Entrepreneurial Leadership and Employee Wellbeing During COVID-19 Crisis: A Dual Mechanism Perspective

Muhammad Bilal; Shafaq Arif Chaudhry; Imran Sharif; Owais Shafique; Khurram Shahzad

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.800584

Entrepreneurial Leadership and Employee Wellbeing During COVID-19 Crisis: A Dual Mechanism Perspective

Front Psychol. 2022 Jul 18:13:800584. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.800584. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Muhammad Bilal¹, Shafaq Arif Chaudhry¹, Imran Sharif¹, Owais Shafique², Khurram Shahzad³

Affiliations

¹ Lahore Business School, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan.
² Department of Islamic and Conventional Banking, Institute of Business, Management and Administrative Sciences, Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
³ Northern University, Nowshera, Pakistan.

Abstract

This study examined the potential impacts of entrepreneurial leadership on followers' psychological wellbeing and proactive work behavior through sustainable employability and work uncertainty in a sample of 218 employees employed in SMEs of Pakistan. Hierarchical regression results demonstrated that entrepreneurial leadership was positively connected with sustainable employability and negatively linked with work uncertainty. Sequentially, sustainable employability was positively correlated with proactive work behavior and employees' psychological wellbeing, and work uncertainty was negatively associated with proactive work behavior and employees' psychological wellbeing during the COVID-19 crisis. Furthermore, bootstrapping confirmed the mediation effects of work uncertainty and sustainable employability on proactive work behavior and the psychological wellbeing of employees. Sustainable employability did not mediate the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and psychological wellbeing. Mediators, sustainable employability, and work uncertainty positively linked employees' psychological wellbeing and proactive work behavior. The results highlighted the significant roles of sustainable employability and work uncertainty and interpreted why entrepreneurial leadership may affect employees' positive behaviors.

Keywords: COVID-19; entrepreneurial leadership; proactive work behavior; psychological wellbeing; sustainable employability; work uncertainty.