Developing positive self-leadership through “Inner Engineering”

Purpose

The study evaluated the effect of a comprehensive yogic methodology called “Inner Engineering Online” (IEO) on developing positive self-leadership. The authors hypothesized that IEO would equip participants with knowledge and skills to optimize their functioning in major experiential dimensions of the self (body, mind, emotion, and energy) and produce a synergistic effect in enhancing well-being and positive organizational behavior for employees, leaders, and entrepreneurs.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses a field quasi-experimental one group design with pre- and post-tests. The sample consists of 97 employees, 84 leaders and 76 entrepreneurs in various industries (N = 264).

Findings

The pairwise t-test results show that IEO has a positive effect on well-being (mindfulness, joy, vitality, and restfulness) and positive organizational behavior (meaningful work, psychological capital, and work engagement).

Research limitations/implications

The study is limited by the lack of a control group. Future research may use a randomized control design to confirm the present findings and explore the mechanisms through which IEO exercises its effect and other positive outcomes.

Practical implications

IEO complements the behavioral and cognitive strategies of self-leadership by including emotional and energetic strategies to produce a synergistic effect on positive outcomes. The program is multi-lingual and scalable and can be implemented in and outside of the organizational settings globally.

Originality/value

The study proposes the concept of positive self-leadership and is the first study to investigate the potentiality of an emerging program for developing positive self-leadership.

Female managers' meaningful work and commitment: organizational contexts and generational differences

Purpose

The aim of this research is to examine the relationships among family-friendly organizational culture, job characteristics, supervisor support, meaningful work, and organizational commitment for female managers. It also investigates generational differences in these relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

Data for the study were analyzed using multi-group structural equation modeling to examine the moderating role of generational differences.

Findings

This study investigates the role of meaningful work as an agent in terms of how it influences organizational commitment for female managers. Empirical results confirm the effect of family-friendly culture on supervisor support and meaningful work, which in turn impacts organizational commitment. The findings also revealed generational differences among Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials in these relationships.

Originality/value

The findings highlight the significance of investigating meaningful work on organizational commitment by examining the relationships with organizational culture, supervisor support, and job characteristics across different generational groups.

Continuous learning during crises: achieving change-efficacy, meaningful work and adaptive performance

Purpose

The study aims to examine the association between learning culture and adaptive performance of delivery employees during crises situation. The study develops and tests a model that explains how learning culture, through change-efficacy and meaningful work, influences employees' adaptive performance (including how they handle crisis situations and deal with uncertainty).

Design/methodology/approach

Data was collected from 298 delivery employees working in e-commerce companies throughout India in a time-lagged manner. Regression analysis and structural equation modeling were performed to assess the influence of learning culture, change-efficacy and meaningful work on adaptive performance using SPSS 24. Further, PROCESS macro was used to test the parallel mediation effects through bootstrapping approach.

Findings

The study establishes a significant direct and indirect relationship between learning culture and adaptive performance for employees. Further, underpinning the transformative learning theory (Mezirow, 1997), and job characteristics theory (1976), this study came across two pathways for organizations to transform their learning efforts into improved adaptive performance for employees.

Practical implications

Organizations, particularly in crisis situations, can leverage employees' change-efficacy and meaningful work to connect learning efforts with employees' adaptive performance.

Originality/value

The study contributes significantly to existing theory on transformative learning and job characteristics theory while strengthening the literature on antecedents of employees' adaptive performance, particularly in crises situation.

The Empirical Investigation Between Ethical Leadership and Knowledge-Hiding Behavior in Financial Service Sector: A Moderated-Mediated Model

This study aimed to investigate the impact of ethical leadership on knowledge-hiding behavior of the employees working in the financial services sector under the mediating role of meaningful at work and moderating role of ethical climate. For this purpose, data were collected from two hundred and fifteen employees of financial services providing organizations. The already-established scales were followed to develop an instrument that was used to obtain responses from the respondents. Collected data were analyzed by applying the structural equation modeling through Smart PLS and Process Macro. The results indicate that ethical leadership and meaningful work (MW) reduce knowledge-hiding behavior of employees at work, while ethical leadership positively impacts the influential work of employees at the workplace. Further, the relationship between ethical leadership and knowledge-hiding behavior is partially mediated by MW. Similarly, ethical climate moderated the relationship between ethical leadership and knowledge-hiding behavior. This research makes valuable contributions to the existing literature on leadership and knowledge management. From a practical point of view, this study stresses that managers at work should promote ethical leadership styles to promote MW, which will reduce knowledge hiding. Thus, in this way, it will enhance the innovation and creativity within organizational circuits. The limitations and future directions of this study are also listed.

Sources of Meaningful Work for Blue-Collar Workers

Research on the meaningfulness of work has increased in recent years, yet there is a limited body of qualitative studies on the topic. This article analyzes how the four basic psychological needs, namely autonomy, competence, relatedness, and beneficence, are articulated as sources of meaningful work by blue-collar workers. The research data consist of responses (N = 679) to one open-ended question in a survey and semi-structured interviews (N = 29) with blue-collar workers from property services and the manufacturing industry in Finland. The data were analyzed by theory-driven content analysis. The main findings are: first, autonomy, competence, relatedness, and beneficence appear as sources of meaningfulness in blue-collar work. Second, blue-collar workers see their work as autonomous and requiring diverse competences. Relatedness in blue-collar work entails having good relations with co-workers and striving to maintain those relationships. Beneficence is multilevel: helping clients, co-workers, organization and even the whole society through work. Organizations should develop organizational practices that may enhance the meaningfulness of work, such as opportunities to use and develop occupational skills. This article participates in the discussion about how satisfying these four basic psychological needs can be a source of meaningful work and offers a sociological-contextual perspective on the discussion about meaningfulness of work.

Do Environmental Transformational Leadership Predicts Organizational Citizenship Behavior towards Environment in Hospitality Industry: Using Structural Equation Modelling Approach

Voluntary pro-environmental behaviors in the workplace such as organizational citizenship behavior towards environment (OCBE) are pertinent for the organizations striving to become environmentally responsible entities. The significance of OCBE for green organizational initiatives has led scholars to strive for expanding its nomological network. Approaching from the theoretical angle of the social information processing approach, this quantitative, survey-based study theoretically links and empirically tests the impact of environmental transformational leadership on organizational citizenship behavior towards environment (OCBE) via mediating mechanism of perceived meaningful work. Data from a sample of 311 employees working in Pakistan’s hospitality sector were collected and analyzed to test the hypothesized relationships using structural equation modelling. Results indicated the indirect effect of perceived meaningful work on the relationship between environmental transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior towards environment. Implications of both theoretical and practical nature are laid out in the relevant sections of the paper.

A Corporate Purpose as an Antecedent to Employee Motivation and Work Engagement

It is generally assumed that a corporate purpose aiming to benefit all stakeholders has a positive effect on employee motivation and engagement, but no empirical studies into these specific effects were found. To examine this assumption, a corporate mission and vision matching the definition of a higher purpose were tested in two subsequent studies. The first study (N = 270) was a cross-sectional self-report study. The second study included a longitudinal design (N = 56) modeling purpose, motivation, and engagement in a cross-lagged panel model over three time-points. The results associated purpose with motivation and engagement. The subsequent longitudinal analysis confirmed the presumed directionality from purpose to engagement, but not to motivation. Hence, while a corporate purpose can be added to the list of antecedents to work engagement, the relationship with motivation, despite the significant association with purpose in the cross-sectional study, remains more complicated. The present study adds to the knowledge of the beneficial effects of a broader purpose and responds to the current surge of interest in purpose as an instrument for sustainable business.