Strengths-based Leadership Research Articles

Enhancing person-job fit: Who needs a strengths-based leader to fit their job?

Even though person-job fit (PJ fit) is a crucial predictor of employees' overall engagement and performance in their jobs, few studies have identified the mechanisms that enhance PJ fit during the employment relationship. Further, the models that do predict how PJ fit evolves over time are predominantly based on the idea that fit improves through individual adjustment processes by workers. This paper provides a new lens on PJ fit that is based on strengths theory, proposing that strengths-based leaders play a critical role in enhancing both dimensions of PJ fit, i.e. needs-supplies (NS) and demands-abilities (DA) fit, by encouraging employees to use their unique strengths. Furthermore, based on theorizing on substitutes for leadership, proactive career management, and situational strength theory we test the idea that high levels of proactive personality and job autonomy may partly compensate for a lack of strengths-based leadership. We collected three waves of data with two-month time lags from a representative sample of 308 Dutch workers, resulting in 906 datapoints. Results of multi-level path modeling indicate that strengths-based leadership is indeed positively related to both DA fit and NS fit and mediated by strengths use at the within-person level. Further, our results indicate that the combination of high job autonomy and high proactive personality partly compensates for the absence of strengths-based leadership on the within-person level. We conclude that strengths-based leadership is particularly important to facilitate strengths use and PJ fit of employees who have a low propensity to be proactive and/or do not have a high degree of autonomy in their job. We discuss the implications of these findings for research and practice.

How to Elicit Organizational Citizenship Behavior? The Role of Strengths-Based Leadership

This paper sought to study the association of strengths-based leadership with follower organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and to consider the mediating role of organizational identification and the moderating role of role overload in the relationship. We collected data at three time points from a sample of 272 employees working in diverse organizations in China. Structural equation modeling analysis was utilized to examine our hypotheses. Results showed that strengths-based leadership has a positive relationship with follower OCB even after controlling for humble leadership, and organizational identification mediates this relationship. Moreover, results also indicated that role overload negatively moderates the direct relationship of strengths-based leadership with organizational identification and the indirect relationship of strengths-based leadership with OCB via organizational identification. The present article is the first to investigate the strengths-based leadership and OCB relationship, which contributes to deepening our understanding of how, why, and when strengths-based leadership is associated with OCB.

Cultivating Strengths-Based Leadership Capabilities: The Strengths-Based Nursing and Healthcare Leadership Capabilities Framework.

As we recover from the global pandemic, leadership is essential to help stabilize workforces, inspire nurses and re-construct health systems to enable nurses to provide humanistic care. This paper outlines a philosophy and value-driven leadership approach with its associated leadership capabilities framework. The Strengths-Based Nursing and Healthcare (SBNH) Leadership (SBNH-L) Capabilities Framework is designed to help leaders translate SBNH-L values into action. We outline steps to enable a leader to embody an SBNH leadership style and discuss how the SBNH-L Capabilities Framework can facilitate this process.

How and why strengths-based leadership relates to nurses’ turnover intention: the roles of job crafting and work fatigue

PurposeThis study investigated the relationship of strengths-based leadership with nurses’ turnover intention and the mediating roles of job crafting and work fatigue in the relationship.Design/methodology/approachData comprising 318 valid participants from three hospitals in Beijing were gathered at two points in time, spaced by a two-month interval. Structural equation modeling with a bootstrapping analysis was applied to test hypotheses.FindingsThis study found that strengths-based leadership negatively relates to nurses’ turnover intention, and job crafting and work fatigue mediate the relationship of strengths-based leadership with turnover intention, respectively.Originality/valueThe findings of this study highlight the importance of strengths-based leadership in decreasing nurses’ turnover intention and reveal two potential mechanisms through which strengths-based leadership is related to nurses’ turnover intention. In order to retain nursing staff better, nurse leaders should execute more strengths-based leadership behaviors and make more efforts to promote nurses’ job crafting and to reduce nurses’ experience of work fatigue.

Leading in times of uncertainty: Early childhood directors navigating the COVID-19 pandemic

Early childhood (EC) directors played a critical role in the successful operation of childcare centers during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Directors were responsible for adhering to health and safety protocols and caring for the well-being of their staff, children, and families. Due to the need to remain open for other first responders’ families, Directors were challenged with fluctuating numbers of staff and children, and in other cases, they were tasked with transitioning their programs online to serve children. This study examines 10 US EC Directors’ perspectives and leadership experiences during the Pandemic. From interviews with the participants, themes emerged to illustrate how EC Directors utilized adaptive leadership skills and strengths-based leadership. Findings from this study are beneficial not only to understand how EC Directors led during the Pandemic, but also which skills, resources, and supports are necessary for future times of crises and challenging times. This article offers recommendations for researchers, policymakers, and other decision-makers on how best to support EC Directors in future times of uncertainty.

Building Employee Engagement and Resilience Through Strengths-Based Leadership.

Modern careers are enacted in turbulent and stressful environments and workers face increasing uncertainty in navigating their careers. Therefore, it is essential to support workers in coping with stress by enhancing their resilience. We propose that strengths-based leaders help their workers to find their own unique pathway to developing resilience by building upon their pre-existing strengths. In turn, we propose that resilience allows workers to transform the support and opportunities provided by their strengths-based leader into the active state of work engagement. We conducted a two-wave time-lagged survey among a representative sample of 1,095 Dutch employees. Results of our structural equation modelling indicated that T1 strengths-based leadership was positively related to T2 employee work engagement and that T2 employee resilience mediated the relationship between strengths-based leadership (T1) and employee work engagement (T2). We conclude that strengths-based leadership might be a tool to develop a resilient and engaged workforce and make suggestions for developing strengths-based leadership.

Asset-based leadership of practice: learning from an inter-professional development programme

Background: The Strengths-Based Leadership Programme has been designed to support practice leaders in health and social care. Its purpose is to enable participants to better understand their leadership behaviours and grow in confidence in their ability to improve outcomes for individuals, families, and communities through asset-based principles. On its seventh cohort, participants to date include those from social work, nursing, occupational therapy, and other professions who are employed in the public sector, community organisations or independent providers.
 Who is it for? Professionals, practice leads / managers, training & development leads, programme implementation leads.
 Who did you involve and engage with? The programme was developed with a stakeholder group of people with lived experience and practitioners and drew on the insights and experience of a diverse wide network of professional and improvement leads in the UK and internationally.
 What did you do? The programme provides an interactive and dynamic CPD learning experience over six months. Participants explore their own practice in relation to leadership of self, teams & systems, and change. Activities include - access to diverse on-line materials such as talking heads, animations and theory summaries, inter-professional learning groups, undertaking of practical improvement projects, and regular reflections on their leadership strengths and opportunities to further develop. Participants are supported in their learning by an organisational sponsor with whom they meet at key stages of the programme. 
 What results did you get? The programme is being evaluated by an independent researcher through interviews, focus groups, and documentary analysis of participant reflections. The evaluation will be completed by December 2022, but emerging findings suggest that participants are finding the opportunity to learn and reflect on their leadership with those from different backgrounds and localities. Having access to a variety of material sources and evidence-based data, equipped participants with the ability to reflect on their current work based on these theoretical frameworks. Participants highlighted their improved understanding of the values and skills required to operationalise asset-based system leadership in their practice. Notably, participants shared that the course enabled them to recognise the values of trust and autonomy within teams and taught them skills of handling challenging situations in a positive way. At the strategic level, participants shared that they have either already initiated or planning to launch new pieces of work around coproduction and other activities that are more strengths-based in principle. They reported having gained confidence due to their increased knowledge and evidence base and being able to articulate their ideas more coherently.
 What is the learning for the international audience? Reflective development opportunities can enable practice leaders to develop skills and confidence to embed asset-based approaches within their teams and systems and co-produce initiatives with people and communities.
 What are the next steps? The programme content is being refreshed in line with feedback from participants and in addition to being offered on an open-cohort basis will be run with local partnerships as part of transformation programmes.

How and when do strengths work? The effect of strengths-based leadership on follower career satisfaction

PurposeDrawing on conversation of resources theory, the present paper aimed to investigate the effect of strengths-based leadership on follower career satisfaction and the mediating role of follower strengths use as well as the moderating role of emotional exhaustion in the relationship.Design/methodology/approachResearch data were gathered at 3 time points with a sample of 210 participants working in various organizations in China. Structural equation model (SEM) was applied to examine the authors' hypotheses.FindingsThe results indicated that strengths-based leadership has a positive impact on follower career satisfaction and follower strengths use fully mediates the effect of strengths-based leadership on follower career satisfaction. More importantly, emotional exhaustion enhanced the direct relationship between strengths use and career satisfaction and the indirect association of strengths-based leadership with follower career satisfaction through follower strengths use.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation of the present paper was the single source of research data.Originality/valueThe present paper advances strengths-based leadership theory and research and provides a new insight into cultivating employee career satisfaction.

Strengths-based Leadership and Employee Strengths Use: The Roles of Strengths Self-efficacy and Job Insecurity

Strengths-based Leadership and Employee Strengths Use: The Roles of Strengths Self-efficacy and Job Insecurity

Strengths-based leadership and employee work engagement: A multi-source study

Strengths-based leadership and employee work engagement: A multi-source study

Employee Growth Mindset and Innovative Behavior: The Roles of Employee Strengths Use and Strengths-Based Leadership.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship of employee growth mindset with innovative behavior and the mediating role of use of strength as well as the moderating role of strengths-based leadership in this relationship. Data with a sample of 244 employees working in diverse Chinese organizations were collected at two points in time. Results of bootstrapping analyses demonstrated that growth mindset is positively related to innovative behavior, employee strengths use partially mediates the positive relationship of growth mindset with innovative behavior, and strengths-based leadership strengthens the direct relationship between employee growth mindset and innovative behavior and the indirect relationship of employee growth mindset with innovative behavior via strengths use. This study advances growth mindset and innovative behavior theories and research.

Strengths-Based Leadership and Turnover Intention: The Roles of Felt Obligation for Constructive Change and Job Control.

This study draws on the substitutes for leadership theory to investigate the association of strengths-based leadership with employee turnover intention and the mediating role of felt obligation for constructive change and the moderating role of job control in the linkage. Data were collected using a three-wave survey from a sample of 317 employees working in a variety of enterprises in China. The multiple regression analyses with bootstrapping procedure were utilized to examine the proposed hypotheses. The results indicate that strengths-based leadership negatively relates to turnover intention and felt obligation for constructive change partially mediates the relationship between strengths-based leadership and turnover intention. Furthermore, job control, acting as a substitute for strengths-based leadership, negatively moderates the indirect relationship between strengths-based leadership and turnover intention via felt obligation for constructive change. This study contributes to the literature of strengths-based leadership and the substitutes for leadership theory by enhancing our understanding of the effect of job control.

Using CliftonStrengthsTM for Professional Development: Recommendations for Practice

This article explores how a culture of strengths-based leadership can positively impact professional development for school site administrators. The strengths of school district administrators were measured through the administration of CliftonStrengths™ assessment. Themes that emerged were determined through the assessment and qualitative analysis of responses. A sample of convenience 50 principals and assistant principals from a public school district in Southern California participated in this research. The findings revealed that the common talent themes among school site administrators were relationship building, executing, influencer, and learner. This study supports future practices to enable human resources personnel to design targeted professional development for school site administrators. An analysis of a school administrator's strengths and personality traits is unique to each school district. The results support human resource professionals' efforts to determine personnel's future needs, including hiring and developing school leaders.

EFFECTIVENESS OF A STRENGTHS-BASED LEADERSHIP COACHING PROGRAM FOR WOMEN

Strengths-based coaching has emerged in past decades as an asset-based approach that can help individuals identify, harness, and leverage their strengths to achieve professional and personal goals. This paper shares the design and outcomes of a year-long strengths-based coaching program to support leadership development within the context of one university’s women’s leadership initiative. Program outcomes and changes in participants’ perceived confidence in identifying and applying their strengths in different contexts were evaluated through an online survey using a Likert-based REDCap survey tool after participation in the program. Findings strongly suggest that most participants lacked the self-confidence and/or self-awareness to recognize their own strengths in a granular way prior to the program. Themes that emerged in the survey findings point to the following program outcomes: participants gained an increased ability to identify and value one’s own leadership strengths, an increased ability to recognize and value the strengths of others, and a supportive community of women leaders to share experiences and reflect on the application of their strengths as part of their leadership journey. Further studies are needed to understand and measure how a program such as this can impact one’s leader identity, self-awareness, and self-confidence. Given the critical need for women’s leadership opportunities, this program shows promise as a means to strengthen women’s leadership across career stages and disciplines.

How and when does follower’s strengths-based leadership contribute to follower work engagement? The roles of strengths use and core self-evaluation

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship of follower’s strengths-based leadership (FSBL) with follower work engagement. Additionally, this study also examined the mediational effect of employee strengths use and the moderating effect of core self-evaluation (CSE) on the relationship between FSBL and follower work engagement. Data were garnered at two points in time with a time lag of 2 months. Moderated-mediation path analysis with a total of 238 employees working in a research and design institute in Beijing was deployed to examine our hypotheses. As hypothesized, FSBL was a statistically significant predictor of work engagement, and strengths use acted as a mediator in the FSBL-work engagement relationship. In addition, we also found that CSE significantly and negatively moderates the direct effect of FSBL on strengths use and the indirect effect of FSBL on work engagement through strengths use. This study advances the FSBL theory and research and provides a new insight into the driving force of work engagement.

Strengths-Based Leadership and Employee Psychological Well-Being: A Moderated Mediation Model

Drawing upon ability-motivation-opportunity model, the present study attempts to inspect the association of strengths-based leadership with employee psychological well-being and the mediational role of employee strengths use and the moderating role of job autonomy in the linkage. Data were gathered using a three-wave survey from a sample of 308 employees working in a wide variety of organizations in China. Results of multiple regression analyses with bootstrapping procedure revealed that strengths-based leadership positively relates to employee psychological well-being even after controlling for employee core self-evaluation. In addition, employee strengths use was found to partially mediate the relationship of strengths-based leadership with employee psychological well-being, and this study demonstrated job autonomy to positively moderate the direct relationship of strengths-based leadership with strengths use of employee and the indirect association of strengths-based leadership with employee psychological well-being through employee strengths use. The present study advances strengths-based leadership and psychological well-being theories and research.

Influence of followers’ strengths-based leadership on follower strengths use through intention to use strengths: the moderating role of work pressure (Los líderes basados en las fortalezas de los seguidores influyen en el uso de dichas fortalezas a través de la intención de uso de las fortalezas: el rol moderador de la presión laboral)

The present study aimed to test the mediating role of intention to use strengths (IUS) and the moderating role of work pressure in the relationship of followers’ strengths-based leadership (FSBL) with follower strengths use. A total of 295 employees working in diverse enterprises in China completed the measures of FSBL, work pressure, IUS and strengths use at two points in time, separated by a four-week interval. Analytical results showed that FSBL has predictive value for IUS and FSBL could affect follower strengths use through IUS. In addition, the positive effect of FSBL on IUS was stronger for employees low in work pressure rather than for employees high in work pressure, and work pressure could also attenuate the mediational effect of IUS on the FSBL–strengths use relationship. These results contribute to the literature on the FSBL–strengths use linkage by revealing the roles of IUS and work pressure in the FSBL and strengths use relation.

Strengths-based leadership and its impact on task performance: A preliminary study

Purpose: The current article aims to develop and validate the strengths-based leadership (SBL) scale and to explore the association of SBL with task performance and the roles of work-related well-being (WWB) and work pressure in the relationship.Design/methodology/approach: The exploratory factor and the confirmatory factor analyses were applied to assess the validity and reliability of the SBL scale. A total of 342 employees (female = 54.1%; mean age = 30.37 years, standard deviation [SD] = 5.90 years) from various Chinese enterprises were used to test the association of SBL with task performance.Findings/results: The results revealed that the two-dimensional SBL scale shows appropriate validity and reliability, and SBL is positively correlated with task performance. In addition, we also found that WWB acts as a mediator in the SBL-task performance linkage, and work pressure can enhance the direct association of SBL with WWB and the indirect association of SBL with task performance via WWB.Practical implication: Our findings have some significant managerial implications in promoting employees’ task performance and research on SBL provides a new insight into leadership development.Originality/value: This article provides a useful tool to measure the SBL construct and is the first to empirically examine the effects of SBL.

Enhancing the Emotional Intelligence of Student Leaders Within an Accelerated Pharmacy Program

Objective. To determine student pharmacists' perceptions of a leadership development program for student organization officers and report the changes in their Emotional Intelligence Appraisal (EIA) scores.Methods. Between 2015-2018, three different cohorts of Doctor of Pharmacy students participated in a voluntary leadership development program that spanned six academic quarters. The program included a variety of self-assessments and large-group topic discussions, followed by quarterly individual written reflections with feedback from faculty mentors. These activities primarily addressed the topics of emotional intelligence, strengths-based leadership, and continuous leadership development. Participants' EIA scores near the beginning and end of the program were compared. An anonymous online survey of participant perceptions was administered at the end of the program.Results. One hundred sixty-six student pharmacists completed all program activities. Each cohort's final mean overall, self-awareness, self-management, and social awareness EIA scores were higher than their corresponding mean initial scores. The overall response rate for the online survey was 61%. All respondents either strongly agreed or agreed that participating in the program enhanced their leadership skills. The majority of respondents additionally rated each of the program's activities as being either beneficial or very beneficial. The emotional intelligence assessment and strengths-based leadership assessment were the activities that were most frequently cited as being very beneficial.Conclusion. The pilot implementation of this leadership development program appears to have been both impactful and well received. Programs structured like this one may provide an effective way of increasing the emotional intelligence of student pharmacists, particularly within accelerated pharmacy programs.

Subordinate-oriented strengths-based leadership and subordinate job performance: the mediating effect of supervisor–subordinate guanxi

PurposeThe aim of the present study was to examine the association of subordinate-oriented strengths-based leadership (SSBL) with subordinates’ job performance (task performance and innovative behavior) as well as the meditating role of supervisor–subordinate guanxi (SSG) in these relationships.Design/methodology/approachSelf-report data on SSBL, SSG, task performance and innovative behavior were gathered from 642 Chinese employees working in various Chinese enterprises. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.FindingsThe results indicated that SSBL is positively related to subordinates’ job performance (task performance and innovative behavior). Furthermore, SSG partially mediated the relationship of SSBL with task performance and with innovative behavior.Originality/valueThis study is the first to empirically examine the relationship of SSBL with job performance. In addition, this study adds to the knowledge on the SSBL–job performance linkage by investigating the mediational effect of SSG on the relationship.