Deanne N. Den Hartog

How leaders influence employees' innovative behaviour

Purpose – To provide an inventory of leader behaviours likely to enhance employees’ innovative behaviour, including idea generation and application behaviour. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a combination of literature research and in-depth interviews, the paper explores leadership behaviours that stimulate employees’ idea generation and application behaviour. The study was carried out in knowledge-intensive service firms (e.g. consultants, researchers, engineers). Findings – It was found that there were 13 relevant leadership behaviours. Although innovative behaviour is crucial in such firms, it has received very little attention from researchers. Leaders influence employees’ innovative behaviour both through their deliberate actions aiming to stimulate idea generation and application as well as by their more general, daily behaviour. Research limitations/implications – Future quantitative research could condense our overview of leader practices, explore which practices are most relevant to employees’ idea generation and/or application behaviour, which contingency factors influence the leadership-innovative behaviour connection and provide information as to whether different practices are relevant in other types of firms.

Cultural variation of leadership prototypes across 22 European countries.

This study sets out to test the assumption that concepts of leadership differ as a function of cultural differences in Europe and to identify dimensions which describe differences in leadership concepts across European countries. Middle-level managers (N = 6052) from 22 European countries rated 112 questionnaire items containing descriptions of leadership traits and behaviours. For each attribute respondents rated how well it fits their concept of an outstanding business leader. The findings support the assumption that leadership concepts are culturally endorsed. Specifically, clusters of European countries which share similar cultural values according to prior cross-cultural research (Ronen & Shenkar, 1985), also share similar leadership concepts. The leadership prototypicality dimensions found are highly correlated with cultural dimensions reported in a comprehensive cross-cultural study of contemporary Europe (Smith, Dugan, & Trompenaars, 1996). The ordering of countries on the leadership dimensions is considered a useful tool with which to model differences between leadership concepts of different cultural origin in Europe. Practical implications for cross-cultural management, both in European and non-European settings, are discussed.

Measuring trust inside organisations.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which measures and operationalisations of intra‐organisational trust reflect the essential elements of the existing conceptualisation of trust inside the workplace.Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides an overview of the essential points from the rich variety of competing conceptualisations and definitions in the management and organisational literatures. It draws on this overview to present a framework of issues for researchers to consider when designing research based on trust. This framework is then used to analyse the content of 14 recently published empirical measures of intra‐organisational trust. It is noted for each measure the form that trust takes, the content, the sources of evidence and the identity of the recipient, as well as matters related to the wording of items.Findings – The paper highlights where existing measures match the theory, but also shows a number of “blind‐spots” or contradictions, particularly over the...

Measuring Innovative Work Behaviour

Both scientists and practitioners emphasize the importance of innovative work behaviour (IWB) of individual employees for organizational success, but the measurement of IWB is still at an evolutionary stage. This article is concerned with developed a measure of IWB with four potential dimensions: the exploration, generation, championing and implementation of ideas. From a pilot survey among 81 research professionals and their supervisors, we derived an initial version of ten items. Next, analysis of validity drew on survey data from 703 matched dyads of knowledge workers and their supervisors in 94 knowledge intensive services firms. It included confirmatory factor analyses and hierarchical multilevel regressions to test hypothesized relationships of IWB with related constructs, including participative leadership, external work contacts and innovative output. These analyses demonstrated sufficient reliability and criterion validity. Evidence for the distinctiveness of the four dimensions was, however, weak, suggesting that IWB is one-dimensional. We conclude that further research on this issue is merited.

The relationship between perceptions of HR practices and employee outcomes: examining the role of person-organisation and person-job fit

Human resource management (HRM) practices can play an important role in matching people with the organisations and the jobs they work in. However, little is known about how employees perceive and interpret HR practices and whether or how these perceptions relate to perceptions of person–organisation (P–O) and person–job (P–J) fit. This study aims to bridge strategic HRM and person–environment fit literature by examining possible mediating and moderating roles of P–O and P–J fit in the relationship between employee perceptions of a broad set of HR practices and employee attitudes and behaviours. Results from a sample of 412 employees support direct relationships as well as a mediating and moderating role of P–O and P–J fit in the relationship between perceived HR practices and employee outcomes.

Charisma and rhetorics: Communacative techniques of international business leaders

Abstract Although powerful rhetoric is often associated with charismatic leadership, little explanation is available of why leader rhetoric is related to charisma. One of the first studies to explicitly address this topic focused on speech content (Shamir. Arthur & House, 1994). Other elements contributing to the strong motivational and emotive effects of charismatic rhetoric are construction of the message, style and delivery. CEOs play an important part in creating and dispersing organizational values and visions to organization members and the external environment. Their speeches within and outside the company are important to motivate others and gain support for their vision. The CEOs in this study are from companies seeking different degrees and types of international involvement. Their corporate visions reflect different international business mentalities. This study explores how these charismatic CEOs rhetorically construct message content in their speeches, focusing on how their attitude towards internationalization and international business strategy is reflected. First, international strategy and attitudes towards internationalization as well as vision, charisma and rhetoric are discussed. Discourse analysis is described and examples of rhetorical devices are given from the analyzed speeches of the CEOs. Finally, part of a more extensive analysis of examples from speeches showing the rhetorical construction of messages reflecting their international strategy and management mentality are presented.

HRM, Communication, Satisfaction, and Perceived Performance A Cross-Level Test

Employee perceptions of HR practices are often assumed to play an important mediating role in the relationship between HR systems and HR outcomes. In a multisource, multilevel study of 2,063 employees and 449 managers in 119 branches of a single large firm, the authors tested how managers’ perceptions of the HR practices implemented in the unit relate to employee perceptions of these HR practices. The authors’ main aim is to explore managers’ communication quality as a moderator of the relationship between manager-rated and employee-rated HR practices. They also tested whether perceived human resource management (HRM) perceptions in turn relate to perceived unit performance and satisfaction. Multilevel structural equation modeling analyses showed that HRM perceptions mediated the relationship between implemented HRM and both satisfaction and unit performance and that communication moderated the relationship between manager-rated and employee-rated HRM. These findings contribute to scholars’ understanding of how HRM affects employee-related outcomes.

The role of transformational leadership in enhancing team reflexivity

Team reflexivity, or the extent to which teams reflect upon and modify their functioning, has been identified as a key factor in the effectiveness of work teams. As yet, however, little is known about the factors that play a role in enhancing team reflexivity, and it is thus important to develop theorizing around the determinants of reflexivity. From an applied perspective, leadership is a very relevant factor. The current study is a first step in the development of such a model, and addresses this important gap in our understanding of team reflexivity by focusing on the role of leader behavior. We examined the extent to which transformational leadership influences team reflexivity, and in turn, team performance, in a field study conducted among 32 intact work teams from nine organizations. Team members rated reflexivity and leadership, while external managers rated team performance. We hypothesized and tested a mediational model proposing that transformational leadership is related to the adoption of a shared vision by the team. This in turn relates to team reflexivity, which leads to higher team performance. Results support this model.

National culture and leadership profiles in Europe: Some results from the GLOBE study.

Different cultural groups may have different conceptions of what leadership should entail, i.e. different leadership prototypes. Several earlier studies revealed that within Europe various cultural clusters can be distinguished (Hofstede, 1991; Ronen & Shenkar, 1985). Using recent data from the GLOBE project, this article discusses similarities and differences on culture and leadership dimensions among 21 European countries. The results show that two broad clusters or patterns of cultural values can be distinguished, contrasting the North-Western and South-Eastern part of Europe. Within these clusters, differences in leadership prototypes to a certain extent mirror differences in culture. On the basis of these results it is hardly possible to speak of a single typically European culture or one distinct European management style. However, on some dimensions European scores are different from at least some other regions in the world.

Pro-self, prosocial, and pro-organizational foci of proactive behaviour: Differential antecedents and consequences

The paper aims to further knowledge of proactive employee behaviour by exploring whether pro-organizational, prosocial, and pro-self focused proactive behaviour can be measured in an empirically distinct manner, and whether these types of proactive behaviour show differential relationships with other variables. Results of two multi-source studies using self-rated and peer-rated measures empirically support the distinctiveness of the different foci of proactive behaviour. Study 1 (N = 117 dyads) shows that the different foci of proactive behaviour are differentially related to different foci of affective commitment. Study 2 (N = 126 dyads) builds on these findings and shows that different foci of proactive behaviour have differential relationships with transformational leadership, goal orientations, and individual task performance.