Interpersonal leadership and job engagement: testing the mediating role of deep acting, initiative climate and learning goal orientation

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Zia Aslam ◽  
Safiah Omar ◽  
Mohammad Nazri ◽  
Hasnun Anip Bustaman ◽  
Mohammed Mustafa Mohammed Yousif

PurposeThough employee job engagement has been one of the few most proliferated organizational concepts during the last two decades, evidence on how to achieve an engaged workforce is unclear. The purpose of this study was to contribute to the engagement literature by investigating the role of interpersonal leadership in developing job engagement through the relative importance of deep acting emotional labor skills, initiative climate and learning goal orientation as intervening mechanisms.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed an online self-reported survey in data collection, gathering input from 438 frontline service employees in Malaysia. The data was then tested using the structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to evaluate the proposed parallel mediation model of the study.FindingsThe findings demonstrated that deep acting emotional labor skills, initiative climate and learning goal orientation were significantly effective in intervening mechanisms through which interpersonal leadership impacted job engagement.Practical implicationsThis study offers insightful evidence that can be utilized by service organizations to improve employees' job engagement. The evidence derived from this study suggests that interpersonal leadership is a valuable organizational resource that can help carve pathways through which the objective of employee job engagement can be achieved. Therefore, while crafting organizational interventions for employee job engagement, service managers should address the findings of this study.Originality/valueDespite the evidence presented in previous literature on the notable relationship between leadership and engagement, there is yet to be an apt understanding of the impact of new leadership perspectives and the intervening mechanisms in predicting job engagement. This study attempts to fill the research gap.

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 289-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Rigolizzo

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the personal antecedents to taking on the challenge of learning, particularly when there is competition for time at work. Taking on challenging tasks, particularly those that enhance learning, is a critical behavior in today’s dynamic business environments. This paper explores how individual differences motivate people to choose a challenging task over an easy one. Design/methodology/approach A behavioral measure was used to determine if working adults higher in learning goal orientation, curiosity, and need for cognition were more likely to take on a challenging task, even when there was competition for their time. Structural equation modeling was used to more deeply examine whether these constructs independently contribute to the outcome. Findings Goal orientation, curiosity and need for cognition each significantly predicted whether working adults took on a challenging task. Additional analysis revealed that learning goal orientation, curiosity, and need for cognition loaded onto a single factor. Research limitations/implications This paper answers calls for the use of direct measurement in social science research. Rather than asking individuals about what they have done or would do, the study observes what choices working adults actually make when confronted with the opportunity to learn. Originality/value Contributing to the recent surge of work on informal learning behaviors, this paper examines a critical learning behavior – that of taking on challenging tasks. It demonstrates that even if individuals are ready learn (have the time and resources), there are key individual differences that drive whether they are willing to do so.


2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 720-738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ceyda Maden

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between employees’ perceptions of high-involvement human resource (HR) practices, their levels of work engagement and learning goal orientation, and their proactive behaviors. Design/methodology/approach – The sample of the study included 240 employees who work in Istanbul, Turkey, chosen from the major industries that represent the economic profile of this city. The hypotheses were tested with structural equation modeling procedure. Findings – The results revealed that apart from perceived recognition, all the perceived high-involvement HR practices were positively related to employees’ work engagement, which in turn predicted their learning goal orientation. Besides, the results indicated that work engagement affected both individual innovation and feedback inquiry significantly, whereas learning goal orientation predicted only feedback inquiry. Finally, the findings revealed that only perceived empowerment and competency development practices were linked to feedback inquiry through work engagement and learning goal orientation. Research limitations/implications – The generalizability of the findings is limited. The data are based on self-report and the use of cross-sectional data does not allow any definite conclusions to be drawn about causality. Practical implications – Organizations that aim to increase employee proactivity need first to identify the means of increasing work engagement. One way of increasing engagement levels among employees is to invest in various kinds of supportive, high-involvement HR practices, such as competence development and information sharing. Originality/value – This study explores the notion of high-involvement HR practices with employee proactivity in an integrative way by viewing work engagement as a latent mechanism that links high-involvement HR practices to proactive behaviors both directly and indirectly via increased learning goal orientation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-49
Author(s):  
Muhammad Zia Aslam ◽  
Mohammad Nazri Mohd Nor ◽  
Safiah Omar

The current study addresses the gap in how context and individual differences help in developing a proactive workforce in the hospitality industry. Based on the model of proactive motivation and self-determination theory, this study investigates the simultaneous impact of interpersonal leadership and learning goal orientation through the mediating role of employee engagement. The study sample (N =438) is collected from front line hospitality employees in Malaysia. Results of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) show that both context (i.e., interpersonal leadership) and individual differences (i.e., Learning Goal Orientation) are significant predictors of employee engagement and, in turn, of proactive service performance. Moreover, engagement is found as a significant mediator between both the predictors and the criterion. Interestingly, however, in comparison with interpersonal leadership, learning goal orientation is noticed as a substantial predictor of employee engagement and proactive service performance. Implications of the findings for research and practice are discussed accordingly.


2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Warren C. K. Chiu ◽  
Humphrey Leung ◽  
Kaylee Kong ◽  
Cynthia Lee

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong Ju ◽  
Jingjing Yao ◽  
Li Ma

PurposeJob involvement is an important predictor of how well employees perform and feel at work. However, despite fruitful findings, little is known about how person–job (P–J) fit affects job involvement.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a cross-sectional design and collected data from 375 employees and 50 managers. Multivariate regression was applied to test the moderated curvilinear model.FindingsThis study found an inverted U-shaped relationship between P–J fit and job involvement. For employees with a strong performance goal orientation, maximum job involvement occurred at a higher level of P–J fit, whereas for employees with a strong learning goal orientation, maximum job involvement occurred at a moderate level of P–J fit.Practical implicationsManagers should be aware that solely maximizing fit may not constantly yield positive outcomes, and that ignoring differences in employee needs and goals may be counterproductive.Originality/valueThe study challenges the conventional wisdom that a high P–J fit is always productive by showing that a high fit may sometimes jeopardize job involvement, particularly for certain employees.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Einwiller ◽  
Christopher Ruppel ◽  
Julia Stranzl

PurposeBased on social exchange theory, the study examines the influence of informational and relational internal communication on cognitive and affective responses and job engagement during organizational crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachData were collected by means of an online survey among people working in organizations with a minimum of 10 employees (N = 1,033) and analyzed using structural equation modeling.FindingsResults show that informational and relational communication as organizational resources have a significant but distinct influence on how employees support their employer during the crisis. While informational communication influences employees' acceptance of managerial decisions, relational communication exerts most influence on affective commitment, which is the strongest driver of job engagement.Research limitations/implicationsThe cross-sectional design, specific crisis situation and geographic location are limitations of the study.Practical implicationsDelivering relevant information to employees quickly and reliably is important. Yet, relationship-oriented communication that demonstrates appreciation and allows for participation has even stronger effects on job engagement, which is essential to mastering challenges arising from a crisis.Social implicationsDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations demanded much from their employees. In exchange, organizations should provide the resources information, status and love (Foa and Foa, 1980) by means of internal crisis communication.Originality/valueThe study demonstrates the role of different types of internal communication during organizational crises used to convey organizational resources, and it highlights the mediating role of acceptance and commitment to enhance employees' engagement at work.


2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Jiqiang Li ◽  
Lining Sun

We examined how people's belief that human traits are either malleable or fixed—that is, mindset—can shape consumers' variety seeking through learning goal orientation. We also tested the moderating effect of susceptibility to interpersonal influence in the mindset–variety seeking relationship. Participants were 364 adults in the US, who completed a survey on mindset, variety seeking, learning goals, and susceptibility to interpersonal influence. Results show that consumers with a growth (vs. fixed) mindset were more likely to engage in variety seeking as they were more motivated by learning goals. This relationship was more evident when they cared less (vs. more) about others' approval. These findings offer new evidence for how mindset is related to consumption tendencies, provide insight into the conditions under which these relationships are stronger or weaker, and suggest that practitioners should pay more attention to mindset when they are developing marketing strategies.


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