Leadership is increasingly becoming a major research focus in both the corporate and higher education sector (HES). Previous studies have shown that different leadership styles play a significant role in promoting both employee wellbeing and organizational outcomes. However, at present there is a lack of clear understanding of how leadership style, employee wellbeing and organizational outcomes such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover intention concurrently interact in the HES context, particularly within Australian regional university settings.

PurposeThis article aims to understand the underlying mechanisms through which transformational leadership influences employee job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Specifically, the study explores the mediation role of employee well-being on the relationships between leadership and both employee job satisfaction and turnover intentions.Design/methodology/approachEmploying a quantitative research method, data were collected from 280 academics and professional staff from an Australian regional university. The Mplus software was used for data analysis.FindingsThe results showed that transformational leadership had significant positive impact on employee well-being and job satisfaction while it alleviated employee turnover intentions. Furthermore, employee well-being mediated the effect of transformational leadership on employee job satisfaction and turnover intentions.Research limitations/implicationsThe research was cross-sectional, and data were collected from a convenient sample and therefore minimises our ability to generalise the findings to other contexts.Practical implicationsEffective leadership, employee well-being, job satisfaction and employee turnover are of strategic importance in the higher education sector in Australia and internationally. These findings will therefore provide a basis for university policy makers to craft relevant policies that promote effective leader behaviours and enhance employee well-being as they facilitate employee job satisfaction and minimise turnover intentions among higher education sector employees (i.e. academics and professional staff).Originality/valueOur study provides a unique contribution to knowledge as it explains the mediation effect of employee well-being on the relation between transformational leadership a, job satisfaction and turnover intentions.

There is some debate whether job strain or working hours is more prominent in explaining work–family conflict. We tested a multi‐group structural equation model and the results suggested the model was equally applicable to academic and administrative staff employed at an Australian regional university. After controlling for demographic and work‐related factors the main predictors of work–family conflict were: job strain, total work hours, job satisfaction, employment as an academic and having dependent children. Social support was negatively related with work–family conflict but the association was not significant. Despite greater job control, academics reported greater job strain and work hours. The results suggest that strategies aimed at decreasing job strain and work hours may reduce the extent of work–family conflict.

Purpose This paper aims to integrate the extant literature on the impact of positive leadership on organisational outcomes within the Australian not-for-profit (NFP) organisations, identifies existing gaps in the literature and proposes a framework capturing feasible pathways for future research on positive leadership in NFP organisations. Design/methodology/approach This is a systematic review of the existing literature on positive leadership and external/environmental factors and organisational values as applied to Australian NFP organisations mainly based on journal articles. Findings This paper proposes a plausible conceptual framework postulating how Australian NFP organisations could attain superior performance outcomes when there is a perfect alignment between positive forms of leadership, external/environmental factors and organisational values. We explain the conceptual framework through testable research propositions explaining interrelationships between positive leadership, external/environmental factors, organisational values and organisational performance. Research limitations/implications The review focused on two positive forms of leadership (i.e. transformational and servant) and could benefit by including other closely related leadership styles and behaviours (like authentic and ethical leadership). In addition to the positivist paradigm and quantitative approach adopted by this paper, interpretative and critical paradigms and related qualitative approaches may also lend themselves well to exposing pertinent issues and relationships that have not been imagined before in the under-researched NFP sector. Practical implications Leaders within NFP organisations need to understand when and how to align positive forms of leadership, external/environmental factors and organisational values to maximise limited resources available to Australian NFP organisations. Originality/value This systematic review adds to the limited literature exploring the impact of positive forms of leadership within Australian NFP organisations. The proposed framework offers unique insights into the relationships between positive forms of leadership, external/environmental factors, organisational values and organisational performance.

This article identifies leadership attributes that enable effective leaders to manage crises. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with 13 Australian political leaders, including senators, members of federal and state parliament, premiers, ministers, and mayors of local governments. The findings suggest that, to be an effective leader during a crisis, political leaders need to be: visionary; courageous; calm; inspirational; ethical; empathetic; authentic; and resilient. Single leadership theories do not capture all the attributes necessary to lead during a crisis, suggesting the importance of different, complementary theories. The findings clarify what it takes for politicians to lead during a global crisis, like COVID-19. Furthermore, they provide a foundation to enable constituents to gauge their political leaders’ leadership capacities. Despite extensive research on what it takes to lead, little is known about political leadership during a crisis. The study unveils the key attributes that are essential for political leaders to navigate a crisis, like the COVID-19 pandemic.