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This paper aims to adopt a moderated mediation model to examine the mediation roles of employee engagement and hindrance time pressure; the moderation roles of personality in the relationship between strengths-based psychological climate and employee innovation performance.

Applying snowball sampling and a self-administered survey, the data were collected from employees and immediate supervisors working in Chinese small-medium-sized enterprises. The PROCESS macro for SPSS was applied to examine the moderated mediation model.

The results show that a strengths-based psychological climate significantly influences employee engagement and hindrance time pressure, which, in turn, affects employee innovation performance. Both extroversion and emotional stability moderate the relationship between strengths-based psychological climate, employee engagement and hindrance time pressure but also the indirect effect of strengths-based psychological climate on employee innovation performance through employee engagement and hindrance time pressure.

Drawing on job demands and resources models, this research focusses on maximizing employee strengths instead of weaknesses and includes both two intermediating mechanisms in-between strengths-based psychological climate and innovation performance. Personality variables are applied as moderators, as the study assumes the effectiveness of the strengths-based interventions may vary depends on individual differences.

This study proposes that a strengths-based psychological climate may shift focusses from employee weakness to strengths to maximise their talents. Also, personality variables are suggested to be considered in the related human resource practices (e.g. hiring and performance appraisal) to increase the fit between employees, their jobs and the organisations.

This study develops a moderated mediation model to investigate the possible mediating mechanisms and boundary conditions in relation to the impact of strengths-based psychological climate on employee innovation performance.

Thepurposeofthisarticle wastoexaminethe effectsofstrengths-basedapproaches in co-curricularandcurricularleadershiponfirst-yearstudents’holisticthriving,academicthriving, social thriving, and psychological thriving. We used propensity score matching and regression analyses with survey data from the Thriving Quotient, which was administered to first-year students at a large, public research university(n = 548). The results suggest students’ enrollment in a strengths-based leadership minor course was associated with higher levels of thriving in social, academic, and psychological domains. Students’ participation in strengths-based student organizationswasassociatedwithhigherthrivinginsocialdomains,whileconcurrentenrollment in the strengths-based leadership class and participation in strengths-based student organizations was associated with significantly higher holistic thriving, social thriving, and psychological thriving.

The purpose of the current article was to propose the strengths-based human resource (HR) system construct as well as develop and validate the perceived strengths-based HR system scale by using three independent studies.

Study 1 mainly adopted exploratory factor analysis to test whether fifteen items proposed by the authors can represent the perceived strengths-based HR system construct. The aim of Study 2 was to examine the discriminant validity and criteria validity of the fifteen-item perceived strengths-based HR system scale and reliability of this scale. By structural equation modeling analysis, Study 3 primarily tested the incremental predictive validity of the perceived strengths-based HR system for employee performance (i.e. task performance and innovative behavior) after controlling for the perceived high-performance work system (HPWS) and perceived high-commitment work system (HCWS).

Study 1 showed that initial fifteen items of the perceived strengths-based HR system appropriately are loaded on one factor and exhibit a good reliability. Study 2 found that there is good discriminant validity between the perceived strengths-based HR system, perceived organizational support, perceived supervisory career support, and work engagement, and the perceived strengths-based HR system exhibits better convergent validity and criteria validity. Study 3 demonstrated that the perceived strengths-based HR system could significantly predict employee performance (i.e. task performance and innovative behavior) even after controlling for perceived HPWS and HCWS.

The current article contributes to advancing HR theory and research and provides a valuable tool for future empirical research on the strengths-based HR system.

This paper examines how lateral accountability mechanisms may be used to address the unity–diversity tension in a large not-for-profit (NFP) inter-organizational partnership governed under a lead organization model.

A case study was conducted in the New South Wales Settlement Partnership comprising 23 NFP organizations providing settlement services for migrants and humanitarian entrants. Multiple data sources included semi-structured interviews, proprietary and publicly available documents and observation.

The paper demonstrates (1) the usefulness of a strength-based approach that the lead organization adopts in enacting lateral accountability mechanisms, which enables a balance between unity and diversity in the partnership; and (2) the capability of the lead organization governance model to address the unity–diversity tension.

The paper (1) identifies the importance of a strength-based approach in implementing lateral accountability mechanisms to address the unity–diversity tension; and (2) challenges prior research that advocates the network administrative organization governance model in addressing the tension.

For practice, the paper identifies a suite of lateral accountability practices designed to address the unity–diversity tension. For policy, it provides confidence for government in promulgating the lead organization governance model in “purchasing” public services.

The paper demonstrates how lateral accountability mechanisms may be used to provide a balance between the objectives of preserving and leveraging the benefits of partner diversity and achieving unity. The strength-based approach (used in enacting the accountability mechanisms), while having a history in psychology and social work research, has not been recognized in prior partnership accountability and governance studies.

The purpose of this paper is to make the case that owner-managers of small businesses should consider using strength-based coaching as a key element of their performance management and learning and development endeavours because small businesses are potentially well-suited to this type of developmental intervention.

In making the case, we draw on literature primarily in four areas: performance management, positive psychology, strength-based management and small business management. The case for adopting strength-based coaching is also underpinned by the practical insights of an experienced small business manager.

The informal internal organisation found in most small businesses makes the small business context potentially well-suited to strength-based coaching. In particular, the informal characteristic of small businesses promotes close working relationships between owner-managers and employees and broadly defines work roles. Such a work context is conducive to strength-based coaching that involves owner-managers capitalising on the unique abilities of each employee by redefining work roles to fit employees’ strengths.

Using strength-based coaching to align employees’ strengths with the work of the small business should have positive effects on the key variables of individual and collective performance and ultimately business results. These variables of performance are employee ability, motivation and opportunity to perform.

After database searching, it seems that there is no previous work that has examined the potential efficacy of strength-based coaching in a small business context. The paper has value for small business managers who are seeking practical guidance on how to improve their current approaches to both managing employee performance and fostering the learning and development of the staff.

This article aims to report on the findings from a research project that explored a school’s changing ideological storyline with the appointment of a new Principal and the Board of Trustees’ intention to move towards a strengths-based approach to education. Following the school’s dialogue and decision-making over a three-year period enabled the identification of a range of competitive processes between the dominant and an emergent ideology within the school.

Using an ideological framework proposed by Meighan et al. (2007), the research focussed on the development and maintenance of shared understandings within each ideology. For the purpose of this article, the participants have been limited to those in school governance, the school’s senior leadership team and some teachers across a three-year period. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, online surveys and informal observations and analysed through interpretive and hermeneutic processes.

The findings show the subtleties and nuances of two dominant and competing ideologies that represented different philosophies for education: a deficit discourse of progressive ideals and a strengths-based ideology of education. The existing and dominant ideology is challenged by the determination and moral purpose of the principal with the unanimous support from those in governance. In due process, the school emerged into a creative enterprise through the adoption of shared understandings that were underscored by a strengths-based ideology.

It is incumbent upon school principals to notice the shifting organisational storylines within their schools and communities and act in a manner that realises the moral imperative of schooling for the students (Fullan, 2011). This article opens specific ideological processes that have appreciatively moved a school towards pedagogical excellence and a repurposing of the organisation for the students’ sake.

Strengths-based coaching has emerged in past decades as an asset-based approach that can help individuals identify, harness, and leverage their strengths to achieve professional and personal goals. This paper shares the design and outcomes of a year-long strengths-based coaching program to support leadership development within the context of one university’s women’s leadership initiative.

Program outcomes and changes in participants’ perceived confidence in identifying and applying their strengths in different contexts were evaluated through an online survey using a Likert-based REDCap survey tool after participation in the program. Findings strongly suggest that most participants lacked the self-confidence and/or self-awareness to recognize their own strengths in a granular way prior to the program. Themes that emerged in the survey findings point to the following program outcomes: participants gained an increased ability to identify and value one’s own leadership strengths, an increased ability to recognize and value the strengths of others, and a supportive community of women leaders to share experiences and reflect on the application of their strengths as part of their leadership journey.

Further studies are needed to understand and measure how a program such as this can impact one’s leader identity, self-awareness, and self-confidence. Given the critical need for women’s leadership opportunities, this program shows promise as a means to strengthen women’s leadership across career stages and disciplines.

The purpose of this study was to examine how well a strength-based program grounded in positive psychology principles can advance the practical critical thinking skills of those pursuing the teacher training course.

This study used a single-group pre-test post-test design with 35 teacher-trainees from the Bachelor of Education course. The two-and-a-half-week strength-based program used the values in action survey to identify strengths. Pre- and post-test scores, measured with the Cornell Critical Thinking Test – Level Z, underwent Statistical Package for Social Sciences analysis including paired samples t-test for subcomponent and overall composite analysis.

Analysis of the pre- and post-test scores demonstrated a statistical significance in the critical thinking scores obtained by the teacher-trainees. Post-test scores were consistently significant. Out of the elements of critical thinking, induction, meaning, observation and credibility were more prominent. Deduction and assumption identification were also having a significant effect.

Most critical thinking programs focus on evaluating specific teaching methods for improving critical thinking skills. In education, positive psychology studies often center on students’ well-being, attention spans and academic success, aligning with wellness programs. Despite the importance of strengths in positive psychology, there is a lack of research on using a strength-based approach to boost critical thinking skills. This study aims to enhance teacher-trainees’ critical thinking by leveraging their individual strengths, moving away from traditional instructional strategies.

This paper aims to explore how service organizations can improve the effectiveness of well-being creation efforts given the pressing societal issues and global crises. In this paper, the authors examine two essential dimensions (dignity and vulnerability approach) to develop a theoretical framework. This framework can be used to increase the effectiveness of well-being outcomes created by transformative service initiatives (TSIs) and minimize their negative unintentional consequences.

Drawing on social marketing and humanistic management literature, this paper develops a framework for TSIs based on whether human dignity is recognized or ignored and whether a deficit-based or strength-based approach to vulnerability is used. This framework explains different types of TSIs and provides real-life examples.

The framework developed in this paper discusses four different types of TSIs: (1) exclusionary, a deficit-based approach where dignity is ignored; (2) opportunistic, a strength-based approach where dignity is ignored; (3) paternalistic, a deficit-based approach where dignity is recognized; and (4) humanistic, a strength-based approach where dignity is recognized. The paper also identifies five pathways that service organizations could use to implement these approaches, including two traps (utility and charity) and three opportunities (resourcing, humanizing and full awakening) embedded within these pathways.

This paper provides examples of service industries and specific companies to exemplify the framework developed. Also, it discusses the well-being implications and potential well-being outcomes associated with each type of TSI.

This paper offers a novel framework based on two dimensions that are relatively new to the service literature, i.e. dignity and vulnerability approach. This paper also highlights the importance of including these two dimensions in future service research.

This paper offers a novel framework based on two relatively new dimensions to the service literature: dignity and strengths-based approach. This paper also highlights the importance of including these two dimensions in future service research.

To readers of the popular press, the words ‘positive psychology’ may conjure up images of happiness gurus and people having their feet massaged, their heads resting peacefully on pink, fluffy clouds. But in this article, our aim is to demonstrate how the new science of positive psychology speaks powerfully to ‐ and has much to contribute to ‐ the development of leadership and the practices and processes of organisations, whether in the public or private sectors. Much of our work is concerned with the applications of this new field, and particularly with building strengths‐based organisations. A key pillar of this work is around enabling strengths‐based leadership, and provides our focus for this article.