Strengths-based leadership and its impact on task performance : a preliminary study

Purpose: The current article aims to develop and validate the strengths-based leadership (SBL) scale and to explore the association of SBL with task performance and the roles of work-related well-being (WWB) and work pressure in the relationship. Design/methodology/approach: The exploratory factor and the confirmatory factor analyses were applied to assess the validity and reliability of the SBL scale. A total of 342 employees (female = 54.1%; mean age = 30.37 years, standard deviation [SD] = 5.90 years) from various Chinese enterprises were used to test the association of SBL with task performance. Findings/results: The results revealed that the two-dimensional SBL scale shows appropriate validity and reliability, and SBL is positively correlated with task performance. In addition, we also found that WWB acts as a mediator in the SBL-task performance linkage, and work pressure can enhance the direct association of SBL with WWB and the indirect association of SBL with task performance via WWB. Practical implication: Our findings have some significant managerial implications in promoting employees' task performance and research on SBL provides a new insight into leadership development. Originality/value: This article provides a useful tool to measure the SBL construct and is the first to empirically examine the effects of SBL.