Catherine Loughlin

Transformational leadership and employee psychological well-being: The mediating role of employee trust in leadership

The relationship between employees’ perceptions of their managers’ transformational leadership style and employees’ psychological well-being was examined in two studies. In Study 1, trust in the leader fully mediated the positive relationship between perceptions of managers’ transformational leadership and employee psychological well-being in a cross-sectional sample (n=436). Study 2 (n=269) (1) replicated the mediated effect found in Study 1; (2) extended the model by showing that active management-by-exception and laissez-faire behaviours negatively affected employee psychological well-being by reducing trust in the manager; and (3) excluded the possibility that these results were accounted for by individual differences or liking of the manager. Theoretical and practical applications, as well as directions for future research are discussed.

Integrating transformational and participative versus directive leadership theories

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which male and female leaders report engaging in participative versus directive intellectually stimulating transformational leadership behaviour across three different contexts (business, government and military).Design/methodology/approach – Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 64 senior leaders (29 female and 35 male) across Canada.Findings – Leaders were more likely to describe using a participative versus directive approach to intellectual stimulation. Gender similarities and differences also appeared across contexts: government leaders reported almost twice as many directive examples as business leaders, and men and women in both of these contexts were very similar in their reports about how they enacted intellectual stimulation. In contrast, men and women in the military diverged, with male leaders reporting more participative behaviour than female leaders.Research limitations/implications – This study extends the leadersh...

Employment status congruence and job quality

While recognizing the daunting task of defining universal indicators of job quality we may overlook something more fundamental: in North America about a third of people may not want to be employed in their current job status. Job status congruence (i.e. the extent to which people are working full-time, contract, or part-time by choice) may now be an integral part of high quality work. We test this proposition using a process-oriented theoretical model reflecting established relationships in the work design literature. Findings suggest that a socio-economic predictor (job status congruence) may rival established psychological predictors of job quality (e.g. intrinsic job characteristics and role stressors) in predicting aspects of workers’ personal and organizational functioning. Our findings also suggest that different mediators may be operating for each outcome. The model is tested on 171 full-time workers; a revised model is then supported on a holdout sample of 172 full-timers, and replicated on 132 contract/part-time workers using multi-group structural equation modeling. Implications for future research are discussed.

Individually considerate transformational leadership behaviour and self sacrifice

Purpose – This study aims to investigate how leaders report enacting individually considerate transformational leadership behaviour. More specifically, the extent to which they report engaging in supportive, developmental or self‐sacrificial aspects of this behaviour.Design/methodology/approach – Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 51 senior leaders (21 female and 30 male) in the public and private sectors across five provinces in Canada. A blended grounded theory approach was utilised and suggestions for future research are presented.Findings – Leaders reported being more likely to engage in supportive (59 percent) than developmental (41 percent) individually considerate transformational leadership behaviour. Further, male leaders were less likely than female leaders to report engaging in development in self‐sacrificing ways (21 percent versus 62 percent).Research limitations/implications – This study extends the leadership literature to better understand the behavioural aspects of individual ...

The moderating effects of status and trust on the performance of age-diverse work groups

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to help organizations capitalize on the potential advantages of age diversity by offering insight into two new moderators in the age diversity, work group performance relationship – status congruity and cognition-based trust. Design/methodology/approach The authors surveyed 197 employees and 56 supervisors across 59 work groups to test for the moderating effects of status congruity and cognition-based trust on the age diversity, work group performance relationship. Findings The results demonstrated, on the one hand, that under conditions of status congruity (i.e. when there were high levels of perceived status legitimacy and veridicality) and/or when perceptions of cognition-based trust were high within the group, the relationship between age diversity and work group performance was positive. On the other hand, under conditions of status incongruity and/or low levels of cognition-based trust, this relationship was negative. Research limitations/implications The findings contribute to the literature by being the first to provide empirical evidence for the theorized effects of status on the performance of age-diverse work groups and also by demonstrating the effects of cognition-based trust in a new context – age-diverse work groups. Practical implications Arising from the study’s findings are several strategies, which are expected to help organizations enhance perceptions of status congruity and/or trust and ultimately the performance of their age-diverse work groups. Originality/value The paper is the first to empirically demonstrate the moderating effects of status congruity and cognition-based trust on the age diversity, work group performance relationship. The study also establishes important distinctions between the effects of objective status differences vs status perceptions.

Transformational leadership in an extreme context

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how male and female leaders define effective leadership in an extreme context. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted in-depth interviews with leaders working in an extreme context (a matched sample of female and male Majors and Colonels in the Canadian Armed Forces) and analysed military training materials. Findings – In the military, male and female leadership looks much more similar than might be expected. Further, surprisingly this is not occurring because women are leading in more masculine ways, but rather the opposite; men are leading in more feminine ways. Practical implications – There is a need for organizations to recognize and acknowledge the role of feminine leadership behaviours. This may also give women a better opportunity to succeed in these types of leadership roles. Originality/value – This study contributes to the leadership literature by furthering our understanding of the boundary conditions for transformational leadership in relation to gender stereotypes, situational strength, and social identity.

Leadership in a time of financial crisis: what do we want from our leaders?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to gain a nuanced understanding of what employees want from leaders in an organizational crisis context. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use a mixed methods approach to explore employee leadership preferences during organizational crisis and non-crisis times using the Multi Factor Leadership Questionnaire (Avolio and Bass, 2004), and qualitative interviews. The authors also investigate sex roles using the Bem Sex Role Inventory (Bem, 1981). Findings – The mixed method approach reveals some potential limitations in how leadership is typically measured. The qualitative findings highlight employees’ expectations of leaders to take action quickly while simultaneously engaging in continuous communication with employees during crisis. None of the components of transformational leadership encapsulate this notion. Originality/value – The mixed methods approach is novel in the crisis leadership literature. Had the authors relied solely on the quantitative measures, ...

The Future of Androgyny: Could Extending Androgyny to Boards of Directors Help Manage Complexity?

We seek to contribute and build upon Sandra Bem’s (1974, 1975) theory of androgyny by extending the concept from the individual to the team level of analysis. In this conceptual work, we highlight ...