Parenting and management skills: The mediator role of empathy

Abstract

Nunes-Costa, R., Lopes, C. & Leite,Â. (2020). Parenting and management skills: The mediator role of empathy. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 61, 388-392.The present study aimed to test the effect of sex as well as the experience of parenting at the level of empathy and management skills and the mediating effect of empathy on the relationship between the experience of parenting and management skills. No differences were found between men and women concerning management skills. Women had higher empathy levels than men. Being a father or mother increased management skills and empathy levels. However, the experience of parenting interferes with management skills by increasing levels of empathy only in men. Career counselors need to considerer not only the processes inherent to each management task, but also the variables that intensify these competences, integrating emotional and relational dimensions.Participants with children obtained higher empathy scores (M = 65.77, SD = 10.28) than those without children

Effects of Fatherhood on Leadership Behaviour of Managers

“…The overall final sample was entirely male, from Germany (57.3%) and Austria (37.6%), held degree of higher education (66.2%), had a monthly household income ranging from €3.000 to €5.999 (50.0%), was married or in a registered partnership (82.87%), was an owner/CEO (31.9%) or worked in middle management (35.0%), and had one or two children (80.3%). The mean age of the sample was 42 years and therefore conformed to other studies (Graves et al, 2007;Nunes-Costa et al, 2020;Ruderman et al, 2002) and general averages in European countries. Ages ranged between 20 and 79 years.…”

Influence of Parental Experience on Transformational Leadership Behaviour: A Test of Work–Family Enrichment of Male Managers from an Employee Perspective

“…Other qualitative studies confirm this overall trend with a male sample (Grau Grau, 2017). More recent research confirms the mediating role of empathy and improved management skills with fatherhood experience (Nunes-Costa et al, 2020) and that family may increase the application of transformational leadership behaviours (McClean, 2021). Nevertheless, Pučėtaitė et al ( 2020) also find that male managers experience high levels of conflict in the field of tension between work and family.…”

“…With regard to how management/leadership performance is assessed, previous studies differ in their methods and target groups. While Ruderman et al (2002) and Graves et al (2007) assessed the performance of leaders using a holistic approach that considered subordinates, peers and superiors, later research on male leaders had one-dimensional perspectives with supervisor ratings (Dumas & Stanko, 2017) and self-evaluations (Grau Grau, 2017;Nunes-Costa et al, 2020;Stellner, 2021). To our knowledge, there is still lack of a methodologically congruent assessment of TLB changes for men from the subordinates' and leaders' perspective.…”

“…For fathers, the data are still relatively scarce. While recent studies (Dumas & Stanko, 2017;Nunes-Costa et al, 2020) applied a more general definition of leadership, Stellner (2021) chose a more granular, detailed approach with Yukl's 15 transformational leadership behaviours (Yukl, 2012). Although managers perceive significant improvement in most of their leadership behaviours (Stellner, 2021), there is a research gap on how other involved parties perceive changes in fathers' transformational leadership behaviour, if at all.…”

“…Their perception of TLB change from the employees' angle provides an alternative view and fills a gap in research. Moreover, we respond to the call to examine leadership as a multi-faceted phenomenon (Nunes-Costa et al, 2020).…”