Leader-follower Congruence In Mindfulness Traits And Employees’ Work Engagement

IntroductionIn the face of an increasingly competitive and diverse era,how to inspire the initiative of employees in the organization through the elements of the organizational environment has become the theme of current research.In view of this,based on the Person-Environment Fit Theory,Job Demand-Resource model and Conservation of Resource Theory,the research explores the influence of leadership and subordinate mindfulness trait matching on employees’ work engagement and the moderation of surface acting.MethodsIn this study,18 enterprises in Guangdong,Jiangsu,Hainan,Hubei,Heilongjiang,and Henan provinces were surveyed by convenient sampling method.62 leadership questionnaires and 375 subordinate questionnaires were collected.The valid rate of the leadership questionnaire was 95.38%,and employee questionnaire was 83.33%.The totally valid rate of matching questionnaire was 84.85%.The selected questionnaires included: Mindfulness Attention and Awareness Scale(MAAS),Utrecht Work Engagement Scale(UWES),and Emotional Labor Strategy Scale(ELS).The analysis was conducted by independent sample t test,one-way ANOVA,correlation analysis,polynomial regression,response surface modeling and moderation testing.Results & Conclusions(1)There are significant differences in work engagement among employees of different ages;(2)The mindfulness traits of subordinates are significantly positively related to their work engagement;the mindfulness traits of leaders are significantly positively related to their subordinates’ work engagement;(3)Different situations in which the mindfulness traits of leaders and subordinates match have different impacts on employees’ work engagement;(4)When the mindfulness traits of leaders and subordinates are consistent,the employee’s work engagement is higher;and as the leadership and subordinates’ mindfulness traits are simultaneously improved,the employee’s work engagement also increases.(5)Surface acting significantly moderates the influence of the matching of leadership and subordinate mindfulness traits on employees’ work engagement,which significantly destroys the congruence effect of leadership and subordinate mindfulness traits;Under the high-level of surface acting,the mindfulness traits of the superior and subordinates are monotonic fit model matching,and the employee’s work engagement is more affected by the leader’s mindfulness traits;Under the low-level of surface acting,the adverse effects of the incongruence matching of leadership and subordinate mindfulness traits on employee work engagement are improved.The research shows that the more similarity of leaders and subordinates on the mindfulness traits,the higher employees’ work engagement.However,surface acting can undermine this similarity effect.Therefore,manager can improve the mindfulness traits matching between leaders and subordinates through mindfulness training projects,and guide the emotional expression of employees to promote growing development of the company.