Search results

In this study, the authors integrate the concept of leader support with a process model of innovation including the generation, promotion and implementation of innovative ideas to obtain an in-depth understanding of how leaders may support employees’ innovative efforts. The purpose of this paper is to develop an organizing framework and validate a measure for assessing leader support for innovation.

The authors validated the Leader Support for Innovation Questionnaire (LSIQ) in German and English using samples from Germany (n=1,049) and South Africa (n=129).

Although confirmatory factor analyses supported a three-factor model of the 12-item LSIQ (leader support for idea generation, promotion and implementation), strong intercorrelations between the factors provide only weak evidence for the three-factor structure. Positive correlations with individual and organizational innovation demonstrate adequate construct validity. The LSIQ explains additional variance in innovation beyond that explained by measures of transformational leadership and leader–member exchange.

The findings suggest that linking leader support and innovation more directly to one another matches the complexity of innovation processes. The LSIQ is a theory based and valid tool that enables more rigorous research on the role of leadership in facilitating innovation.

Previous studies using well-established leadership approaches have produced a considerable heterogeneity of findings on the relationship between leadership and innovation. Therefore, the authors introduce an integrative framework for defining and organizing leadership behaviors specifically supporting employees’ innovative efforts and validate a measure of leader support for innovation that may guide both theoretical developments and empirical research on the relationship between leadership and innovation in organizations.

This study of leaders and followers working in day-care centers aims to use a multilevel perspective on supportive leadership to examine its role in linking workload at the leader level and emotional exhaustion at the follower level. Integrating theoretical work on social support with conservation of resources (COR) theory, leaders' workload is proposed to be positively related to followers' feelings of emotional exhaustion through constraining the enactment of supportive leadership.

Multisource survey data from 442 followers and their leaders from 68 teams were collected to test the hypotheses.

Multilevel analyses showed that leader workload was negatively related to followers' perception of supportive leadership, which, in turn, was positively related to followers' levels of emotional exhaustion. Leader workload was indirectly and positively related to follower emotional exhaustion via supportive leadership.

This study provides initial support for the idea that work contextual factors at the leader level create boundaries for the extent to which leaders may provide support to their followers and draws attention to the accountability of leaders' work contextual factors for followers' well-being.

The findings suggest that organizations must not focus narrowly on training leaders on how to benefit followers but should also aim to optimize leaders' levels of workload to enable them to act in a supportive manner.

By considering both the receivers (i.e. followers) and providers (i.e. leaders) of support simultaneously, we take a crossover approach to COR theory and acknowledge that work contextual factors at higher organizational levels may spread to employee well-being at lower levels of the organization.

Although nonwork mastery generates personal resources and improves employee well-being and performance, employees must invest personal resources to experience mastery during nonwork time. Drawing on conservation of resources theory and resource exchange perspectives, the purpose of this study is to examine the role of day-to-day provisions of affiliation resources by the leader in generating the personal resources necessary for employees to engage in nonwork mastery.

Daily diary data were collected from 198 employees (768 days). The proposed model was tested using Bayesian multilevel path analysis.

The results showed that on days when employees perceived that their leader provided more affiliation resources, they reported higher self-esteem and work engagement and, in turn, experienced higher levels of mastery. Furthermore, employees in high-quality (vs low-quality) leader–member exchange (LMX) relationships benefitted more from the affiliation resources provided by their leader in terms of work engagement.

The findings suggest that leaders can actively manage their employees' daily experience and functioning through seemingly ordinary demonstrations of warmth, care, and positive regard.

This study highlights the important role of leaders in improving employee daily work and nonwork experience and functioning and sheds light on the tangible resource provisions in the work context and the associated personal resources that account for daily variations in mastery. By distinguishing between daily affiliation resources and general perceptions of LMX relationship quality, this study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the implications that resource provisions by the leader have for employees.

The aim of the present study is to give insights into the interplay between leadership, well‐being and occupational success by examining the indirect effect of transformational leadership on subjective occupational success mediated by work engagement.

A gender‐sensitive approach was applied in order to reveal possible differences in the relations and to deduce gender‐specific recommendations. Data were retrieved from 530 women and 602 men. The participants were questioned on their leader's behavior, their work engagement, and occupational success.

Results show significant positive relations between transformational leadership, work engagement, and subjective occupational success for men and women. Work engagement is found to partially mediate the relation between transformational leadership and subjective occupational success. A significantly higher mediation effect was found for women, although the mediation is present in both gender groups.

Both for men and women transformational leadership training, as well as interventions promoting work engagement, are promising approaches for the enhancement of occupational success.

The findings advance the understanding of how leaders enhance employees' occupational success and provide gender‐specific insights into the mediating mechanism of work engagement regarding this relation.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Intense competition and economic uncertainty are prevailing characteristics of today's business world. Such a challenging context demands rigorous endeavor on the part of any firm aiming to acquire or sustain a competitive edge. It is widely acknowledged that a company's best asset is its workforce. Consequently, success is arguably much likelier for those boasting employees who are willing, competent and able to perform effectively throughout their working lives. People are significantly more productive when they are content. That much is obvious. The key then appears to lie in nurturing a workplace environment in which individuals can feel happy and fulfilled. Achieve this goal and motivation levels will rise accordingly. Simple.

The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to digest format.