The Power of Peer Leaders: Exploring the Link between Peer Leadership Behaviors and Sustainable Work Outcomes
Most leadership studies primarily focus on formal leaders, often overlooking the influence of leaders within the team. While prior research has shown that peer leaders can have a beneficial impact on various team outcomes, it is yet unclear which peer leadership behaviors precisely foster a supporti...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-12-01
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Series: | Behavioral Sciences |
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Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/14/1/2 |
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author | Charlotte M. Edelmann Filip Boen Jeroen Stouten Gert Vande Broek Katrien Fransen |
author_facet | Charlotte M. Edelmann Filip Boen Jeroen Stouten Gert Vande Broek Katrien Fransen |
author_sort | Charlotte M. Edelmann |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Most leadership studies primarily focus on formal leaders, often overlooking the influence of leaders within the team. While prior research has shown that peer leaders can have a beneficial impact on various team outcomes, it is yet unclear which peer leadership behaviors precisely foster a supportive and sustainable work environment. Building upon the recent identification of 10 peer leadership roles and 37 underlying functions, the current study aims to investigate the relationships between these peer leadership roles and functions and key outcomes (i.e., job satisfaction, team cohesion, team effectiveness, and OCB). A total of 31 organizational teams, comprising 182 employees from diverse sectors, participated in a quantitative survey. Employing multilevel modeling analysis, the findings demonstrated that each leadership role and nearly every function predicted at least one outcome, highlighting their significance within organizational teams. Additionally, Necessary Condition Analysis revealed that specific roles and functions were necessary for generating one or more outcomes. Finally, we found that most of the significant relationships remained consistent across teams, regardless of their size, tenure, or level of team identification. These findings refine our understanding of shared leadership and how peer leaders can create a sustainable workplace by fostering employee well-being and productivity in organizational teams. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-08T11:05:41Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-c11b2cddd94744eb9407eb4cc18b8435 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2076-328X |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-08T11:05:41Z |
publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
publisher | MDPI AG |
record_format | Article |
series | Behavioral Sciences |
spelling | doaj.art-c11b2cddd94744eb9407eb4cc18b84352024-01-26T15:05:36ZengMDPI AGBehavioral Sciences2076-328X2023-12-01141210.3390/bs14010002The Power of Peer Leaders: Exploring the Link between Peer Leadership Behaviors and Sustainable Work OutcomesCharlotte M. Edelmann0Filip Boen1Jeroen Stouten2Gert Vande Broek3Katrien Fransen4Department of Movement Sciences, KU Leuven, Tervuursevest 101, P.O. Box 1500, 3001 Leuven, BelgiumDepartment of Movement Sciences, KU Leuven, Tervuursevest 101, P.O. Box 1500, 3001 Leuven, BelgiumFaculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Dekenstraat 2, P.O. Box 3725, 3000 Leuven, BelgiumDepartment of Movement Sciences, KU Leuven, Tervuursevest 101, P.O. Box 1500, 3001 Leuven, BelgiumDepartment of Movement Sciences, KU Leuven, Tervuursevest 101, P.O. Box 1500, 3001 Leuven, BelgiumMost leadership studies primarily focus on formal leaders, often overlooking the influence of leaders within the team. While prior research has shown that peer leaders can have a beneficial impact on various team outcomes, it is yet unclear which peer leadership behaviors precisely foster a supportive and sustainable work environment. Building upon the recent identification of 10 peer leadership roles and 37 underlying functions, the current study aims to investigate the relationships between these peer leadership roles and functions and key outcomes (i.e., job satisfaction, team cohesion, team effectiveness, and OCB). A total of 31 organizational teams, comprising 182 employees from diverse sectors, participated in a quantitative survey. Employing multilevel modeling analysis, the findings demonstrated that each leadership role and nearly every function predicted at least one outcome, highlighting their significance within organizational teams. Additionally, Necessary Condition Analysis revealed that specific roles and functions were necessary for generating one or more outcomes. Finally, we found that most of the significant relationships remained consistent across teams, regardless of their size, tenure, or level of team identification. These findings refine our understanding of shared leadership and how peer leaders can create a sustainable workplace by fostering employee well-being and productivity in organizational teams.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/14/1/2shared leadershippeer leadersteamsleadership rolesnecessary conditionemployee well-being |
spellingShingle | Charlotte M. Edelmann Filip Boen Jeroen Stouten Gert Vande Broek Katrien Fransen The Power of Peer Leaders: Exploring the Link between Peer Leadership Behaviors and Sustainable Work Outcomes Behavioral Sciences shared leadership peer leaders teams leadership roles necessary condition employee well-being |
title | The Power of Peer Leaders: Exploring the Link between Peer Leadership Behaviors and Sustainable Work Outcomes |
title_full | The Power of Peer Leaders: Exploring the Link between Peer Leadership Behaviors and Sustainable Work Outcomes |
title_fullStr | The Power of Peer Leaders: Exploring the Link between Peer Leadership Behaviors and Sustainable Work Outcomes |
title_full_unstemmed | The Power of Peer Leaders: Exploring the Link between Peer Leadership Behaviors and Sustainable Work Outcomes |
title_short | The Power of Peer Leaders: Exploring the Link between Peer Leadership Behaviors and Sustainable Work Outcomes |
title_sort | power of peer leaders exploring the link between peer leadership behaviors and sustainable work outcomes |
topic | shared leadership peer leaders teams leadership roles necessary condition employee well-being |
url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/14/1/2 |
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