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PurposeSeeks to understand how differences in national cultures impact on the understanding and meaning of the concept of self‐leadership and its application.Design/methodology/approachFirst, research at the intersection of culture and leadership and Hofstede's culture framework are reviewed. Then the main components of self‐leadership theory are introduced, and how Hofstede's framework can be used to re‐analyze them given differences across cultures is discussed.FindingsWhile self‐leadership remains, in general, a valid concept, its understanding and application is likely to differ across cultures. Specifically, high power distance raises the importance of the symbolic value of tasks and correspondent covert processes of self‐leadership, high uncertainty avoidance makes more explicit the importance of non‐rational and intuition‐based thought processes, collectivism shows the relevance of social relations, femininity reiterates the importance of social relations and non‐rational processes, and long‐term orientation introduces the importance of making time an explicit element.Research limitations/implicationsThere is a need for further research on self‐leadership that investigates the roles of social and cultural relations, communication and language, multilevel interdependencies, and ethics. Empirically there is need for developing a self‐leadership instrument that is relevant and applicable across cultures.Practical implicationsThis paper should facilitate appreciation of a contingency perspective of self‐leadership that requires different modes of application across cultures.Originality/valueThis paper helps fill a gap in the self‐leadership literature. In particular, it can facilitate greater understanding of this concept in cultures other than the USA, where it originated.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the connections between employee engagement, positive organizational psychology and an individual’s ability to adapt to ongoing organizational change. Design/methodology/approach The literature on individual adaptability, positive organizational psychology and employee engagement is reviewed. A model that suggests that a positive work culture enhances employee engagement and in specific cases leads to increased adaptability is developed. Findings While organizational engagement will have a positive effect on the individual’s ability to adapt to changes, job engagement will have the opposite effect, uncovering potential obstacles to change management in organizations. Research limitations/implications Suggestions for future research are provided with the intent to further academic research in this area. This model can serve as a starting point for future research design and can be tested in organizations undergoing various changes. Practical implications A positive culture fosters both job and organizational engagement within an organization. Managers can understand how to cultivate a positive, engaged environment for employees while understanding how certain job changes might have both positive and negative effects on an individual’s ability to adapt. Originality/value A model for identifying relationships between positive organizational behaviors, two types of employee engagement (organizational engagement and job engagement) and an individual’s ability to adapt to change is helpful to researchers and practitioners alike.

Service organizations are uniquely subject to the effects of emotional labor. To address these impacts, we examine workplace spirituality (WPS) as a valuable resource within the emotional labor context of service organizations and propose an integrative model that encompasses the effects of WPS on employees, customers, and the organization. We posit that organizations that possess the WPS values of respect, humanism, and integrity, and an ethical organizational climate can buffer the negative effects of emotional labor through increased employee satisfaction and organizational commitment. Similarly, we propose that WPS can positively influence customer satisfaction and loyalty and also organizational performance and sustainability directly through its WPS values and ethical climate, and indirectly through employee satisfaction and commitment and customer satisfaction and loyalty. Our conceptual integrative model provides testable propositions related to WPS within the emotional labor context of service organizations. Implications for theory and practice are outlined.

This study addresses the role of career growth in the turnover process among Chinese new employees. Based on reviews of the background of Chinese new employee combined with the Theory of Work Adjustment, we focus on career growth, person–organization fit (P-O fit), and job satisfaction as potential predictors. We examined career growth’s mediating effect between P-O fit and job satisfaction and its role in predicting turnover intention. Questionnaires were sent out through e-mail to Chinese new employees graduated within the past 3 years. Results of 323 valid cases showed that (1) career growth was positively correlated to job satisfaction and negatively correlated to turnover intention, (2) job satisfaction fully mediated career growth’s effect on turnover intention, (3) P-O fit positively predicted career growth, (4) career growth fully mediated P-O fit’s effect on job satisfaction, (5) P-O fit, career growth, and job satisfaction jointly explained 40% of the turnover intention’s total variance. Implications for individuals and organizations are discussed.

Research suggests a positive link between critical thinking and creativity. However, this relationship has not been measured in an empirical study. This study aims to explore whether critical thinking can serve to enhance creativity and whether creativity positively mediates the relationship between critical thinking and business performance. In this study, we analyse these relationships within the entrepreneurial context of a web‐based business start‐up simulation. We examined data from 26 teams of three to four senior business students and found partial support for our hypotheses. Critical thinking positively influenced creativity, measured as the total number of unique product designs. Creativity (unique product designs) also positively mediated the link between critical thinking and performance. This effect, however, did not exist when creativity was assessed through advertisement designs. This research contributes to entrepreneurship and innovation management by demonstrating the importance of critical thinking as a basis for creativity and testing this relationship in a business start‐up simulation context.

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