The impact of a leader’s demographic and professional characteristics on employee motivation: Do they really matter?

PurposeBuilding on Upper Echelons Theory and prior research on strategic leadership, the purpose of this paper is to examine the possible effect on employee motivation of two sets of characteristics related to leaders: demographic (gender and age); and professional development (tenure, prior career...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Employee relations 2019-01, Vol.41 (1), p.119-141
Main Authors: Campos-García, Irene, Zúñiga-Vicente, José Ángel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Behavior
Careers
Collaboration
Decision making
Employees
Females
Gender
Hypotheses
Labor relations
Leadership
Managers
Motivation
Performance management
Professional development
Researchers
Tenure
Variables
Workloads
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Summary:PurposeBuilding on Upper Echelons Theory and prior research on strategic leadership, the purpose of this paper is to examine the possible effect on employee motivation of two sets of characteristics related to leaders: demographic (gender and age); and professional development (tenure, prior career experience in the organization and training).Design/methodology/approachThe empirical analysis is based on data from a survey of Spanish educational organizations (secondary schools). The hypotheses are tested using hierarchical multiple regression analysis estimations.FindingsThe results reveal that the characteristics linked to a leader’s professional development have a significant impact on employee (teacher) motivation. Specifically, a long tenure in office has a negative effect, while prior career experience in an organization and continuous training have a positive impact. However, none of the leader’s demographic characteristics considered in the study has a significant impact on teacher motivation.Practical implicationsSeveral lines of managerial and educational policy action are suggested for improving employee (teacher) motivation, especially in the specific case of the schools considered here.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first attempts to explore what impact certain leaders’ characteristics have on employee motivation.
ISSN:0142-5455
1758-7069
DOI:10.1108/ER-10-2017-0253