The Effect of Supervisors’ Transformational Leadership on Subordinates’ Psychological Empowerment and Work-Life Balance

要約

Research in Japan, as elsewhere, has turned to work-life balance as indicating not only the conflict between work and family, but also “a relationship where work and family mutually interact for quality improvements.” Such research, based on the novel concepts of positive spillover, enrichment, and facilitation, contemplates cases in which skills acquired at work are applied in the family, and feelings of significance and fulfillment fostered at work are transmitted to the family. This paper’s research considers significance and fulfillment at work as psychological empowerment; this research inquires as to whether 1) the transformational leadership of a business superior, or below as “supervisor,” affects subordinates’ work-life balance; and whether 2) psychological empowerment has mediated effects that link transformational leadership with said work-life balance. An investigation was made via questionnaire, and it was found that a supervisor’s recognition increases the meaning, i.e., the feeling of significance, of subordinates’ work, and this has positive effects on the realization of a work-life balance. It is asserted that the transformational leadership of a workplace supervisor and psychological empowerment are powerful concepts that have positive effects on employees’ work-life balance.