Previous research has mainly investigated the influence of the work context rather than personal factors on psychological empowerment. Building on the framework of self-determination theory, this ...study examined the mediating role of personal growth initiative (i.e., self-improvement skills) in linking learning goal orientation and developmental job experience to psychological empowerment. A three-wave longitudinal survey of nurses in a Japanese hospital (N = 365) was conducted to test the study hypotheses. Structural equation modeling and bootstrapping analyses showed that learning goal orientation directly and indirectly enhanced psychological empowerment through personal growth initiative. Developmental job experience had a direct positive influence on psychological empowerment, while there was no significant relationship between developmental job experience and personal growth initiative. This study contributes to the literature by clarifying the mechanism underlying how personal factors affect psychological empowerment after controlling for the effect of job characteristics.
•Learning goal orientation had a positive influence on psychological empowerment.•Personal growth initiative had a positive influence on psychological empowerment.•Developmental job experience had a positive influence on psychological empowerment.•Learning goal orientation indirectly enhanced psychological empowerment through personal growth initiative.•Developmental job experience had no significant influence on personal growth initiative.
PurposeAlthough learning goal orientation (LGO) has shown to promote learning and performance in employees, only a limited number of studies have explored its situational antecedents. The main ...purpose of the present research was to examine the effects of role modeling on employee LGO and proactive behavior.Design/methodology/approachA two-wave survey was conducted to collect data from medical employees (n = 478) at an acute hospital in Japan.FindingsThe results of structural equation modeling showed that role model proactive behavior promoted employee LGO, mediated through perceived role model LGO; and that perceived role model LGO enhanced employee proactive behavior, mediated through employee LGO.Research limitations/implicationsAs the sample was limited to employees in a nursing department at a Japanese hospital, the characteristics of the national culture and occupation may have potentially affected the results.Practical implicationsProactive employees can act as role models to enhance the level of employees' LGO and proactive behavior in organizations. It is imperative to develop employee role modeling to enhance LGO and proactive behavior.Originality/valueThis study may be the first to identify the influence of role modeling as an antecedent of LGO. The role model may provide employees with job resources to develop their LGO and proactive behaviors.
PurposeThis study aims to examine how perceived supervisor support for strengths use (PSSSU) directly and indirectly facilitates career satisfaction and perceived employability as mediated by ...strengths use behavior.Design/methodology/approachA two-wave questionnaire survey was administered to nurses (n = 221) and analyzed using structural equation modeling.FindingsResults indicated that PSSSU directly enhanced career satisfaction and indirectly enhanced perceived employability through strengths use behavior.Research limitations/implicationsAs the sample was limited to nurses in a Japanese hospital, it is possible that the characteristics of the national culture and occupation affected the results.Practical implicationsSupport for strengths use is important especially in stressful work environments in order to retain professional employees by enhancing their employability and career satisfaction.Originality/valueThis study extends the literature by identifying the different effects of PSSSU on the two types of career-related well-being. The present research is the first study to show the mediating role played by strengths use behavior in linking PSSSU to perceived employability.
PurposeAlthough positive psychology asserts that authenticity comes from identifying and using our strengths, no quantitative research has been conducted to test that relationship. This study aims to ...examine the mediating role of work authenticity in linking strengths use to career satisfaction and proactive behavior.Design/methodology/approachUsing a two-wave survey with nurses in two large, acute hospitals in Japan (n = 298), a structural equation model was produced.FindingsThe results show that work authenticity fully mediated between strengths use and career satisfaction, and that work authenticity partially mediated between strengths use and proactive behavior.Research limitations/implicationsAs work authenticity, career satisfaction and proactive behavior were measured at time 2, it is desirable to conduct a three-wave survey to measure these variables separately in future research.Practical implicationsIt may be imperative to recognize that employees who use their strengths are satisfied with their careers only by enhancing authenticity at work.Originality/valueThe main contribution of this study was to identify the mediating role of work authenticity in linking strengths use to both career-related well-being and proactive work behaviors.
The main goal of this study was to investigate the effects of managers' exploration activities on learning orientation, reflection, and unlearning of team members. A questionnaire survey was ...conducted among 115 employees in 23 teams from a Japanese pharmaceutical company. The results of multi-level analyses suggest that managers' exploration activities had a direct influence on team members' learning orientations, which subsequently had a positive influence on their unlearning, with and without the mediation of reflection. These findings suggest that a subordinate's unlearning is driven by managers' activities through motivational and cognitive processes. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
Although individual unlearning is believed to play a critical role in promoting higher-order learning, there has been little quantitative research on this process. This article aimed to investigate ...the antecedents and consequences of individual unlearning based on transformative learning theory. A survey was conducted among 301 employees working in various occupations and organizations in the United States. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that unlearning mediated the relationship between critical reflection and work engagement and that critical reflection mediated reflection and unlearning. This study contributes to the literature by quantitatively demonstrating the direct and indirect influences of critical reflection on work engagement through individual unlearning, which has been discussed only conceptually and qualitatively in the extant transformative learning literature.
Although strengths use has been found to promote employee wellbeing and performance, only a limited range of research has investigated its personal antecedents. Based on positive psychology, the ...present study examined the roles of mindfulness and perceived supervisor support in enhancing strengths use and work engagement. The study focused on two three-wave longitudinal surveys of nurses in Japanese hospitals (
n
= 459;
n
= 248). The results of structural equation modeling indicated that mindfulness had a full indirect effect on work engagement mediated through strengths use in both surveys. The results also show that, in both studies, perceived supervisor support for strengths use had direct and indirect effects on work engagement mediated through strengths use. However, the effect of perceived supervisor support for strengths use on mindfulness was significant in Study 1, but not in Study 2. This study contributes to positive psychology research by identifying the indirect effects of mindfulness on enhancing work engagement as mediated through strengths use.
Although considerable research has explored the antecedents of psychological empowerment, few studies have examined the combined effects of personal factors and task characteristics. Building on ...self‐determination theory, this study examines the relative and interactive effects of developmental job experience, learning goal orientation and authenticity on psychological empowerment, using a longitudinal survey of 260 nurses in Japanese hospitals. Results suggest that developmental job experience and authenticity have positive effects on psychological empowerment, yet learning goal orientation has no significant direct influence on psychological empowerment. There was a positive interaction effect for developmental job experience and learning goal orientation on psychological empowerment, while there was a negative interaction effect for authenticity and learning goal orientation in predicting psychological empowerment. The main contribution of this study to the literature is to identify the separate and combined influences of the personal factors and task characteristics on psychological empowerment.Keywords:
Key points
Organizations should assign employees developmental tasks to enhance their psychological empowerment.
Learning goal orientation positively influences psychological empowerment when combined with developmental tasks.
Organizations can improve employees’ psychological empowerment by enhancing their authenticity.
When employees’ authenticity is low, learning goals can facilitate psychological empowerment.
Previous research has investigated the effects of socio‐organizational factors on psychological empowerment (PE), whereas only a limited number of studies have examined the influence of individual ...characteristics on PE. Drawing on self‐determination theory and social capital theory, this study hypothesized that personal growth initiative (PGI), a set of skills that facilitate self‐change, has an indirect and positive influence on PE as mediated by three types of job crafting. The results of a two‐wave longitudinal survey of 320 employees in the US indicate that PGI had an indirect positive influence on PE that was mediated by the following: (a) increasing structural job resources; (b) increasing challenging job demands; and (c) increasing social job resources, which subsequently leads to increasing challenging job demands. These findings contribute to the existing literature by elucidating the importance of self‐initiated change processes at work.
This study examines how middle managers support their employees' strengths use via three sequential analyses. In Study 1, an open‐ended questionnaire survey of high‐performing middle managers at a ...global manufacturer in Japan (n = 144) was conducted to collect comments on strengths use support (SUS). The grounded theory approach was used to generate four categories of SUS, and a quantitative questionnaire was developed based on the analysis. In Study 2, three dimensions of SUS (understanding employees' strengths and interests, developing strengths through challenging assignments, and supporting the accomplishment) were identified by exploratory factor analyses using the questionnaire survey data of middle managers in Japanese firms (n = 208). Study 3 examined the validity and reliability of the three‐dimensional model using confirmatory factor analysis of the questionnaire survey data of middle managers in Japanese firms (n = 209).
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