Authentic leadership: A review of the literature and research agenda

The past decade has seen a dramatic increase in scholarly interest in the topic of authentic leadership. We review this literature with the goal of clarifying the state of knowledge in the field. We begin with a historical overview of the construct's definition and evolution. Next, we present the results of a content analysis of 91 publications that focus on authentic leadership. Specifically, we examined the publication type (theoretical, empirical, and practitioner), contributors (e.g., discipline, nationality, and institutional affiliation), theoretical foundations, research strategies, sample location/type, data collection methods, analytical procedures, and nomological network of authentic leadership. We conclude by presenting an agenda for future research.     

Do employment and type of exit influence child maltreatment among families leaving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families?

Research has documented that the transition from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) can be a critical period that results in elevated stress for families. The present study utilizes administrative data to examine the experiences of families exiting TANF and factors that influence subsequent child maltreatment, with particular focus on type of exit from TANF and earned income from employment. Families in the study are 18,023 female-headed households from an urban Ohio county who exited TANF between January 1, 1999 and December 31, 2002. Of these families, 894 (4.96%) experienced an indicated or substantiated finding of maltreatment within two years of their initial exit from TANF. Cox proportional hazard models identified several significant predictors of child maltreatment. Findings indicate that families with an involuntary exit from TANF were at increased risk of a substantiated or indicated finding of maltreatment while families with higher earnings from employment were at a reduced risk of maltreatment. These findings suggest that policy makers and program staff may need to reconsider their approach with these families to ensure the well-being of children. Strategies to improve employment opportunities and limit involuntary exits are discussed.     

Cardiac measures of stress in British prison officers

Abstract

Previous research has found that alternative employment arrangements are associated with both impaired and improved well-being. Since such inconsistencies are likely to derive from the type of employment contract as well as the characteristics of the job, this paper compares permanent full-time work with forms of alternative employment (permanent part-time, fixed-term and on-call work) in order to investigate how different employment contracts and perceptions of job conditions relate to individual well-being. This study contributes to the literature by addressing several questions. Different forms of alternative employment are distinguished and individual background characteristics that might be intertwined with the employment contract are controlled for. Moreover, the scope of this study extends to the effects of perceived job conditions, and possible interactive effects with type of employment are tested. Analyses of questionnaire data from 954 Swedish healthcare workers show that perceptions of the job (job insecurity, job control and demands), but not the type of employment contract, predicted health complaints. However, type of employment interacted with perceptions of job insecurity, in that insecurity was associated with impaired well-being among permanent full-time workers, while no relationship was found for on-call or core part-time employees. Despite the absence of interactions between employment contract and job demands or job control, it can be concluded that knowledge about the relationship between alternative employment arrangements and the well-being of workers can be enhanced when the combined effects of employment contract and job conditions are studied.     

Situation-based measurement of the full range of leadership model — Development and validation of a situational judgment test

In response to calls for context-specificity in leadership research, we developed and validated a Situational Judgment Test of the Full Range of Leadership Model (SJT-FRLM). Three consecutive studies were conducted following the typical steps of test development. Study 1 served measure development and pilot testing: item stems were generated empirically, item responses were developed with a theory-driven approach, and pilot testing was based on a leader sample. Study 2 served to analyze construct- and criterion-related validity of the instrument. Moreover, an empirical scoring key was developed that weights each item response according to its relation with leadership effectiveness in each situation. In Study 3, we demonstrated incremental validity and interrater agreement. The test fills an important gap in literature because it not only has predictive validity above and beyond established measures, but also takes into account the contextual element of leadership.     

Transformational leadership,job satisfaction,and team performance: A multilevel mediation model of trust

In spite of calls for deliberate differentiation between individual and team levels of analysis, leadership research based on well-grounded theory referring to multiple levels is scarce. We seek to fill this gap by analyzing the relations between transformational leadership, trust in supervisor and team, job satisfaction, and team performance via multilevel analysis. Results are based on a sample of 360 employees from 39 academic teams. Transformational leadership was positively related to followers' job satisfaction at individual as well as team levels of analysis and to objective team performance. The relation between individual perceptions of supervisors' transformational leadership and job satisfaction was mediated by trust in the supervisor as well as trust in the team. Yet, trust in the team did not mediate the relationship between team perceptions of supervisors' transformational leadership and team performance. Implications for theory and research of leadership at multiple levels as well as for practice are discussed.     

Labor Market Penalties for Mothers in Italy

We use a large Italian employer-employee matched dataset to study how motherhood affects women’s working career in terms of labor force participation and wages. We confirm that the probability of exiting employment significantly increases for mothers of pre-school children; however, this is mitigated by higher job quality, human capital endowment and childcare accessibility. Most importantly, the availability of part-time jobs reduces their probability of moving out of the labor force. Women not leaving employment after becoming mothers experience lower wages than women with no pre-school child, and there are no signs of this gap closing 5 years after childbirth. Contrary to previous literature, the wage gap penalty emerges only among women working full-time, thanks to the high protection accorded to part-time jobs in Italy.