Empowering Leadership Behavior Research Articles

When leadership elicits voice: Evidence for a mediated moderation model

AbstractThe aim of this study is to examine the influence of humble and empowering leader behaviors on the prosocial voice of subordinates. We also investigate subordinate power distance orientation as a possible moderator of this relationship and subordinate psychological empowerment as the underlying mechanism behind this moderated effect. Findings from 306 employees of a Korean business conglomerate indicated that humble and empowering leadership were positively related to the prosocial voice of subordinates, and the moderation effects of subordinates’ power distance orientation between these two types of leader behaviors and subordinates’ prosocial voice were fully mediated by the extent to which they felt psychologically empowered. Our findings indicated that the moderation for the main effect between leadership and voice was caused by the significant moderating effect in the indirect path between two main variables via psychological empowerment. We conclude by highlighting implications for management practice and identifying avenues for future research.

The Role of Leader Empowering Behaviours in Psychological Contract at High Schools

This research aims to identify the role of leader empowering behaviours in high school teachers’ perceptions of psychological contract. The population of the study is composed of 21 high schools and 913 teachers in Usak. The stratification sampling method is employed, and 280 teachers from 21 school participated in the study. Teachers’ perceptions of psychological contract at school is determined through the “ Teachers’ Level of Compliance with Psychological Contract Scale ” and “ School Principals’ Level of Compliance with Psychological Contract ” scale developed by Kocak (2016). The “ Leader Empowering Behaviour Questionnaire ” developed by Konczak, Stelly, and Trusty (2000) is used to identify teachers’ perceptions regarding empowerment. Descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation are used in data analysis. Additionally, Pearson Correlation Coefficient is used to measure the relationship between the variables, and hierarchal regression technique is employed for predictive analysis. The findings show that, there is a significant correlation between the levels of compliance with psychological contract of school principals and teachers. Thus, it was confirmed that psychological contract at schools is based on exchange theory. Further findings show that the Leader Empowering Behaviour subscales of coaching for innovative performance, skill development, information sharing and delegation of authority and accountability are positive predictors of teachers’ level of compliance with psychological contract.

Improving Primary Care with Human-Centered Design and Partnership-Based Leadership

Objective: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to empower and activate first-line staff (FLS) to improve the six-month depression remission rate in a primary care clinic.
 Background: Lack of workforce engagement has been identified as an emerging national problem in health care and health care leaders have urged practice redesign to foster the Triple Aim of improved population health, improved care experience, and reduced cost of care (Berwick et al., 2008). Depression is difficult to manage and often exacerbates chronic illnesses and shortens lifespans, yet despite known effective treatments, six-month remission rates are low and care practices are often inadequate. Engaging in empowering leadership behaviors has demonstrated improvement in motivation, work outcomes, and empowerment in various industry settings across the world. Core approaches include: enhancing staff self-determination, encouraging participation in decision-making, and ensuring that staff have the knowledge and tools to achieve their performance goals, in addition to leadership communications that increase confidence in staff’s potential to perform at high levels, and their recognition that their efforts have an impact on improving organizational effectiveness.
 Methods: In this outpatient setting, care was siloed, staff were disengaged and a hierarchical paradigm was evident. Human-centered design principles were employed to intensively explore stakeholders’ experiences and to deeply engage end users in improving depression remission rates by creating, participating, and partnering in solutions. Leadership was educated in and deployed empowering leadership behaviors, which were synergistic with design thinking, and fostered empowerment.
 Results: Pre- and post-surveys demonstrated statistically significant improvement in empowerment. The six-month depression remission rate increased 167%, from 7.3% (N=261) to 19.4% (N=247).
 Conclusion: The convergence of empowering leadership behaviors and human-centered design, offers great promise for improved patient outcomes, staff empowerment, and promotion of partnership.

Directing our own careers, but getting help from empowering leaders

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the potential effects of empowering leadership on followers’ subjective career success through psychological empowerment, protean career orientation, and career commitment.Design/methodology/approachFull-time employees working in the USA were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Participants answered surveys at three separate points over a six-week period (n=261). Structural equation modeling and bootstrapping were used to verify the indirect effect of empowering leadership on career satisfaction controlling for common method variance and growth need strength.FindingsEmpowering leadership was positively related to followers’ subsequent psychological empowerment, which in turn predicted protean career attitudes and career commitment, but only career commitment had a significant relationship with career satisfaction.Research limitations/implicationsEmpowering leadership behaviors focus on potentially career-enhancing factors, including providing followers with the confidence, inspiration, and authority to assume control of their work lives. Empowering leaders benefit their followers’ careers, and psychological empowerment and career commitment may be important mechanisms in the empowering leadership-career success relationship when their effects are considered simultaneously. Employees’ development of a protean career orientation has less direct effect on subjective career success than simple commitment to a career.Originality/valueEmpowering leadership has been overlooked in career literature. The findings advance the understanding of how empowering leader behaviors could help employees’ subjective career success in a serial mediation model. Additionally, the study empirically demonstrates that psychologically empowered employees are more likely to engage in protean career actions and navigate their own career goals.

The effects of empowering leadership on psychological well-being and job engagement

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of empowering leadership on employees’ psychological well-being (PWB) and job engagement. This study also examines the mediating role of psychological capital (PsyCap) in these relationships.Design/methodology/approachThe study draws on survey data (n=285) from employees in eight large-sized firms in South Korea. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the convergent validity of the construct measures. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate the fit of the hypothesized model to the data.FindingsThe authors found that empowering leadership influenced job engagement both directly and indirectly through PsyCap. Employees’ PsyCap fully mediated the relationship between empowering leadership and employees’ PWB, while partially mediating the relationship between empowering leadership and job engagement.Originality/valueThis is the first empirical study to examine the effects of empowering leadership behaviors of leaders on both PWB and PsyCap, which are positive psychological resources of employees. The study has also provided empirical evidence for the importance of PsyCap, which plays a positive role in the ability of employees to manage their overall feelings in achievement situations and in employees’ engagement in the workplace.

Nurses' Burnout: The Influence of Leader Empowering Behaviors, Work Conditions, and Demographic Traits.

Nurse burnout is a widespread phenomenon characterized by a reduction in nurses’ energy that manifests in emotional exhaustion, lack of motivation, and feelings of frustration and may lead to reductions in work efficacy. This study was conducted to assess the level of burnout among Jordanian nurses and to investigate the influence of leader empowering behaviors (LEBs) on nurses’ feelings of burnout in an endeavor to improve nursing work outcomes. A cross-sectional and correlational design was used. Leader Empowering Behaviors Scale and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) were employed to collect data from 407 registered nurses, recruited from 11 hospitals in Jordan. The Jordanian nurses exhibited high levels of burnout as demonstrated by their high scores for Emotional Exhaustion (EE) and Depersonalization (DP) and moderate scores for Personal Accomplishment (PA). Factors related to work conditions, nurses’ demographic traits, and LEBs were significantly correlated with the burnout categories. A stepwise regression model–exposed 4 factors predicted EE: hospital type, nurses’ work shift, providing autonomy, and fostering participation in decision making. Gender, fostering participation in decision making, and department type were responsible for 5.9% of the DP variance, whereas facilitating goal attainment and nursing experience accounted for 8.3% of the PA variance. This study highlights the importance of the role of nurse leaders in improving work conditions and empowering and motivating nurses to decrease nurses’ feelings of burnout, reduce turnover rates, and improve the quality of nursing care.

Principal empowering leadership and teacher innovative behavior: a moderated mediation model

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to contribute to extant literature by linking principal empowering leadership to teachers’ innovative work behavior. By doing so, the author attempts to provide a more nuanced understanding of this relationship by examining a moderated mediation model which encompasses exploration as a mediator and role conflict as a moderator.Design/methodology/approach– Data were collected from 201 public teachers. In order to examine the present hypotheses bootstrapping analysis, Sobel test and SPSS macro were used.Findings– The results demonstrated that teacher exploration mediates the relationship between empowering leadership and innovative work behavior and, further, that this indirect effect is contingent on role conflict.Practical implications– Based on the present findings, in order to enhance innovation, schools need to promote both empowering leadership style and their teachers’ exploration. Moreover, principals should refrain from providing conflicting orders and expectations from their teachers because such conditions will eliminate the positive effect of their empowering behaviors on teachers’ exploration and innovative work behavior.Originality/value– This is the first study that develops and tests a moderated mediation model regarding the relationship between principal empowering leadership and teacher innovative behavior.

Cross-Level Influences of Empowering Leadership on Citizenship Behavior

Using a cross-level design and relying on a contingency approach to understanding empowering leadership, we investigate the mediating role of individual-level psychological empowerment in the cross-level relationship between team-directed empowering leadership and two complementary forms of individual-level citizenship: affiliative organizational citizenship behavior and taking charge. We also investigate the moderating role of organizational support climate in the relationship between empowering leader behavior and these two forms of citizenship. Using data collected from 98 work teams in one large organization in China, in addition to support for the mediating role of psychological empowerment, we found a “double-edged” moderating effect for organizational support climate. For affiliative organizational citizenship behavior, and consistent with reciprocation perspectives posited by social exchange theory, results showed that the highest levels occurred when both empowering leadership behavior and organizational support climate were high. In contrast, for taking charge, and consistent with control theory, results showed that the highest levels occurred when empowering leadership behavior was high but when organizational support climate was low. Our findings highlight the counterintuitive notion that organizational support climate may not always have uniformly positive effects and also reinforce the importance of including both individual and work context factors when attempting to understand cross-level empowering leadership effects.

Disentangling the relationships between staff nurses’ workplace empowerment and job satisfaction

The primary aim of this study was to examine the relationships between structural empowerment, psychological empowerment and job satisfaction among staff nurses, after controlling for their leaders' use of empowering behaviours. Nurses' job satisfaction is a critical factor in health-care organisations because of its association with nurse turnover and quality of patient care. Nurses continue to report high levels of job dissatisfaction. Cross-sectional data for 1007 Canadian staff nurses were analysed using hierarchical multiple regression. Structural empowerment was the strongest independent predictor of job satisfaction, followed by leader empowering behaviours and psychological empowerment. After accounting for the effects of structural empowerment and leader empowering behaviours, the four dimensions of psychological empowerment showed only small independent effects on job satisfaction. Psychological empowerment did not mediate the effects of structural empowerment on job satisfaction. Nurses' job satisfaction is most influenced by their access to organisational empowerment structures. Leader empowering behaviours, structural empowerment, and psychological empowerment, operating together, enhance nurses' job satisfaction. Nurse leaders should use a variety of empowerment strategies that are important to nurses' job satisfaction and potentially to the quality of patient care and nurse turnover.

Vertical flow of collectivistic leadership: An examination of the cascade of visionary leadership across levels

This study explores the connection between formal leaders and collective leadership in teams through the examination of how collective strategic vision flows downward in organizations and the function that formal leaders play in the resulting cascade of collective leadership. Building from a sensemaking framework, we propose that a supervisor's perceptions of the collective navigator role (the establishing and enacting of strategic vision among members of a team) in their immediate supervisor-level work group ultimately links to the collective leadership navigator role in the lower-level team he or she leads thereby illustrating the vertical flow of collective leadership across organizational levels. To understand how this cascading process operates, we propose that two key characteristics of supervisors, their job satisfaction and empowering leadership behaviors, mediate the linkage between collective strategic visions at these different levels. We find support for this connection in our study of teams within a large manufacturing company.

Person-environment fit, job satisfaction and intentions to leave: The moderating effect of leader empowering behaviour

This study sought to determine the possible indirect effect of person-environment (PE) fit on intentions to leave via job satisfaction and the moderating effect of leader empowering behaviour on job satisfaction and intentions to leave the work organisation. Participants were 398 employees working for a retail company in Gauteng Province, South Africa (females = 68.6 %, blacks = 58 %; managerial = 5.8 %; age range = under 20 to 60 years +). They completed the Perceived Fit Scale, Job Satisfaction Scale, Turnover Intentions Scale, and the Leader Empowering Behaviour Questionnaire. Statistical mediation analysis (of PE on JS and IL), and moderation analysis (of LEB on JS and IL) were conducted. Results indicated that PE fit has an indirect effect on intentions to leave via job satisfaction. Leader empowering behaviour moderated the relationship between job satisfaction and intentions to leave. Low PE fit leads to job dissatisfaction and intentions to leave, therefore leaders should instil a sense of empowerment in employees to alleviate the impact of poor fit.

Leadership Empowerment Behavior to Creativity:Perceived Status and Feedback Seeking Climate

Through the lens of relational fairness theory, we argued that leadership empowerment behavior promotes employee creativity and team creativity through enhancing employees’ self-perceived status and feedback-seeking climate of a team. Using a sample of 84 teams with 392 employees from 8 companies and two waves of data collection, we found that feedback-seeking climate mediated the relationship between leadership empowerment behavior and employees’ creativity. Besides, leadership empowerment behavior was found positively related to employee self-perceived status while employee self-perceived status promoted employee creativity. The buffering effect of status conflict as a moderator in the meditational chain from leadership empowerment behavior to feedback-seeking climate was identified. We also found a cross-level relationship between feedback-seeking climate and employee’s self-perceived status. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

The effect of leader empowering behavior on work engagement

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among leader empowering behavior, job crafting and work engagement. Specially, this study investigated not only the influence of leader empowering behavior on job crafting and work engagement that is mediated by job crafting but also the moderating effects of core-self evaluation and person-job fit on the relationships between leader empowering behavior and job crafting and between job crafting and work engagement. Data were collected among 312 korean employees who were working in various organization via online survey. Online survey was conducted by 312 korean employees who were working in various organizations. First, correlation analyses were conducted and the results showed that there were positive relationship among main variables such as leader empowering behavior, job crafting, work engagement and etc.. Second, the results of structural equitation modeling analyses offered strong support for the proposed model(partial mediation model). Employees who were empowered by leader were most likely to craft their job, relationship and cognitive boundary and boost work engagement; job crafting, in turn, was predictive of work engagement. Third the results of hierarchial regression analyses showed that core-self evaluation did not moderate the relationship between leader empowering behavior and job crafting. However, there was a moderation effect of person-job fit on the relationship between job crating and work engagement. Employees who did job crafting had a greater impact on work engagement under the low person-job fit situation than the high fit situation. The implications and limitations of this study and the directions for future research were discussed on the basis of the results.

The Effect of Leader Empowering Behavior on Work Engagement: The Mediating Role of Job Crafting and Moderating Effects of Core-Self Evaluation and Person-Job Fit

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among leader empowering behavior, job crafting and work engagement. Specially, this study investigated not only the influence of leader empowering behavior on job crafting and work engagement that is mediated by job crafting but also the moderating effects of core-self evaluation and person-job fit on the relationships between leader empowering behavior and job crafting and between job crafting and work engagement. Data were collected among 312 korean employees who were working in various organization via online survey. Online survey was conducted by 312 korean employees who were working in various organizations. First, correlation analyses were conducted and the results showed that there were positive relationship among main variables such as leader empowering behavior, job crafting, work engagement and etc.. Second, the results of structural equitation modeling analyses offered strong support for the proposed model(partial mediation model). Employees who were empowered by leader were most likely to craft their job, relationship and cognitive boundary and boost work engagement; job crafting, in turn, was predictive of work engagement. Third the results of hierarchial regression analyses showed that core-self evaluation did not moderate the relationship between leader empowering behavior and job crafting. However, there was a moderation effect of person-job fit on the relationship between job crating and work engagement. Employees who did job crafting had a greater impact on work engagement under the low person-job fit situation than the high fit situation. The implications and limitations of this study and the directions for future research were discussed on the basis of the results.

Leadership empowering behaviour, psychological empowerment, organisational citizenship behaviours and turnover intention in a manufacturing division

Orientation: Employees’ perceptions of their leaders’ behaviour play a role in creating empowering environments where employees are willing to do more than what is expected, with retention of employees as a result.Research purpose: The aim of this study was to theoretically conceptualise and empirically determine the relationships between employees’ perception of their leaders’ empowering behaviour, psychological empowerment, organisational citizenship behaviours and intention to leave within a manufacturing division of an organisation.Motivation for the study: In the ever-changing work environment, organisations must capitalise on their human capital in order to maintain competitiveness. It is therefore important to identify the role of employees’ perception of leadership in contributing to the establishment of an environment where employees feel empowered, are willing to do more than what is expected and want to stay in the organisation.Research design, approach and method: A non-experimental, cross-sectional survey design was used. The total population (N = 300) employed at the manufacturing division was targeted. Two hundred completed questionnaires were obtained. The Leader Empowering Behaviour Questionnaire, Measuring Empowerment Questionnaire, Organisational Citizenship Behaviour Questionnaire and Intention to Leave Scale were administered.Main findings: Employees’ perception of their leaders’ empowering behaviour (keeping employees accountable, self-directed decision-making and people development), psychological empowerment (attitude and influence) and organisational citizenship behaviours (loyalty, deviant behaviour and participation) predict intention to leave the organisation.Practical/managerial implications: Organisations should foster the elements of a positive organisation, in this case leader empowering behaviours, if they want to retain their employees.Contribution/value-add: The results of this research contribute to scientific knowledge about the positive effects of employees experiencing their leaders as empowering.

When Is Empowerment Effective? The Role of Leader-Leader Exchange in Empowering Leadership, Cynicism, and Time Theft

Applying arguments from social exchange theory, we theoretically derive and empirically test a multilevel model that informs theory on leadership, cynicism, and deviant withdrawal. Namely, we examine the moderating effect of the upward exchange relationship of a leader on empowering leadership behaviors as they affect subordinate psychological empowerment, cynicism, and time theft. In a sample of 161 employees across 37 direct supervisors, empowering leadership was associated with reduced employee cynicism both directly and indirectly through employee psychological empowerment. The positive relationship between empowering leadership and employee psychological empowerment, however, was significant only when the leader enjoyed a high-quality relationship with his or her own boss. In turn, cynicism was associated with increased time theft, suggesting that employees may reciprocate frustrating experiences by withdrawing in minor, yet impactful and deviant, ways in efforts to balance their exchange with the organization.

LEADERSHIP EMPOWERMENT BEHAVIOUR, WORK ENGAGEMENT AND TURNOVER INTENTION: THE ROLE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL EMPOWERMENT

Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between leadership empowerment behavior, psychological empowerment, work engagement and turnover intention. The study further investigated whether psychological empowerment mediates the relationship between leadership empowerment behavior and turnover intention and work engagement respectively. Research design, approach and method: A cross-sectional survey design was used with a convenience sample (N = 322). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test whether the measures of the constructs were consistent with the understanding of the nature of the constructs and to test whether the data fitted the hypothesized measurement model. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to examine the structural relationships between the constructs. Measuring instruments: The Leader Empowering Behavior Questionnaire, Measuring Empowerment, Work Engagement and Turnover Intention scales were administered. Main findings: The results showed significant positive relationships between leadership empowerment behavior, psychological empowerment, work engagement and a negative correlation with turnover intention. Leadership empowerment behavior affected work engagement through psychological empowerment. Practical implications: It is recommended that leadership discussions, training programs and individual coaching about leadership empowering behavior takes place.

Psychological Competence

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of specific cognitions or aspects of psychological empowerment on 5 major aspects of leader empowering behaviors. Leader empowering behaviors are linked to important employee outcomes such as work effectiveness. Psychologically empowered leaders are known to use more empowering behaviors in their practice. There is limited research examining what aspects of psychological empowerment are most associated with different aspects of leader empowering behaviors. Data from a sample of 103 frontline and midlevel nurse leaders were analyzed after they participated in a leadership development program. Psychological competence was the strongest predictor of the total score for leader empowering behaviors and 4 of 5 subscale scores, and meaning was the 2nd strongest predictor. Autonomy was not a significant predictor. Psychological empowerment, particularly in the form of psychological competence, is an important leader characteristic and should be a focus of leadership development strategies.

The influence of leader empowering behaviors and employee psychological empowerment on customer satisfaction

Purpose– This study aims to examine the role that psychological empowerment (PE) and employee satisfaction (ES) play in the relationship between leader empowering behaviors (LEB) and customer satisfaction (CS) and employees' organizational commitment (OC).Design/methodology/approach– Data were collected from 365 frontline employees and 2,915 customers at 40 units of a chain restaurant in the USA.Findings– Structural equation modeling (SEM) results indicated that LEB influences PE, and PE in turn influences employee satisfaction, which consequently results in higher employees' OC levels and higher customer satisfaction.Originality/value– Although recent hospitality research recognizes the importance of employee empowerment and leadership, few studies have focused on leader empowering behaviors and its influence on organizational outcomes. Moreover, potential mediating processes have not received research attention. Addressing this, the current study tests a conceptual model that shows how leader empowering behaviors ultimately lead to customer satisfaction through employee psychological empowerment and job satisfaction. Although, some of these relationships have been studied separately in different contexts, the current work shows the complete process of how leadership is linked to organizational outcomes, which has not been previously studied.

Humble Chief Executive Officers’ Connections to Top Management Team Integration and Middle Managers’ Responses

In this article, we examine the concept of humility among chief executive officers (CEOs) and the process through which it is connected to integration in the top management team (TMT) and middle managers’ responses. We develop and validate a comprehensive measure of humility using multiple samples and then test a multilevel model of how CEOs’ humility links to the processes of top and middle managers. Our methodology involves survey data gathered twice from 328 TMT members and 645 middle managers in 63 private companies in China. We find CEO humility to be positively associated with empowering leadership behaviors, which in turn correlates with TMT integration. TMT integration then positively relates to middle managers’ perception of having an empowering organizational climate, which is then associated with their work engagement, affective commitment, and job performance. Findings confirm our hypotheses based on social information processing theory: humble CEOs connect to top and middle managers through collective perceptions of empowerment at both levels. Qualitative data from interviews with 51 CEOs provide additional insight into the meaning of humility among CEOs and differences between those with high and low humility.