LMX and employee satisfaction: mediating effect of psychological capital

Mediating role of pro-environmental behavior in environmentally specific transformational leadership and subjective well-being

Purpose

Based on self-determination theory, the paper investigates the link between environmentally specific transformational leadership (ETFL) and subjective well-being (SWB) of employees working in an energy intensive industry. The paper also aims to examine pro-environmental behavior (PEB) as a mediator mechanism between ETFL and SWB relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

An empirical research design was used for the analysis. In total, 293 respondents working in different energy intensive Indian companies filled the questionnaire for the study. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling SMART-PLS 3 software which is a graphical user interface for variance-based structural equation modeling using the partial least squares path modeling method. Two stages of analysis were conducted: the measurement model and the structural model.

Findings

The results indicate that (1) ETFL has a significant positive impact on PEB. (2) PEB is positively correlated to SWB. (3) ETFL has a significant impact on SWB. (4) The underlying mechanism process of ETFL and SWB relationship is explained by mediation of PEB.

Practical implications

Overall, the study insinuates that PEB act as underlying mechanism in environmental leadership and SWB of employees. The study further suggests that the management should promote green leaders for enhancing the overall SWB of the managements' employees especially in energy intensive sector. Doing so helps the managers to enhance managers' environmental conscious behavior for inducing SWB of employees.

Originality/value

The study contributes to novel findings in existing literature particularly to determine ETFL and PEB as predictors of SWB especially in energy intensive sector. The study also leads the ways for organizations by promoting green conscious leaders, which stimulates PEB among employees that ultimately contributes to SWB of employees. Furthermore, the research methodology can be used in other studies for variation of contextual variables such as size of the industry, developed or underdeveloped country and manufacturing or service industry.

How Dispositional Gratitude Shapes Employee Well-being and Organizational Commitment: The Mediating Roles of Leader-Member Exchange and Coworker Exchange

Dispositional gratitude has recently emerged as a variable of interest in organizational contexts. However, it remains unclear whether dispositional gratitude is predictive of employee well-being, with limited theoretical and empirical elucidation of the underlying mechanisms. To address these limitations, the present study investigated dispositional gratitude as a predictor of employee well-being and organizational commitment. Drawing on the broaden-and-build theory of positive affect, the study also examined whether the social bonding resources of leader-member exchange (LMX) and coworker exchange (CWX) mediated these effects. The participating employees ( N = 300) completed the survey in three waves at one-week intervals. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) confirm that dispositional gratitude is positively related to employee well-being and organizational commitment and that these effects are mediated by LMX and CWX. The paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of these findings, the study’s limitations, and future research directions.

The Higher the Life Satisfaction, the Better the Psychological Capital? Life Satisfaction and Psychological Capital: A Moderated Mediation Model

This study investigates the mediator role of attachment avoidance and the moderator role of rejection sensitivity on the links between life satisfaction and psychological capital (PsyCap). This study uses the Experiences in Close Relationship Scale, Rejection Sensitive Scale, Positive Psychological Capital Scale, and Life Satisfaction Scale among 999 Chinese young adults as subjects. The results presented that life satisfaction had a significant positive predictive effect on PsyCap. Mediation analysis of this study shows that attachment avoidance mediated the association between life satisfaction and PsyCap. Furthermore, moderated mediation analysis indicated that rejection sensitivity moderates the link between life satisfaction and attachment avoidance (first-stage moderation). Compared with individuals with low rejection sensitivity, individuals with high rejection sensitivity show more attachment avoidance under low life satisfaction. This study helps understand the relationship between life satisfaction and PsyCap from the perspective of rejection sensitivity theory and attachment theory and has implications for guiding college students toward strengthening PsyCap and weakening rejection sensitivity.

Impact of psychological capital (PsyCap) on affective commitment: mediating role of affective well-being

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating role of affective well-being (AWB) in the relationship between psychological capital (PsyCap) and affective commitment.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample included 226 employees from diverse Portuguese organizations. Based on a survey, respondents reported their perceptions of own PsyCap, AWB and affective commitment to their organization.

Findings

Results from structural equation modeling suggested presence of mediation by AWB in the relationship between PsyCap and affective commitment.

Practical implications

Managers are encouraged to gain from this finding by emphasizing more on the emotional health of individuals to increase their attachment with the company.

Originality/value

Though there are several studies indicating the positive consequences of PsyCap on employees, studies on how PsyCap affects affective commitment through AWB is scarce. These results advance the broaden-and-build theory by suggesting that the relationship between PsyCap and affective commitment is much more complex.

When ethical leadership and LMX are more effective in prompting creativity

Purpose

Despite the immense amount of literature on ethical leadership and leader‒member exchange (LMX), little is known about how and when ethical leadership and LMX are more/less effective in prompting employee creativity. It is proposed that ethical leadership affects creativity through LMX. Furthermore, the authors draw upon an interactionist perspective and suggest that employee psychological capital is a dispositional boundary condition that influences the effectiveness of LMX in promoting employee creativity. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a survey questionnaire, data were collected from 557 nurses and their supervisors working in public sector hospitals. The data were collected in two phases (time lagged) to avoid common method bias. Moderated mediation analysis was performed, using model 14 of PROCESS, to probe hypothesized relationships.

Findings

The results of the moderated mediation suggest that ethical leadership and LMX predict creativity. Ethical leadership indirectly affects creativity through LMX. Employee psychological capital moderates the direct effect of LMX and the indirect effect of ethical leadership on employee creativity.

Research limitations/implications

The study contributes to the extant literature, as the findings suggest that, being a dispositional boundary condition, psychological capital plays a contingent role in explaining LMX and the ethical role of leaders in fostering creativity. Moreover, the results also confirm previous findings, which suggested that ethical leaders promote creativity.

Practical implications

The findings imply that ethical leadership and exchange relationships are important for promoting creativity. Given that creativity is a complex product of an individual’s behavior, high psychological capital employees obtain benefits of quality exchange relationships and utilize them to elicit creativity. Managers are recommended to proactively develop and promote exchange relationships as well as positive psychological resources among employees to achieve creativity.

Originality/value

The study is unique in its scope and contribution, as it tries to develop an understanding of how and when ethical leadership and LMX foster employee creativity. Using an interactionist perspective to theorize psychological capital as a second-stage moderator is, thus, a unique contribution of this study.

The effects of leaders’ behaviors on employees’ resilience

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new typology for classifying the leaders’ behaviors and investigate the effects of leaders’ behaviors on employees’ resilience.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper used a mixed method research (i.e. interview and questionnaire). First, through the interviews with employees, the leaders’ behaviors were identified. Next, based on the identified behaviors and Kano model the type of each behavior was classified. Finally, according to this classification, the impact of leaders’ behaviors on employees’ resilience was investigated.

Findings

Based on the results of the interviews, 46 leaders’ behaviors which influence employees’ satisfaction/dissatisfaction were identified out of which 10 behaviors were must-be; 5 behaviors were one-dimensional, 18 behaviors were attractive and 13 behaviors were reverse type. Also, the results of hypotheses testing showed that attractive behaviors have a stronger relationship to employees’ resilience than one-dimensional and must-be behaviors; one-dimensional behaviors have a stronger relationship to employees’ resilience than must-be behaviors; and reverse behaviors have an indirect effect on employees’ resilience.

Originality/value

This research proposes a new typology for classifying the leaders’ behaviors into the five categories and the approach and findings of this research contribute to the literature of Kano model and leadership theory.

Analyzing the influence of job satisfaction on hostage employee loyalty in Isfahan Province Gas Company

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of job satisfaction on hostage employee loyalty in Isfahan Province Gas Company (IPGC).

Design/methodology/approach

The statistical population of this study included the formal recruited employees of IPGC out of which, 212 employees have been selected using a stratified random sampling method. A questionnaire has been developed and used for data collection regarding job satisfaction and employee loyalty. In this study along with the other studies of the authors, employees of IPGC were classified into four different categories on the basis of loyalty matrix, and the majority (78 percent) of them were located in the hostage category. Structural equation modeling has been used for data analysis.

Findings

The findings imply that job satisfaction does not have a significant influence on the loyalty of hostage employees.

Practical implications

Organizations are encouraged to identify the individual and organizational factors and obstacles, take necessary measures to increase job satisfaction and maintain the level of employee loyalty and gradually shift them from the hostage category to the apostle category, which results in an increased number of loyal and satisfied employees.

Originality/value

This study indicates how the application of the concepts of loyalty matrix, particularly its hostage category, can be expanded in the field of organizational behavior management.