Abstract

The ability to respond appropriately to employees' work-related well-being requires leaders to pay attention to their employees' well-being in the first place. We propose that leaders' stress mindset, that is, the belief that stress is enhancing versus debilitating, may bias their perception of employees' well-being. We further propose that this judgment then influences leaders' intention to engage in or refrain from health-oriented leadership behavior, to express higher performance expectations, or to promote their employees. We expect this process to be stronger if leaders strongly identify with their team, increasing their perceived similarity with their employees. In three experiments (N-1 = 198, N-2 = 292, N-3 = 250), we tested the effect of participants' stress mindset on their intention to show certain leadership behaviors, mediated by their perception of employee well-being (emotional exhaustion, somatic symptoms, work engagement) and moderated by their team identification. Our findings largely support the association between stress mindset and the perception of well-being. The results for the proposed mediation and the moderating function of identification were mixed. Overall, the results emphasize the critical role of leaders' stress mindset and may, thus, improve health promotion in organizations by helping leaders to adequately recognize employees' well-being and respond appropriately.

Keyword

emotional exhaustion ;  leadership ;  stress mindset ;  team identification ;  work engagement

Abstract

Although researchers and practitioners increasingly focus on health promotion in organizations, research has been mainly fragmented and fails to integrate different organizational levels in terms of their effects on employee health. Drawing on organizational climate and social identity research, we present a cascading model of organizational health climate and demonstrate how and when leaders' perceptions of organizational health climate are linked to employee well-being. We tested our model in two multisource studies (N-Study 1 = 65 leaders and 291 employees; N-Study 2 = 401 leader-employee dyads). Results showed that leaders' perceptions of organizational health climate were positively related to their health mindsets (i.e., their health awareness). These in turn were positively associated with their health-promoting leadership behavior, which ultimately went along with better employee well-being. Additionally, in Study 1, the relationship between perceived organizational health climate and leaders' health mindsets was moderated by their organizational identification. High leader identification strengthened the relationship between perceived organizational health climate and leaders' health mindsets. These findings have important implications for theory and practice as they show how the dynamics of an organizational health climate can unfold in organizations and how it is related to employee well-being via the novel concept of health-promoting leadership.

Keyword

employee health ;  health mindset ;  health-promoting leadership ;  organizational health climate ;  organizational identification

Abstract

Despite increased interest in health promotion in organizations, research has mostly been conducted in a fragmented manner, and fails to integrate different organizational levels with regard to their effects on employee health. Drawing on organizational climate and social identity research, we present a multilevel cascading model of organizational health climate and show how and when organizational health climate is linked to employee health. We examine how organizational health climate influences leaders’ health-promoting leadership behavior by raising leaders’ health mindset for employees’ health-relevant issues and eventually enhancing employees’ health. Our results based on multilevel data from leaders and employees working in different organizations support these mediation hypotheses. Additionally, in line with social identity theory, the relationship between organizational health climate and leaders’ health mindset was moderated by leaders’ identification with the organization: strong leader identification strengthened the relationship between organizational health climate and leaders’ health mindset. Our inquiry extends the understanding of how organizational health climate flows through an organization. The results support a multilevel cascading effect of health-promoting actions in organizations and highlight the crucial role of leaders, passing on the effects of organizational health climate to employees. Implications for theory and research are discussed.

Keyword

Abstract

Organizations increasingly depend on employee efforts to innovate. However, the quality of relationships between leaders and employees may affect the recognition that employees receive for their innovative work behaviors. Drawing from a social cognition perspective, we tested a model in which leader-member exchange (LMX) moderates the impact of employee innovative work behavior on supervisory ratings of employee performance. Results from two multisource studies combining self, colleague, and supervisor ratings consistently showed that employees receive more favorable performance ratings by engaging in innovative work behavior when they have high-quality LMX relationships. Moreover, we found that this interactive relationship was mediated by leader perceptions of innovative employee efforts, providing support for a moderated mediation model. Implications for the literatures on performance appraisal, LMX, and innovation are discussed.

Keyword

employee innovation ;  innovative work behavior ;  leader-member exchange ;  LMX ;  performance appraisal ;  performance ratings

Abstract

We provide a meta-analytical review examining two decades of work on the relationship between individuals’ social identifications and health in organizations (102 effect sizes, k = 58, N = 19,799). Results reveal a mean-weighted positive association between organizational identification and health (r = .21, T = .14). Analysis identified a positive relationship for both workgroup (r = .21) and organizational identification (r = .21), and in studies using longitudinal/experimental (r = .13) and cross-sectional designs (r = .22). The relationship is stronger (a) for indicators of the presence of well-being (r = .27) than absence of stress (r = .18), (b) for psychological (r = .23) than physical health (r = .16), (c) to the extent that identification is shared among group members, and (d) as the proportion of female participants in a sample decreases. Overall, results indicate that social identifications in organizations are positively associated with health but that there is also substantial variation in effect size strength. We discuss implications for theory and practice and outline a roadmap for future research.

Keyword

social identity ;  identification ;  health ;  well-being ;  meta-analysis

Abstract

Previous research has shown that female leaders lead slightly more effective than male leaders. However, women are still underrepresented in higher management. In this study, we seek to contribute to a deeper understanding of this paradox by proposing and testing an innovative model that integrates different research streams on gender and leadership. Specifically, we propose power motivation and transformational leadership as two central yet opposing dynamics that underlie the relation between gender and leadership role occupancy. We tested this model in a sample of 256 employees. Results provided support for the proposed relations. These findings contribute to a more detailed and comprehensive understanding for central dynamics that link gender and leadership role occupancy. Moreover, they provide important insights for interventions that are targeted at reducing the gender gap in leadership. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Keyword

Gender ;  Leadership role occupancy ;  Mediation ;  Power motivation ;  Transformational leadership

Abstract

Recent conceptual work suggests that the sense of identity that employees develop vis-vis their organization goes beyond the traditional notion of organizational identification and can also involve conflicting impulses represented by ambivalent identification. In this study, we seek to advance this perspective on identification by proposing and empirically examining important antecedents and consequences. In line with our hypotheses, an experimental study (N = 199 employees) shows that organizational identification and ambivalent identification interactively influence employees’ willingness to engage in organizational citizenship behavior. The effect of organizational identification on organizational citizenship behavior is significantly reduced when employees experience ambivalent identification. A field study involving employees from a broad spectrum of organizations and industries (N = 564) replicated these findings. Moreover, results show that employees’ promotion and prevention focus form differential relationships with organizational identification and ambivalent identification, providing first evidence for a link between employees’ regulatory focus and the dynamics of identification. Implications for the expanded model of organizational identification and the understanding of ambivalence in organizations are discussed.

Keyword

ambivalence ;  ambivalent identification ;  expanded model of organizational identification ;  OCBI ;  OCBO ;  organizational citizenship behavior ;  organizational identification ;  prevention focus ;  promotion focus ;  regulatory focus

Abstract

Although theory postulates a strong connection between employees’ organizational identification and their extra-role efforts for the organization, empirical studies have found relatively weak links with considerable fluctuation across studies. Accordingly, it has been argued that the dynamics of this relation are not yet firmly understood. By adopting the perspective of an expanded model of organizational identification, we propose that the sense of identity that individuals develop vis-à-vis their organization goes beyond unidimensional ties and may involve conflicting impulses represented by ambivalent identification. Specifically, we propose that considering organizational identification and ambivalent identification in combination will contribute to a more accurate understanding of employees’ extra-role efforts. Supporting this view, a first field study involving employees from a broad spectrum of organizations and industries (N = 298) revealed that the positive relation between organizational identification and extra-role behavior was particularly strong for individuals low in ambivalent identification but nonexistent for highly ambivalent employees. A second field study (N = 564) applying a time-lagged design replicated and extended these findings by showing that these effects were generalizable to different types of extra-role behavior. Implications for the expanded model of organizational identification, the understanding of ambivalence, and the study of extra-role behavior are discussed.

Keyword

Abstract

Previous research has focused on the importance of leaders being seen to be of the group (i.e. to be prototypical of a group) but less on the impact of leaders’ own degree of identification with the group. Also, little is known about the combined impact of leader prototypicality and leader identification on followers’ responses. This paper reports two studies that address these lacunae. Study 1 shows experimentally that perceived leader identification and prototypicality interact to determine followers’ personal identification with leaders and their perceptions of leader charisma. Findings indicate that high identification can com- pensate for low prototypicality such that high-identified leaders are able to inspire followership when leaders are low prototyp- ical. Study 2 replicates these findings in the field by examining followers’ responses to workgroup leaders. In addition, results demonstrate that the aforementioned responses are more pronounced for highly identified followers. The present research ex- tends social identity theorizing by demonstrating that leaders’ inability to inspire followership derives as much from their failure to project a sense of ‘we’ and ‘us’ as part of their self-concept as from a failure to exemplify group-typical attributes

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Abstract

Although prior studies have consistently shown that organizational identification can reduce employees' stress and burnout, little is known about the mediating processes that underlie this relationship. Against this backdrop and building on recent theoretical work on the social identity model of stress, the present research tests a two-step mediation model for the organizational identification–burnout link. Specifically, it is hypothesized that employees who strongly identify with their organization are particularly likely to receive social support from their colleagues. This, in turn, should promote a sense of collective efficacy and, as a consequence, negatively relate to burnout. Data from a study with 192 Italian high schoolteachers supported the hypotheses.

Keyword

burnout ;  collective efficacy ;  organizational identification ;  social identity model of stress ;  social support