Coaching as intervention to increase leaders’ contingent reward behavior

Abstract

Purpose

This study focuses on the relationship between contingent reward behavior and subordinate employees’ performance in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector.

Design/methodology/approach

The instruments used in this study were the leader–member exchange questionnaire and the contingent reward behavior questionnaire, which was completed by salespeople.

Findings

The results of the study (which assessed 37 respondents) indicate a meaningful relationship between contingent reward behavior and leader–member exchange. Based on these results, researchers focused on one division in the sales department that has a low leader–member exchange by providing intervention in the form of leadership coaching. The sigficant results between pre- and post-test differences, using Wilcoxon signed-rank test, indicate that the coaching intervention improved contingent reward behavior and increased leader–member exchange.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitation of this study was that it involved only 44 salespeople from one company. Therefore, the results may not be generalizable.

Practical implications

Coaching could be an effective approach to improve leaders’ contingent reward behavior.

Originality/value

This study provides more evidence that coaching can help leaders improving their behavior, particularly in relation to leader–member exchange.

Citation

Pratama, A., Mustika, M.D. and Sjabadhyni, B. (2018), "Coaching as intervention to increase leaders’ contingent reward behavior", Journal of Workplace Learning, Vol. 30 No. 3, pp. 150-161. https://doi.org/10.1108/JWL-07-2017-0061