Hope-Centered Leadership

Abstract

Hope has been found to be a strong predictor of employee well-being. However, until now, no scale existed to measure whether leaders were activating and operationalizing hope within employees. The Hope-Centered Leadership (HCL) scale addresses that void. Using the framework of Snyder’s established Hope Theory and Yukl’s Taxonomy of Leadership Behaviors, this study constructed a conceptualization of HCL, developed and validated the HCL measure, and demonstrated HCL as a resource in the Job Demands-Resources model. First, HCL was defined as behaviors that activate and nurture hope through setting task-oriented goals, navigating change-oriented pathways, and cultivating relations-oriented agency. Second, a sample of 340 teachers was utilized to validate the measure. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed an a priori first-order structure consisting of nine items. Convergent and discriminate validity was confirmed through structural equation modeling (SEM) utilizing hope, collective hope, and trust. Third, HCL was tested using a sample of 501 individuals within the Job Demands-Resources model to determine if HCL served as a job resource. SEM results indicated that HCL did serve as a job resource through positive correlations with collective hope and workplace well-being while reducing the effects of job demands (i.e., exhaustion, abusive supervision) leading to burnout. Consequently, practitioners now have a valid measure built on established theory for use in determining if leaders are fostering hope within employees through goals, pathways, and agency.