Abstract
PurposeThe authors examine psychologically informed coaching approaches for evidence-based work-applied management through a meta-analysis. This analysis synthesized previous empirical coaching research evidence on cognitive behavioral and positive psychology frameworks regarding a range of workplace outcomes, including learning, performance and psychological well-being.Design/methodology/approachThe authors undertook a systematic literature search to identify primary studies (k = 20,n = 957), then conducted a meta-analysis with robust variance estimates (RVEs) to test the overall effect size and the effects of each moderator.FindingsThe results confirm that psychologically informed coaching approaches facilitated effective work-related outcomes, particularly on goal attainment (g = 1.29) and self-efficacy (g = 0.59). Besides, these identified coaching frameworks generated a greater impact on objective work performance rated by others (e.g. 360 feedback) than on coachees' self-reported performance. Moreover, a cognitive behavioral-oriented coaching process stimulated individuals' internal self-regulation and awareness to promote work satisfaction and facilitated sustainable changes. Yet, there was no statistically significant difference between popular and commonly used coaching approaches. Instead, an integrative coaching approach that combines different frameworks facilitated better outcomes (g = 0.71), including coachees' psychological well-being.Practical implicationsEffective coaching activities should integrate cognitive coping (e.g. combining cognitive behavioral and solution-focused technique), positive individual traits (i.e. strength-based approach) and contextual factors for an integrative approach to address the full range of coachees' values, motivators and organizational resources for yielding positive outcomes.Originality/valueBuilding on previous meta-analyses and reviews of coaching, this synthesis offers a new insight into effective mechanisms to facilitate desired coaching results. Frameworks grounded in psychotherapy and positive appear most prominent in the literature, yet an integrative approach appears most effective.
Highlights
Given the ever-growing popularity of coaching which some populist publications expect to surpass consultancy (Forbes, 2018) as a workplace learning and development (L&D) activity of choice, the effectiveness of coaching has attracted increasing attention from scholars, practitioners and clients
Our meta-analysis aims to synthesize extant psychologically informed coaching research evidence to elicit better understanding of potential mechanisms to contribute to the development of work-applied management
Our analysis showed that coaching had significant positive effects on (1) cognitive outcomes with both general perceived efficacy (g 5 0.59, 95% CI, 0.30–0.88 and p < 0.01) and goal attainment (g 5 1.29, 95% CI, 0.56–2.01 and p < 0.01), (2) other-rated performance (g 5 0.24, 95% CI, 0.00–0.48 and p 5 0.05) and (3) workplace psychological well-being (g 5 0.28, 95% CI, 0.08–0.49 and p 5 0.02)
Summary
Given the ever-growing popularity of coaching which some populist publications expect to surpass consultancy (Forbes, 2018) as a workplace learning and development (L&D) activity of choice, the effectiveness of coaching has attracted increasing attention from scholars, practitioners and clients. Our meta-analysis aims to synthesize extant psychologically informed coaching research evidence (e.g. cognitive behavioral approaches) to elicit better understanding of potential mechanisms to contribute to the development of work-applied management. Whereas certain organizations often conduct coaching through internal specialists such as in-house human resource (HR) professionals, external coaching engagements has larger influences on coachees’ affective learning outcomes and workplace well-being than internal coaching (Jones et al, 2018). These affective and psychological welfare related outcomes are important determinants of sustainable behavior or performance improvement (Kraiger et al, 1993). Our primary study objective is to investigate whether coaching provided by independent practitioners applying psychologically informed approaches promotes longstanding outcomes
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