Engaging Leadership and Its Implication for Work Engagement and Job Outcomes at the Individual and Team Level: A Multi-Level Longitudinal Study.

Zhenduo Zhang,Wilmar B. Schaufeli,Vivi Gusrini Rahmadani,Zulkarnain Zulkarnain,Jeroen Stouten

doi:10.3390/ijerph17030776

Abstract

The current study investigates how supervisors’ engaging leadership, as perceived by their employees, increases employees’ job outcomes at the individual and team level, as mediated by (team) work engagement. Job outcome indicators at the team level are team performance, team learning, and team innovation; and at the individual level, job performance, employee learning, and innovative work behavior. The novel concept of engaging leadership is presented as the specific type of leadership to foster (team) work engagement. A multi-level longitudinal study is conducted among 224 blue collar employees nested in 54 teams in an Indonesian state-owned holding company in the agricultural industry using a one-year time lag. The findings show, as expected, that at the team level, engaging leadership at time 1 predicted team learning and team innovation (but not team performance) at time 2, via team work engagement at time 2. Additionally, an expected cross-level effect was observed from engaging leadership at the team level at time 1 predicting individual job performance (but not employee learning and innovative work behavior) at time 2, via team work engagement at time 2. Finally, an expected second cross-level effect was observed for engaging leadership at the team level at time 1, which predicted individual job performance, employee learning, and innovative work behavior at time 2, via work engagement at time 2.

Highlights

To achieve the critical goals of viability and sustained competitive advantage, organizations currently face global challenges [1] that require them to continuously perform, adapt, learn, and innovate in a rapidly changing environment [2]
We argue that team-level Engaging leadership (EL) and team work engagement (TWE) may increase individual job outcomes by drawing on Job Demands–Resources (JD-R)
The findings of this study showed at the team level, that engaging leadership at the team level at time 1 was positively related to team learning and team innovation at time 2, through TWE at time

Summary

Introduction

To achieve the critical goals of viability and sustained competitive advantage, organizations currently face global challenges [1] that require them to continuously perform, adapt, learn, and innovate in a rapidly changing environment [2]. Generally speaking, leaders will facilitate the motivational process that is postulated by the JD-R Model This process assumes that job resources and challenging job demands are inherently motivating and that both will lead to a positive, affective-motivational state of fulfillment in employees that is known as (team) work engagement. To test our model of how engaging leadership at the team level is beneficial for job outcomes both at the individual and team level via TWE and WE, we conducted a two-wave multi-level study. By uncovering the mediating role of TWE and WE, this study gives insight in how team-level EL impacts team and individual job outcomes and, features JD-R Model at the team level. The novel concept of engaging leadership that explicitly focuses on increasing WE is introduced as an antecedent, which, via WE and TWE, impacts job outcomes at the individual and team level.

Theoretical Review and Hypothesis Development

Sample

Procedure

Measurements

Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Data Aggregation

Strategy of Data Analysis

Descriptive Statistics

Hypotheses Testing

Discussion

Theoretical Contributions

Practical Implications