Abstract
Orientation
Recent changes in the workforce necessitate investigating the extent to which leadership positively impact employees. To this end employees’ level of engagement (viz. work engagement), how employees react and respond to certain leadership styles (self – empowering leadership) and the leaders’ willingness to allow autonomous behaviour to improve working conditions (viz. job crafting) are essential to foster positive employee outcomes and by extension contribute to organisational performance.
Research purpose
The research reported on investigates whether different leadership styles (viz. self-leadership and empowering leadership) have any significant impact on an individuals’ ability to job craft. Job crafting was positioned as a mediator to measure the overall impact on work engagement. Hence, the study investigated the influence of leadership on an employee's likelihood to initiate the necessary changes to the work environment and how these changes might result in positive employee outcomes.
Motivation for the study
The world of work has changed drastically over the last decade. Ascribed to the changes comprehending how employees create a resourceful work environment has gain prominence in recent years. A paucity of studies focuses on leadership and the nexus thereof with job crafting as mediator towards fostering positive employee outcomes in the South African context.
Research approach and design
A quantitative cross-sectional research design was implemented. The target population included adults in the labour market with at least 2 years, formal working experiences. Primary data was collected from 155 participants (n = 155) by means of a questionnaire underscoring work engagement, job crafting, self-leadership, and empowering leadership. Statistical analysis included structural equation (direct effects) and mediation modelling to ascertain the mediating role of job crafting.
Main findings
The research study concluded that both leadership styles statistically significantly influenced job crafting. Nevertheless, self-leadership was the only leadership style that statistically
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significantly influenced employees’ level of work engagement. Empowering leadership did not directly yield a statistically significant effect on work engagement. Furthermore, job crafting was found to be a statistically significant mediator that mediates the nexus between leadership styles and work engagement.
Practical or managerial implications
The study contributes to comprehending the relationship between leadership styles and job crafting, fostering increased work engagement. Results underscored that self-leadership predicts both job crafting and work engagement, suggesting its value in developing a proactive workforce. Empowering leadership, while not directly influencing work engagement, positively impacts job crafting, which in turn enhances engagement. The research suggests refining the concept of empowering leadership. Practically, the findings indicate that job crafting is crucial for empowering leadership to improve engagement, and encouraging autonomy is key to motivating employees effectively.
Contribution
This study contributes to the corpus of knowledge regarding the nexus between leadership styles, job crafting and work engagement. Furthermore, the construct of empowering leadership style has gained empirical evidence substantiating burgeoning extant research. The practical contribution centres on organisational leadership development programmes to encourage proactive behaviour from employees, which promotes work engagement.
Note
This mini dissertation uses the publication and reference style of the instruction for publication of the American Psychology Association (APA 7th edition).