has a positive effect on job performance and that self-efficacy plays a mediating role in this relationship. The article also determined that leader support has a moderated mediation role on the effect of transformational leadership on job performance through self-efficacy.

Originality/value

The research findings broaden the existing literature on transformational leadership and job performance by proposing an alternative model of how and under what conditions transformational leadership can affect job performance, and enrich the understanding of the conditions in which transformational leadership affects job performance. Although previous research provides a theoretical framework that connects the variables included in the research, there is no study in the literature that empirically confirms the proposed model. Thus, the authors' research is a pioneering attempt to test that relationship.

Effects of Ambidextrous Leadership on Employees' Work Behavior: The Mediating Role of Psychological Empowerment

The complexity of today's organizational environment increasingly requires leaders to think in a dynamic and flexible way to resolve contradictory issues. This study explored and compared the effects of servant leadership and authoritarian leadership on employees' work behavior from the perspectives of ambidextrous leadership theory and social exchange theory, and further examined the mediating role of psychological empowerment. In this study, 315 employees from state-owned communication companies in Shandong and Zhejiang Provinces in China were selected as subjects, and path analysis was used to test the hypotheses. The results showed that servant leadership positively predicted organizational citizenship behavior and task performance. While authoritarian leadership negatively predicted organizational citizenship behavior and positively predicted task performance, psychological empowerment mediated the relationship between the two leadership styles and organizational citizenship behavior and task performance. Moreover, psychological empowerment and organizational citizenship behavior played a multiple mediating role between the two leadership styles and task performance. The theoretical implications of these findings for advancing the ambidextrous leadership theory in Chinese organizational contexts and practical approaches for corporate managers to effectively use ambidextrous leadership style were discussed.

Non-family employee strategic renewal in family firms: the transformational leadership role of family board members and psychological ownership

Purpose

The study aims to reveal the strategic renewal (SR) of non-family employees in family small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with the effects of transformational board member leadership and psychological ownership (PO) dimensions.

Design/methodology/approach

Non-family employees at 82 export and import family firms (FFs) in Vietnam were selected for the study, which used a partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach.

Findings

Family board members with transformational leadership (TL) qualities and PO play an essential role in developing non-family employee SR.

Originality/value

The authors grant advanced family roles and relationships knowledge to the renewal and transformation of FFs' strategies and organisational structures.

Exploitative leadership and organizational cynicism: the mediating role of emotional exhaustion

Purpose

The paper aims to clarify the relationship between exploitative leadership (EL) and organizational cynicism (OC). Besides, it aims also to examine the mediating role of emotional exhaustion (EE) underpinning this relation.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected by a questionnaire from 491 employees, who work in four telecom firms.

Findings

The paper provides empirical insights about how EL influenced OC; it suggested that EE fully mediated the positive relationship between EL and OC.

Originality/value

To the author’s knowledge, it is the first study to address the relationship between exploitative leadership and organizational cynicism. In addition, it is the first one to explore the mediating mechanism of emotional exhaustion underpinning this relation.

Transformational leadership and non-family employee intrapreneurial behaviour in family-owned firms: the mediating role of adaptive culture and psychological empowerment

Purpose

The purpose of the present study is to examine the direct impact of transformational leadership on non-family employee intrapreneurial behaviour and through a mediating role of corporate adaptive culture and psychological empowerment in family-owned firms.

Design/methodology/approach

The study’s sample consisted of 368 key role non-family employees at 109 family export and import firms in the Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam. The data is analysed using a partial least square–structural equation model (PLS-SEM).

Findings

This paper shows that transformational leadership had a positive and significant influence on non-family employee intrapreneurial behaviour directly and via adaptive corporate culture and psychological empowerment as a mediating influence mechanism.

Practical implications

Family-owned firms might balance the need to maintain traditional core values and requires innovation through the development of human capital with non-family employee intrapreneurship.

Originality/value

This paper grants a unique approach to studying intrapreneurial behaviour in the context of the family-owned business.

Innovation capability of the company: the roles of leadership and error management

Extensive research has been conducted promoting empowerment, inclusive decision making, and self-determination by employees. However, where does an organization initiate change if employees stay in their comfort zone and rather have a work-to-rule mentality? They just do not take over responsibility and the power they are given. The inductive case study involved first-hand data about leader-member exchange and corporate culture. A qualitative research approach was selected by employing personal construct psychology to receive an unbiased cultural view of employees and leaders interacting. A sample of 61 repertory grid structured interviews with 21 leaders and 40 employees produced 782 unique personal assessment criteria. The applied methodology allows a quantitative analysis of these assessments in association with leadership, error management, and employees' proactive behavior. This unusual psychological-based approach chosen as intuitive interviews predicated on personal construct psychology is unlikely to provoke socially desirable or questionnaire-driven results. Based on the case study findings, a systematic review of contemporary scientific literature was conducted to generate broadly applicable results. The final qualitative synthesis included 41 research articles relevant to the investigated topic. Theoretical and empirical results allowed concluding that leadership vulnerability supports error management and employees' psychological safety. These combinations are prerequisites to proactive behavior. Additional preconditions to proactivity are employee resilience and organizational commitment. This article's results could give practical recommendations in case organizations lack the proactive behavior of their workforce. Finally, this article advocates further research on vulnerability in leadership and managers communicating their own weaknesses and mistakes as it is an underrepresented area in current scientific literature.