Managerial Resourcefulness and Leadership in Small Firms During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This study explores the influence of managerial resourcefulness (affective, intellectual and action-oriented competencies) of the owner-manager of small firms on employee outcomes, including the perception of leadership effectiveness and satisfaction with the leader. Owner-manager of small firms ( n = 49) completed a questionnaire with a managerial resourcefulness scale, and their employees ( n = 193) completed a questionnaire with the scales of perception of leadership effectiveness and satisfaction with the leader. Hierarchical linear modelling analyses were used to test the study hypotheses. The results indicated that affective and intellectual competencies are significantly and positively associated with both employee perception of leadership effectiveness and satisfaction with the leader. However, action-oriented competence is significantly and positively associated with employees’ perception of leadership effectiveness but is not related to satisfaction with leaders. The results of this study imply that management resourcefulness is a useful foundation to examine a variety of critical organizational and human outcomes.