Performance management systems, innovative work behavior and the role of transformational leadership: an experimental approach

Purpose

Despite increasing attention to employee development, past research has mostly studied performance management systems (PMSs) in relation to task-related behaviors compared to proactive behaviors. Accordingly, this study addresses the relation between PMSs and innovative work behavior (IWB).

Design/methodology/approach

Building on signaling theory and human resource management (HRM) system strength research, the authors designed a factorial survey experiment (n = 444) to examine whether PMSs stimulate IWB under different configurations of distinctiveness, consistency and consensus, as well as in the presence of transformational leadership.

Findings

Results show that only strong PMSs foster IWB (high distinctiveness, high consistency and high consensus [HHH]). Additional analyses reveal that the individual meta-features of PMS consistency and consensus can also stimulate innovation. Transformational leadership reinforced the relationship between PMS consensus and IWB relationship, but not the relationships of the other meta-features.

Practical implications

The study’s findings suggest that organizations wishing to unlock employees' innovative potential should design PMSs that are visible, comprehensible and relevant. To further reap the innovative gains of employees, organizations could also invest in the coherent and fair application of planning, feedback and evaluation throughout the organization and ensure organizational stakeholders agree on the approach to PMSs.

Originality/value

The study’s findings show that PMS can also inspire proactivity in employees, in the form of IWB and suggest that particular leadership behaviors can complement certain PMS meta-features, and simultaneously also compete with PMS strength, suggesting the whole (i.e. PMS strength) is more than the sum of the parts (i.e. PMS meta-features).

New Kids on the Block? A Bibliometric Analysis of Emerging COVID-19-Trends in Leadership Research

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented challenges for society. The effects on organizations have been drastic and such tough times have demanded new organizational solutions as well as strong and new forms of organizational leadership. Leadership scholars have accelerated their research efforts in the quest to identify what is needed to lead in these uncertain times. In this paper, we adopt a bibliometric review to unravel the emerging trends in leadership research in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in doing so, identify commonalities and divergences in these themes with respect to leadership approaches and assess potential avenues for future research. The findings reveal that research on the topic has emerged along six main clusters: (1) leadership and employee health during pandemic times, (2) public leadership, (3) leadership in health care, (4) leadership and diversity, (5) educational leadership, and (6) leadership and persuasive communication. The findings reveal that across these clusters, the pandemic has sparked research on leadership approaches that deal with change and uncertainty as well as those that are less hierarchical and person centered in nature. We also notice a novel attention to context. Rather than “new kids on the block,” these trends are largely continuations of established leadership theories and approaches that see their particular importance increase in this unprecedented situation. Finally, we outline some distinct avenues for further research with regard to leadership in COVID-19 times.

Leader Psychological Need Satisfaction Trickles Down: The Role of Leader-Member Exchange

This article addresses the impact of leader psychological need satisfaction on employees. We draw on the self-determination theory (SDT) and leader-member exchange (LMX) theory to investigate if and how leader psychological need satisfaction trickles down to employee psychological need satisfaction. Adopting a multi-actor, multilevel design, results from 1036 leader-employee dyads indicate that employee-rated LMX mediates the trickle-down effect of leader psychological need satisfaction. Additional analyses of leader psychological needs show that leader competence is the main psychological need that underlying this relationship. We also found an unexpected negative association between leader autonomy need satisfaction and employee competence need satisfaction. Overall, this study shows the importance of both (1) leaders' psychological need satisfaction and (2) employee perceptions of the relationship quality for employee psychological need satisfaction.

Reducing Red Tape's Negative Consequences for Leaders: The Buffering Role of Autonomous Motivation

In a context where the amount of red tape in healthcare organizations continues to rise, head nurses' job satisfaction is constantly under pressure. By building on the Job Demands-Resources model, we developed a theoretical model investigating the relationship between red tape and job satisfaction. By investigating the mediating role of discretionary room and the moderating role of autonomous motivation in this relationship, this study does not only aim to provide additional knowledge regarding the underlying mechanisms in this relationship, but also to increase our understanding of how this suffering at work can be mitigated. Our conditional process analyses (N = 277 head nurses) indicate that red tape undermines head nurses' job satisfaction and that discretionary room acts as an underlying mechanism in this process. By revealing the mediating role of discretionary room, this study advances our understanding of the risks originating from red tape for leaders. Furthermore, our findings also indicate that autonomous motivation mitigates the negative relation between red tape and discretionary room and between red tape and job satisfaction. As autonomous motivation turns out to be an important protection mechanism against the negative consequences of red tape, organizations should put extra effort into stimulating the autonomous motivation of their leaders. When organizations make sure that their leaders' job designs and work environments meet the need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, leaders will become more autonomously motivated, which will buffer the negative impact of red tape.

Paying Gratitude Forward at Work

Abstract. Since workers are increasingly suffering from burnout, there is a need for insights into how burnout can be decreased to improve subjective well-being. The broaden-and-build theory proposes that gratitude increases well-being through an upward spiral. Few studies have examined whether gratitude decreases burnout and what mediating behaviors explain this relationship. Using an international sample of employees ( N = 353), this study examines whether work-specific gratitude negatively relates to exhaustion and disengagement. Additionally, since gratitude stimulates helping through upstream reciprocity, this study investigates whether interpersonal helping behavior (IHB) mediates these relationships. Our study showed a negative effect of work-specific gratitude on disengagement and exhaustion and a negative relationship between work-specific gratitude and disengagement, mediated by IHB, suggesting that gratitude stimulates IHB, thereby alleviating disengagement.

Can Leaders Prevent Technology From Backfiring? Empowering Leadership as a Double-Edged Sword for Technostress in Care

Purpose: Recent studies have called for more contextual studies of technostress and the role leaders can have in this experience. While technostress is an increasingly prevalent and severe phenomenon in care professions, limited studies have addressed its potential negative consequences for employee well-being and quality of care delivered in this sector or, more importantly, examined how the adverse consequences of technostress could be mitigated. Therefore, the present study addresses this gap by investigating how technostress in childcare affects quality of care delivered via emotional exhaustion and what influence empowering leadership plays in this relationship. Design/methodology approach: Incorporating the views of 339 Dutch childcare workers, this study tests a model in which technostress influences quality of care delivered, mediated by emotional exhaustion and moderated by empowering leadership. Findings: Results confirm that techno-invasion and techno-overload predict higher emotional exhaustion and lower quality of care delivered among childcare workers. Empowering leadership reduced the influence of techno-invasion on emotional exhaustion but strengthened the influence of techno-overload. Originality/value: Our results provide childcare organizations with relevant information on the increasing use of ICT that influences both childcare workers' well-being and quality of care they deliver. Important implications are suggested for leadership geared at stimulating employees' responsibility and accountability for different dimensions of technostress.

How to foster the well-being of police officers: The role of the employee performance management system

This study focuses on employee performance management in policing. We specifically aim to contribute to a better understanding of how the combined effect of performance planning and performance evaluation fosters the well-being of police officers. In the slipstream of public sector reforms many public organizations adopted employee performance management. Although such system is found to increase performance, it might simultaneously elevate job demands, jeopardizing employees' well-being. Based on data gathered in one of the largest police departments of Belgium, structural equation modelling results demonstrate that the combination of performance planning and evaluation positively affects police officers' well-being. Satisfaction with the system was found to explain this relationship. The findings imply that police forces should ensure that performance evaluations are preceded and combined by performance planning in order to foster well-being.