Directive versus participative leadership: Dispositional antecedents and team consequences

Participative Leadership: A Literature Review and Prospects for Future Research

Changes in the external market environment put forward objective requirements for the formulation of organizational strategic plans, making it difficult for the organization's leaders to make the right and effective decisions quickly on their own. As a result, participative leadership, which encourages and supports employees to participate in the decision-making process of organizations, has received increasing attention in both theory and practice. We searched the literature related to participative leadership in databases such as Web of Science, EBSCO, ProQuest, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). Based on this, we clarify the concept of participative leadership, propose a definition of participative leadership, summarize measurement scales for this type of leadership, and compare participative leadership with other leadership styles (empowering leadership and directive leadership). We also present a research framework for participative leadership that demonstrates its antecedents; the mechanisms for its development based on social exchange theory, conservation of resources theory, social cognitive theory; social information processing theory, and implicit leadership theory; and outcomes. Finally, we identify five potential research areas: Connotation, antecedents, outcomes, mediators and moderators, and study of participative leadership in China.

Achieving congruence in 'being and doing' community nursing

Conceptual and theoretical frameworks for person-centred community nursing practices have not yet been fully developed. There is a need to explore this further in order to guide future district nursing, which forms part of the community nursing discipline in the UK. The contemporary district nursing role is undergoing change, although there appears to be little consensus about the district nurse's (DN) vision across the UK, and little indication of the theoretical position underpinning this change. Meeting strategic requirements (National Health Service (NHS), 2019; Scottish Government (SG), 2017a&b), DNs have advancing clinical expertise and are recognised for their technical skills. However, one may contend that this emphasis on 'doing' in practice contributes to practice decisions made exclusively on task performance by strategic decision-makers, and DNs continually viewing themselves as invisible (National Assembly for Wales,, 2019; Queens Nursing Institute (QNI), 2006; Dickson 2018; 2020). District nursing education may contribute to this lack of clarity as curricula are based on borrowed theory from other disciplines that continue to focus on 'how to do', with little emphasis on 'how to be' a DN, and the continued decrease in DN numbers across the UK may be a consequence. In this paper, I explore current evidence that underpins district nursing practice, education and research in the UK, and advocate the use of the Person-centred Practice Framework (PCPF) (McCormack and McCance, 2017) as a means of unifying and guiding 'being a person-centred DN.' This will enable practitioners who can draw on multiple forms of evidence to inform their advancing practice. This article offers philosophical and pedagogical principles to underpin person-centred education going forward. I argue this will promote congruence between 'doing' and 'being' a DN, giving a voice to DNs, and direction to their specialism.

Participative or Directive Leadership Behaviors for Decision-Making in Crisis Management Teams?

We assess the relative value of participative and directive leadership for improving the accuracy and speed of decision-making in crisis management teams, contingent on whether teams face an emergency that is familiar or unfamiliar to them. Testing our theory, using randomized experiments, with 72 teams tasked with managing simulated crises, we found that participative leadership improves decision accuracy in unfamiliar emergencies, whereas directive leadership improves accuracy in familiar crises; directive leadership produces speedier decisions than participative leadership when the team is familiar with the crisis. We discuss implications of our findings for leaders and crisis management experts.

Gender-focused training improves leadership of female medical students: A randomised trial

OBJECTIVES

Recent research suggests that the gender of health care providers may affect their medical performance. This trial investigated (1) the effects of the gender composition of resuscitation teams on leadership behaviour of first responders and (2) the effects of a brief gender-specific instruction on leadership behaviour of female first responders.

METHODS

This prospective randomised single-blinded trial, carried out between 2008 and 2016, included 364 fourth-year medical students of two Swiss universities. One hundred and eighty-two teams of two students each were confronted with a simulated cardiac arrest, occurring in the presence of a first responder while a second responder is summoned to help. The effect of gender composition was assessed by comparing all possible gender-combinations of first and second responders. The gender-specific instruction focused on the importance of leadership, gender differences in self-esteem and leadership, acknowledgement of unease while leading, professional role, and mission statement to lead was delivered orally for 10 min by a staff physician and tested by randomising female first responders to the intervention group or the control group. The primary outcome, based on ratings of video-recorded performance, was the first responders' percentage contribution to their teams' leadership statements and critical treatment decision making.

RESULTS

Female first responders contributed significantly less to leadership statements (53% vs. 76%; P = 0.001) and critical decisions (57% vs. 76%; P = 0.018) than male first responders. For critical treatment decisions, this effect was more pronounced (P = 0.007) when the second responder was male. The gender-specific intervention significantly increased female first responder's contribution to leadership statements (P = 0.024) and critical treatment decisions (P = 0.034).

CONCLUSIONS

Female first responders contributed less to their rescue teams' leadership and critical decision making than their male colleagues. A brief gender-specific leadership instruction was effective in improving female medical students' leadership behaviours.

Why Do I Seek Negative Feedback? Assessment Orientation, Self-Criticism, and Negative Feedback-Seeking

Negative feedback plays an important role in employee performance improvement, yet little research has specifically examined the motivational factor that drives employees to seek negative feedback. Drawing from the regulatory mode theory, we propose that assessment orientation could increase negative feedback-seeking by triggering individual self-criticism and participative leadership could enhance this effect. Results from a two-wave lagged survey study obtained from 216 Chinese employees suggested that assessment orientation is positively correlated with negative feedback-seeking via the mediating role of self-criticism. Moreover, the positive effect of assessment orientation on self-criticism and the positive indirect effect of assessment orientation on negative feedback-seeking via self-criticism are both stronger when participative leadership is higher. These results enrich the literature on feedback-seeking and regulatory mode and are useful for increasing employee negative feedback-seeking behavior in the organization.

Building Cohesive Teams—The Role of Leaders’ Bottom-Line Mentality and Behavior

Team cohesiveness plays a crucial role in effective teamwork, innovation, and improved performance, and as such, its development among team members is an essential part of team management. However, it may be disregarded by leaders with a high bottom-line mentality (BLM; a single-minded focus on the bottom line at the expense of other values or priorities). These leaders may show little interest in other priorities, such as ethical, social, or environmental considerations, and may be tempted to push their followers to go above and beyond what is expected, even if it means bending the rules, cutting corners, or engaging in other ethically problematic behaviors. We argue that although a team leader’s BLM may motivate followers to come together around the pursuit of a common goal, it may come at the expense of nurturing healthy interpersonal relationships, trust, and other important social resources within the team. Specifically, we argue that the way leaders with a high BLM approach their goals may affect team cohesiveness, and that it is particularly negative for female leaders. Using a large multi-national study, we found that this happens through increased directive and lowered participative leader behaviors.

Does Co-worker Presenteeism Increase Innovative Behavior? Evidence From IT Professionals Under the 996 Work Regime in China

Drawing on the event system and regulatory focus theory, this study constructed an impact mechanism model to investigate the relationship between the event strength of co-worker presenteeism and innovative behavior among IT professionals under the 996 work regime. In addition to test the direct effect, we examined the indirect effect of promotion focus and the moderating effect of event time in this relationship. Data were collected through an online survey administered to 374 IT professionals in China. The results showed a positive relationship between the criticality of co-worker presenteeism events and innovative behavior. An indirect effect of promotion focus was also found in this relationship. The timing of co-worker presenteeism events moderated the relationship between the criticality of co-worker presenteeism events and promotion focus. Specifically, the effect was more significant when co-worker presenteeism events occurred during project delays.

The ambidextrous and differential effects of directive versus empowering leadership: a study from project context

Purpose

This study investigated the differential effects of empowering leadership and directive leadership in projects. Moreover, how the complex interplay between empowering and directive leadership styles influences both leader–member exchange and project performance was also explored.

Design/methodology/approach

Polynomial regression analysis and response surface modeling were applied to analyze 161 matched data collected from project members and managers worked in different projects located in China.

Findings

Four leadership styles were identified, i.e. ambidextrous, delegating, directive and laissez-faire styles. These may be combined with empowering and directive leadership. With regard to (in)congruence, leader–member exchange and project performance improved with ambidextrous style as a form of high–high congruence between empowering and directive leadership compared with laissez-faire style (i.e. low–low congruence). Results were better when a delegating style was combined with empowering leadership at a high level compared with the combination of directive style as directive leadership at a high level. Leader–member exchange was identified to exert a mediating role of the (in)congruence on project performance.

Originality/value

This study confirmed the contingent viewpoint of leadership by identifying distinct leadership styles applied in projects. Furthermore, the co-existence of empowering leadership and directive leadership was examined, and the underlying mechanism between the (in)congruence of empowering and directive leadership and project performance was identified.

Participative leadership and employee creativity: a sequential mediation model of psychological safety and creative process engagement

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to draw upon social information processing theory to examine the sequential mediating roles of psychological safety and creative process engagement between participative leadership on creativity.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a time-lagged sample of 526 supervisor–subordinate dyads from R&D teams of five enterprises located in the southwest part of China, we tested the theoretical model using structural equation modelling (SEM) as well as with the MPLUS 7.0 software.

Findings

Results indicated that participative leadership is positively related to creative process engagement; psychological safety significantly mediates the relationship between participative leadership and creative process engagement; creative process engagement significantly mediates the relationship between psychological safety and employee creativity; psychological safety and creative process engagement sequentially mediates the relationship between participative leadership and creativity.

Practical implications

The study findings imply that the participative leadership behaviors of managers or supervisor's nurtures employees psychological safety to take risk and promotes employee engagement in creativity relevant ventures leading to creativity.

Originality/value

The findings contribute new knowledge on the relationship between participative leadership and creativity by uncovering the causal chain of a cognitive mechanism (psychological safety) with a behavioral mechanism (creative process engagement).