Abstract
Purpose This study aims to investigate the mediating and moderating effects of psychological ownership and belief in just world in the relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected from 183 lecturers who teach in an Indonesian university. The questionnaires covered transformational leadership, psychological ownership, belief in just world and work engagement. The collected data were examined with structural equation model analysis. Findings The results demonstrated a significant moderated mediation index, which indicated that the relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement is mediated by psychological ownership and is moderated by belief in just world. Practical implications To achieve higher work engagement, organizations should increase employees’ feelings of ownership and boost just world belief. Originality/value The present study offers new insight on how personality trait plays a moderating role in the relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement.
Highlights
Employee work engagement is highly desirable for every leader
We found that transformational leaders can elevate psychological ownership, which subsequently increases work engagement only if employees believe that the world is just
We propose that the link between psychological ownership and work engagement depends on the levels of belief in just world
Summary
Employee work engagement is highly desirable for every leader. Engaged workers tend to have high levels of energy and enthusiasm and are happily immersed in doing their work (Bakker & Leiter, 2017). In contrast with disengaged workers, engaged employees are willing to work harder voluntarily to achieve positive outcomes for the organization (Bakker, 2011). Research on antecedents of work engagement has enjoyed ample of attention from scholars (Buric & Macuka, 2018; Joo, Lim, & Kim, 2016; Schaufeli, Salanova, GonzalezRoma, & Bakker, 2002) where one of the most studied constructs is transformation leadership (Salanova, Lorente, Chambel, & Martínez, 2011; Zhu, Avolio, & Walumbwa, 2009). Since transformational leadership and work engagement are grouped as positive organizational behavior (POB), the association between the two is plausible. We intend to fill this gap by proposing a mediator (i.e. psychological ownership) and a moderator (i.e. belief in just world) in the relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement
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