Servant leadership and mistreatment at the workplace: mediation of trust and moderation of ethical climate

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Inam Ul Haq ◽  
Usman Raja ◽  
Imtiaz Alam ◽  
Dirk De Clercq ◽  
Sharjeel Saleem
Keyword(s):  
Servant Leadership ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Ethical Climate ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Workplace Mistreatment ◽  
Time Lagged ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeWith a foundation in social exchange theory, this study examines the relationship between servant leadership and three types of workplace mistreatment – bullying, incivility and ostracism – while also considering a mediating role of trust in the leader and a moderating role of the ethical climate.Design/methodology/approachThree time-lagged sets of data (N = 431) were collected among employees working in various sectors.FindingsServant leadership relates significantly to trust in the leader, as well as to workplace bullying, incivility and ostracism. In turn, trust in the leader mediates the relationship between servant leadership and all three types of workplace mistreatment. The results also indicate the presence of moderated mediation, in that the indirect effect of servant leadership on workplace mistreatment is moderated by the ethical climate.Originality/valueThis study adds to extant research by examining the mediating mechanism of trust in leaders with servant leadership and workplace mistreatment, along with interactive effects of ethical climate.

Enabling the engine of workplace thriving through servant leadership: The moderating role of core self-evaluations

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Usman ◽  
Yuxin Liu ◽  
Haihong Li ◽  
Jianwei Zhang ◽  
Usman Ghani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Servant Leadership ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Conservation Of Resources ◽  
Work Behaviors ◽  
Core Self ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Moderating Role

Abstract Grounding our research in social exchange theory and the conservation of resources perspective, we hypothesized a model that examines the effects of servant leadership (SL) on employees' workplace thriving via agentic work behaviors. To clarify the effects, employee core self-evaluations (CSEs) were investigated to determine boundary conditions on the relationship between SL and thriving. Data were collected at three points in time from 260 professionals across diverse functional backgrounds and industries. The analysis results confirmed an indirect effect from SL to workplace thriving via agentic work behaviors. Importantly, the moderation results demonstrated that the relationship between SL and workplace thriving is stronger when individuals have high CSEs. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Experiencing workplace ostracism with loss of engagement

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 617-630
Author(s):  
Xiaofeng Xu ◽  
Ho Kwong Kwan ◽  
Miaomiao Li
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Job Engagement ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Workplace Ostracism ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeDrawing on social exchange theory and a cultural perspective, this study examines the relationship between workplace ostracism and job engagement by focusing on the mediating role of felt obligation and the moderating role of collectivism.Design/methodology/approachA two-wave survey was conducted over four months in a private service business in China. The participants comprised 108 Chinese employees.FindingsThe results indicate that workplace ostracism has a negative relationship with job engagement through a reduced sense of felt obligation. Collectivism strengthens the main effect of workplace ostracism on felt obligation and its indirect effect on job engagement via felt obligation.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to understanding of the internal mechanism of the workplace ostracism–job engagement model by identifying the mediating role of felt obligation. It also emphasizes that collectivist cultures can enhance the effects of workplace ostracism. However, the generalizability of our findings may be limited due to this cultural factor.Practical implicationsOur findings show that workplace ostracism plays a significant role in reducing job engagement. Therefore, it is essential to reduce the incidence of ostracism in the workplace.Originality/valueBy addressing the previously unexplored mechanism that mediates the relationship between workplace ostracism and job engagement, this study provides new directions for research on workplace ostracism and job engagement.

Enhancing perceived employability

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 866-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monique Veld ◽  
Judith Semeijn ◽  
Tinka van Vuuren
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Training And Development ◽  
Capital Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Perceived Employability ◽  
Interactionist Perspective ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating role of employees’ willingness to invest in training and development and willingness for mobility on the relationship between human resource (HR) management practices and employability. As such, the study takes an interactionist perspective, building on human capital theory and social exchange theory. Investigating possible interaction effects is highly relevant as little is known yet on how organizational efforts (i.e. policies and activities) and individual effort of employees might strengthen each other in their aim of enhancing employability. Design/methodology/approach – Analyses were based on a sample of 1,346 respondents from 91 primary school locations in the Netherlands. Hypotheses were tested using regression analyses controlling for nesting of the data. Findings – The results indicate that HR activities and employees’ willingness are positively related to employability. Furthermore, only employees’ willingness for mobility strengthens this relationship, not their willingness for training and development. These results indicate that both organizations and employees are responsible for enhancing employability. Practical implications – Both HR activities and employee willingness appear to play a significant and interactive role for enhancing employability. Therefore, explicit cooperation between employee and organization in light of optimizing employability seems warranted. Originality/value – This study extends current research on enhancing employability, by theorizing and testing the combined efforts of organizations and employees from an interactionist perspective.

scholarly journals Does Participative Leadership Matters in Employees’ Outcomes During COVID-19? Role of Leader Behavioral Integrity

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Usman ◽  
Usman Ghani ◽  
Jin Cheng ◽  
Tahir Farid ◽  
Sadaf Iqbal
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Emotional Health ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Participative Leadership ◽  
Behavioral Integrity ◽  
Helping Behaviors ◽  
Time Lagged ◽  
The Relationship

The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has badly affected the social, physical, and emotional health of workers, especially those working in the healthcare sectors. Drawing on social exchange theory, we investigated the effects of participative leadership on employees’ workplace thriving and helping behaviors among frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we examined the moderating role of a leader’s behavioral integrity in strengthening the relationship between participative leadership, and employees’ workplace thriving and helping behaviors. By using a two-wave time-lagged design and data collected from 244 healthcare workers, a moderated hierarchal regression was implemented to test the proposed hypotheses. As hypothesized, participative leadership predicted employees’ workplace thriving and helping behaviors. The leader’s behavioral integrity strengthened the relationship between participative leadership and employees’ thriving and moderated the relationship between participative leadership helping behaviors. Implications for research, theory, and practice are discussed.

scholarly journals Leader Machiavellianism and follower silence

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-342
Author(s):  
Hakan Erkutlu ◽  
Jamel Chafra
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Interpersonal Relationship ◽  
Psychological Distance ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Relational Identification ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose Drawing on the social exchange theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between leader Machiavellianism and employee’s quiescent silence. Specifically, the authors take a relational approach by introducing employee’s relational identification as the mediator. The moderating role of psychological distance in the relationship between leader Machiavellianism and quiescent silence is also considered. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from nine universities in Turkey. The sample included 793 randomly chosen faculty members along with their department chairs. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to test the proposed model. Findings The results of this study supported the positive effect of leader Machiavellianism on employee’s quiescent silence as well as the mediating effect of employee’s relational identification. Moreover, when the level of psychological distance is low, the relationship between leader Machiavellianism and quiescent silence is strong, whereas the effect is weak when the level of psychological distance is high. Practical implications The findings of this study suggest that educational administrators in the higher education should be sensitive in treating their subordinates, as it will lead to positive interpersonal relationship, which, in turn, will reduce workplace silence. Moreover, they should pay more attention to the buffering role of psychological distance for those subordinates with high distrust and showing silence. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on organizational silence by revealing the relational mechanism between leader Machiavellianism and employee quiescent silence. The paper also offers a practical assistance to employees in the higher education and their leaders interested in building trust, increasing leader–employee relationship and reducing workplace silence.

scholarly journals Unveiling the relationship between e-HRM, impersonal trust and employee productivity

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (7) ◽  
pp. 879-899 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naveed Iqbal ◽  
Mansoor Ahmad ◽  
Matthew M.C. Allen
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Employee Productivity ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Organisational Trust ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose This study draws upon social exchange theory to explore the role of impersonal trust as an intermediate value-creating factor between electronic human resource management (e-HRM) and productivity. The purpose of this paper is to seek the antecedents and consequences of impersonal trust within organisations to provide a holistic view of e-HRM and employee productivity. This is the first study to examine how impersonal trust mediates the relationship between e-HRM and employee productivity. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected through a large-scale survey of 700 line managers in Pakistani banks. The data were analysed using structure equation modelling. Findings The empirical results validate all of the study’s hypotheses, including the role of impersonal trust, which partially mediates the relationship between e-HRM and employee productivity. The results provide empirical evidence that technology-enabled HRM supports organisations by enhancing organisational trust and productivity outcomes. Originality/value Such findings contribute to the HRM literature: e-HRM and organisational trust are key predictors for improving employee productivity. The existing literature suggests that e-HRM has a positive impact on employees’ trust in the HRM department. The results provide valuable insights for HR practitioners allowing them to enhance employee productivity by using e-HRM to improve employees’ trust in the organisation.

Testing mediation effects of social and economic exchange in linking organizational training investment to employee outcomes

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 306-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuhee Jung ◽  
Norihiko Takeuchi
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Affective Commitment ◽  
Exchange Theory ◽  
Economic Exchange ◽  
Organizational Training ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose Although social exchange theory has long been used to explain employees’ positive work attitudes in response to perceived investment in employee development (PIED), few studies have examined this theoretical mechanism by introducing a direct measure of social exchange between employees and their personified organization. Furthermore, most studies have focused solely on one type of exchange (i.e. social exchange) and have ignored another type of exchange characterized as economic exchange. The purpose of this paper is therefore to uncover the process by which PIED affects employees’ attitudes, including affective organizational commitment and job satisfaction, by examining the mediating roles of both social and economic exchanges. Design/methodology/approach To test the hypothesized mediating model, this study conducted a three-phase, time-lagged questionnaire survey and collected data from 545 full-time employees. The model was tested based on structural equation modeling with a bootstrap test of indirect effects. Findings In line with social exchange theory, the findings showed that social exchange perceptions positively mediated the relationships between PIED and affective commitment/job satisfaction, whereas economic exchange perceptions negatively mediated them. Additionally, social and economic exchange perceptions were found to partially mediate the relationship between PIED and affective commitment but fully mediate the relationship between PIED and job satisfaction. Practical implications These results suggest that employers would benefit from investing in employee development, provided workers see the training investment as the employer’s side of social exchange, which in turn leads to increased affective commitment and job satisfaction. When employers do not achieve the expected returns from the training investment, they should check not only hard data (e.g. training attendance rate, hours of training, etc.) but also soft data (e.g. employees’ perceptions of training investment, social exchange, etc.) by conducting employee surveys and communicating with line managers. Originality/value The main contribution of this study is that it provides important empirical support for social exchange theory in the context of organizational training investment and employees’ attitudinal outcomes, by directly testing the positive mediating role of social exchange and the negative role of economic exchange.

The effect of differential leadership on employees’ thriving at work in China: a moderated mediating model

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaoqun Zhang ◽  
Donglan Zha ◽  
Guanglei Yang ◽  
Fu Wang
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Proactive Personality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Perceived Insider Status ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Thriving At Work

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to test the mediating role of perceived insider status (PIS) on the relationship between differential leadership and thriving at work, and the extent to which this mediating role is moderated by proactive personality. Design/methodology/approach This study conducts a questionnaire with 332 employees from China, taking certain traditional cultural factors and social exchange theory into consideration. This paper then analyzes the responses using a structuring equation model with SPSS 24.0 and LISREL 8.7. Findings The results show that PIS mediated the relationship between differential leadership and thriving at work. In addition, proactive personality was found to moderate this mediating pathway, whereby a high proactive personality increased the mediating role of perceived insider status. Originality/value This study explores how and why differential leadership is positively related to thriving at work. This paper verifies the moderated mediation model relationship among the research variables and contributes to the literature on differential leadership.

scholarly journals My Family Stands Behind Me: Moderated Mediation Model of Family Support and Work Engagement

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-333
Author(s):  
Humaira Erum ◽  
Ghulam Abid ◽  
Aizza Anwar ◽  
Muhammad Fazal Ijaz ◽  
Daisy Mui Hung Kee
Keyword(s):  
Family Support ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Work Engagement ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Family Work ◽  
Moderated Mediation Model ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Time Lagged ◽  
The Relationship

Family motivation as a mediating mechanism is a novel and under-researched area in the field of positive organizational scholarship. Drawing on Social Exchange Theory (SET), this study empirically validates family motivation as a mediator between family support and work engagement. The process by Hayes (2013) was used to analyze time-lagged data collected from 356 employees of the education sector. Results confirm the mediating role of family motivation in the relationship between family support and work engagement and the moderating role of calling in the relationship between family support and family motivation. This study adds to the literature of family-work enrichment accounts by validating family support as a novel antecedent for family motivation and positive attitudes. The implications of the study are discussed.

Team Networks and Team Identification: The Role of Leader-Member Exchange

2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (7) ◽  
pp. 1115-1123 ◽  
Author(s):  
KeXin Guan ◽  
ZhengXue Luo ◽  
JiaXi Peng ◽  
Zhen Wang ◽  
HaiTing Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
Social Identity Theory ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Team Identification ◽  
Leader Member Exchange ◽  
Exchange Relationships ◽  
Member Exchange ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Relationship

We examined the relationship among team networks, leader-member exchange (LMX), and team identification in the workplace. Social network theory, social exchange theory, and social identity theory served as references for our theoretical propositions and analyses. We collected data from a sample of 223 teams of military personnel, serving in the artillery in West China. We found that the team networks had a significant effect on team identification. Further, the variance and the mean for LMX in teams interacted in influencing team identification (β =-.893, p < .01). Our findings indicated that creating productive networks in teams would be useful to enhance team identification, the effect of which may be carried on through to building exchange relationships between leader and follower.

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