Passive Leadership Research Articles

Leader Mindfulness, Passive Leadership, and the Mediating Role of Leader Anxiety

Abstract: A growing interest in mindfulness has turned researchers’ attention to investigate its role in prompting positive leader behaviors (e.g., transformational leadership). However, what remains less clear is whether mindfulness can help reduce passive leader behaviors – behaviors that are characterized by leader inaction yet can be highly consequential for employees and organizations. In this study, we examine how leader mindfulness relates to lower levels of passive leadership (i.e., management-by-exception passive and laissez-faire) by reducing leaders’ anxiety. Using data from a multiwave sample of leader–follower dyads, we found that leader mindfulness at Time 1 predicted both management-by-exception passive and laissez-faire leadership behaviors at Time 3, and these relationships were mediated by reduced leader anxiety at Time 2. We discuss implications of these findings and opportunities for future research.

Adopting active or passive leadership in project-based organizations? The role of inclusive leadership in remote work environment

Currently, there is an academic debate on whether managers adopt active or passive leadership can enhance employees’ work performance in project-based organizations. This study introduces an inclusive leadership perspective to address this issue. Questionnaire survey was used to validate the theoretical model with data from Chinese project-based organizations. The findings reveal that managers’ adoption of active or passive leadership depends on employees’ work environment and their psychological traits. Inclusive leadership which combines the active and passive characteristics can enhance remote work performance, through improving employees’ self-leadership and reducing their family-work conflict. Results also indicate that employees’ psychological resilience stimulated by the adversities is a critical factor for mitigating the impact of family-work conflict on remote work performance. Additionally, this study highlights the issue of gender differences among employee in remote work context. Finally, this study provides valuable managerial suggestions for managers in project-based organizations to improve employees’ remote work performance.

Gender and evaluations of leadership behaviors: A meta-analytic review of 50 years of research

As more women have entered the managerial ranks, discussion about differences between men’s and women’s leadership behaviors have persisted. The current study reviews and analyzes 50 years of research to examine gender differences in evaluations of their leadership behaviors. Across 13 new meta-analyses using data from 1970 to 2020, we examine evaluations of leadership behaviors that vary across two dimensions: communal-agentic and effective-ineffective, including: democratic/participative, relationship-oriented/consideration, idealized influence, individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, ethical/moral, autocratic/directive, task-oriented/initiating structure, contingent reward, MBE-active, inspirational motivation, MBE-passive, and laissez-faire. The meta-analytic results suggest that women are seen as engaging in more effective agentic and communal leadership behaviors, compared to men, while men are seen as engaging in less effective and more passive leadership behavior, compared to women. Relying on social role theory and arguments from the double standards of competence literature, we also examine whether the relationship between gender and evaluations of leadership behaviors differs across time and levels of leadership. Interestingly, only one primary study across all our analyses utilized an objective instead of a subjective measure of leader behavior, underscoring the imperative for more objective assessments in the future. Practical implications and future research directions are also discussed. All supplemental material can be found at: https://osf.io/enm3d/?view_only=ea99d34911284304a4b2bf61079d5ecd.

Leadership Outcomes of the Transformational, the Transactional and the Passive Leadership Style in Public Secondary Education Based on Teachers’ Perceptions

Leadership Outcomes of the Transformational, the Transactional and the Passive Leadership Style in Public Secondary Education Based on Teachers’ Perceptions

Passive leadership and hospitality frontline employees’ creative performance in the UAE: The moderating role of job tenure and coworker help and support

The purpose of this research is to investigate how passive leadership affects creative performance of frontline employees (FLEs) through an analysis of the mediating role played by burnout. Furthermore, the study sought to investigate the moderating effects of coworker support and job tenure, as well as their combined influence as a joint moderator, in relation to this relationship. Employing a time-lagged method, data on 238 frontline employee-supervisor dyads were collected and analyzed through modeling of structural equations. The results indicated that passive leadership directly and indirectly affect creative performance negatively. The three-way interaction result showed that burnout can be diminished when employees receive much help and support from their coworkers and when they have been in their job for longer. The effect of the joint moderators tends to be stronger than any individual moderator, suggesting that multiple resources are better to help FLEs deal with job stressors. The current paper provides a novel theoretical perspective that supports the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory and cross-domain buffering approach by elucidating the circumstances under which passive leadership is likely to diminish employee creative performance, with a particular focus on the hospitality industry. This study investigates the mechanisms, timing, and reasons behind this phenomenon.

The Effect of Workplace Incivility On The Performance of Manufacturing Industry Employees: The Moderating Effects Of Collectivism Culture and Passive Leadership

The manufacturing industry in Indonesia is an important sector in the national economy. However, this industry is also faced with various challenges, one of which is incivility in the workplace. This discussion aims to observe the impact Workplace Incivility at the achievement of manufacturing industry employees in Indonesia with the moderating variables of collectivism culture and passive leadership. This research apply quantitative discussion techniques. Data was collected with surveys implementing questionnaires and literacy research. Data that was been obtained is then carried out using observations a regression test with SPSS program. The findings of the discussion show this Workplace Incivility has a negative influence on the performance of manufacturing industry employees in Indonesia. In addition, a culture of collectivism and passive leadership moderates the relationship among Workplace Incivility also employee performance.

OCB Saints and OCB Sinners in Schools: Effects of Principals’ Leadership Styles on Teachers’ Motivation by OCB Levels

Purpose This study investigated the relationships between leadership styles (transformational, transactional, and passive) and teachers’ autonomous motivation (intrinsic and identified) in teachers with high and low levels of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Design/Approach/Methods In a sample of 651 teachers from Israeli schools, several groups were identified: 107 teachers with the highest OCB scores (saints), 104 teachers with the lowest OCB scores (sinners), and 440 teachers with OCB scores in the middle range. Findings Regression analysis indicated that the intrinsic motivation of OCB saints was significantly predicted by passive leadership style, whereas that of the OCB norm by transformational leadership style. The analysis further indicated that the identified motivation of OCB sinners was significantly predicted by transactional leadership style, whereas that of the OCB norm by transformational leadership style. Originality/Value The results challenge the assumption of a one-size-fits-all approach to “effective” principals’ leadership styles and suggest that to cultivate teachers’ autonomous motivation they should be treated differently in leadership efforts. The implications of the study may be useful in improving school effectiveness and designing training programs for school leaders to enhance their leadership skills.

The age of leadership: Meta‐analytic findings on the relationship between leader age and perceived leadership style and the moderating role of culture and industry type

AbstractManagers' leadership style has a substantial impact on employee and organizational outcomes. In the present study, we consider the role of leaders’ chronological age in predicting followers’ perceptions of their leadership style. Whereas ample research uncovers relationships between individuals’ age and how these individuals are perceived by others, little is known about how leaders’ chronological age impacts others’ perceptions of their style. Even less is known about how such relationships vary across cultures and industries. We conducted a meta‐analysis (164 unique studies; N = 397,456 observations) to explore these relationships, using the Full‐Range leadership model. We found that leader age was negatively related to perceptions of transformational and transactional leadership, and positively related to perceptions of passive leadership. Further, some of these effects varied on several cultural dimensions: The negative relationship between leader age and transformational leadership was weaker in collectivistic cultures, while the negative relationship with transactional leadership was stronger in high power distance cultures. Industry type also mattered: the relationship between leader age and both transformational and contingent reward leadership styles was amplified in the public sector. Lastly, perceptions of older leaders were more negative when ratings were provided by followers rather than the leaders themselves. Our findings offer both theoretical and practical implications for leading in an increasingly age‐diverse workforce, such as better informing the workforce of present age stereotypes and their imminent effect on organizations.

Illegitimate Tasks, Negative Affectivity, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior among Private School Teachers: A Mediated–Moderated Model

Social sustainability has gained popularity over the last decade, with a growing body of research calling for researchers to focus on the personal-level determinants of employee satisfaction and well-being in the pursuit of social sustainability. By using negative affectivity as a mediating mechanism and gender and passive leadership as moderators, this study examines a novel sequential mediation–moderation model that explores the relationship between unreasonable tasks and teachers’ Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB). It employs the Conservation of Resources (COR) and Stress as Offense to Self (SOS) paradigms as a comprehensive theoretical framework for organizational stressors and organizational behavior. A total of 415 matched questionnaire responses were collected from private school teachers in the UAE. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is conducted using AMOS 20, hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) is utilized to verify the causal and moderation hypotheses, and the resulting moderated mediated conceptual model is evaluated by employing Hayes PROCESS analysis. Results demonstrate the effects of illegitimate tasks on OCB are indirect and statistically significant and are mediated through negative affectivity. The cumulative effect of illegitimate tasks and negative affectivity on OCB is magnified by the moderating effects of passive leadership.

Congruence of Leader-follower Evaluations and the Effect of Leadership Styles on Work Engagement

The shift into relationship-oriented, positive leadership theories in recent decades brought with it a deeper investigation of leader-follower interactions. Transformational and engaging leadership styles are widely assumed to be proven determinants of work engagement, although these conclusions are based mostly on followers' evaluations. Therefore, we analysed followers' and leaders' evaluations simultaneously and used congruent results to test which leadership dimensions positively impact followers' work engagement. Our results show that follower-rated passive and charismatic leadership negatively affect work engagement. In contrast, follower-rated inspirational communication and passive leadership rated by leaders positively affect above-average work engagement. From them, inspirational communication seemed to be the most influential factor. These results draw attention to the importance of leaders' communication and emphasise its role in leader-follower interactions.

Study on the influence mechanism of leaders’ abusive supervision on employees’ bootlegging innovation behavior

Purpose Employees’ bootlegging innovation behavior is common and plays an important role in enterprise management. Based on the resource conservation theory and self-regulation theory, the purpose of this study is to explore the influence mechanism of leaders’ abusive supervision on employees’ bootlegging innovation behavior, with psychological safety as a mediator and mindfulness at workplace as a moderator. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were gathered from 591 employees’ self-assessment questionnaires in China. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the research model through SPSS and AMOS. Findings This study found that the leaders’ abusive supervision negatively affects employees’ bootlegging innovation behavior; employees’ psychological safety completely mediates the negative effect of leaders’ abusive supervision on employees’ bootlegging innovation behavior; and mindfulness at work moderates the influence of leaders’ abusive supervision on employee’ bootlegging innovation behavior, as well as the influence of leaders’ abusive supervision on employees’ psychological safety. Research limitations/implications This study has significant implications in passive leadership that affect employees’ innovation. Authors found that leaders’ abusive supervise, mindfulness at workplace play a crucial role in employees’ bootleg innovation through psychological safety. Originality/value Theoretically, this study has enriched the antecedent research on employees’ bootlegging innovation behavior from the perspective of negative leadership behavior and employee psychology. And this study considered mindfulness at workplace as a boundary condition.

Impact of Principals’ Leadership Styles on Teachers' Job Satisfaction and Motivation in Elementary Schools

This research paper intends to elucidate and ascertain prevailing leadership styles that principals of elementary education employ, along with their influence on the overall degree of motivation and teachers' job satisfaction. Quantitative method has been used in order to describe the relationship among the leadership style, motivation and job satisfaction. This study has been conducted with 700 elementary-school teachers respectively in the districts of Tirana, Durrës and Elbasan in Albania. In the findings of this study, the passive leadership style and the active leadership style dominate in the same values in the teachers’ perception as the most widely used styles of their headmasters/principals in the basic education. From the regression analysis, it turned out that the active and passive styles are statistically valid predictors of satisfaction and motivation of teachers at work. There is a positive moderate relation between the active style (transformational/ contingent reward) and job satisfaction. The findings of this paper will facilitate additional studies that must be conducted in the quest for broadening the leader's responsibilities and approaches to enhance working conditions, cultivate greater teacher motivation, and foster satisfaction within the environment they operate.
 
 Received: 12 April 2023 / Accepted: 11 June 2023 / Published: 5 July 2023

Firefighter Stress, Anxiety, and Diminished Compliance-Oriented Safety Behaviors: Consequences of Passive Safety Leadership in the Fire Service?

Safety-specific passive leadership has been negatively linked to diminished safety outcomes, including safety behaviors. However, this relationship is not fully understood. Research has not fully examined mediating factors that may be influenced by passive leadership, which then influence safety behaviors. Research among firefighters in this context is particularly absent. As such, this study aimed to examine relationships between safety-specific passive leadership, stress, anxiety, and compliance-oriented safety behavior outcomes among 708 professional firefighters. A path analysis was completed. The hypothesized model fit was very good and hypothesized relationships were confirmed. Safety-specific passive leadership was positively, significantly associated with increased firefighter stress perceptions and stress was positively, significantly associated with anxiety. Anxiety was negatively, significantly associated with both safety compliance and personal protective equipment behavior. This study has implications for researchers and practitioners. The findings emphasize the importance of active leaders in the fire service as passive leadership in the context of safety is distressing, which results in anxiety and ultimately diminished safety behavior outcomes, which could place firefighters at risk for injuries, illness, or death.

Lord of the Flies in Project-Based Organizations: The Role of Passive Leadership on Creativity and Project Success

This study examines the role of passive project leadership in project success. The article deduces a theoretical model implying that passive project manager leadership behavior affects the success of information technology projects, directly and indirectly, via employees’ creativity. Self-regulation is proposed as a mitigating factor to minimize the destructive effects of passive leadership on creativity. The current study is based on a quantitative research design. A time lag design was used to collect data from 347 respondents working on information technology projects in Pakistan. SmartPLS was used for data analysis. The findings demonstrated that although passive leadership appears in flat organizations, it can have a negative impact on project success via creativity. Additionally, if the person is self-regulatory, it will not alter the results. The study added to the project management body of knowledge by confirming that a strong leadership role, instead of a passive one, is essential to boosting the creativity of project personnel. A passive leader remains inactive during situations where a strong leader is needed; however, self-regulation on the part of employees proved insufficient to propel a project toward success.

The underlying mechanism between compulsory citizenship behaviors and employee innovative work behaviors and knowledge sharing: A moderated mediation model.

This paper draws on conservation of resources theory to advance the literature on extra-role performance behaviors among academics, particularly innovative work behaviors and knowledge sharing, through the lens of work stressors. We develop a moderated-mediated model based on multi-source, multi-timed, and multi-level data from a sample of 207 academics and 137 direct supervisors in five higher education institutions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Results show that academics' compulsory citizenship behaviors positively influence negative affectivity, which, in turn, negatively impacts academics' innovative work behavior and knowledge sharing. The detrimental effect of compulsory citizenship behaviors on negative affectivity is then positively moderated by passive leadership, which amplifies this relationship. The combined effect of compulsory citizenship behaviors and negative affectivity exerted on innovative work behavior and knowledge sharing are magnified amid the elevated presence of passive leadership, while gender does not significantly influence this association. This is a pioneering study in the context of UAE to look into the counterproductive impact of CCB on employee innovative work behaviors and knowledge sharing. Pertinent theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

This doesn’t make sense! Does illegitimate tasks affect innovative behaviour?

ABSTRACT Illegitimate tasks in the workplace are known to associate with several attitudinal and behavioural outcomes for employees, including their well-being, motivation, and turnover intention. However, why and when these adverse impacts influence employees’ innovative behaviours have not yet been examined. The current study thus empirically investigates the impact of illegitimate tasks on the innovative behaviours of employees. It also examines the mediating role of work meaninglessness and the moderating impact of passive leadership in these relationships. The research analyses a sample of 145 employee-supervisor dyads in several public sector organisations in Dubai. The results demonstrate that illegitimate tasks indirectly (via work meaninglessness) and negatively influence innovative behaviours. This influence is strengthened when the supervisor/leader is passive. Our results provide more insight into the potential negative influence of illegitimate tasks on innovative behaviours through perceived work meaninglessness and the exacerbating impact of passive leadership on these relationships.

Effect of Culture and Leadership on Workplace Incivility with the Mediating Role of Norms and Organizational Justice

This study investigated what leadership traits affect workplace incivility and how they affect them. Drawing on Bandura's theory of social learning, we proposed a theoretical framework explaining leadership and incivility nexus by modifying Walsh et. al. (2017) model, as well as adding culture and more leadership traits. We also classified incivility into Experienced and Behavioral in line with Harold and Holtz (2014) model. We proposed that leadership styles as well as a collective culture, affect workplace Norms to Respect as well as organizational justice perception. And these two would lead towards incivility. Leadership styles included Passive, Charismatic, and Ethical Leadership. Hence, norms for respect and organizational justice has been tested as a mediator between culture, leadership, and civil work. To establish its empirical validity, the survey was conducted from 400 employees working in Pakistan's private sector organizations by means of a close-ended questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Structured Equation Modeling and Confirmatory factor analysis. The findings indicate that culture and leadership strongly predict incivility in the workplace. Collectivism has a significant positive relationship with Norms, whereas, Charismatic, and Ethical Leadership has a significant positive relationship. Passive leadership seems to have a significant negative effect on both Norms and Organization Justice. Organization Justice negatively and significantly affects both Behavioral and experienced incivility. Hence, the results demonstrated that as compared to norms, Organizational justice mediates the relationship between culture, leadership, and incivility in the workplace.

A CAUSAL MODEL ON WORK ENGAGEMENT OF POLICE COMMISSIONED OFFICERS IN REGION 11 CONCERNING LEADERSHIP, PERSONALITY TRAITS, AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

This study aimed to establish the best fit structural model of work engagement of police commissioned officers in region 11. The exogenous variables in the model are leadership factors, personality traits, and organizational commitment. The endogenous variable is work engagement. 400 police commissioned officers selected through stratified random sampling responded to the survey. Data analysis used the mean, Pearson r, multiple regression, and structural equation modeling (SEM). Results showed the respondents' high leadership factors, personality traits, organizational commitment, and work engagement. Additionally, the correlation test revealed a significant relationship between the exogenous and endogenous variables. The regression results exposed the 61.2% combined effect of leadership factors, personality traits, and organizational commitment on work engagement. Only Model 5 met all goodness of fit indices among the five developed models. Further analysis of the model revealed that leadership factors, personality traits, and organizational commitment, with their select manifest variables, are predictors of work engagement. The model shows that for leadership factors, the indicators are intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, management-by-exception, and passive leadership; personality traits are agreeableness and openness; affective and normative for organizational commitment. For work engagement, the manifest variables left in the model are vigor and dedication. The study concludes with the significance of leadership, personality, and commitment toward meaningful work engagement. Police commissioned officers can work on their leadership skills, improve their character, and practice the art of commitment to face the challenge of police work. The paper further discussed the implications for the police agency in the country.

The Effect of Passive Leadership on Behavioral Incivility and Workplace Incivility of Employees in Indonesia Public Organizations

<p>The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between Passive Leadership variables and Behavioral Incivility, the relationship between Passive Leadership variables and Workplace Incivility and the relationship between Workplace Incivility variables and Behavioral Incivility in Indonesia public organizations. This research belongs to the type of descriptive quantitative research, namely research that aims to explain and explain descriptive information. The subjects taken in this study were 210 employee in Indonesia public organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic which were determined by the random sampling system method. Data was obtained by distributing online questionnaires with a Likert scale of 1 to 7 through social media. The analysis technique used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with data processing tools SmartPLS 3.0 software. The independent variable in this study is Passive Leadership, while the dependent variables are Behavioral Incivility and Workplace Incivility. The increase in the passive leadership variable does not have a significant effect on the behavioral incivility variable. There is a significant effect of passive leadership on workplace incivility in Indonesia public organizations. There is a significant influence between workplace incivility on behavioral inclusivity in Indonesia public organizations.</p><p> </p>

LAISSEZ-FAIRE LİDERLİK: ALANIN BİR HARİTASI VE BİBLİYOMETRİK BİR ANALİZ / Laissez-Faire Leadership: A Map Of The Field And A Bibliometric Analysis

Laissez-faire liderlik üzerine araştırmalar henüz yeterli düzeyde değildir. Bu çalışmada, 1990-2021 yılları arasında WoS veri tabanında yayınlanan ve başlığında laissez-faire liderlik, pasif liderlik veya kaçınmacı liderlik kelimeleri yer alan 58 makale analizlere dahil edilmiştir. Bu çalışmada, alanın yıllar içindeki gelişimi, alandaki en önemli yayınlar, dergiler, yazarlar ve ülkeler belirlenerek haritalandırılmıştır. Ardından, ortak anahtar kelime analizi ve bibliyografik eşleşme analizleri uygulanmıştır. Sonuçlar en fazla makalenin 2021 yılında yayınlandığını, en üretken dergilerin Work And Stress ve Frontiers in Psychology, en üretken yazarın Skogstad, A., en üretken ülkenin ise ABD olduğunu göstermiştir. Bibliyometrik analiz sonuçlarına göre, en yoğun kullanılan anahtar kelimeler; laissez-faire liderlik, pasif liderlik, liderlik, dönüşümcü liderlik, etkileşimci liderlik, laissez-faire, güvenlik iklimi, pasif kaçınmacı liderlik ve işyeri zorbalığıdır. Bibliyografik eşleşme gücü en yüksek olan yazar, Skogstad, A.; dergi, Work and Stress; ülke ise ABD’dir. Sonuçlar, araştırmacılara alandaki mevcut yönelime ilişkin anlayışı geliştirmeleri ve yeni trendleri tespit etmeleri için güçlü bir temel sağlayabilir.