Sustaining employees' work engagement remains a critical challenge for contemporary organizations, particularly in contexts marked by increasing complexity and changing job demands. Despite extensive attention to engagement, less is known about how leadership behaviors contribute to engagement through employees' perceptions of it with their organization. Drawing on fit theory, the present study examines the relationship between leadership behaviors and work engagement, focusing on the role of person-organization fit. To this end, the current paper presents a theoretical model positing value congruence (a core element of person-organization fit) as a key factor in mediating the positive relationship between the perceptions of leadership behaviors and work engagement. To test this assertion, a two-wave study using a final sample of 143 employees from a food industry company was designed. Results from structural equation modelling (SEM) supported the hypothesized model, such that, over time, the perceptions of leadership behaviors were associated with higher value congruence, which, in turn, was associated with higher work engagement. In addition, value congruence fully mediated the relationship between the perceptions of leadership behaviors and work engagement, even after controlling for the effect of gender, age, and organizational tenure. Practical implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

Burnout is increasingly seen as a socially shaped phenomenon, with symptoms circulating among team members through interpersonal interactions and straining the team as a whole. However, we still know little about how collective and individual burnout experiences are constructed in socially stressful team environments and how teams can protect themselves from these effects. The present study integrates threat regulation and social allostatic load theories to investigate whether intra-team conflicts increase the prevalence of team burnout and, in turn, contribute to individual team members' exhaustion. In addition, we hypothesized that team co-regulation strategies, defined as interpersonal processes (i.e., conflict management, emotion management, and confidence building), could alleviate the unfavorable effects of intra-team conflict on team burnout prevalence and subsequent individual exhaustion. We collected data from 357 employees working in 63 teams. The results of multilevel modeling analyses showed that intra-team conflict was positively related to team member exhaustion through burnout prevalence at the individual and team levels. As hypothesized, teams could effectively mitigate this process. Specifically, the results showed that when teams actively engaged in conflict management, emotion management, and confidence-building strategies, the indirect relationship between intra-team conflicts and individual exhaustion (explained by burnout prevalence) was significantly weakened at the team level. By contrast, the cross-level interaction effects were not significant. This study adds novel insights into how burnout prevalence shapes individual exhaustion responses to conflict, depending on the use of team co-regulation strategies. Moreover, our results inform targeted interventions to strengthen such strategies and promote both team functioning and well-being.

PurposeThis study aims to identify distinct profiles based on individual perceptions of the social drivers of inclusive workplaces and examine how these profiles relate to well-being and work-related outcomes.Design/methodology/approachA survey was conducted with 1,250 employees, assessing their perceptions of inclusive behaviors from colleagues, supervisors and top management. Measures included affective commitment, well-being, person-organization fit and interpersonal strain at work (ISW). A latent profile analysis was conducted to identify distinct inclusion profiles.FindingsFive distinct profiles emerged: Uncaring social drivers, Team inclusion, Balanced inclusion, Marginal inclusion and Spontaneous peer inclusion. Each profile reflects varying levels of inclusion from different organizational actors. Employees in the Spontaneous peer inclusion profile reported the highest affective commitment and well-being levels, alongside the lowest ISW. Those in the Balanced Inclusion profile exhibited the strongest person-organization fit, while employees in the Uncaring social drivers profile experienced the poorest outcomes across all dimensions.Practical implicationsCompanies can implement targeted interventions tailored to the unique needs of employees based on their inclusion profiles. Organizations should prioritize fostering inclusive peer relationships through team-building activities while ensuring alignment of inclusive practices across colleagues, supervisors and top management. This can be achieved by providing leadership training on inclusive behaviors, setting clear diversity goals and incorporating inclusion into daily interactions and strategic decisions.Originality/valueThis is the first empirical study to employ a person-centered approach to identify distinct profiles of perceived workplace inclusion and to explore their relationships with health and organizational outcomes.

Organizations are questioning the effectiveness of one-size-fits-all leadership approaches in managing and developing employees. This article proposes that leaders can support employees in crafting their work experience. By integrating the behavioral domains conducive to job crafting, the Michelangelo model and the leadership for organizational adaptability framework, we introduce the crafting leadership model—a behavioral style where leaders adapt their behaviors to employees’ characteristics to co-construct their fit at work and foster the development of both people and organizations—providing a conceptual foundation for identifying its key behavioral facets and highlighting its unique value compared to existing leadership styles. We developed and validated a questionnaire using structural equation modeling. In Study 1 (N = 2137) and Study 2 (N = 1507), the questionnaire was tested for factor structure, reliability, discriminant, and predictive validity. The results supported a higher-order structure of crafting leadership, underlying three distinct behavioral facets: tailoring, person–organization alignment, and catalyst. Results revealed that crafting leadership (a) was distinct from strength-based, servant, and transformational leadership and (b) correlated with and explained additional variance in employee outcomes, namely needs–supplies fit, meaningful work, job-crafting behaviors, work engagement, and turnover intentions. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Purpose Team-based work is increasing within organizations nowadays. Despite calls for differentiation between individual and team levels of analysis, research on leadership effects at multiple levels is still limited. By integrating the Conservation of Resources and Social Cognitive theories, this paper aims to analyze the relationships between coaching leadership, team collective efficacy and individual exhaustion via multilevel modeling. Design/methodology/approach This paper opted for an exploratory study testing a 2-2-1 multilevel mediational model, positing team collective efficacy as a key factor in mediating the relationship between coaching leadership at the team level and exhaustion at the individual level. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 311 employees, nested in 72 teams (Msize = 5.70, SDsize = 2.82 team members) of a large Italian company that provides financial services. Findings Results supported the positive association between coaching leadership and team collective efficacy, which, in turn, was negatively associated with team members’ average score in exhaustion and fully mediated the effect of coaching leadership on exhaustion, even controlling for team design features (i.e. task interdependence and team virtuality). The association between coaching leadership and exhaustion was only indirect, explained by team collective efficacy. Research limitations/implications Because of the self-report nature of the measures and the cross-sectional nature of the data, this research results might raise problems of variance in common methods and not allow causal conclusions to be drawn. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further. Practical implications This paper includes several practical implications for enhancing group efficacy beliefs, which have an impact on individual well-being within the team. Originality/value This paper addresses the lack of empirical findings on the multilevel nature of the relationship between coaching-based leadership, collective team effectiveness and individual exhaustion.

As the global workforce ages and multiple generations collaborate in workplaces, addressing the unique needs of diverse age groups becomes critical. Grounded in Social Cognitive Theory, this study examines how regulatory emotional self-efficacy in managing negative emotions serves as a crucial personal resource in protecting against interpersonal strain. It also explores whether this relationship varies between middle-aged and senior employees. Age-related improvements in emotional self-efficacy highlight its significance in shaping perceptions of workplace inclusivity, defined by the inclusive behaviors of social drivers: colleagues, supervisors, and top management. A total of 1068 employees from a leading European telecommunication organization completed online questionnaires measuring regulatory emotional self-efficacy, social drivers of inclusive workplaces, and interpersonal strain. Mediation analyses revealed that regulatory emotional self-efficacy is positively associated with perceptions of inclusive social drivers, which, in turn, are negatively related to interpersonal strain. Multi-group analyses demonstrated that the protective effects of regulatory emotional self-efficacy differ by age. While inclusive colleagues mediate the relationship across all age groups, inclusive top management is particularly significant for employees aged 45–54. These findings deepen the understanding of age-specific dynamics in fostering workplace inclusion and underscore the necessity of tailored organizational strategies to support employee well-being across the lifespan.

Most contributions within the Job Demands-Resources model framework have focused on health impairment. At the same time, few studies have thoroughly examined the determinants of social impairment, defined as difficulty in establishing or maintaining healthy and functional social relationships, namely interpersonal strain at work. This study, conducted with 357 healthcare professionals, aims to test the role of emotional exhaustion in translating workload into interpersonal strain at work. Additionally, it explores the moderating role of regulatory emotional self-efficacy, defined as the ability to regulate negative emotions, in the relationship between workload and emotional exhaustion. Our findings confirm the hypothesized moderated mediation model, demonstrating that, specifically within highly demanding healthcare contexts, emotional regulation is a crucial personal resource professionals can rely on to protect them from emotional exhaustion and subsequent social isolation as a maladaptive coping strategy. Theoretical implications for the Job Demands-Resources model, practical implications, and study limitations are discussed.

To handle the challenges and uncertainties of the actual labor market, the concept of employability becomes increasingly relevant, especially for graduates facing the transition from university to work. Graduate employability is a complex concept comprising different dimensions that may trigger effective job search and career management. This study introduces a new multifaceted tool, labeled the Orientamentis Questionnaire, to assess graduate employability from an agentic perspective, testing its psychometric properties. The Orientamentis questionnaire measures 14 dimensions merged into four 4 areas, namely graduate psychological capital, graduate agentic capabilities, graduate career perspective, and graduate proactive strategies. The tool was administered to a sample of 1238 graduate students (66% females) examining its factorial structure and reliability. To test its criterion validity, associations with three occupational outcomes collected one year later were explored on a subsample of 273 participants (66% females). Results attested the factorial structure of the Orientamentis questionnaire and the reliability of all dimensions. Moreover, the four areas and most of the dimensions were differently related to at least one subsequent occupational outcome. The Orientamentis Questionnaire represents a sound and reliable tool providing a multifaceted profile of graduate employability strengths and weaknesses, that could be used in academic placement programs to foster graduates’ self-awareness and proactive job search.

The present study examined the longitudinal relations among work self-efficacy beliefs, job performance and career success, defined as objective career advancements. We argued that job performance would mediate both the influence of worker's self-efficacy beliefs on career success and the influence of career success on subsequent self-efficacy beliefs. The participants were 976 employees of one of the largest companies in Italy, assessed at three time points (i.e., Waves 1, 2 and 3), spaced apart by 3 years. Job performance significantly mediated the relationship between self-efficacy beliefs and subsequent career success as well as the reverse influence of career success on subsequent self-efficacy beliefs. The posited conceptual model explained a significant portion of the variance in all endogenous variables and has implications for interventions intended to promote the development of individuals within organisations.

This study questions whether interpersonal strain at work (i.e., a measure of disengagement and withdrawal from others) is an outcome of burnout rather than a core facet of the syndrome by adopting the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT) framework (Schaufeli et al., 2020). The BAT distinguishes between core (i.e., exhaustion, mental distance, emotional and cognitive impairment) and secondary symptoms. In doing so, the study conceptualizes a process in which individual differences in one's beliefs about nurturing and capitalizing from social relationships in the workplace (i.e., social self-efficacy) and the burnout symptom of emotional impairment (i.e., deterioration of self-regulatory control on negative emotions) operate in concert in determining interpersonal strain. To test our predictions, a two-wave study using a sample of 346 white collar workers from a government agency was designed. Results revealed that, among the core burnout symptoms, emotional impairment predicted unique variance in interpersonal strain at work after two years. Furthermore, social self-efficacy beliefs were associated with a significant decrease in emotional impairment, which, in turn, mediated the longitudinal relation between social self-efficacy and interpersonal strain. Theoretical and practical implications of our results, as well as the limitations of our study, are discussed.

Human attention is naturally directed where others are looking. Primate research indicates that this phenomenon is influenced by the social rank of the gazer. Whether this applies to human societies remains underexplored. Diverging from the typical approach based on transient social rank manipulations in convenience samples, we tested low- and high-rank individuals permanently working in a large-scale organization. Participants executed saccades toward positions matching or not the gaze direction of distractor faces varying in dominance level (low, neutral, and high). The analysis of saccadic reaction time revealed that high-rank participants were more interfered by face distractors, regardless of dominance. Our results suggest that an important feature of leadership is related to the fine-tuning of social attention. These findings not only contribute to understanding how hierarchical rank shapes social cognition but also have implications for organizational behavior and leadership training strategies.

PurposeDrawing on Shore and colleagues' model of inclusive workplaces (2018) and the perceptions of social context framework (Borgogni et al., 2010), this study aims to develop and provide a preliminary validation of the Social Drivers of Inclusive Workplaces (SDIW) scale.Design/methodology/approachUsing inductive and deductive approaches, items were developed. The resulting pool of 28 items was administrated to 1,244 employees using an anonymous online survey. The factor structure of the SDIW scale was tested through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Reliabilities were estimated. Alternative models were tested through CFAs. Nomological validity and measurement invariance across gender were explored.FindingsThe EFA revealed a three-factor structure, including inclusive colleagues, supervisors and top management. This solution was confirmed by the CFA and outperformed all alternative models, showing good reliabilities. Measurement invariance across gender was confirmed. Correlations indicated that the SDIW total score and each dimension were positively associated with belongingness needs satisfaction and affective commitment, while negatively related to interpersonal strain, negative acts and turnover intention.Practical implicationsThis study provides practitioners with a reliable tool to map social drivers of inclusion within workplaces in order to design tailored interventions.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the inclusion literature, as it is the first to provide a scale that simultaneously measures employees' perceptions of inclusive behaviours enacted by the three main social actors within the workplace.

Inspired by the Conservation of Resource theory (Hobfoll, 1989), this study investigated the role of a broad set of personal vulnerabilities, social, and work-related stressors and resources as predictors of workers’ well-being during the COVID-19 outbreak. Participants were 594 workers in Italy. Results showed that personality predispostions, such as positivity, neuroticism and conscientiousness as well as key aspects of the individuals’ relationship with their work (such as job insecurity, type of employment contract or trust in the organization) emerged as factors promoting (or hampering) workers’ adjustment during the COVID -19 outbreak. Interactions between stressors and resources were also found and discussed.

PurposeBy integrating the conservation of resources and the emotion-as-social-information theories, this study aims to question whether the leader's effort to calm down when team members perceive intra-team conflict (ITC) may have a counterproductive effect on their interpersonal functioning. Specifically, the authors investigated whether team members with higher individual perceptions of ITC would be more likely to experience interpersonal strain (ISW) when their team leaders downregulate or suppress their emotional responses (i.e. high interpersonal modulation of emotional responses [MER]). A further objective of the study was to examine whether this exacerbating effect would be conditional on the leader's sex.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 236 white collars nested in 48 teams (Msize = 6.23; SDsize = 2.69) and their respective team leaders (56.7% men) of a large organization providing financial services.FindingsMultilevel model results showed that team members confronted with higher ITC experienced higher ISW levels, especially when the leader's interpersonal modulation of team members' emotional responses was high (vs low). This effect was stronger when the interpersonal modulation was enacted by women (vs men) team leaders.Originality/valueThis study moves an important step forward in the conflict and ISW literature, as it is the first to identify a leader's MER and sex as key boundary conditions under which ITC is related to team members' ISW. The implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.

Emotions play a vital role within organizations, impacting various crucial aspects of work such as job satisfaction, performance, and employee well-being. Understanding how emotional states spread in organizational settings is therefore essential. Recent studies have highlighted that a leader’s emotional state can influence their followers, with significant consequences on job performance. Leaders thus possess the ability to influence their employees’ psychological state and, consequently, their well-being. However, the biological underpinnings of emotional contagion from leaders to followers remain unexplored. The field of interpersonal (neuro)physiology, which involves recording brain and peripheral activity of multiple individuals during interactions, holds great potential for investigating this phenomenon. Analyzing the time-lagged synchronization of neurophysiological activity during interactions may serve as a measure of the leader’s influence on their followers in organizational contexts. In this “mini review,” we examine empirical studies that have employed interpersonal (neuro)physiology to quantify the asymmetrical contagion of emotions in different contexts. Asymmetrical contagion was operationalized as the unidirectional influence exerted by one individual (i.e., the “sender”) to another one (i.e., the “receiver”), whereby the receiver’s state can be predicted by the sender’s one. The reviewed literature reveals that delayed synchronization of physiological states is a widespread phenomenon that may underpin the transmission of emotions. These findings have significant implications for various aspects of organizational life, including leader-to-employee communication, and could drive the development of effective leadership training programs. We propose that Organizational Neuroscience may benefit from including interpersonal neurophysiology in its methodological toolkit for laboratory and field studies of leader-follower dynamics.

Introduction. - In the current social context, organizations need to deal with an increasingly heterogeneous workforce. It is therefore necessary to develop measures capable of detecting dynamics of diversity and inclusion in organizations. Objective and method. - This study introduces a new scale, namely the Organizational Diversity and Inclusion Scale (ODIS), which consists of 61 items measuring perceived discrimination, inclusive and discriminatory attitudes toward minority social groups (women, physical/sensory disability, youth workers, seniors, workers of different races and ethnicities, LGBT) and perceptions of diversity management (policy, compliance and structures) in the organizational context. One thousand seven hundred and eighty-four respondents, from both public and private Italian organizations filled in the self-report questionnaire. Results. - Accordingly, an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated a sixteen-factor structure. Criterion and construct validity were tested through correlation analyses with other scales (affective commitment, job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and mobbing at work) and similar measures (Diversity Climate Scale). Results suggest that the ODIS can be reliably used to measure organizational perceptions of diversity and inclusion in a multilevel perspective. Conclusion. - Findings suggest the importance of using ODIS for multilevel and multidimensional surveys in order to plan and apply actions and interventions, especially among managers. (c) 2024 Les Auteurs. Publie par Elsevier Masson SAS. Cet article est publie en Open Access sous licence

Introduction. - The Perception of Social Context refers to the perceptions that workers have of (1) the immediate supervisor, (2) the colleagues, and (3) top management of their organization. Objective. - The purpose of the present paper is to introduce the Perceptions of Social Context (PoSC) scale, an instrument for assessing workers' perception of their social context.Method. - We used three studies (N total = 960) to test the internal, external, convergent, and predictive validity of the PoSC, as well as its reliability.Results. - In Study 1, the hypothesized three-factor structure was empirically tested and supported by means of exploratory structural equation modeling. Study 2 provided further support for the factorial structure of the scale and evidence for its convergent and external validity in relation to important orga-nizational variables. Study 3 provided evidence for the predictive validity with respect to job satisfaction and performance.Conclusion. - Established validity allows the PoSC scale to be used to specifically detect behaviors enacted by key social constituents and thus to plan specific and therefore more effective interventions.(c) 2022 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

This study examines the predictive value of conflict and conflict-related variations in negative emotion dynamics, with respect to three cortisol indicators (cortisol awakening responses; overall cortisol output; diurnal cortisol slopes). A total of 166 workers provided momentary reports on conflict(s) with colleagues and negative emotions 10 times a day for 2 workdays and salivary cortisol samples 5 times a day. The results of latent growth curve piecewise multilevel models revealed that the occurrence of a conflict and the number of conflicts introduced significant variations in specific cortisol parameters indicating greater cortisol levels throughout the day. Moreover, the conflict-elicited negative emotion boost predicted a lower reduction of cortisol levels from morning to evening. Last, the postconflict decline in negative emotions was negatively associated with overall cortisol production. This study contributes to establishing a potential association between naturally occurring episodic conflicts at work and daily cortisol patterns, identifying within-person fluctuations in negative emotions as psychological mechanisms through which this occurs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

This study explored the association between irrational beliefs—i.e., rigid, unrealistic, and illogical convictions that people hold—and well-being at work. In detail, we tested whether secondary irrational beliefs (i.e., self-depreciation, low frustration tolerance, and awfulizing) displayed both common and unique associations with well-being. Furthermore, we investigated whether the perceived degree of performance expectations’ fulfillment mediate such associations. Data were collected on a sample of 3576 employees from companies providing business and consulting services. Results showed that the general irrationality factor and awfulizing were negatively associated with well-being, both directly and indirectly (via a lower degree of performance expectations’ fulfillment). Low frustration tolerance was positively related with the performance expectations’ fulfillment, which, in turn, fully mediated its association with well-being. Self-depreciation did not relate to our outcomes. The study contributes to the advancement of irrational beliefs literature as it is the first to disentangle the common and unique associations they have with well-being at work and identified the perceived fulfillment of performance expectations as a relevant mediating mechanism in the workplace. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.