Linking authentic leadership and employee turnover intention: the influences of sense of calling and job satisfaction

Abstract

PurposeThis research aims at examining how authentic leadership impacts social workers' withdrawal behaviors through two intermediate mechanisms: sense of calling and job satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional survey was distributed among social workers from 26 social work organizations in the cities of Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenzhen in China (N = 667). SPSS was used to conduct preliminary analyses and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses developed.FindingsThis study found that authentic leadership has a negative direct effect on social workers' turnover intention. In addition, social workers' sense of calling and job satisfaction mediate the relationship between their perceptions of authentic leader behaviors and turnover intention.Practical implicationsBased on this study's findings, the authors suggest social work organizations to invest in authentic leadership development to promote employees' psychological capacities and prevent employee turnover. Social work organizations need to foster employees' sense of calling to the field which improves the workplace outcomes.Originality/valueThis study is among those few empirical studies which help to validate the role of authentic leadership within social service organizations in China and shed light on understanding the underlying mechanisms through which authentic leaders affect organizational outcomes.

The role of sense of calling in the relationships between human resource practices, turnover intention and employee satisfaction in the hotel industry

“…The previous research (Hussien et al, 2022;Khan et al, 2021) proposes that ES and TI are also associated with effective HRP. Liu and Wong (2023) found that social workers' SOC actually acted as a suppressor variable in the link between turnover intention and leadership as one of the HR practices. Similarly, Huang et al (2022) reveal that calling had a positive moderating effect on the path of job resources and job satisfaction.…”

“…Xie et al (2017) emphasize that employees motivated by internal awards experience higher job satisfaction. On the other hand, Liu and Wong (2023) express that a greater endorsement of a calling among employees is associated with favorable work outcomes, including job satisfaction. In addition, WCT argues that employees' job satisfaction depends on having a SOC (Duffy et al, 2018).…”

“…Some studies provide empirical support for the assumption that employees' SOC is positively related to their job satisfaction. For example, Liu and Wong (2023) found the direct effect of SOC on job satisfaction through a sample of 592 social workers in China. Duffy et al (2012) revealed that perceiving a calling and living a calling were positively correlated with job satisfaction.…”