Servant leadership and nurses’ upward voice behavior in an Egyptian hospital: Does prosocial motivation matter?

BACKGROUND: Servant leadership can be viewed as a leadership theory that stresses personal integrity and focuses on protecting and promoting the interests of others. OBJECTIVE: This article investigates whether the relationship between servant leadership and nurses’ upward voice behavior in an Egyptian hospital is contingent on prosocial motivation. Invoking substitutes for leadership theory, we propose that the relationship between servant leadership and nurses’ upward voice will be attenuated when nurses have a strong desire to protect and promote the well-being of others. METHODS: Using a sample of 341 nurses working in a large governmental hospital in Egypt, this proposition was tested using PROCESS Macro for SPSS. RESULTS: The results revealed that the relationship between servant leadership and nurses’ upward voice was stronger for those lower in prosocial motivation than for those higher in prosocial motivation. CONCLUSION: These results were explained through communal impulsion which adds a new insight into Greenleaf’s theory of servant leadership. Overall, the results of the study shed new light on the conditions through which servant leadership enhances upward voice behavior in an Egyptian hospital.

A curvilinear relationship between transformational leadership and employee creativity

PurposeThis study examined a curvilinear and moderated relationship between transformational leadership and employee creative performance in a real-world setting by drawing from the too-much-of-a-good-thing effect and the substitutes for leadership perspectives.Design/methodology/approachWe used multisource data collected from 232 employees and their immediate supervisors to test all hypotheses.FindingsWe found empirical support for an inverted U-shaped relationship between transformational leadership and employee creative performance. Moreover, job factor (i.e. job formalization) and individual differences (i.e. power distance) moderated the curvilinear relationship, such that the curvilinear relationship was more pronounced with lower job formalization or higher power distance of employees.Originality/valueOur findings shed light on the inconsistent reports of transformational leadership's effects on employee creativity in previous studies. We extended substitutes for leadership perspective by providing a more systematic view for future research on how leadership and its substitutes jointly influence employee outcomes.

The dynamic interaction between high-commitment HRM and servant leadership

Purpose Based on social exchange theory and the substitutes for leadership theory, this paper aims to investigate whether an organization’s high-commitment HRM strategy can substitute for the effect of servant leadership in promoting employees’ affective commitment, psychological empowerment and intent to remain with the organization. Design/methodology/approach This study’s hypotheses were tested with moderation and mediation analyses conducted on a sample of 172 Chinese employees. Findings The results show significant negative interaction effects between high-commitment HRM systems and servant leadership, such that high levels of one will reduce the positive effect of the other on affective commitment and psychological empowerment. Further, the effects of high-commitment HRM systems and servant leadership on turnover intentions are mediated through affective commitment and psychological empowerment. Finally, support was found for a mediated moderation model where the negative interaction effect between high-commitment HRM systems and servant leadership on turnover intentions is mediated through affective commitment. Practical implications The results of this study can help practitioners identify alternative means to influence employees’ positive attitudes and work motivation when implementing high-commitment HRM systems is not feasible for the organization. Originality/value This study contributes to the leadership literature by providing evidence supporting the substitutes for leadership theory and describing the specific conditions under which this theory is valid, as well as contributing to the HRM literature by examining the dynamic interaction of HRM and leadership.

Giving Rise to Creative Leadership: Contextual Enablers and Redundancies

Creative leadership plays a key role in realizing the competitive advantage of creativity for organizations, yet little is known about the contextual factors that give rise to creative leadership. We propose a model that includes enabling contextual variables that facilitate individuals with the motivation to lead for creativity to engage in creative leadership. In addition, building on substitutes for leadership theory, contextual redundancies that reduce the necessity for creative leadership as a means for realizing creative outcomes are proposed. This model provides new insights about the role of contextual enablers and redundancies at the organizational and external environmental levels of analysis for creative leadership. Theoretical and practical implications of this model are also discussed.

Employees’ psychological empowerment and performance: how customer feedback substitutes for leadership

Purpose Relying on the theories of substitutes for leadership and psychological empowerment, this study aims to explore how perceptions of customer positive feedback can substitute for managers’ transformational leadership in driving frontline employees’ psychological empowerment and, in turn, task performance. Design/methodology/approach The authors tested the research hypotheses with frontline employees working in 17 equipment rental stores. Employees completed a questionnaire about customer positive feedback, transformational leadership and psychological empowerment, and supervisors completed a separate questionnaire about employees’ task performance. A total of 178 employee-supervisor dyads formed the final sample of the study. Findings The results provided support for our hypotheses. Psychological empowerment fully mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and task performance. Moreover, customer positive feedback moderated the indirect relationship between transformational leadership and task performance such that it was significant and positive only when customer feedback was low. Originality/value This paper contributes to the service marketing literature by showing that customer positive feedback can substitute for managers’ leadership in helping frontline employees feeling more in control of their work and psychologically empowered. Another useful contribution for practitioners is that customers may have a positive impact on frontline employees’ motivation state, which past research has little explored.

Ethical Leadership, Work Meaningfulness, and Work Engagement in the Public Sector

This study responds to recent calls for research on how and why ethical leadership is related to employee outcomes. Drawing on self-concept–based theory and substitutes-for-leadership theory, the study examines both the mediating and moderating role of work meaningfulness on the relationship between ethical leadership and work engagement. Using a sample of Egyptian public hospital nurses, the results of structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that work meaningfulness partially mediated the relationship between ethical leadership and engagement. Furthermore, the results showed the positive relationship between ethical leadership and work engagement was stronger for employees who experienced lower rather than higher levels of meaningfulness. Thus, public sector organizations need to put emphasis on nurturing ethical leadership and stimulating employees’ sense of work meaningfulness. However, they need to be aware that, sometimes, they may not be able to get “double the benefits” when they invest in developing both.

Comparability of leadership constructs from the Malaysian and Pakistani perspectives

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare the applicability of transformational leadership and substitutes-for-leadership theories in Malaysia’s and Pakistan’s work settings. Design/methodology/approach This study employed a survey-based approach using professional employees in both countries as respondents. In total, 215 responses to a web-based survey in Malaysia and 523 responses to a survey administered using personal methods in Pakistan were used for the analysis. Findings The results revealed that Malaysia’s leaders were rated high on the dimensions of transformational and transactional leadership. The transformational leadership dimensions produced desirable effects on subordinates’ outcomes in both samples, but the contingent punishment dimension of transactional leadership produced especially undesirable effects on subordinates’ outcomes. Substitutes for leadership also independently affected subordinates’ outcomes and produced similar effects on subordinates’ outcomes in both samples. In general, the effects in the Malaysian sample are larger than those in the Pakistani sample. Research limitations/implications The results suggest that the transformational leadership style is effective in both cultures, but the transactional leadership style is culturally contingent. While leaders in collectivist cultures like Malaysia and Pakistan should practice more transformational leadership than transactional leadership, leaders in Pakistan should be particularly careful while practicing transactional leadership because of the society’s high level of collectivism and moderately high-power distance orientation. Practical implications The results suggest that the transformational leadership style is effective in both cultures, but the transactional leadership style is culturally contingent. While leaders in collectivist cultures like Malaysia and Pakistan should practice more transformational leadership than transactional leadership, leaders in Pakistan should be particularly careful while practicing transactional leadership because of the society’s low power distance orientation. Originality/value Since this study is the first to compare the applicability of western theories in collectivist cultures that differ significantly in their power distance orientation, it contributes meaningfully to the cross-culture leadership field.

Mindfulness as substitute for transformational leadership

Purpose Transformational leaders spark the intrinsic motivation of employees, thereby stimulating their extra-role performance. However, not all employees are lucky enough to have a transformational leader. The purpose of this paper is to investigate to what extent mindfulness can function as a substitute for transformational leadership. By being attentive to and aware of what is taking place in the present, mindfulness provides employees with a source of intrinsic motivation that lies within the person, thereby possibly making employees less dependent on transformational leadership. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was used to collect data of 382 employees working in diverse sectors in the Netherlands. Findings Moderated mediation analyses indicated that mindfulness partly compensates for a low levels of transformational leadership in fostering intrinsic motivation and in turn extra-role performance, thereby providing evidence for the substitutes for leadership theory. Moreover, the findings extend previous research on the contribution of mindfulness to in-role performance by showing its additional value for intrinsic motivation and extra-role performance. Research limitations/implications Despite the use of validated measures and the presence of an interaction effect, common-source bias cannot be out ruled completely. Practical implications Since mindfulness can be developed, the results suggest a training intervention to make employees less dependent on their leaders for their motivation. Originality/value This paper is the first to show that mindful people are more resilient against the absence of transformational leadership. Given the frequent changes in management layers in organizations, knowledge about resources for individual resilience and self-management is sorely needed.