When mindfulness interacts with neuroticism to enhance transformational leadership : the role of psychological need satisfaction

Transformational leadership is a popular and well-researched leadership style. Although much is understood about its positive consequences, less research has focused on antecedents of transformational leadership. In this research we draw upon self-determination theory and incorporate a self-regulatory approach to investigate if and how leader mindfulness influences transformational leadership. The analyses show that autonomy, competence and relatedness need satisfaction mediate between mindfulness and transformational leadership, indicating that mindfulness is associated with psychological need satisfaction. Furthermore, the data show that neuroticism moderates the relationship between mindfulness and relatedness need satisfaction. Generally speaking, the association between mindfulness and relatedness need satisfaction is positive. When neuroticism is also high, mindfulness has the largest impact. Or conversely, when emotional stability is high, mindfulness has the smallest association with relatedness need satisfaction. This is in line with evidence suggesting that mindfulness may primarily exert its influence through emotional self-regulation. Furthermore, the moderated mediation model for relatedness need satisfaction is significant, indicating that neuroticism is a boundary condition for the indirect effect of mindfulness on transformational leadership through relatedness need satisfaction

Leader psychological need satisfaction trickles down:The role of leader-member exchange

This article addresses the impact of leader psychological need satisfaction on employees. We draw on the self-determination theory (SDT) and leader-member exchange (LMX) theory to investigate if and how leader psychological need satisfaction trickles down to employee psychological need satisfaction. Adopting a multi-actor, multilevel design, results from 1036 leader–employee dyads indicate that employee-rated LMX mediates the trickle-down effect of leader psychological need satisfaction. Additional analyses of leader psychological needs show that leader competence is the main psychological need that underlying this relationship. We also found an unexpected negative association between leader autonomy need satisfaction and employee competence need satisfaction. Overall, this study shows the importance of both (1) leaders’ psychological need satisfaction and (2) employee perceptions of the relationship quality for employee psychological need satisfaction

Unraveling the black box of how leaders affect employee well-being : the role of leadership, leader well-being and leader attentive communication

In a time characterized by growing uncertainty, e.g. because of the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, effective leadership is more important than ever. In addition, employee well-being has been named one of the critical drivers of business success. In this dissertation, we therefore answer the following overarching question: Exactly how can leaders contribute to employee well-being? In order to answer this question, we execute several theoretical and empirical studies, and we also develop new ways of investigating leader (communication) behavior itself. In the first part of this dissertation, we look into the main ways in which positive leadership styles influence employee work engagement. In the first theoretical study, we argue why certain leader behaviors are shared across positive leadership styles, and we identify several theory-driven processes and pathways through which leaders can influence employee work engagement. In the second study, a moderated meta-analysis, we investigate the meta-correlation of positive leadership styles and work engagement, as well as provide an empirically-driven overview of categories of mediating and moderating mechanisms, to end up with an overarching research model. In the second part of this dissertation, we look into the role of leaders’ own well-being, for both their own leadership as well as for employee well-being. In the first study, we test a moderated mediation and find that 1) mindfulness is an antecedent of positive leadership (here: transformational leadership), 2) leaders’ psychological need satisfaction mediates the relationship between mindfulness and transformational leadership and 3) neuroticism moderates the relationship between mindfulness and relatedness need satisfaction. In the second study, with multilevel and multisource data, we investigate the trickle-down effect of leaders’ psychological need satisfaction. We find that psychological need satisfaction indeed trickles down to employees, mediated by (employee-rated) levels of LMX. We also find a direct positive association between leader competence and employee competence, as well as a negative one between leader autonomy and employee competence. In the last part of this dissertation, we look into how we can improve leader communication to increase employee well-being. In the first study we develop a new construct and validate a new 10-item questionnaire for leader attentive communication (LAC), i.e. an open-minded, attentive demeanor while in a conversation with an employee. We also find that psychological need satisfaction and Kahn’s conditions for engagement mediate the relationship between LAC and work engagement. In the second study, we devise and test a two-day training protocol to improve leader communication. Despite an interference by the pandemic in the data-collection, we find small increases in employee-rated outcomes after the training. We also find that employee-rated LAC is related to employee well-being, and that this is mediated by both psychological need satisfaction and Kahn’s conditions for engagement

Mindfulness is goed voor alles, en zeven andere mythes over mindfulness.

'De media besteden veel aandacht aan mindfulness, maar een hype heeft als schaduwzijde dat er minder kritisch gekeken wordt naar de essentie en dat er allerlei misverstanden ontstaan. Dit boek belicht een aantal van deze misverstanden. Het is een waardevolle en wetenschappelijk gedocumenteerde bijdrage die de fundamentele waarde van mindfulness niet ontkracht, maar juist verheldert.' - Frits Koster, meditatieleraar, trainer MBSR/MBCT, compassietrainer.De populariteit van mindfulness groeit, maar ook de misverstanden over deze stressreductiemethode nemen toe. Mindfulness lijkt dé sleutel te zijn tot een evenwichtig en gelukkig leven. Iedereen aan de mindfulness dus! Maar is dat wel een goed idee? Nieuw wetenschappelijk onderzoek geeft meer inzicht in de mogelijkheden, maar ook in de beperkingen van mindfulness. Dit boek zet de belangrijkste bevindingen op een rij, en brengt een kritische en heldere analyse van wat mindfulness vandaag wel en niet te bieden heeft. 'Wat doet mindfulness met je brein?' 'Werkt mindfulness bij iedereen?' 'Is mediteren gevaarlijk?' 'Moet je elke dag oefenen?' 'Maakt mindfulness een beter mens van je?'nrpages: 222status: publishe

Leadership and work engagement : exploring explanatory mechanisms

Construct proliferation in the leadership field raises questions concerning parsimony and whether we should focus on joint mechanisms of leadership styles, rather than the differences between them. In this theoretical research article, we propose that positive leadership styles translate into similar leader behaviors on the work floor that influence employee work engagement through a number of shared pathways. We take a deductive approach and review several established theories as well as relevant up-to-date empirical work from a bird's-eye view to generate a general framework. We introduce a model with three processes (one direct process and two indirect processes) and five pathways (practical, motivational, affective, cognitive, and behavioral). With regard to the indirect processes, we propose that work characteristics (material pathway) and psychological need satisfaction (intrapersonal motivational pathway) mediate the relationship between positive leadership styles and engagement. Regarding the direct interpersonal process, we propose that leaders directly influence employee engagement through three pathways: emotional contagion (affective interpersonal pathway), social exchange (cognitive interpersonal pathway), and role modeling (behavioral interpersonal pathway). Our parsimonious research model furthers the integration of different theoretical viewpoints as well as underscores joint mechanisms with regard to the effect of positive leadership styles. Practically speaking, this article also provides insight into which processes leaders can work on to stimulate employee work engagement through progressive policies and work practices

Leadership and work engagement: Exploring explanatory mechanisms

Construct proliferation in the leadership field raises questions concerning parsimony and whether we should focus on joint mechanisms of leadership styles, rather than the differences between them. In this theoretical research article, we propose that positive leadership styles translate into similar leader behaviors on the work floor that influence employee work engagement through a number of shared pathways. We take a deductive approach and review several established theories as well as relevant up-to-date empirical work from a bird’s-eye view to generate a general framework. We introduce a model with three processes (one direct process and two indirect processes) and five pathways (practical, motivational, affective, cognitive, and behavioral). With regard to the indirect processes, we propose that work characteristics (material pathway) and psychological need satisfaction (intrapersonal motivational pathway) mediate the relationship between positive leadership styles and engagement. Regarding the direct interpersonal process, we propose that leaders directly influence employee engagement through three pathways: emotional contagion (affective interpersonal pathway), social exchange (cognitive interpersonal pathway), and role modeling (behavioral interpersonal pathway). Our parsimonious research model furthers the integration of different theoretical viewpoints as well as underscores joint mechanisms with regard to the effect of positive leadership styles. Practically speaking, this article also provides insight into which processes leaders can work on to stimulate employee work engagement through progressive policies and work practices