Mindfulness - the missing link in the relationship between leader-follower strategic optimism (mis)match and work engagement

Bunjak, Aldijana (author), Černe, Matej (author)

Assuming a followership perspective and building on implicit leadership theory, this study examines the mediating role of followers’ mindfulness in the relationship between leader–follower strategic optimism (mis)match and work engagement. Specifically, we propose that a discrepancy between the respective levels of leaders’ and followers’ strategic optimism correlates with low levels of mindfulness and work engagement. A field study of 291 working professionals, using polynomial regression and response surface analysis, supports the (mis)match hypotheses. The results demonstrate that followers’ mindfulness mediates the relationship between leaders’ and followers’ matching levels of strategic optimism (whether at high-high and low-low leader-follower strategic optimism conditions) and work engagement. These findings have important implications for training and the extent to which interventions based on personal resources, such as strategic optimism and therefore mindfulness, foster higher work engagement.

• Language: English
• Keywords: organization, leadership, stimulation, strategic optimism, leader–follower (mis)match, implicit leadership theory, followership, mindfulness, work engagement
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: EF - School of Economics and Business
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2018
• Number of pages: 11 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 9, art. 2444
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-112557
• UDC: 331.108
• ISSN on article: 1664-1078
• DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02444
• COBISS.SI-ID: 24850406
• Publication date in RUL: 10.01.2020

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Frontiers in psychology
• Shortened title: Front. psychol.
• Publisher: Frontiers Media
• ISSN: 1664-1078
• COBISS.SI-ID: 519967513

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 24.10.2019

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: organizacija, vodenje, stimulacija

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: J5-9329
• Name: Poslovna analitika in poslovni modeli v oskrbovalnih verigah

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: P5-0410
• Name: Digitalizacija kot gonilo trajnostnega razvoja posameznika, organizacij in družbe