Peter T. van den Berg

Transformational leadership as a mediator between emotional intelligence and team outcomes

Available online 26 May 2011 Using leadership theory we examined whether transformational leadership mediates the link between the emotional intelligence of team leaders and three outcomes as perceived by followers: leader effectiveness, team effectiveness, and service climate. Data were collected from 859 employees, working in 55 teams in a South Korean public-sector organization and results were analyzed at the group level. All variables were modeled in a path diagram and tested using hierarchical regression analysis and structural equation modeling. Same-source bias in the findings was controlled for by randomly splitting the sample into three separate groups. The results show that transformational leadership mediates the relationships between emotional intelligence and leader effectiveness, as well as between emotional intelligence and service climate, although not between emotional intelligence and team effectiveness. Practical implications of the findings are discussed, together with limitations and ideas for future research.

How leaders stimulate employee learning: A leader–member exchange approach

This study investigated how leader―member exchange (LMX), goal setting, and feedback are related to employee engagement in learning activities. Two different mechanisms were proposed: a mediating mechanism holding that LMX elicits specific leader behaviours (i.e., goal setting and feedback) which would mediate the LMX-learning relationship, and a moderating mechanism, holding that LMX would strengthen the effect of these leader behaviours. A sample of I, II2 employees from 7 organizations completed questionnaires that measured LMX, goal specificity, feedback, and self-reports of employee engagement in learning activities. The 233 direct leaders of these employees completed questionnaires that measured goal difficulty and leader ratings of employee engagement in learning activities. Multi-level analysis showed that goal difficulty and goal specificity mediated the relationship between LMX and employee engagement in learning activities, and that LMX moderated the relationship of goal difficulty with employee engagement in learning activities. With these findings, the present study contributes to the literatures on LMX, goal setting, and employee development.

Pygmalion and Employee Learning: The Role of Leader Behaviors

The aim of this study was to investigate which leader behaviors mediate the relationship between leader expectations and employee engagement in learning activities. Based on Rosenthal’s Pygmalion model, five potential mediators of the Pygmalion effect were distinguished: leader—member exchange relationship, goal setting (i.e., goal specificity, goal difficulty), providing learning opportunities, and feedback. Data from 904 manager—subordinate dyads in six organizations showed that leader expectations were related to employee engagement in learning activities. Goal specificity, goal difficulty, and providing learning opportunities proved to be mediators. These findings suggest that goal setting lies at the heart of the Pygmalion effect.

Personality traits and job characteristics as predictors of job experiences

This study investigates the relationships of personality traits and job characteristics (predictors) with job experiences (criteria) in a sample of job incumbents working in a broad variety of occupations. Subjects were 181 job applicants, who participated in a personnel selection procedure carried out by a Dutch staffing organization. As a part of this procedure, subjects completed a number of personality questionnaires. Personality scale scores were factor‐analysed, and four orthogonal trait dimensions were identified: Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Sensation Seeking, and Achievement Motivation. Between l½ and 2 years after the selection, subjects rated their current jobs on four job characteristics dimensions, namely dynamicity, autonomy, external–internal, and structure. At the same time, they completed a questionnaire measuring job experiences, namely job satisfaction, job‐induced tension, propensity to leave the job, and self‐appraised performance. The results indicated that personality traits had several significant and hypothesized longitudinal effects on the job experience criteria. Personality contributed to the prediction of the criteria even when the effects of job characteristics were taken into account. No significant Personality X Job Characteristics interactions were found, although subgroup analysis revealed a number of interesting differences among the various categories of occupations. For example, Sensation Seeking predicted job strain and propensity to leave, especially in highly structured and not very autonomous jobs. It is concluded that work experiences are clearly determined by person and job characteristics, although in an additive rather than in an interactional way.

Dutch Reactions to Behavioral Observation, Behavioral Expectation, and Trait Scales

Dutch managers and computer programmers appraised the performance of a subordinate or peer, respectively, using Behavioral Observation scales (BOS), Behavioral Expectation scales (BES), and Trait scales, and then evaluated the three appraisal instruments on eight criteria: ability to give feedback, ability to differentiate, objectivity, position differences, ability to provide training, setting corporate-wide standards, ability to set goals, and overall ease of use. Users preferred the BOS to the BES on seven criteria, and to the Trait Scale on all but two criteria. They preferred the Trait Scale to the BES on two criteria, namely, ease of use and position differences, and considered the BES and Trait scale equivalent on the remaining criteria. These findings parallel those found in a similar study conducted in the United States.

Influences and trends in human resource practices in The Netherlands

The Netherlands, although a small country with few natural resources, is a major industrial power in the West, and operates some of the world’s largest multinationals. To understand more about human resource management (HRM) practices in this country we used a structured interview format containing questions about selection techniques, equal employment opportunity, performance appraisal, motivational techniques, and participative decision making, and we interviewed 30 HRM professionals. Results show that creative research‐based HRM practices are helping organizations to adapt to global economic challenges, but it has not been easy to balance the needs of employers with those of employees in a country with a history of workers’ rights.

Temperamental Factors in the Execution of Interrupted Editing Tasks

The question investigated in this study is how the temperament traits of strength of excitation (SE), strength of inhibition (SI), and mobility (MO) affect behaviour during the execution of computer tasks and tasks interrupting them. Several hypotheses, partly derived from the regulative theory of temperament, were tested in an experiment in which the natural environment and the types of task commonly performed by secretaries were simulated. The sample consisted of 39 female secretaries (21–64 years old). It was found that individuals high on SE and MO needed less time to resume tasks after an interruption than individuals low on these temperament traits. Interruptions similar to the main task resulted in longer resumption times for low‐SE individuals. MO was negatively related to the time needed to perform the main task. A model describing the relationship between the frequency of switches between tasks and the speed of task performance in low‐MO and high‐MO individuals is presented.

Competencies for work domains in business computer science

In order to relate expertise in business computer science to multiple criteria, the importance of competencies, as elements of expertise, for the performance of tasks and roles were investigated. Seventy-five information technology professionals (nine women and sixty-six men) from twenty-one organizations rated the importance of thirty-four competencies for the performance of eighty-six tasks and seven roles. In accordance with previous studies, knowledge of information technology, working methodically, and analytic ability were rated as important competencies for most types of tasks, and social skills were especially important for tasks related to interaction with the environment and leadership roles. By means of cluster analysis, four work domains were discerned: technique-oriented, organization-oriented, leadership-oriented, and user-support-oriented domains. It is argued that relating competencies to work domains has theoretical and practical relevance.