Browsing by Author "Nutt, Uanne"
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- ItemExploring the antecedents of extra-role behaviour : becoming an empowered consultant(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03) Nutt, Uanne; De Vos, Uanne; Boonzaier, Michele; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Industrial Psychology.ENGLISH SUMMARY : South African organisations are continuously challenged by fast-paced changes in their operating environments. Consulting firms are expected to be among the fastest adaptors, with their superior diagnostic and problem-solving skills. With the survival of organisations being threatened, consulting firms are presented with opportunities to provide innovative and forward-thinking solutions to their organisational clients. For them to prosper from these opportunities, they also must adapt to changing conditions and dynamically seek new competitive advantages in the value proposition that they offer to clients. In order to consistently provide tailor-made solutions to clients’ context-specific needs, consultants must deviate from prescribed roles and standard approaches. These necessary deviations, which enable consultants to add significant value to clients through a higher quality service, are referred to as extra-role behaviours. To unlock and elicit the potential value added by extra-role behaviours, organisations should appoint and develop leaders who enable consultants to engage in these behaviours. This study aims to explore the antecedents of extra-role behaviour, with a specific focus on the influence of empowering leadership and an empowered psychological state. The extra-role behaviours that are of interest in this study are organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) and proactive behaviour (PB). The present study aimed to answer the following research-initiating question – what causes variance in the extra-role behaviours (i.e. OCB and PB) of South African consultants? Subsequently, an in-depth analysis was conducted of the existing literature on OCB, PB, psychological empowerment, and empowering leadership. Hypotheses were formulated from the extensive literature review, substantiating the relationships between the constructs of interest. An ex post facto correlational research design was used. A non-probability, snowball convenience sampling technique was utilised to recruit potential research participants (i.e. South African consultants who report to a manager). Quantitative data was collected by means of an online survey, which comprised the following measurements: a 24-item OCB scale, a 10-item taking charge PB questionnaire, a 12-item psychological empowerment scale, and a 38-item empowering leadership questionnaire (ELQ). The final sample comprised 174 responses. The empirical data was analysed by means of various statistical analyses. A reliability analysis was performed to determine whether the measurements that were used to collect the empirical data were valid and reliable. Based on the results of the PB scale, additional analyses were conducted, and it was found that PB has a two-factor structure. The revised PB structure was utilised for the subsequent analyses. The reliability analysis results indicated that each measurement model reproduced the empirical data reasonably well. Further analyses were performed to determine the goodness of fit between the hypothesised structural model and the empirical data. Path coefficients were found to be statistically significant (p < .001) for the hypothesised positive influence of psychological empowerment on OCB, the hypothesised positive influence of psychological empowerment on PB, as well as the hypothesised positive influence of empowering leadership on psychological empowerment. Furthermore, the structural model explained a significant portion of variance in the extra-role behaviours of consultants. An additional mediation analysis confirmed that psychological empowerment fully mediates the relationship between empowering leadership and OCB, and also fully mediates the relationship between empowering leadership and PB (p = .00). The present study has made a significant contribution to the available knowledge on extra-role behaviours in consultants, and thus offers important insight into South African industrial psychology.