Calling for leadership: leadership relation with worker’s sense of calling

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the relation between leadership perception and workers’ sense of calling. Design/methodology/approach Workers’ sense of calling has been shown to relate to organizational outcomes such as job satisfaction, career development, personal growth, and well-being. Although recent studies point the sense of calling as a consequent of several organizational variables, the role of leadership in promoting workers’ sense of calling is yet to be analyzed. A self-report questionnaire was applied to a group of 325 Portuguese nurses to analyze this relation. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the results. Findings Results indicate a positive relation between a leader perceived as transformational or transactional and workers’ sense of calling. Directive and empowering leadership perception were found not to be related to calling. Unexpectedly, a significant positive relation with aversive leadership perception was identified. Research limitations/implications A confounding relation between aversive leadership perception and sense of calling cannot be excluded. It is possible that an unknown third variable, such as resilience or positive affect, is serving as a mediating bridge between leadership perception and the sense of calling. Further studies are necessary in order to explore this alternative path. Originality/value The sense of calling is known as a relevant organizational construct. Knowing what kinds of leadership promote workers’ sense of calling adds value for the literature and can help managers to learn how to improve their followers’ sense of calling.

Sense of calling, job crafting, spiritual leadership and work meaningfulness: a moderated mediation model

“…Focusing on individual sense of calling is said to bring advantages to organizations and employees (Dik et al, 2012;Esteves et al, 2018). Employees with a sense of calling tend to have higher job satisfaction, career commitment and perceive more work meaningfulness (Dik et al, 2012;Esteves et al, 2018). Our findings suggested that individuals with a higher sense of calling should be considered as suitable new hires with regard to their career orientation (e.g.…”

“…work meaningfulness). Taken together, the results indicate that the interactions among variables that affect work meaningfulness may facilitate managerial intervention strategies for employees' well-being and organizational performance in the long run (Esteves et al, 2018).…”

“…Under these conditions, employees with a sense of calling, who are more proactive in increasing structural and social job resources, increase challenging job demands and decrease hindering job demands. Their significance at work may be facilitated and encouraged with the support of spiritual leadership (Esteves et al, 2018;Kanten, 2014;Tims et al, 2012Tims et al, , 2013. Spiritual leadership may strengthen individuals' sense of calling by establishing a supportive leader-member relationship through encouragement and inspiration with followers' proactive job crafting activities (Fry, 2003;Tims et al, 2012).…”

“…If the work is seen as a calling, individuals take it as part of their life and it drives them to perform tasks or jobs to achieve inner fulfilment. Focusing on individual sense of calling is said to bring advantages to organizations and employees (Dik et al, 2012;Esteves et al, 2018). Employees with a sense of calling tend to have higher job satisfaction, career commitment and perceive more work meaningfulness (Dik et al, 2012;Esteves et al, 2018).…”

“…Unlike other leadership styles, spiritual leadership brings hope/faith in the organizational vision that develops a sense of calling to make differences for peoples' lives through intrinsic motivation (Fry et al, 2005). With the legitimate power in the hierarchy, spiritual leadership may exert significant positive influence on followers to feel energized, connected with their work and dedicated to attain a meaningful and purposeful work life (Esteves et al, 2018). By emphasizing the important role of management training interventions, a unique organizational culture may be strengthened and retained in line with diverse employee needs and preferences engendering work meaningfulness for employees to pursue personal development and growth.…”