Authentic leadership and employee engagement: The role of employee well-being

Conservation of resources perspective on authentic leadership and employee well-being: The influence of job stress and emotional intelligence

BACKGROUND

Health care industries must consider their sustainable development, and employee well-being is a crucial environmental, social, and governance indicator that should be prioritized. During events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, information transparency is a concern for health care workers. Authentic leaders can build trust by openly sharing their thoughts and feelings. Understanding how authentic leadership affects employee well-being through job stress and how emotional intelligence reduces job stress is essential for health care workers.

PURPOSES

This study investigated the effect of authentic leadership on employee well-being and considered the mediating role of job stress and moderating role of emotional intelligence in this effect.

METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

A time-lagged survey of 452 full-time health care workers (comprising nurses, allied health professionals, and administrative workers) from a general hospital in Taiwan was conducted.

FINDINGS

Authentic leadership was positively associated with employee well-being, and job stress mediated the effects of authentic leadership on employee well-being. Among the employees who perceived leadership to be authentic, those with higher emotional intelligence felt less job stress.

CONCLUSION

From the perspective of conservation of resources theory, authentic leadership was identified as a crucial factor influencing how health care workers reduce job stress and improve their well-being. Emotional intelligence was identified as essential in enhancing the effects of authentic leadership on reducing the job stress of health care workers.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Organizations should promote authentic interactions between leaders and followers and provide training for developing authentic leadership. They should also provide training to improve their employees' emotional intelligence.

Reviewing the influence of positive leadership on worker well-being: A comprehensive analysis

The study provides a review of existing empirical studies on the impact of positive leadership on worker well-being. The aim it to integrate current knowledge and provide directions for future research. The study analyses the content of 118 articles retrieved mainly from Google Scholar and Scopus database published between 2004 and 2022. Findings revealed that most of the studies are atheoretical with the dominant theory applied being conservation of resource theory. Furthermore, most of the studies were cross-sectionally designed, used convenient sampling and self-reported questionnaire. A conceptual framework is presented which synthesizes findings from prior works and shows the various dimensions of positive leadership practices and worker well-being. Additionally, a comprehensive future research agenda for theoretical and empirical advancement is suggested. The study offers a comprehensive framework that synthesizes and integrates the existing literature on positive leadership and worker well-being. The findings offer researchers in leadership a common platform for discourse.

Assessing the effects of safety leadership, employee engagement, and psychological safety on safety performance

INTRODUCTION

The study assessed the impact mechanisms of employee engagement and psychological safety in safety leadership and safety performance relationships.

METHOD

We collected 539 valid responses from contract miners using a multi-wave survey research design. We analyzed the data quantitatively using the structural equation model (SEM) and hierarchical regression analysis (HRA) in AMOS and SPSS version 26 software. We used SEM to examine our proposed framework's main and structural mediation effects. HRA was used to test the moderation effect of our framework.

RESULTS

From the SEM results of our study, safety leadership significantly and positively influenced all two dimensions of safety performance-safety compliance and safety participation -- and all three dimensions of employee engagement-vigor, dedication, and absorption. Also, vigor, dedication, and absorption partially mediated the relationship between safety leadership and safety compliance, but fully mediated the safety leadership-safety participation relationship. From the HRA results, psychological safety significantly moderated two employee engagement variables (thus, vigor and dedication) and safety compliance. Also, it moderated all three variables of employee engagement (vigor, dedication, and absorption) and safety participation.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

This current study highlights the importance of examining safety leadership on specific job performance, such as safety performance. It also highlights the necessity of having psychological safety and enhancing employee engagement in the mines.

Trust, performance and level of happiness of healthcare employees in the presence of authentic leadership

BACKGROUND

Authentic leadership (AL) is an interesting topic in the organizational behavior literature that has attracted the attention of researchers since the last decade.

OBJECTIVES

This research examines the employee-centered aspect among AL, trust, happiness at work and individual performance through a sequential mediating approach.

METHOD

Data was collected from 435 healthcare professionals working in various hospitals in Pakistan. AL-independent variables were measured and the trust mediating variables were assessed through a questionnaire. The level of happiness at work and IP-dependent variables were measured through a survey.

RESULTS

The results revealed a significant and positive effect of AL on the individual performance that is connected both directly and indirectly through mediating effects of trust and happiness at work. Furthermore, the results showed that AL created a trustworthy atmosphere among the workers that enhanced employee's happiness at work and, subsequently, improved their job performance and motivation.

CONCLUSION

This research delivers new and important results as, one the one hand, it depends on the sequential mediating effects of constructs whereas, on the other hand, it integrates four important variables in one model. Theoretical and practical implications along with future recommendations were presented for organizational management.

Authentic Leadership, Employee Work Engagement, Trust in the Leader, and Workplace Well-Being: A Moderated Mediation Model

Purpose

This study proposes a model based on social contagion theory to evaluate the impacts of authentic leadership on employee work engagement (WE) and trust in the leader (TL), integrating the mediating effect of TL and the moderating effect of workplace well-being (WW). Authentic leadership is disaggregated into its subscales: relational transparency (RT), internalized moral perspective (IMP), balanced processing (BP), and self-awareness (SA).

Methods

Dubai hotel employees completed 476 surveys. Applying the bootstrapping technique, SmartPLS 4 software was utilized to test the hypotheses in a mediation model.

Results

The findings indicate (1) that three subscales of authentic leadership (RT, IMP, and BP) positively impact WE; (2) that RT, IMP, and SA positively impact TL; (3) that TL positively impacts WE; (4) that TL mediates the relationship between RT, IMP, SA, and WE; (5) and that WW moderates the relationship between RT, BP, and WE.

Conclusion

Authentic leadership and its subscales are proven to be an excellent tool for achieving employee WE and TL. TL is crucial for effective hotel operation, as it impacts employee WE and acts as a mediator between three subscales of authentic leadership and WE. WW moderates the relationship between two authentic leadership subscales and WE but does not interact in the relationship between TL and WE. Both researchers and hotel managers can benefit from these new findings, which also provide a foundation on which to build future investigations.

"Doing good and feeling good" Relationship between authentic leadership with followers' work engagement: The mediating role of hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing

The positive behavioral style of authentic leadership has attracted academicians' and practitioners' attention to focus more on a healthy workplace environment and its influence on followers' valued workplace relationship outcomes, such as employees' work engagement. From the lens of social exchange perspective, we tested a unified model of authentic leadership and its influence on the followers' wellbeing (hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing) and work engagement. We also examined the mediating role of hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing on followers' work engagement. Using a time-lagged design, we collected data from 250 telecom sector workers employed in the capital city of Islamabad, Pakistan. The results indicate the positive influence of authentic leadership on followers' work engagement and employees' hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing. Hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing also positively mediated the relationship between authentic leadership and followers' work engagement. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are also discussed.

Work engagement scale: Validating the Japanese UWES-9 standard through an automotive industry sample

BACKGROUND: The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) is widely used as a psychometric assessment scale to measure work engagement by relative evaluation. Determining standard values for absolute evaluation would make it more useful. The merit of absolute evaluation is that it can offer an objective evaluation to personnel members regardless of their status in the organization. OBJECTIVE: This study examines the criteria for absolute evaluation of the Japanese version of UWES-9 and creates a database for the evaluation of work engagement. METHODS: To examine the evaluation criteria for the total points of UWES-9 for 417 automotive industry workers, responses were validated via a one-way analysis of variance and receiver-operating characteristic analysis, using the scales of “worthwhileness of work” and “level of job satisfaction” in the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire with similar work engagement concepts. RESULTS: In both scales, the ability to predict was at its highest when divided into the high work engagement group (wherein the total points of UWES-9 are 21 points and above). CONCLUSIONS: In the relative evaluation, 24 points from the average of the total points of UWES-9 is the standard. In the absolute evaluation, the lower standard around 21 points is probable.

Validation of the Double Mediation Model of Workplace Well-Being on the Subjective Well-Being of Technological Employees

In recent years, workplace well-being has been a popular research topic, because it is helpful to promote employees’ welfare, thereby bringing valuable personal and organizational outcomes. With the development of technology, the technology industry plays an important role in Taiwan. Although the salary and benefits provided by the technology industry are better than other industries, the work often requires a lot of time and effort. It is worth paying attention to whether a happy workplace will bring subjective well-being for the technology industry in Taiwan. This study explored the influence of workplace well-being, job involvement, and flow on the subjective well-being. The research was conducted by a questionnaire survey. A total of 256 employees in the technology industry in the Nanzi Processing Zone in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan were surveyed. Collected data were analyzed by statistical methods, such as multivariate and structural equation models. The study results indicated that workplace well-being, flow, and job involvement have a positive and significant impact on the subjective well-being. In addition to having a direct impact on subjective well-being, flow is also a significant variable to mediate the impact of workplace well-being to subjective well-being. In addition, job involvement also affects subjective well-being through flow, which means that the state of selflessness at work is the most important factor affecting subjective well-being. Finally, based on the research findings, the researcher provided practical suggestions to the government and the technology industry.

Job Demands and Resources and Employee Well-Being in the Chinese Nonprofit Sector

Although the nonprofit sector in China has grown substantially in past decades, its future is threatened by high turnover and burnout. It is thus necessary to investigate the factors that contribute to employee well-being (EWB) among nonprofit employees in China. This study used 233 foundation employees in China to examine the effects of job demands and resources (JD-R) on EWB. Estimates produced by regression analyses indicated that job resources (JR) have a strong effect on EWB (Beta = 0.53), as well as on the three EWB subscales (workplace, psychological, and life well-being). While job demands (JD) had no effects on overall well-being, they were negatively associated with workplace well-being (WWB) (Beta = -0.12). Robustness tests were conducted to further examine how JD and JR dimensions affect EWB and its subscales. Based on the findings, we underscore the importance of JR for EWB among foundation employees in China as well as that of implementing interventions that may alleviate the cost of emotional workload as a JD.

Abusive leadership and proactive behaviours: Role of family motivation as a moderator

BACKGROUND: Negative impact of abusive leadership has always been the focus of attention for researchers, however, the asymmetrical relationship of abuse with its outcomes has never been studied. OBJECTIVE: Drawing on Affective Events Theory (AET), this study investigates the moderating role of family motivation (FM), a prosocial intent, in yielding positive behavioural reactions among individuals facing workplace abuse. Negative emotions (NE) are taken as a unique mediating factor between abusive leadership (AL) and proactive behaviours (PB). METHODS: Data were collected from 309 employees of Pakistani manufacturing organizations. SEM is used for studying the proposed relationships and Smart PLS is used for data analysis. RESULTS: Results of the study suggest that negative emotions mediate the indirect relationship between abusive leadership and proactive behaviours. Family motivation strongly moderates and strengthens the positive direct relationship of negative emotions and proactive behaviours, concluding that it has a strong influence in altering behavioural reactions in response to negative triggers. CONCLUSIONS: This research study adds to the body of knowledge in suggesting FM as a strong intrinsic factor to be considered while creating synergy between organizational and human resource strategies.

Competency management and the financial results of the foreign subsidiaries of Polish MNCs: The empirical research findings

BACKGROUND: Competency management (CM) is one of the basic subfunctions of HRM, which can significantly affect the results achieved by organizations. This is because the competencies of employees have become the key capital of enterprises and a factor of their success. Research on the relationships between CM and organizational performance results in Polish MNCs creates a research gap due to the object and subject of research. OBJECTIVE: The main goal of the article is to identify the potential regularities that may exist between the advancement level of CM and its composing activities and the company financial performance results. Of particular interest are the relationships that may appear between the studied variables in the context of their relationships with other subfunctions of HRM and the significance of human capital as a competitive factor. METHODS: The research sample includes 200 non-financial business entities with Polish capital, whose headquarters are in Poland, and local subsidiaries are located outside the country. The research was conducted using CATI and CAWI methods. Descriptive and correlation statistics were used to analyze the collected empirical data. RESULTS: Two fundamental regularities are observable. It turns out that the higher the advancement level of activities within CM, and in particular its links with other HRM subfunctions, the better the financial results of enterprises. CONCLUSIONS: The empirical research results lead to the conclusion that human capital is treated as a company’s competitive factor, and CM is of significant meaning to the financial results of the organization.

Fostering Workplace Innovation through CSR and Authentic Leadership: Evidence from SME Sector

The cut-throat situation of competitiveness in almost every business sector, followed by globalization, shortened product life cycles, and rapid technological changes have raised the importance of innovation to overrun the rivals. Scholars have established that appropriate leadership style is a key enabler for organizational success. However, it is not clear in existing literature how the concept of authentic leadership is related to innovative work behavior (IWB). Likewise, the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to induce IWB is also vague in current literature. Thus, the basic purpose of the current study was to test the relationship of CSR and IWB with the mediating effect of authentic leadership. The proposed model was tested in the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) sector of China. The data were collected through a questionnaire that was distributed among different respondents of the current survey. The data were obtained from a dyad of supervisor and subordinate serving in different SMEs in Wuhan city of China. The study used the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique to validate different hypotheses. The empirical results confirm that CSR positively relates to IWB while authentic leadership partially mediates this relationship. The findings of the current survey will be helpful for policymakers to recognize employees as a source of innovation through CSR and authentic leadership.