Leadership, Recognition and Well‐Being: A Moderated Mediational Model

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/cjas.1477
• Date: 01 December 2018
• Author: Stephanie L. Gilbert,E. Kevin Kelloway
• Published date: 01 December 2018

Leadership, Recognition and Well-Being: A

Moderated Mediational Model

Stephanie L. Gilbert*

Cape Breton University

E. Kevin Kelloway

Saint Mary’s University

Abstract

Considerable data has linked transformational leadership to

employee well-being, but little research has focused on how

transformational leaders inf‌luence employee well-being. In

the current study, we examine whether transformational

leaders engage in more recognition of employee efforts

and whether that recognition is associated with enhanced

well-being. We further examined whether transformational

leaders give employees recognition in a manner that

increases the association between recognition and well-

being. With these two objectives, we test a moderated

mediated model using survey data involving employees from

a large health-care organization. The results suggest that

transformational leaders provide more recognition to indi-

vidual employees. Moreover,recognition is more strongly re-

lated to well-being when leaders are seen as

transformational. Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by

John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: transformational leadership, employee recogni-

tion, employee well-being, occupational health, healthy

workplace

Résumé

Bien que de nombreuses données mettent en évidence le lien

entre le leadership transformationnel et le bien-être des em-

ployés, peu de recherches ont porté sur la façon dont celui-

là inf‌lue sur celui-ci. Dans la présente étude, nous

examinons dans quelle mesure et dans quelle limite les

leaders transformationnels apprécient davantage les efforts

des employés et nous demandons si cette appréciation est

associée à un mieux-être accru. Nous essayons aussi de dé-

terminer si le mode d’appréciation utilisé par les leaders

transformationnels permet aux employés de faire le lien

entre la reconnaissance et le bien-être. Dans le cadre de

ces deux objectifs, nous testons un modèle de médiation

modéré à l’aide de données d’enquête réalisée auprès des

employés d’un grand organisme de soins de santé. Les

résultats suggèrent que les leaders transformationnels

apprécient plus les employés. De plus, l’appréciation est

davantage liée au bien-être lorsque les leaders sont perçus

comme des leaders transformationnels. Copyright © 2018

ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mots-clés: leadership transformationnel, appréciation des

employés, bien-être des employés, santé au travail, milieu de

travail sain

Organizations recognize the importance of promoting

healthy workplaces to improve both organizational and em-

ployee outcomes (see Aldana, 2001; Grawitch, Gottschalk,

& Munz, 2006; Kelloway & Day, 2005; Schmidt, Welch,

& Wilson, 2000) and many now implement employee health

and wellness initiatives to serve this purpose (Goetzel &

Ozminkowski, 2008; Goetzel, Roemer, Liss-Levinson, &

Samoly, 2008). In addition to wellness interventions, the lit-

erature has emphasized the role of leaders in promoting em-

ployee well-being (Mullen & Kelloway, 2011).

Considerable data now link leadership style, and in particu-

lar transformational leadership, to indices of employee well-

being (for a review, see Kelloway & Barling, 2010). Yet

comparatively few investigations have focused on how

transformational leaders inf‌luence employee outcomes, and

more research is needed in order to understand this process

(Arnold, Turner, Barling, Kelloway, & McKee, 2007;

Sivanathan, Arnold, Turner, & Barling, 2004). Specif‌ically,

understanding how transformational leadership exerts its

positive effects will contribute to knowledge of why trans-

formational leadership is so effective in achieving employee

well-being. Through what mechanism(s) can or does trans-

formational leadership inf‌luence well-being?

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities

Research Council of Canada.

*Please addresscorrespondence to: StephanieL. Gilbert, Shannon School of

Business, Cape Breton University, 1250 Grand Lake Road, Sydney, Nova

Scotia, Canada, B1P 6L2. Email: stephanie_gilbert@cbu.ca. E. Kevin

Kelloway, Psychology Department, Saint Mary’s University, 923 Robie St.,

Halifax, NS, Canada,B3H 3C3. Email: kevin.kelloway@smu.ca

Contract/grant sponsor: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

of Canada.

Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences

Revue canadienne des sciences de l’administration

35: 523–534 (2018)

Published online 22 January 2018 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/CJAS.1477

Can J Adm Sci

35(4), 523–534 (2018)Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 523