The Diminishing Effect of Transformational Leadership on the Relationship Between Task Characteristics, Perceived Meaningfulness, and Work Engagement

How does perceived respect affect innovative behavior? The role of thriving at work and spiritual leadership

Many enterprises use innovation to deal with the rapidly changing business environment and gain market competitiveness. How to internally motivate employees, especially the new generation of employees (e.g., employees born after 1980), to take initiative to innovate is receiving great interest from both academic and practical perspectives. Based on the broaden-and-build theory, this study presents a moderated mediation model of the impact of perceived respect on innovative behavior. SPSS and Mplus were used to analyze the data from 506 leader–employee pairs. The results show that perceived respect had a significant positive influence on innovative behavior through the effect of thriving at work, and the moderating effect of spiritual leadership was significant. When the effect of spiritual leadership was strong, the effect of perceived respect on innovative behavior through the effect of thriving at work was enhanced. This study reveals the dynamic mechanisms of improving employees’ innovative behavior, providing theoretical and practical ideas for promoting enterprises’ sustainable and innovative development.

Beyond Frontiers: An Examination of Ethical Leadership and Job Resources in Customs Officers' Well-Being

Analyzing factors that contribute to job burnout and job satisfaction among customs officers are crucial for customs administration effectiveness and the country's safety. Based on the Conservation of Resources Theory (COR), we analyze how ethical leadership, job resources, and burnout play a role in customs officers' job satisfaction. Online questionnaires were administered to 53.6% (n = 193) of the customs officers of one Latin American country. Hypotheses were tested through mediation analysis using PROCESS macro for SPSS. Results show that ethical leadership significantly relates to job resources and job satisfaction, but not to burnout. Ethical leadership relates to job satisfaction indirectly through job resources and burnout. The indirect effect serial mediation model (ethical leadership -> job resources -> burnout -> satisfaction) was significant. Our results provide evidence that ethical leadership is an important component to shape the perception of job resources (i.e. autonomy and task significance) and foremost to reduce stress and improve satisfaction.

Linkages Between Transformational Leadership, Work Meaningfulness and Work Engagement: A Multilevel Cross-Sectional Study

Purpose

The issue of employee engagement has increasingly become a focus of concern in public management practice. Based on the theory of purposeful work behavior, integrative theory of employee engagement and Pratt and Ashforth’s typology of work meaningfulness, this study proposes and examines the mediating effects of two types of meaningfulness between transformational leadership and work engagement and the moderating effects of transformational leadership on the relationship between two types of meaningfulness and work engagement.

Patients and Methods

By adopting a multilevel cross-sectional design, this study examines assumed mediation and moderation effects. The data collection was conducted anonymously by means of an online survey. A total of 261 local police officers from 32 police stations were recruited in professional training programs as a sample.

Results

The analysis reveals that both meaningfulness in work and meaningfulness at work positively mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement. Transformational leadership moderates the relationship between meaningfulness at work and work engagement rather than the relationship between meaningfulness in work and work engagement. There are no other significant effects of sex, age or length of service.

Conclusion

Work meaningfulness transmits and combines the effect of transformational leadership to impact work engagement. These findings not only confirm the critical role of work meaningfulness proposed by the theoretical frameworks of the theory of purposeful work behavior, integrative theory of employee engagement and Pratt and Ashforth’s typology of work meaningfulness, but also further extend and clarify the role of and difference in two substructures of work meaningfulness (ie, work meaningfulness in work and at work) in the context of the linkage between transformational leadership and work engagement.

Validation of the Chinese Version of the Procrastination at Work Scale

The purpose of this study was to validate the Chinese version of the Procrastination at Work Scale (PAWS), a recently developed scale aimed at assessing procrastination in the work context. We translated the PAWS into Chinese and conducted exploratory factor analysis on participants in sample A (N = 236), resulting in a two-factor solution consistent with the original PAWS. In sample B (N = 227), confirmatory factor analysis showed that a two-factor, bifactor model fit the data best. Configural, metric, and scalar invariance models were tested, which demonstrated that the Chinese version of the PAWS did not differ across groups by gender, age, education, or job position. Validity testing demonstrated that the scale relates to work engagement, counterproductive work behavior, task performance, workplace well-being, and organizational commitment. This study indicated that the Chinese version of the PAWS could be used in future research to measure procrastination at work in China.