Carmen Castro-Casal

The concept of inclusive leadership was proposed by Nembhard and Edmondson (2006) to capture ‘words and deeds by a leader or leaders that indicate an invitation and appreciation for others’ contrib...

The objective of this research is to examine how and when employees' attributions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) affect their extra‐role service behaviors. The research analyses the mediating role of work meaningfulness in the employees' CSR attributions–extra‐role behaviors relationships. The moderating role of employees' attitudes toward CSR in both the relationships between CSR attributions and work meaningfulness and in the mediated relationship is also studied. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 204 frontline employees of four‐ and five‐star hotels in Spain using structural equations and the PROCESS macro. The results indicate that only substantive CSR attributions positively influenced employees' extra‐role service behaviors and that the relationship occurs through the work meaningfulness experienced by employees. While substantive CSR attributions boosted work meaningfulness and subsequent extra‐role service behavior regardless of personal attitudes toward CSR, the link between symbolic CSR attributions and work meaningfulness as well as the mediated relationship with extra‐role service behaviors were found to be moderated by employees' personal attitudes toward CSR. When employees had lower personal attitudes toward CSR, symbolic CSR attributions positively affected work meaningfulness and extra‐role service behavior; when attitudes toward CSR were higher, the relationships were not significant. Interesting theoretical contributions and practical insights follow from these findings.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze, through a sequential model, the underlying mechanisms connecting transformational leadership with employee task performance. Specifically, it examined the causal chain of transformational leadership-job characteristics (task variety and task significance)-job engagement-task performance.Design/methodology/approach: The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 320 employees and their supervisors from Spanish young technology and knowledge-intensive small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) using structural equations.Findings: The results show that the effect of transformational leadership on task performance (assessed by supervisors) occurs sequentially via task significance and job engagement. Additionally, job engagement mediates the relationship between task variety and task performance.Practical implications: Findings highlight the relevance for supervisors to employ a transformational leadership style that leads employees directly and indirectly, through task significance, to be more engaged and achieve higher task performance. They also emphasize the importance of proper job design that allows employees to be fully invested in their job performance.Originality/value: Despite the importance of leadership and employee performance for the survival and growth of these firms, the study of these relationships is largely unexplored. This study proposes and tests a serial model in which supervisor transformational leadership is linked to employee task performance through two sequential mediators: job characteristics (task variety and task significance) and job engagement.

This study suggests that employees’ pro-environmental behaviors are determined by their attributions regarding the reasons why hotels engage in corporate socially responsible initiatives. Furthermore, the role of supervisors’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) perceptions in shaping frontline employees’ CSR attributions is studied. Finally, we examine whether the impact of supervisor’s CSR perceptions on employee attributions differs according to the supervisor’s gender. The results showed the influence of substantive CSR attributions on pro-environmental behaviors, as well as the influence of supervisors’ CSR perceptions on employees’ substantive CSR attributions. It is also found that when the supervisor is a woman, the effect of her CSR perceptions on employees’ CSR substantive attributions was stronger. Additionally, women’s CSR perception also significantly influenced employees’ CRS symbolic attributions, although to a lesser extent. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications to promote sustainable economic growth and reduce the environmental impact on the hotel industry.

This study explores how the quality of leader–member exchange (LMX) is associated with employees’ creativity via engagement, and the moderating role of a job characteristic related to knowledge (job complexity) in this relationship. A moderated mediation model was tested on a sample of 320 employees from emergent high-tech and knowledge-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Spain. The results supported an indirect influence of LMX on individual creativity through engagement. Additionally, this study found that job complexity accentuated the impact of engagement on creativity. More importantly, the findings confirmed that the intensity of the LMX–engagement–creativity relationship was moderated by job complexity. That is, the relationship was stronger when job complexity was high. Taken together, this study improves the understanding of the factors that contribute to increased employee creativity, an important outcome for high-tech and knowledge-based SMEs.

The success of hospitality sector firms depends largely on the degree to which frontline employees offer a high-quality service to customers. In this context it is of vital importance to determine how to promote positive employees’ attitudes and behaviors through the human resource practices. This study analyzes the indirect effect of empowerment via affective commitment on the extra-role service. In addition, the moderating effect of service training on the empowerment–affective commitment–extra-role service relationship is explored. The data was collected from a sample of frontline employees working in three-to-five-star urban hotels in Santiago de Compostela (Spain). The results of the study suggest that for empowerment to lead to greater emotional attachment to the organization and extra-role customer service, it is necessary for frontline employees to perceive that they have received a moderated-high level of training in customer service. This finding is particularly interesting for frontline employees’ management in hotels sector.

The psychology of sustainability highlights the importance of building organizational environments promoting the employees’ well-being, and leaders play an important role in it. Drawing from Kahn’s theory, the purpose of this study is to simultaneously examine the mediating role of task significance, perceived organizational support (POS) and employees’ core self-evaluations (CSE) in the relationship between supervisors’ transformational leadership and job engagement. In order to test the proposed model, a structural equation modelling was performed using the bootstrapping technique in IBM SPSS Amos 23 for Windows. The sample consisted of 320 employees from emergent high-tech and knowledge-based SMEs in Spain. The results supported all the hypotheses posited. By helping employees to find the meaning and significance of their work, making them feel supported by the organization and strengthening their sense of worth and competence, transformational leaders boost job engagement, a key aspect of the human dimension of organizational sustainability. This paper contributes to the psychology of sustainability by advancing knowledge of the mechanisms through which supervisors’ transformational leadership influences employees’ well-being in terms of job engagement.

 El reconocimiento de que el comportamiento altruista genera beneficios tanto para los empleados como para la organización hace necesario comprender los factores que pueden alentarlo. Por ello, este trabajo persigue dos objetivos: a) analizar las relaciones entre la satisfacción general con el puesto y el compromiso afectivo con el comportamiento altruista y b) explorar si el engagement en el trabajo aumenta la varianza explicada en el altruismo por encima de tales actitudes. Para cumplir estos objetivos se llevó a cabo una investigación de diseño transversal en una muestra constituida por 472 empleados de 25 centros públicos españoles de educación superior. Las hipótesis planteadas fueron contrastadas mediante análisis de regresión jerárquica. Los resultados indican que un mayor nivel de compromiso afectivo, y particularmente de engagement en el trabajo, se asocia con un mayor comportamiento altruista. Especialmente relevante es la contribución del engagement en el trabajo, al explicar varianza incremental en el comportamiento altruista, más allá del compromiso. Para potenciar este tipo de comportamiento discrecional, la dirección debería implantar intervenciones que alienten tanto una mayor conexión de los empleados con sus roles de trabajo como un mayor compromiso con la organización.

Mergers and acquisitions can be a mechanism used by firms to access innovative knowledge, including intellectual property, and to strengthen and expand their core capabilities. In the mergers and acquisition context, the creation of value depends on the transfer of capabilities and knowledge being carried out successfully during the post-acquisition integration process. The paper adopts this view. It examines the role of the top management and personnel who hold knowledge and skills linked to the capability of the acquired firm considered most valuable by the acquiring firm in the transfer of knowledge from the acquired firm to the acquiring firm. The paper also examines whether the impact of the retention of the acquired firm's high-value human resources (HVHR) on knowledge transfer is moderated by the degree of embeddedness of the knowledge to be transferred. Furthermore, the study identifies the factors that influence the retention of the acquired firm's HVHR. We tested the model using data from a sample of 57 domestic, related, friendly Spanish mergers and acquisitions belonging to a wide variety of industries. The results support the notion that the more embedded the knowledge, the greater the impact of the acquired firm's HVHR retention on the knowledge transfer. They also show that the autonomy granted to the acquired firm, the frequency of use of rich media among the personnel of both firms, and the acquired firm's pre-acquisition profitability are factors encouraging the acquired firm's HVHR to remain. The study contributes to the literature on knowledge transfer in mergers and acquisitions by highlighting the relevance of retention of the acquired firm's HVHR for knowledge transfer, as well as demonstrating the importance of taking into consideration the nature of the knowledge to be transferred. It also contributes to the literature on the implementation process in mergers and acquisitions by identifying factors available to managers to favor HVHR continuity in the acquiring firm or the one resulting from the merger.