Humble leadership and innovative behaviour among Chinese nurses: The mediating role of work engagement

Abstract

Aim This study aimed to investigate the effect of humble leadership on innovative behaviour among Chinese nurses and to examine the mediating role of work engagement in this relationship. Background Nurses' innovative behaviour and work engagement are critical to the quality of health care services. Although research has established that leadership is beneficial for individuals, teams and organisations, it's less clear whether humble leadership could promote innovative behaviour and work engagement among nurses. Methods The data were collected in China. A sample of 377 nurses completed measures of humble leadership, innovative behaviour and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. Structural equation model was adopted to verify the research hypotheses. Results Humble leadership was significantly and positively related to nurses' innovative behaviour and work engagement (p < .01). And work engagement partially mediated the association between humble leadership and innovative behaviour. Conclusion Humble leaders are critical to enhancing nurses' innovative behaviour, and work engagement plays an intervening mechanism explaining how humble leaders promote innovative behaviour among nurses. Implications for nursing management Hospital managers should pay attention to improve head nurses' humble leadership, which could lead to a higher level of innovative behaviour and work engagement among nurse.

Predicting task performance from psychological ownership and innovative work behaviour: A cross sectional study

“…Accordingly, the study intends to extend research on the relationships among PsyOwn, IWB and task performance in the context of health care sector. A review of existing literature suggests that while IWB (Weng et al, 2015;Xerri & Reid, 2018;Yang et al, 2019;Yasir & Majid, 2019) and PsyOwn (Kaur et al, 2013;Schirle et al, 2019;Yoo et al, 2012) constitute current and central issues in the nursing literature, the effect of PsyOwn on IWB and task performance is understudied. In many nursing studies, PsyOwn has been examined either as a mediating variable in the study of spiritual and emotional intelligence and burnout behaviour linkage (Kaur et al, 2013) or outcome variable in the study of practice environment and PsyOwn relation (Schirle et al, 2019); professionalism, organizational citizenship behaviour and PsyOwn (Yoo et al, 2012).…”

“…Second, studies using mediating model of IWB on PsyOwn and task performance relationship has not been explored in the nursing literature. Third, earlier health care studies that have examined IWB and PsyOwn are conducted among Asian and Western countries (Kaur et al, 2013;Schirle et al, 2019;Weng et al, 2015;Yang et al, 2019;Yasir & Majid, 2019;). The study therefore augments existing literature by examining the model within an unrepresented context, thus nurses in a developing country.…”

How and When Does Inclusive Leadership Curb Psychological Distress During a Crisis? Evidence From the COVID-19 Outbreak

“…IL has been found to moderate the affect of work engagement on positive behavior within workplace ( Wang et al, 2019 ). Work engagement proved to mediate the relationship between humble leadership and innovative behavior ( Yang et al, 2019 ). More engaged health care workers display higher work efficiency and better patient care.…”

“…This study focuses on a relational leadership style called inclusive leadership. The influence of positive leadership styles on employee behavior has been studied in the health sector ( Asif et al, 2019 ; Moon et al, 2019 ; Yang et al, 2019 ). However, the development of leadership skills among nurses is inadequate ( Fischer, 2017 ), and there is a scarcity of studies on inclusive leadership style ( Zhang et al, 2016 ).…”

Can Leader Humility Enhance Project Management Effectiveness? Interactive Effect of Top Management Support

“…This literature gap is significantly robust because the excellent leadership skills of project managers cannot be effective for projects until the top management does not support them. Earlier studies suggest that leaders' humility emphasises different facets of the innovation cycle, containing the overall nurturing atmosphere to support his/her influences 14 . This support considers top management contribution to increasing the project management effectiveness.…”