Search results

Evidence has indicated plausible effects of employees' use of their personal strengths at work on their attitudes, performance and well-being. Although the use of personal strengths was also expected to benefit others in the organization, such effects have rarely been examined. Here we studied associations of principals’ use of their personal strengths with principals’ own engagement and with the strengths use and engagement of teachers under their supervision, anticipating that principals’ and teachers’ strengths use and engagement would be associated with students’ achievement.

We surveyed 92 Israeli principals and 474 of their teachers. Measures included self-reported strengths use and engagement of the participants’ and schools' student matriculation achievements.

The findings generally supported the hypotheses. HLM analyses indicated that principals' use of their personal strengths was associated with their own engagement and with teachers' strengths use and work engagement and teachers’ engagement (but not their strengths use) was associated with student achievement.

These findings suggest the beneficial impact of principals' use of their personal strengths on teachers, with practical implications for fostering principals’ and teachers’ flourishing and creating and supporting humanizing schools, by building on principals’ and teachers’ strengths and fostering their use at work.

This is the first study about the potential effects of principals’ strengths use on their own engagement and on others in the school. The significant associations found propose a promising path forward for principals’ positive impact on teachers and students.

Although strengths use support (SUS) has been shown to facilitate employee strengths use and work engagement, little is known about how senior managers’ SUS affects middle managers’ SUS. The purpose of the present research was to examine the trickle-down effect of SUS from superiors on SUS for subordinates.

A two-wave questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data from middle managers (n = 228) at a global manufacturing firm in Japan.

The results of structural equation modeling indicated that (1) SUS from superiors indirectly promoted SUS for subordinates mediated through middle managers’ strength use, and (2) SUS from superiors indirectly promoted SUS for subordinates mediated through middle managers’ strength use, and subsequently through their work engagement.

As the respondents were middle-level managers at a manufacturing firm in Japan and were all Japanese nationals, indigenous culture and traditional work mentality may have affected the results.

To create a supportive learning culture in an organization, human resource (HR) managers need to encourage senior-level managers to provide SUS for middle managers through HR systems such as training, appraisal, and survey feedback.

This study may be the first to clarify how SUS from superiors is linked to SUS for subordinates by identifying the mediating effects of strength use and work engagement, based on the Job-Demand Resources model, the Social Cognitive theory, and the trickle-down effect.

Drawing on prior research on strengths use and job performance, this study aims to investigate how employees’ strengths use for tasks and strengths use for relationships jointly influence role breadth self-efficacy and subsequent job performance, specifically in- and extra-role performances.

To test the assumptions, the authors methodologically performed a polynomial regression with response surface analysis using data collected from multiple time points and sources (i.e. 312 employee–supervisor dyads in Chinese companies).

The results showed that the higher the congruence between strengths use for tasks and strengths use for relationships, the higher the employees’ role breadth self-efficacy. Employees’ role breadth self-efficacy was greater when both strengths use for tasks and strengths use for relationships were high. Furthermore, the congruence between strengths use for tasks and strengths use for relationships had indirect effects on in- and extra-role performances via role breadth self-efficacy.

This study uniquely contributes to the strengths use literature by offering a more nuanced understanding of the consequences of strengths use for tasks and strengths use for relationships in the Chinese context. It highlights the importance of both types of strengths use for improving employee performance in Chinese organizations. Furthermore, this study provides new theoretical insights into the relationship between strengths use and job performance by ascertaining the mediating effect of role breadth self-efficacy.

Drawing on conversation of resources theory, the present paper aimed to investigate the effect of strengths-based leadership on follower career satisfaction and the mediating role of follower strengths use as well as the moderating role of emotional exhaustion in the relationship.

Research data were gathered at 3 time points with a sample of 210 participants working in various organizations in China. Structural equation model (SEM) was applied to examine the authors' hypotheses.

The results indicated that strengths-based leadership has a positive impact on follower career satisfaction and follower strengths use fully mediates the effect of strengths-based leadership on follower career satisfaction. More importantly, emotional exhaustion enhanced the direct relationship between strengths use and career satisfaction and the indirect association of strengths-based leadership with follower career satisfaction through follower strengths use.

The main limitation of the present paper was the single source of research data.

The present paper advances strengths-based leadership theory and research and provides a new insight into cultivating employee career satisfaction.

Although positive psychology asserts that authenticity comes from identifying and using our strengths, no quantitative research has been conducted to test that relationship. This study aims to examine the mediating role of work authenticity in linking strengths use to career satisfaction and proactive behavior.

Using a two-wave survey with nurses in two large, acute hospitals in Japan (n = 298), a structural equation model was produced.

The results show that work authenticity fully mediated between strengths use and career satisfaction, and that work authenticity partially mediated between strengths use and proactive behavior.

As work authenticity, career satisfaction and proactive behavior were measured at time 2, it is desirable to conduct a three-wave survey to measure these variables separately in future research.

It may be imperative to recognize that employees who use their strengths are satisfied with their careers only by enhancing authenticity at work.

The main contribution of this study was to identify the mediating role of work authenticity in linking strengths use to both career-related well-being and proactive work behaviors.

This study aims to investigate the mediating role of positive affect and the moderating role of deficit correction in the relationship between employee strengths use and innovative behavior.

This study adopted a three-wave research design to gather data. A convenience sample of 189 employees working in diverse organizations in China was applied to examine the hypotheses.

The results indicated that employee strengths use was positively related to innovative behavior, and positive affect mediated the relationship between employee strengths use and innovative behavior. In addition, deficit correction enhanced the direct relationship of employee strengths use with positive affect and the indirect relationship of employee strengths use with innovative behavior through positive affect.

The current study contributes to the existing literature on employee strengths use-innovative behavior relationships by revealing positive affect as a mediator and deficit correction as a moderator between employee strengths use and innovative behavior.

This study aims to examine how perceived supervisor support for strengths use (PSSSU) directly and indirectly facilitates career satisfaction and perceived employability as mediated by strengths use behavior.

A two-wave questionnaire survey was administered to nurses (n = 221) and analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Results indicated that PSSSU directly enhanced career satisfaction and indirectly enhanced perceived employability through strengths use behavior.

As the sample was limited to nurses in a Japanese hospital, it is possible that the characteristics of the national culture and occupation affected the results.

Support for strengths use is important especially in stressful work environments in order to retain professional employees by enhancing their employability and career satisfaction.

This study extends the literature by identifying the different effects of PSSSU on the two types of career-related well-being. The present research is the first study to show the mediating role played by strengths use behavior in linking PSSSU to perceived employability.

Authenticity, or the extent to which individuals act in accordance with their values, beliefs and characteristics, is recognized as a key component of a fulfilled life. However, little is known about its antecedents in an organizational context. Drawing on goal-setting theory and the broaden-and-build theory, the current study examined the role of team leaders' perceived shared vision in promoting their work authenticity, mediated through strengths use support (SUS) for members as well as leaders' strengths use.

A two-wave questionnaire survey was conducted to test the hypotheses using a sample of 325 middle managers of a manufacturing firm.

The results of structural equation modeling show that perceived shared vision promoted work authenticity, mediated through SUS and strengths use.

This study is the first to identify that shared goals can trigger authenticity at work by directing the leader to use their strengths, alongside their team members.

While previous research in career studies has highlighted the positive impact of several leadership behaviors on followers’ work and career success, less is known about how the emergent topic of inclusive leadership shapes followers’ task performance. Using an inclusive leadership approach and job demands-resources theory, we developed a novel sequential mediation model in which inclusive leadership indirectly facilitates followers’ performance through self-initiating behavior and work motivation. Specifically, we aimed to investigate whether inclusive leaders encourage followers to show enhanced task performance through strengths use and work engagement.

A representative sample of 278 Dutch employees from diverse organizations was surveyed at three different time points.

The results of structural equation modeling evidenced that inclusive leadership was indirectly related to follower task performance, initially through the utilization of strengths and subsequently through work engagement over time. When leaders exhibited behaviors that were inclusive in nature, they encouraged their followers to make use of their strengths at work. Such leadership actions boosted the work engagement of their followers and led to enhanced task performance.

We develop and test a novel sequential mediation model that explores how inclusive leadership fosters improved task performance among followers by promoting the utilization of strengths and subsequent work engagement. This sheds light on the mechanisms through which inclusive leadership contributes to follower performance, a crucial indicator in shaping sustainable career trajectories.

This study aims to examine the influence of perceived supervisor support (PSS) for strengths use on knowledge sharing (KS) intentions, mediated through work engagement and knowledge self-efficacy, based on the job demand-resources theory and the broaden and build theory.

Structural equation modeling and bootstrap analyses were performed to examine the research model using data derived from a two-wave questionnaire survey of 162 employees from five health-care organizations.

The results indicate that PSS for strengths use promoted KS intentions fully mediated through work engagement and subsequently through knowledge self-efficacy. However, there was no direct relationship between PSS for strengths use and KS intention.

The contribution of this research to the literature on KS is to find the effectiveness of a strengths-based approach in promoting KS intentions across boundaries and identifying mediating factors that link PSS for strengths use to KS intentions.