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Abstract
Purpose
The global pandemic has required organisational leaders to respond rapidly in a time of uncertainty. A specific challenge for leaders during the global pandemic is the salient and immediate threat to worker health and well-being. Unfortunately, the consequences of different leadership actions in this context are not well understood. By exploring the path from leader behaviour to employee well-being via experienced work characteristics, this study aims to provide a framework for better understanding pandemic threat and corresponding leadership impact.
Design/methodology/approach
Two prevention-focused leadership strategies were explored: defend and adapt strategy. Two important work characteristics role clarity and workload were used to help explain the links between leadership strategies and well-being. Potential mediating pathways were tested in path analysis with Mplus (v7.4) based on 515 online survey responses.
Findings
Different mediating pathways demonstrated complex associations between the constructs. Increases in the both prevention-focused leadership strategies were found associated with positive well-being by increasing employees' perceptions of leadership and by improving role clarity in the workplace. Notably, evidence also supported that increase in defend strategy was linked to reduced worker well-being through intensified workload.
Originality/value
In times of uncertainty amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic, prevention-focused leadership is vital to engage the workforce and ensure compliance with safety procedures to avoid associated risks to worker health and organisational performance. This research focused on the rarely studied topic of prevention-focused leadership, and how prevention strategies were related to employee well-being. Based on the findings for prevention-focused defend and adapt strategies, this study suggested leadership practices that might shape employee well-being in a time of turbulence.
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Claire Mason, Mark Griffin and Sharon Parker
This paper aims to investigate whether leaders whose transformational leadership behavior improves after training exhibit different psychological reactions compared to leaders…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate whether leaders whose transformational leadership behavior improves after training exhibit different psychological reactions compared to leaders whose leadership behavior does not improve.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors followed 56 leaders taking part in a transformational leadership training program. Questionnaire measures of leaders’ self-efficacy, positive affect, perspective taking, and transformational leadership behavior were obtained pre- and post-training.
Findings
Leaders whose self-efficacy, perspective taking and positive affect increased over the training period also reported improvements in their transformational leadership behavior. In addition, leaders whose positive affect increased were more likely to receive improved transformational leadership behavior ratings from their supervisors, team members and peers.
Research limitations/implications
The study supports the proposition, derived from social cognitive theory that change in transformational leadership behavior is related to change in leaders’ psychological attributes. Further research is required to establish the direction of this relationship and whether leaders’ psychological reactions represent a means through which the effectiveness of leadership interventions can be improved.
Practical implications
Leaders’ psychological reactions should be monitored and supported during developmental interventions. Effective leadership training interventions are important not only to achieve change in behavior, but to avoid negative psychological outcomes for leaders.
Originality/value
The study is unusual because it explores the relationship between leader attributes and leadership behavior longitudinally, in a training context. The longitudinal analysis, focussing on change in leaders’ psychological attributes, allowed us to explain more variance in leaders’ reactions to training.
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Jennifer Ireland, Helen Mary Correia and Tim Mark Griffin
The purpose of this paper is to introduce and describe the features of a new e‐learning quality framework developed for a large multi‐campus university. The framework is…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce and describe the features of a new e‐learning quality framework developed for a large multi‐campus university. The framework is explicitly designed to improve the quality of e‐learning sites and the quality of online student learning, by developing the skills of the academics who design the sites.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper. It examines a range of existing models and literature on evaluative frameworks in e‐learning and positions the new framework within that context. It describes the features that distinguish the new framework from existing models and explains how these differences are tailored to develop the e‐learning design skills of academic staff and to encourage greater engagement with e‐learning quality initiatives across the university.
Findings
The paper identifies several features of the new framework that differ from other models and explains the inclusion of these features in terms of the support they provide for quality improvement at a university where academics are the main designers of e‐learning sites.
Originality/value
The paper makes a contribution to the literature on quality initiatives in e‐learning by introducing a new quality framework that differs in significant respects from other models. The rationale underpinning the inherently developmental design of this framework, as set out in this paper, may be useful to other universities where academics are the main designers of e‐learning sites.
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Marcos Alonso Rodriguez and Mark A. Griffin
Transformational, charismatic, and related leadership theories play an important role in understanding how leaders motivate better performance. However, these approaches have paid…
Abstract
Transformational, charismatic, and related leadership theories play an important role in understanding how leaders motivate better performance. However, these approaches have paid surprisingly little attention to the management of error in organizations. In fact, current studies in transformational leadership tend to define the management of error as one of the negative features of leadership. Preventing error and learning from error is a high profile leadership role in a wide variety of global industries, and therefore, it is important that leadership theories encompass this critical task. We draw on different streams of research to provide a more integrated and positive approach to leadership and the management error. Studies of error management culture provide insights into the organizational systems that are important for responding and learning from error. We discuss how error learning culture can inform the leadership behaviors that will enhance learning from error. We also draw on regulatory focus theory to show how managing error can be differentiated from other leadership activities. The integration of these ideas with current leadership theory provides a more comprehensive framework for understanding the role of leadership when error management is critical. We present this integrated framework and discuss how cultural factors are likely to shape the role of error management in a variety of global contexts.
Renae A. Jones, Alannah E. Rafferty and Mark A. Griffin
This paper proposes to investigate the influence of executive coaching on managerial flexibility in order to build a stronger theoretical and empirical basis for executive…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper proposes to investigate the influence of executive coaching on managerial flexibility in order to build a stronger theoretical and empirical basis for executive coaching research.
Design/methodology/approach
A repeated measures design was adopted. About 11 leaders participated in a leadership development program and received executive coaching over a three‐month period. Leaders were surveyed prior to coaching, during coaching, and post coaching.
Findings
Repeated measures analysis revealed that self‐reported managerial flexibility increased throughout the duration of executive coaching.
Research limitations/implications
This exploratory study provides initial support for the argument that executive coaching positively impacts on managerial flexibility. Several areas for future research are discussed including examining the influence of executive coaching on the dimensions of managerial flexibility.
Originality/value
This study provides a detailed overview of how to develop an executive coaching program and empirically tested the effects of executive coaching on executives' flexibility. A number of areas for future research were identified.
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Michelle A. Morganosky and Brenda J. Cude
In this paper we analyze consumer demand for and acceptance of online food retailing using longitudinal data collected in three studies (1998, 1999, and 2001). Information…
Abstract
In this paper we analyze consumer demand for and acceptance of online food retailing using longitudinal data collected in three studies (1998, 1999, and 2001). Information reported is from online food shoppers in ten US markets. Comparisons of results from each of the three studies is presented and change patterns identified. We conclude by recommending that researchers shift their attention toward addressing some of the more troublesome supply side issues of the online food retailing equation.
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Eric Ofori, Terry Griffin and Elizabeth Yeager
Precision technologies have been available at the farm level for decades. Some technologies have been readily adopted, while the adoption of other technologies has been slower…
Abstract
Purpose
Precision technologies have been available at the farm level for decades. Some technologies have been readily adopted, while the adoption of other technologies has been slower. The purpose of this study is to examine the factors influencing farmers' time-to-adoption decisions as duration between year of commercialization of precision agriculture (PA) technologies and year of adoption, at the farm level.
Design/methodology/approach
Time-to-adoption, which is the difference in years between technologies becoming commercially available and the year of adoption was determined using non-parametric duration analysis, and the impact of specific farm/farmer characteristics on time-to-adoption were estimated using a semi-parametric Cox proportional-hazard (CPH) model, based on a panel dataset of 316 Kansas farms from 2002 to 2018.
Findings
The findings indicate that, time-to-adoption for embodied-knowledge technologies such as automated guidance and section control were statistically shorter than for information-intensive technologies such as yield monitors, precision soil sampling and variable rate fertility. Duration was indirectly (directly) proportional to commercialization date of embodied-knowledge (information-intensive) technology. More so, time-to-adoption statistically differed among technologies within these two broad categories. Time-to-adoption varies across farm location and between both types of technologies. Millennial farmers are more likely to adopt both types of technologies sooner compared to baby boomers. Net farm income, percentage changes in debt-to-asset ratio, corn to total crop acres and machinery investment had no significant impact on the time-to-adoption for both information-intensive and embodied-knowledge technologies. On the other hand, while variations exist, time-to-adoption of PA technologies is mainly driven by location of farm, generation of farmer, number of workers, years of farming experience, total acres cropped and the cost of crop insurance.
Originality/value
This study investigates how the financial position of farms, amongst other important factors might influence time-to-adoption of PA technologies. Results are useful to extension personnel and retailers for planning marketing or farm outreach programs taking into consideration that, time-to-adoption differs across regions and by specific characteristics, key amongst them: generation of farmer, number of workers, years of farming experience, total acres cropped and the cost of crop insurance.
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Dow Scott, James W. Bishop and Xiangming Chen
In a U.S. invested enterprise in China, the receptivity of Chinese employees to a participative work environment was examined. Structural equation analysis indicated support for a…
Abstract
In a U.S. invested enterprise in China, the receptivity of Chinese employees to a participative work environment was examined. Structural equation analysis indicated support for a model in which job satisfaction mediates the relationships between elements of a participative work environment (i.e., tasks performed, the relationships individuals had with their work groups, and the nature of the decision making processes) and employee willingness to cooperate with co‐workers and intention to quit. Task interdependence also had a direct relationship with willingness to cooperate.
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– To explore the connection between individuals’ response to transformational leadership training and their psychological makeup.
Abstract
Purpose
To explore the connection between individuals’ response to transformational leadership training and their psychological makeup.
Design/methodology/approach
Investigates leadership performance before and after training according to participants’ self-evaluation and that of their supervisors, peers and team members. Analyzes this in connection with their assessment of their psychological attributes of positive affect, perspective-taking and self-efficacy.
Findings
More than $45 billion is spent on leadership training every year – and a lot of that money is wasted. A sizeable number of people actually become less effective leaders after being exposed to this sort of training – so there is a strong financial incentive to find out how this happens. Is it something about the training content, the way it’s delivered – or something about the individual?
Practical implications
Shows that behavioral and psychological reactions to leadership training are strongly linked. Suggests that positive affect may provide a pathway for improving the effectiveness of leadership development interventions.
Social implications
Highlights the importance of considering the impact of leadership training on individuals’ psychological well-being.
Originality/value
Focuses on the processes underlying change in leader behavior.
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