The present study aims to test the impact of a self‐leadership intervention on the work engagement, performance, and health of health care workers. By integrating self‐determination theory and self‐leadership theory, we propose that when employees are trained how they can autonomously influence own cognitions and behaviour, this will impact their work engagement, perceived performance, and general health. To test the hypotheses, a longitudinal field experiment with three measurement waves was conducted (pre‐intervention, immediately after the intervention, and 2 months after the intervention). Health care professionals ( n = 195) from five different organizations participated on voluntary basis and were randomly assigned to the intervention or control group. Results show that a self‐leadership training positively impacts work engagement and performance of health care workers. Furthermore, the improved work engagement also mediates the effects of the training on health and performance 2 months later. No direct effect was found on general health. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Practitioners points: The self‐leadership intervention facilitates healthcare workers to develop self‐determination and autonomous motivation, which will positively impact their work engagement, health, and performance Participation in the self‐leadership intervention needs to be based on volition as this will contribute to the intrinsic motivation for actual self‐leadership development through training.

Purpose: While both perceived job autonomy and self-leadership are assumed to be important for optimal functioning of healthcare workers, their mutual relationship remains unclear. This cross-lagged study aims to theorize and test that perceived job autonomy and self-leadership have a reciprocal relationship, which is moderated by need for job autonomy.Design/methodology/approach: Two-wave panel data were used to measure cross-lagged relationships over a time period of three months. Self-leadership is indicated by both self-leadership strategies and self-leadership behavior. The data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression (HMR).Findings: Job autonomy was not causally nor reverse related to self-leadership strategies, but did relate to self-leadership behavior in both directions. Need for job autonomy did not influence the causal and reverse relationships between job autonomy and self-leadership (strategies and behavior). Instead, need for job autonomy discarded the influence of job autonomy on self-leadership behavior, and predicted self-leadership behavior over time.Practical implications: For optimizing healthcare jobs, human resource management (HRM) policy makers need to consider other interventions such as training self-leadership, or developing an autonomy supportive work environment, since job autonomy does not lead to more use of self-leadership strategies.Originality/value: This study used a cross-lagged study design which gives the opportunity to investigate causal relationships between job autonomy and self-leadership. Both self-leadership strategies and self-leadership behavior are included.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between subjective job insecurity and self-rated job performance, and to assess how this association is different across different employment groups.Design/methodology/approach: The authors used a data set owned by TNO and Statistics Netherlands of more than 89,000 Dutch workers and self-employed that is a representative sample of the Dutch workforce. The authors included data from 2014 and 2016 assessing subjective job insecurity in terms of “a concern about the future of one’s job/business” and self-rated job performance.Findings: The effect size of the association between subjective job insecurity and self-rated job performance is small. For temporary agency workers and on-call workers, the association between subjective job insecurity and job performance is weaker compared to permanent workers and fixed-term workers. However for self-employed workers with and without employees, however, the relation between subjective job insecurity and job performance is stronger compared to permanent workers.Research limitations/implications: The biggest limitation is the cross-sectional design of the study, which limits conclusions about causality.Practical implications: The finding that subjective job insecurity goes together with less work performance shows that job insecurity has no upside for the productivity of companies.Originality/value: The study provides a deeper understanding of the relationship between subjective job insecurity and self-rated job performance on a national level.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether insights into high reliability organizations (HROs) are useful for innovation management teams. HRO teams can keep failure to a minimum level due to high alertness and resilience. Project teams working on innovation management could benefit from HRO principles and thus reduce their chances of failure.Design/methodology/approach: A survey among in total 260 team members and team leaders of project teams in innovation management was conducted to study the relation between, on the one hand, organizational features of HROs (“mindful infrastructure”) and HRO principles (adjusted as “innovation resilience behaviour”, IRB), and on the other hand, between mindful infrastructure and IRB and project outcomes.Findings: From the results it could be concluded that mindful infrastructure associates with IRB, and that IRB has a mediating role in the relation between mindful infrastructure and project outcomes. Innovation management project teams can thus learn from the practice of HRO teams.Originality/value: To the authors’ knowledge, HRO-thinking has not been applied to team behaviour in innovation management. A fruitful transfer of insights from the domain of safety and crisis management seems applicable to the domain of innovation.

Purpose: Adequate recovery from burnout is important to understand. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether post-traumatic growth (PTG) contributes to higher engagement and reduced symptoms of burnout and whether this process is mediated by personal resources.Design/methodology/approach: In a cross-sectional survey, 166 Dutch workers who had fully recovered from burnout were questioned on their level of PTG, their personal resources (optimism, resilience and self-efficacy), and their levels of engagement and burnout.Findings: Fully recovered workers scored somewhat higher on current burnout level, but did not differ from norm group workers in their engagement level. Moreover, PTG appeared to positively affect both higher engagement and lower burnout levels, which is fully mediated by personal resources.Research limitations/implications: Post-traumatic growth (PTG) impacts on engagement and burnout levels amongst workers who have recovered from burnout by enhancing personal resources. The role of personal resources and the impact of PTG on engagement and burnout complaints following (recovery from) burnout deserve further investigation.Practical implications: Management can support workers who have (recovered from a) burnout, by being aware of their (higher) engagement, and facilitate the enhancement of PTG and personal resources.Originality/value: This study is one of the first to study the role of PTG after (recovery from) burnout and reveals valuable findings for both research and practice.