Age-Differentiated Leadership and Healthy Aging at Work: Evidence from the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Little is known about the relative influence of age-differentiated leadership on healthy aging at work. Likewise, the age-conditional influence of age-differentiated leadership is understudied, and especially so in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a three-wave longitudinal study, we examined the role that age-differentiated leadership plays in the prediction of work ability, as measured three times over six months (n = 1130) during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany (i.e., December 2019, March 2020, and June 2020). The results suggest that although there were no systematic changes in work ability on average, there was notable within-person variability in work ability over time. Additionally, we find that a balanced approach to age-differentiated leadership that considers the needs of both older and younger employees matters most and complements the positive influence of leader–member exchange for predicting within-person variability in work ability. We also find that older employees’ work ability benefits from an approach to age-differentiated leadership that considers older employee’s needs, whereas younger employees’ work ability especially benefits from leader–member exchange and a balanced approach to age-differentiated leadership. Overall, these results provide initial support for the idea that an age-differentiated approach to leadership is important when considering healthy aging at work.

Optimistic Leadership for the 21st Century and Beyond

This paper proposes a future-driven leadership theory — the optimistic leadership theory — suitable for leading global organizations in the 21st century and beyond. The author argues that a new leadership approach is needed for these organizations due to the complexities that come with globalization, including the high need for knowledge and experience, distance decay, and cultural amalgamation. Five leadership approaches (Visionary Leadership, Differentiated Leadership, Servant Leadership, Flexible Leadership, and Reflective Leadership) are identified as the components of optimistic leadership. Following a review of the rare literature on these five leadership approaches, they are found to constitute the best determinants of successful future-driven leadership. There is an overlap of some approaches and some are within other leadership theories such as transformational leadership. A model of optimistic leadership is suggested, and a test based on the variables is proposed.

Differentiated Leadership and Group Performance: The Mediating Effect of Group Cohesion

The aims of this study are to enhance the effectiveness of group-level differentiated leadership, and to explore the effects of Chinese differentiated leadership on group performance, and how social cohesion mediates the relationship between differentiated leadership and group performance. This study investigated 51 work groups from different enterprises in Taiwan, consisting of 51 supervisors and 230 employees. The results showed that differentiated leadership was positively associated with group social cohesion. Group social cohesion was positively associated with group performance. Finally, social cohesion fully mediated the positive relationship between differentiated leadership and group performance.

The impact of dissonance in schema based leadership perceptions on employee engagement

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the possible consequences of the intra-individual level-based perceptions of participative, supportive and instrumental leadership styles and the dissonance factors of leadership styles perceptions on employee engagement using the information-processing and connectionist perspectives of leadership perceptions. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses relating to direct and moderated effects of perceptions of leadership styles on employee engagement were tested using a two-stage intra-individual level study (n=172 in each stage). Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Findings The findings revealed that perceptions of preferred and experienced supportive leadership styles are individually important predictors of employee engagement. It was also revealed that differentiated leadership styles have stronger (complementary) effect on employee engagement when the perceptions of experienced participative and supportive leadership styles were aligned with perceptions of respective preferred leadership styles. Furthermore, it was also found that the low level compared to the high level of dissonance factor or the difference between preferred and experienced instrumental leadership style acted as a complementer on employee engagement. Research limitations/implications This study has made contributions to facilitate scholars to build better information-processing models and implicit theories for differentiated leadership and employee engagement links. Finally, the study provides new information on the consequence of perceptions of leadership style and the dissonance factor of leadership perceptions on followers’ actions such as employee engagement. Originality/value This will be the first empirical study examining the relationships between the dissonance factor of leadership perceptions of participative, supportive and instrumental styles and employee engagement.