Human resource development (HRD) is key to organizational success. With some HRD roles devolving to leaders in recent years, a gap in understanding is now evident in how leaders’ leadership styles shape development-oriented behaviours that may effectively assist them in fulfilling their HRD roles, and the corresponding effects that this has on employee work engagement and turnover intention. This study compared the effects of transformational and transactional leadership styles on employee attitudes (i.e. work engagement and turnover intention) through leaders’ behaviours (i.e. supervisory coaching and performance feedback). This study used a multilevel approach (i.e. matching leaders to multiple subordinates) with 500 employees, nested in 65 workgroups from private organizations in Malaysia. As hypothesized, we found a link between transformational (but not transactional) leadership and higher levels of supervisory coaching and performance feedback, and that these job resources mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement. Furthermore, we found that work engagement mediates the relationships of both supervisory coaching and performance feedback to turnover intention. Overall, the study results reveal one way in which Asian leaders can effectively facilitate some aspects of HRD through development-focused behaviours which serve as job resources to boost work engagement and reduce turnover intention.

Published Online September 5 2016This research stems from the notion that organizational factors, such as leadership styles and organizational culture, can influence employee behavior. Although empowering leaders have been shown to have a positive influence effect on their employees, hierarchical culture can also influence employees’ behavior in the opposite direction. In order to investigate their concurrent effects on employees, this study tested the effect of hierarchical culture and empowering leadership on work engagement via work meaningfulness. The study was undertaken among 134 employees from 28 teams from private organizations using a longitudinal survey. We hypothesized that, while hierarchical culture at Time 1 (T1) would decrease work meaningfulness at Time 2 (T2), empowering leadership at T1 would enhance work meaningfulness at T2. We also predicted that work meaningfulness would mediate empowering leadership and work engagement. Overall, the results supported the notion that empowering leadership increases work engagement via work meaningfulness. However, we were unable to find support for the view that hierarchical culture reduces work engagement.Michelle Chin Chin Lee, Mohd Awang Idris, Paul H. Delfabbr

This study investigates the pivotal role of trust in bridging the effects of transformational leadership on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). The study was conducted using a multilevel longitudinal approach with 276 employees in 71 teams from private medium-sized organizations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Transformational leadership was found to be positively related to: (1) three facets of trustworthiness (ability, benevolence, and integrity); (2) trust in the leader; and (3) OCB. All three facets of trustworthiness mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and trust in leaders. In addition, trust in the leader mediated only the relationship between the benevolence facet of trustworthiness and OCB. As OCB is inherently benevolent, these findings not only are consistent with the principle of compatibility, but they also contribute to theorizing about ‘how’ trust plays an important role in the influence of transformational leadership on employees.

The literature on the job demands–resources (JD-R) theory has flourished for the past decade due to the theory's simplicity and its applications in many areas of work life. However, the literature is lacking on how leaders can utilize this theory to manage employees, especially in the Asian leadership context. Using the JD-R theory, the current study investigated each aspect of paternalistic leadership (i.e., benevolent leadership, authoritarian leadership and moral leadership) and its influence on employees' job resources (i.e., work meaningfulness and influence at work), job demands (i.e., emotional and cognitive demands), work engagement, burnout and the processes involved. Four hundred and thirty-one (431) full-time working employees (mean age: 31.58; female: 57.8%) from various organizations in Malaysia participated in the study. Using structural equation modelling, the study's results showed that the benevolent aspect of paternalistic leadership was related to higher work engagement and lower burnout through work meaningfulness (but not through influence at work). In contrast, the authoritarian aspect of paternalistic leadership was related to higher burnout through emotional demands (but not through cognitive demands), while the moral leadership aspect had no significant relationship to employees' job demands or job resources, with a mediation process not found in either relationship. Overall, the study revealed three contrasting mechanisms for each aspect of paternalistic leadership and suggested how paternalistic leadership may be practised in Asian countries.