Green human resources management practices, leadership style and employee engagement: Green banking context

This paper discusses green human resource management practices, employee engagement, and transformational leadership in green banking. Specifically, we explore how green human resource management practices influence employee engagement, and how the role of transformational leadership influences their relationships. We used a random sample of 363 green bank employees in Indonesia. Data was collected through online surveys and analyzed using regression modeling. The results show that in general, green human resource management practices are positively and significantly related to employee engagement, and transformational leadership is shown to moderate the relationship. However, specifically, green recruitment and selection only affects the behavioral factors of employee engagement, but not affective and cognitive factors. Meanwhile, training and development only affect the affective factors of employee engagement, but not cognitive and behavioral factors. Furthermore, this research presents novel discoveries regarding how the interplay of contextual and institutional factors between transformational leadership behaviors and green human resource management practices can promote employee engagement.

Linking Environmental Transformational Leadership, Environmental Organizational Citizenship Behavior, and Organizational Sustainability Performance: A Moderated Mediation Model

Although considerable research has been conducted on improving sustainability performance, many important questions remain. Drawing on Social Learning Theory (SLT) and Stakeholder Theory (ST), our model suggests a mechanism, Environmental Organizational Citizenship Behavior (EOCB), through which Environmental Transformational Leadership (ETL) influences Organizational Sustainability Performance (SP). In addition, employees’ Work Passion (WP) will moderate the relationship between ETL and EOCB. A total of 240 full-time employees in Saudi Arabia’s petrochemical industries submitted responses via survey questionnaires, and the proposed hypotheses were tested using hierarchical regression analysis. Results were consistent with the hypothesized conceptual scheme in that ETL indirectly impacts SP through EOCB. In the meantime, the WP of employees plays a moderating role in the relationship between ETL and EOCB as well as in the indirect effect of ETL on SP via EOCB. As a way to improve their sustainability performance, organizations must hire and nominate ETLs who can influence their employees to become aware of environmental protection and instill these values. Furthermore, employees’ passion for their work encourages them to engage in voluntary environmental behaviors. A discussion of the findings, implications, limitations, and future research avenues is included.

A Person-Centered Perspective on the Combined Effects of Global and Specific Levels of Job Engagement

This study examines how the different dimensions of job engagement combine within different profiles of workers ( n = 264). This research also documents the relations between the identified job engagement profiles, demographic characteristics (gender, age, education, working time, and organizational tenure), job characteristics (work autonomy, task variety, task significance, task identity, and feedback), attitudes (affective and normative commitment), and psychological health (emotional exhaustion and ill-being). Latent profile analysis revealed four profiles of employees defined based on their global and specific (physical, emotional, and cognitive) job engagement levels: Globally Disengaged, Globally Engaged, Globally but not Emotionally Engaged, and Moderately Engaged. Employees’ perceptions of task variety and feedback shared statistically significant relations with their likelihood of membership into all latent profiles. Profiles were finally showed to be meaningfully related to employees’ levels of affective commitment, normative commitment, emotional exhaustion, and ill-being.

Retaining health carers: the role of personal and organisation job resources

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify key personal and organisational resources that influence the engagement, well-being and job satisfaction of healthcare professionals working in Australia.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the job demands–resources model, this study investigates how employee resources and organisation resources influence engagement, well-being and job satisfaction of health professionals in Australian hospitals. The authors collected survey data from a sample of healthcare professionals (n=217) working in three hospitals in New South Wales, Australia.

Findings

The results confirm the importance of the emotional health of employees on their well-being. The results concur with existing research that employees with higher levels of emotional health have more positive emotional and social interactions, and thus exhibit higher levels of well-being at work. The study also uncovers certain aspects of emotional health that can influence a range of employee outcomes.

Practical implications

The findings link human resource management practices to unique motivators of healthcare professionals which, in turn, are likely to improve engagement, well-being and job satisfaction.

Originality/value

The study highlights specific resources that support greater levels of well-being, engagement and job satisfaction in Australian hospitals.

Work Engagement: Investigating the Role of Transformational Leadership, Job Resources, and Recovery

While the relationship between job resources and engagement has been well established, a greater understanding of the upstream factors that shape job resources is required to develop strategies to promote work engagement. The current study addresses this need by exploring transformational leadership as an upstream job resource, and the moderating role of recovery experiences. It was hypothesized that job resources would mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and engagement. Recovery experiences were expected to moderate the relationship between resources and engagement. A sample of 277 employees from a variety of organizations and industries was obtained. Analysis showed direct relationships between: transformational leadership and engagement, and transformational leadership and job resources. Mediation analysis using bootstrapping found a significant indirect path between transformational leadership and engagement via job resources. Recovery experiences did not significantly moderate the relationship between job resources and engagement. To date, the majority of published literature on recovery has focused on job demands; hence the nonsignificant result offers insight of a potentially more complex relationship for recovery with resources and engagement. Overall, the current study extends the JD-R model and provides evidence for broadening the model to include upstream organizational variables such as transformational leadership.

Emotional Intelligence and Transformational Leadership: A Review of Empirical Studies

There is an ongoing debate between the proponents and skeptics of emotional intelligence (EI) with regard to its contribution to leadership effectiveness in organizational settings. Not aiming to address all the leadership styles exhaustively, this research looked into the relationship between EI and transformational leadership (TL) by reviewing the accumulated research assets in the existing literature. After the staged review, 20 empirical studies covering five different continents were chosen for an in-depth analysis. The results show that most studies provide empirical support of the relationship, with variances in identifying subfactors of EI and TL that further explicate the EI–TL relationship. At the same time, the remaining studies are found to be skeptical, not fundamentally denying the relationship, but commonly pointing out the problem with EI measures and emphasizing the need for more valid and reliable assessment tools. Building on these findings, the present research suggests implications for practice and research in the human resource development (HRD) field.

Work engagement and intercultural adjustment

While engagement seems to have promising prospects for predicting organizational behavior in domestic organizations, few scholars have included this in cross-cultural management research. We use survey results from 640 self-initiated expatriate academics in Greater China to study the relation between work engagement and intercultural adjustment. We focus on expatriates in Greater China because in terms of economy, this is a fast-growing area and because, with regard to language and culture, this region deviates substantially from the Western countries that most expatriates there come from. This is not least in relation to age perceptions. Contrary to the dominating theoretical position, we found that the different dimensions of work engagement, namely, vigor, dedication, and absorption, have different effects on intercultural adjustment. Moreover, we found that the effect of job dedication on reducing time to proficiency was stronger for older expatriates.

Leadership theories and the concept of work engagement: Creating a conceptual framework for management implications and research

During the past decade, a great deal of research has been carried out on the importance of employee engagement. In various studies, engagement is viewed as a positive state of mind of overwhelming satisfaction, which is characterized by feelings of vigour, dedication and absorption. In this article, ‘vigour’ refers to a state of mind in which individuals feel energetic, fit, strong and indefatigable. ‘Dedication’ refers to a state of mind in which individuals feel highly engaged by their work, which inspires them, and makes them feel proud and enthusiastic. ‘Absorption’ refers to a pleasant state of mind in which individuals are fully immersed in their work. This article provides an overview of a number of perspectives on leadership and discusses which leadership factors are likely to be the most effective in ensuring that employees remain engaged and productive. It also provides a conceptual model for further research on the relationship between leadership styles and work engagement.

Psychological needs, engagement, and work intentions

Purpose

– The purpose of this study was to empirically examine the utility of self-determination theory (SDT) within the engagement–performance linkage.

Design/methodology/approach

– Bayesian multi-measurement mediation modeling was used to estimate the relation between SDT, engagement and a proxy measure of performance (e.g. work intentions) (N = 1,586). To best capture the phenomenon of engagement, two measures of engagement (i.e. the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-9 [UWES-9] and the Job Engagement Scale [JES]) and one measure of harmonious and obsessive passion (HOPS) were utilized. The HOPS was split into separate scales (harmonious and obsessive passion). SDT was operationalized through the Basic Psychological Needs at Work Scale (BPNS). Performance was operationalized through a latent proxy of work intentions.

Findings

– Results demonstrated that the association between SDT and engagement were positive. Indirect effects between SDT and work intentions were significant for only two of the four measures of engagement (i.e. the UWES and Harmonious Passion). Hypotheses were partially supported.

Practical implications

– SDT operated as an appropriate framework for capturing the underlying psychological structures of engagement for each of the four measures. In some cases, engagement did not mediate the relation between SDT and performance as expected, highlighting the contextual nature of engagement in both application and measurement.

Originality/value

– This is one of the first studies to explicitly link a broad well-established psychological theory to engagement. This connection allows researchers to explain the latent processes of engagement that underpin the observed relationships of engagement in practice. Moreover, this is one of only a handful of studies that has used a multi-measurement approach in exploring the engagement–performance linkage and one of the only studies to use Bayesian methodology.

Leadership and Employee Engagement

Leadership is one of the most studied topics in the organization sciences, and employee engagement one of the more recent. However, the relationship between leadership and employee engagement has not been widely investigated. As many organizations invest significant resources in retaining, developing, and engaging employees, human resource development (HRD) professionals are tasked to develop and partner with leaders to deliver those strategies effectively. Thus, a comprehensive understanding on the relationship and mechanism between leadership and engagement is essential to HRD professionals informing leaders on how best to cultivate positive results in followers. In this vein, this research conducted an extensive review of empirical and conceptual studies that examined the relationship between leadership and employee engagement, analyzed/synthesized the studies into integrated frameworks for the leadership–engagement relationship, and proposed future research agendas.

Work and organisation engagement: aligning research and practice

Purpose

– To date, work engagement has been the domain of academics whilst organisation engagement has been the focus of practice. The purpose of this paper is to address the growing divide by exploring the construct clarity and discriminant validity of work and organisation engagement simultaneously, providing insight into how these constructs relate empirically, as well as investigating the nomological network of each.

Design/methodology/approach

– Empirical data were collected through online surveys from 298 employees in two multinational companies. Respondents were primarily managerial and professional employees. The survey included measures of work and organisation engagement, as well as work outcomes and organisation performance.

Findings

– The findings indicate that work and organisation engagement are distinct constructs, and have differential relationships with important employee outcomes (commitment, organisational citizenship behaviour, initiative, active learning, job satisfaction), and organisational performance.

Practical implications

– The findings provide opportunities for practitioners to explore the potentially unique ways in which different types of engagement may add value to jobs and organisations.

Originality/value

– The study takes important steps in bridging the academic/practitioner divide: the paper clearly demonstrates how the two concepts of work and organisation engagement relate to and complement each other as useful constructs for research and practice.

Learning organization and innovative behavior

Purpose

– The purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating effect of work engagement on the relationship between learning organization and innovative behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study used surveys as a data collection tool and implemented structural equation modeling for empirically testing the proposed research model.

Findings

– The study found that learning organization culture makes a direct and indirect impact on employees' innovative work behaviors. Results from hierarchical multiple regressions and structural equation modeling supported that work engagement fully mediates the relationship between the learning organization and innovative work behaviors.

Practical implications

– HRD practitioners can develop effective interventions to enhance their employees' innovative behavior by devoting efforts to create a workplace that promotes collaborative learning culture and work engagement.

Originality/value

– This study is valuable to HRD specialists interested in developing effective interventions that encourage employees to engage in innovative behavior.