教练型领导-下属认知匹配对下属工作幸福感的影响

作为新型领导风格,教练型领导颇受理论界和实践界的关注,现有研究强调教练型领导的积极价值,然而忽视了在领导管理过程中,是领导与下属双方共同塑造了教练型领导所产生的影响。本研究采取身份建构理论,从领导与下属匹配视角,探讨教练型领导和员工对教练型领导力的感知的一致性对工作幸福感的影响以及员工心理资本的中介作用。采用多元回归及响应面分析方法,通过对117个团队865份配对问卷调查数据分析结果表明,领导与下属的教练领导力评价在高-高一致时,员工工作幸福感更高;当领导-下属对教练行为的评价存在不一致时,领导低-下属高的情形下对工作幸福感的正向影响更强;下属的心理资本在一致性与工作幸福感的关系之间起部分中介作用。团队领导成员关系质量调节了一致性对心理资本的效应。本研究从身份建构理论视角,发现教练型领导与员工认知协同的重要意义,揭示了其对员工工作幸福感的作用机制,为教练型领导相关研究提供了更加细致的理论揭示和实证支持。

Congruence Effects of Intended and Experienced Coaching Leadership on Subordinates' Job Well-Being

Given that the traditional, top-down command-and-control leadership style is difficult to adapt to employees' needs for respect and development, organizational scholars have paid attention to coaching leadership, the central purpose of which is to help stimulate the potential of subordinates and assist in their growth through flexible management methods, such as equal interaction, guidance, support, sharing, and participation. Prior studies have predominately focused on the positive effect of coaching leadership on job performance while ignoring subordinates' well-being. Existing research still seldom explores the mechanism of coaching leadership in relation to job well-being. According to identity construction theory, the construction of leadership identity lies in the process of interaction between leaders and subordinates, including an individual's understanding of his or her role and the role that other people think the individual plays. This study uses identity construction theory to take a collaborative perspective on the effect of coaching leadership. The congruence of the leader's self-perception and subordinates' perception of coaching leadership has a positive effect on developing subordinates' positive psychological state and personal resources. Data were collected from 865 leader-follower dyads in 177 teams of companies in Zhejiang province, China. We collected the sample in two phases at a monthly interval and on the basis of multisource feedback in order to lower the common method biases. As one of the two independent variables in the congruence model was a higher-level variable, we used hierarchical linear modeling to analyze the data. Cross-level polynomial regression combing with a response surface technique was employed to explore the effects on subordinates' job well-being of the congruence and incongruence between coaching leadership as intended and experienced, because it explains a greater amount of variance than only one party's perception and reveals that models focusing on the linear effects of one predictor may be oversimplified. We used block variable analysis to analyze the mediation effect, and moderated response surface model to examine the moderation effect of congruence. The study regards the effectiveness of coaching leadership as resulting from a process of social interaction between leaders and subordinates. The leader-follower congruence stimulates the development of psychological capital. Meanwhile, the quality of exchanges between leaders and subordinates has a moderating effect on coaching leadership's positive effectiveness. Based on the results, our research presents four conclusions:(1) under the condition of leader and subordinate perceptual congruence in coaching leadership, workplace well-being is higher when leaders and followers are aligned at a high level than when they are aligned at a low level;(2) in the case of leader-follower incongruence, subordinates' well-being is higher when a follower's perception of coaching leadership is higher than a leader's as compared to when a leader's perception of coaching is higher than a follower's;(3) psychological capital partially mediates the effect on subordinates' well-being of leader-follower congruence in coaching leadership;(4) the relationship of leader-follower congruence and psychological capital is significantly moderated by team LMX. Our findings offer several important theoretical and practical implications. First, based on the theory of leadership identity construction, this article expands the research perspective on coaching leadership effectiveness from a unilateral perspective that focuses only on the influence of one subject from the collaborative perspective of both leaders and subordinates. Second, by combining polynomial regression and response surface analysis, the study draws a detailed picture of the different types of congruences. Third, the results contribute to the study of the antecedents of job well-being from a leader-subordinate congruence perspective and deepen the understanding of the mechanism of coaching leadership in relation to job well-being. Fourth, the study emphasizes the boundary condition of team LMX in the relationship between leader-follower congruence and job well-being. Finally, limitations and directions for future research are discussed.