Leading with a cool head and a warm heart: trait-based leadership resources linked to task performance, perceived stress, and work engagement

Abstract

Leaders of today need to achieve well in terms of task performance, perceiving low stress, and having high levels of work engagement. One may ask whether trait-based leadership resource factors can be identified and how such resource factors might relate to task performance, perceived stress, and work engagement. Our aim was to test the hypothesis, derived from Hobfoll’s motivational Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, that there are trait-based leadership resource factors, which are differentially correlated to the leaders’ task performance, perceived stress, and work engagement. Leaders (N = 344) aged from 23 to 65 years (M = 49, SD = 8.6; 58% women) completed an online questionnaire including measures of task performance, perceived stress, work engagement, personality traits, trait emotional intelligence, empathy, performance-related self-esteem, compassionate and rational leadership competence, and coping resources for stress. Using exploratory factor analysis, we identified four trait-based leadership resource factors. With Bonferroni adjustment, and controlling for sex, age, number of years in the current managerial position, self-deceptive enhancement, and impression management, only Rational Mastery was significantly positively correlated with task performance. Rational Mastery, Efficient Coping, and Modesty were negatively correlated with perceived stress, and all factors except Modesty, but including the fourth (Good-Heartedness) were positively correlated with work engagement. Organizations striving for sustainable work conditions should support trait-based leadership, which depends not only on a task-oriented resource such as rational mastery, but also on human-oriented resources such as efficient coping, modesty, and good-heartedness, all of them being differentially related to task performance, perceived stress, and work engagement.

Leadership personality at work: The Big Five linking work engagement and performance.

“…Trait agreeableness, the tendency to cooperate, is helpful in building relations at work and may support coping resources, especially in leadership matters (Blake et al, 2022;Dåderman et al, 2023). Openness usually has the lowest effects in work-related outcomes.…”

“…This is followed by the temperament traits, neuroticism, the tendency for negative thoughts and feelings, and extraversion, the tendency for social and assertive behaviors. Trait agreeableness, the tendency to cooperate, is helpful in building relations at work and may support coping resources, especially in leadership matters (Blake et al, 2022; Dåderman et al, 2023). Openness usually has the lowest effects in work-related outcomes.…”

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“…Conscientiousness can be understood as a cognitive trait that manifests in an individual's ability to exhibit organization, consistency, reliability, and impulse control (Gkintoni et al, 2021b). The HEXACO personality assessment tool incorporates an additional trait known as honesty-humility, which encompasses the qualities of fairness, honesty, and humility (Dåderman et al, 2022). Simultaneously, the High Potential Trait Inventory (HPTI) incorporates the four primary dimensions of the "Big Five" personality traits, namely openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism, alongside two additional factors: tolerance of ambiguity, which pertains to the cognitive processing of novel experiences, and risk approach or courage, which refers to the capacity to confront or mitigate negative or aggressive emotions (Cuppello et al, 2023).…”

“…In contrast, vulnerable narcissism is characterized by a proclivity towards heightened sensitivity and anxiety, coupled with diminished self-regard, depressive tendencies, anxious disposition, and a notable disregard for the well-being of others (Gkintoni & Ortiz, 2023;Gkintoni et al, 2022a). According to Dåderman et al (2022), there are notable distinctions between a vulnerable narcissist and a bigot regarding their tendencies to engage in bragging behavior. Although narcissism is often associated with negative connotations, its components are linked to constructive behaviors and elevated selfconfidence, self-esteem, and social acceptance.…”

Opinion: Three leadership roles seen in future leaders

“…The cognitive ability in doing a job well is not enough to be capable of leading others (De Jong, 2010; Goffin, 2020; Engin, 2021; Dåderman et al, 2022). Your promotion to a leadership position does not in any way mean that you become a leader.…”