The purpose of this paper is to examine the leadership expectations of young employees in intrapreneurial jobs.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the leadership expectations of young employees in intrapreneurial jobs.
Design/methodology/approach
Group interviews were conducted with 42 young intrapreneurs and 13 leaders of a Dutch ICT consultancy firm. Data were coded and analyzed using qualitative data analysis software.
Findings
The authors find ten different expectations on leadership. Young intrapreneurs expect to have a personal connection, sufficient feedback, ample freedom, and trust, clear directions when asked and a leader who is a role model.
Research limitations/implications
This qualitative study was conducted in one organization. It however sheds a first light on expectations of employees with intrapreneurial job requirements.
Practical implications
In order to motivate and guide young intrapreneurs, direct supervisors should aim not to breach expectations. By getting to know their employees on a personal basis, taking the time to coach them in their career goals, showing intrapreneurship themselves, focusing on an open relationship, and providing a challenging and dynamic environment, direct supervisors build a strong and cooperative relationship.
Originality/value
This paper is one of the first to look at the relationship between direct supervisors and intrapreneurial employees. Doing so, it also expands the current knowledge of Implicit Leadership Theory by exploring expectations of young intrapreneurs and adds to the full-range leadership theory by showing the importance of investigating its subdimensions.
Details
Keywords
Wouter Robijn, Martin C. Euwema, Wilmar B. Schaufeli and Jana Deprez
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between engaging leadership and open conflict norms in teams, with work engagement. A mediating role of basic needs…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between engaging leadership and open conflict norms in teams, with work engagement. A mediating role of basic needs satisfaction between these relations is proposed based on self-determination theory.
Design/methodology/approach
Structural equation modeling was used with 133 employees who rated their leader, their team and their own basic need satisfaction and engagement to analyze the direct and indirect effects simultaneously.
Findings
The analysis confirmed that both engaging leadership and open conflict norms had an indirect effect on work engagement through basic needs satisfaction. Furthermore, engaging leadership was positively related with open conflict norms.
Research limitations/implications
The current study adds to the validation of engaging leadership as it confirms that engaging leaders strengthen work engagement through basic need satisfaction. Furthermore, it shows that not only the leader is important, but the team can impact their well-being through the creation of other social resources as open conflict norms.
Originality/value
This paper provides evidence that not only leaders are important to increase work engagement through basic needs satisfaction but also other social resources, such as conflict management. This offers a brand new perspective and opportunities on how to increase work engagement using social resources as conflict management.
Details
Keywords
Jana Deprez, Ellen R. Peeters and Marjan J. Gorgievski
This paper seeks to identify how intrapreneurial self-efficacy (ISE) grows in a group of graduate students during their internship. We investigate which agency and structure…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to identify how intrapreneurial self-efficacy (ISE) grows in a group of graduate students during their internship. We investigate which agency and structure factors shape their experience and stabilize or help grow their ISE and how this evolves in the course of their internship.
Design/methodology/approach
We conducted group interviews with 49 last year master students of a large Belgian university during their seven-month internship. We focused on those interns with low starter ISE to better understand which factors aid or hinder ISE development.
Findings
Our results show that students who did not experience ISE growth were less aware of their own agency factors, lacked supportive colleagues and experienced a misfit with their supervisors. Students who did grow their ISE did so mostly because of an initial experimentation phase, which was structured by their supervisor. This created a positive spiral where they started feeling increasingly better and able to act intrapreneurially.
Originality/value
With this study, we contribute to the extant literature in two main ways. First, we use a graduate employability lens to study the genesis of ISE. As such, we are amongst the first to investigate how education can nurture intrapreneurship and which agency and structure factors are particularly important for this. Second, we take a qualitative process approach, rather than a static and quantitative focus of most entrepreneurial education studies. As such, we gain better knowledge to the drivers of ISE at students first steps and during their internship.