Leader personality and workgroup wellbeing

1
Leader personality and workgroup well-being

• Ivan Robertson
• Robertson Cooper Ltd Leeds University
• Jill Flint-Taylor
• Robertson Cooper Ltd
• Gerard Hodgkinson Mark Healey
• Leeds University

2
Sickness-absence (Psychological health-related)
CIPD 2007 Increase 40 Decrease 9
3
Management leadership

• Quality of relationship with manager predicts
  employee turnover (Griffeth et al., 2000
  meta-analysis)
• Management/leadership behaviour related
  toBurnoutHealth complaintsPsychiatric
  disturbancethis provides additional evidence
  that supervisor behaviour can affect employee
  well-being and suggests that those seeking to
  create healthier workplaces should not neglect
  supervision. (Gilbreath and Benson, 2004)

4
Management leadership
Leader
Leadership Impact Report
(Derived from personality scores)
N (Leaders)76 Total N800
Workgroup
ASSET Audit
(Survey questionnaire)
5
Leader personality measures (Five Factor Model)

• Opennessintellectually curious, open to new
  activities, prefer variety and novelty, fantasy
  imagination
• Conscientiousnessdependable, prudent,
  methodical, achievement striving
• Extraversiongregarious, active, assertive,
  positive emotions
• Agreeablenesssympathetic to others, cooperative,
  trusting
• Neuroticismemotionally unstable, anxious,
  irritable, depressed
• NEO-PI-R

6
Workgroup measures

• (ASSET) Workplace factors
• Resources Communication
• Control and autonomy
• Work Relationships
• Work Life Balance
• Work Overload
• Faragher, Cooper Cartwright (2004)

• Psychological well-being (PWB
• Organisational Commitment

7
Workgroup measures

• Positive Psychological Well-being (Emotional
  component)
• For the terms below, indicate the extent to
  which you have felt like this during the last
  three months at work
• very slightly or not at alla littlemoderatelyqu
  ite a bitvery much
• Inspired
• Alert
• Excited
• Enthusiastic
• Determined
• Happy
• Contented

8
Study design

• SampleTotal N 800Leaders79
• MeasuresLeaders(i) Personality NEO-PI-R (Five
  factor model)Workgroups(i) Workplace factors
  (ASSET)(ii) Psychological well-being (iii)
  Organisation Commitment

• Research questions(i) Relationships between
  leader personality and workgroup PWB(ii)
  Mechanism for leader personality influencing
  workgroup PWB

9
Leader personality and workgroup psychological
well-being (PWB)

• Leader Extraversion (Domain) and workgroup PWB
  r0.40E1 Warmth r0.28E4 Activity
  r0.35E6 Positive emotions r 0.30
• Neuroticism (Domain) and workgroup PWBN3
  Depression r-.31 relationship is negative

• Combining the facets in a regression modelE4
  Activity N6 Depression Multiple R0.47

10

Impact of leader personality on sources of
pressure Work Life Balance
11

Impact of leader personality on sources of
pressure Control
12
Impact of sources of pressure on PWB

• All ASSET factors correlate with workgroup
  PWBMultiple R 0.73 (Control Work Life
  Balance)

13
PWB Multiple regression analysis
PWB
Step 1ASSET factorsR .73ControlWork Life
Balance
Step 2PersonalityNo increment in R
ASSET factors fully mediate the impact of leader
personality on PWB
14

Organisational commitment and leader personality
15

Organisational commitment and ASSET factors
16
Organisational commitment Multiple regression
analysis
Organisational commitment
Step 1ASSET factorsR .44Control
Step 2PersonalityNo increment in R
ASSET factors fully mediate the impact of leader
personality on Organisational commitment
17
Discussion

• Personality of the leader shows some links with
  PWB and OC, particularly Extraversion and
  Neuroticism facets
• Conscientiousness Maybe because earlier research
  has focused on individual leader assessment not
  leaders impact on the workgroup or the
  well-being of the workgroup.
• Mediated by the ASSET factors Impact of leaders
  on PWB and commitment may be primarily through
  their influence on workplace sources of pressure

18
www.robertsoncooper.com