The Role of Leaders in Designing Employees’ Work Characteristics: Validation of the Health- and Development-Promoting Leadership Behavior Questionnaire

Abstract

In this article, we draw upon the notion that employees’ work characteristics are an important pathway through which leaders influence employee well-being and propose a theoretical framework that integrates perspectives on leadership, occupational stress, and job design. Based on this integrative approach, we developed the health- and development-promoting leadership behavior questionnaire (HDLBQ) for assessing job demands emanating from and job resources provided through the leader. Validation of the measure in German, French, and English using an overall sample of 2,934 employees demonstrated adequate psychometric properties. An examination of the factorial structure revealed three higher-order factors: demanding, development-oriented, and support-oriented leadership. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis indicated structural equivalence across the three language versions of the HDLBQ. Correlations with employee well-being were moderate, and the HDLBQ explained unique variance in employee well-being beyond that explained by transformational leadership. Suggestions for applications of the HDLBQ and approaches to enhance employee well-being at the workplace are discussed.

Organizational Cronyism as an Antecedent of Ingratiation: Mediating Role of Relational Psychological Contract

“…As per the norms of positive reciprocity, if someone is doing a favor to another and fulfilling his/her expectations accordingly, reciprocally, positive behaviors and attitudes are performed in response to this favor (Peyton et al, 2019; Su et al, 2019). For instance, if the supervisor appreciates the subordinate’s actions and provides them better working opportunities with support, in response, subordinates reciprocate it with long-term commitments, respect and positive words (Vincent-Höper and Stein, 2019; Zhang et al, 2019).…”

Caring for Oneself or for Others? How Consistent and Inconsistent Profiles of Health-Oriented Leadership Are Related to Follower Strain and Health

“…So far, much of the literature in this field has focused on established leadership concepts considered generally effective or ineffective for employee motivation and performance, with leader-member exchange (Graen and Uhl-Bien, 1995) and transformational leadership (Bass and Riggio, 2006) as the most frequently studied constructs (Montano et al, 2017; Nielsen et al, 2017). However, these general concepts were mainly developed to explain performance and thus do not capture specific leadership behaviors and attitudes relevant for employee health and well-being (Vincent-Höper and Stein, 2019). In response, a growing body of literature has emerged to conceptualize domain-specific leadership in order to better understand the links to health and well-being (Gurt et al, 2011; Jiménez et al, 2017b; Vincent-Höper and Stein, 2019).…”

“…However, these general concepts were mainly developed to explain performance and thus do not capture specific leadership behaviors and attitudes relevant for employee health and well-being (Vincent-Höper and Stein, 2019). In response, a growing body of literature has emerged to conceptualize domain-specific leadership in order to better understand the links to health and well-being (Gurt et al, 2011; Jiménez et al, 2017b; Vincent-Höper and Stein, 2019).…”

Beyond Mistreatment at the Relationship Level: Abusive Supervision and Illegitimate Tasks

“…In their "root cause" framework of poor leadership, Kelloway and colleagues [9] state that poor leadership is not only stressful in and of itself but may also give rise to other occupational stressors. Since one of the core responsibilities of supervisors is to assign tasks to employees [8], it seems likely that these additional stressors arise at the task level. Consistent with this idea, Rodwell and colleagues [16] noted that abusive supervision may not only comprise "personal attacks" (e.g., displays of ridicule, rudeness, and lies) but also "task attacks" (e.g., excessive monitoring).…”

“…However, supervisory abuse may not be limited to the relatively overt hostility at the relationship level. Given that supervisors play a key role in defining work roles and assigning tasks [8], abusive supervision is likely to extend to employees' work tasks [9]. In particular, abusive supervisors may display disrespect and devaluation towards their employees through the tasks they assign to them.…”