Research

This study responds to the call for a closer analysis of the role that contextual and individual factors play in workplace coaching as a context-sensitive intervention. We build on theories of regulatory focus and training motivation, to propose and examine a model that explains employees’ pre-coaching motivation when assigned to workplace coaching. Specifically, we propose that the employees’ perception of the organizational coaching context, as either developmental or remedial, contributes to their pre-coaching motivation through employees’ situational regulatory focus. Results of a scenario-based experimental study (N = 175) demonstrated that organizational coaching context affects employees’ situational regulatory foci beyond their chronic dispositions. Further, the indirect relationship between developmental organizational coaching context and pre-coaching motivation was mediated by employee situational promotion focus. However, we did not find the hypothesized indirect relationship between remedial organizational coaching context and employee pre-coaching motivation via employee situational prevention focus. The study highlights the important role that organizations’ management and human resource development personnel play in the “kick-off” of a workplace coaching intervention by shaping the context of coaching assignments prior to coaching. Furthermore, this study emphasizes the importance of including the organization’s informal feedback to the employee prior to coaching as a key contractual element that contributes to coachees’ pre-coaching motivation. We conclude with implications for future workplace coaching research and practice.

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This article introduces a special issue of Applied Psychology: An International Review that focuses on recent advances in the psychology of workplace coaching. To begin with, we briefly describe the current state of workplace coaching research, and we then outline the aims and objectives that had driven our motivation in editing this special issue. We set out two objectives for this special issue. First, to ensure that each of the contributions started with the relevant theoretical framework, and secondly, that the papers in this special issue utilized rigorous research design and methodology. We then provide an overview of each of the five articles making up the special issue, detailing their respective contributions to advancing workplace coaching research and theory. We conclude with recommendations for future workplace coaching research, building on the contributions in this special issue. We propose scholars should focus on three key areas: future coaching research should adopt a “start with theory” approach; that rigorous research design and methodology is prioritized, specifically in relation to utilizing multiple data sources and increasing the range of objective (hard) data as coaching outcome measures; and for coaching scholars to pay attention to and explore non-significant effects.                            Read the Full Article

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of learning organization culture (LOC), learning goal orientation (LGO) and psychological empowerment (PsyEmp) on employee engagement, focusing on the mediating role of each dimension of PsyEmp (meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact). Individual perceptions of 329 employees in 9 South Korean for-profit companies were obtained by a cross-sectional survey. Construct validity of each measurement model was examined using confirmatory factor analysis, and the hypothesized structural model was tested by structural equation modeling. Bootstrap analyses were used for testing mediation effects of PsyEmp. The authors found that PsyEmp had a significant effect on job engagement, and that LOC and LGO significantly predicted the level of PsyEmp and engagement. The four dimensions of PsyEmp partially mediated the relationship between the two predictors (i.e. LOC and LGO) and job engagement. LGO had a stronger effect than LOC on both PsyEmp and job engagement. Employees who are high in LGO and perceive that an organization provides opportunities for continuous learning with supportive leadership are more likely to experience improved meaning in their work, competence in their knowledge and skills, and foster self-determination with respect to their personal impact on their work and organization. These important facets of PsyEmp that promote employee engagement should be considered by human resource and OD professionals when recommending workplace changes to improve organizational effectiveness and sustainability. This study complements the trend to use employee engagement as a proxy for understanding both individual and organizational performance by investigating the relationships among LOC, goal orientation, empowerment and engagement.

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Workplace coaching is increasingly popular as a global learning and development tool for enhancing employees’ professional capabilities. However, little is known about the role of cross-cultural factors in coaching, and the relationships between cross-cultural factors and both coaching approach and motivation factors. Accordingly, by drawing on and integrating theories from the research areas of cross-cultural psychology, regulatory focus, and training, we propose a theoretical framework that unravels the effectiveness of different coaching approaches in different cultural and coaching contexts. We propose that chronic regulatory focus is an underlying mechanism that predicts the effectiveness of a chosen coaching approach in specific contexts of societal uncertainty avoidance (i.e., low vs. high uncertainty avoidance). Furthermore, we propose that coaching context elicits coachee situational regulatory focus, and that compatibility between coachee chronic and situational regulatory focus has a significant impact on coachee pre-coaching motivation. We conclude by discussing the implications for future research and practice.

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This article investigates the use of segmentation and targeting instruments as well as market data in the recruitment of so-called ‘high potentials’ in the pharmaceutical industry...
The grounded theory method (GTM) is used within the framework of contingency theory to explore key contextual factors that influence segmentation and targeting. Fifteen corporate human resource professionals and executive recruiters from pharmaceutical companies based in Europe and the USA were interviewed. The study found that a company’s need for certain groups of high potentials (e.g., clinical development professionals), the scarcity of certain highly-sought employee groups, and the capabilities and attitudes of human resource personnel were key determinants of which analytical instruments, such as market analysis, segmentation, and targeting, were implemented. Finally, theoretical and practical implications are provided for HR practitioners concerned with meeting recruitment goals.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceptions of five leadership succession themes by executives of Estonian nonprofit organizations. This is a qualitative study that uses narrative inquiry and purposive sampling. Face-to-face and Skype interviews were conducted with 15 executives. Succession was unplanned in most of the Estonian nonprofits; successors were coached during initial transitionary periods; insiders were preferred to outsiders; requirements of executive positions were unmet because of a talent shortfall; lack of trust, unexpected behavior, and possible ethical issues were key risk factors associated with succession; and mixed opinions were received regarding the advantages and disadvantages of succession planning.

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Meta-analytic results have established that workplace coaching is effective, however, little is known about the determinants of coaching effectiveness. This paper reports an inclusive systematic literature review, covering the quantitative and qualitative research on workplace coaching...
We focus on seven promising areas in the current workplace coaching literature that emerged by the synthesis of 117 empirical studies: self-efficacy, coaching motivation, goal orientation, trust, interpersonal attraction, feedback intervention, and supervisory support. The major contribution of our paper is the systematic integration of well-established theoretical constructs in the workplace coaching context and the new insights we provide in the synthesis of these literatures. Based on our review, we provide specific recommendations to be addressed in future research, including recommended research methodologies, which we propose will significantly progress the field of workplace coaching theory and practice.
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Despite the extensive breadth of research into the critical challenge of succession in family business, generational succession in family business has been investigated from predominately one-dimensional perspective. ..
This study responds to call for a multi-perspectives examination of leadership succession in order to embrace the dynamic and complex nature of succession in a family-business. Accordingly, we investigated the key personal and professional factors associated with effective family-business succession across four key stakeholders: incumbent, successor, family, and nonfamily members. The explanatory research design included 16 interviews in Phase 1 and 41 Prospective Case Study interviews in Phase 2, both with Australian family businesses that had or were about to experience generational transition. Incumbents and successor interview findings support the benefits of maintaining a cohesive family business, adaptable family culture and familiness for effective succession. We also identified several personal components (e.g., family-business socialization and external experiences) that can help determine the commitment of successors and how this commitment can change once they assume a leadership position. Business size was the professional component supported by incumbent, successor and nonfamily members as having a significant impact on succession process. As a family business grows and becomes more highly complex, a clearly defined set of procedures becomes imperative. Family-business practitioners can apply our findings to manage the processes and expectations of family and the business to achieve effective generational succession and thereby increase the sustainability of the business. This research provides a coherent and comprehensive understanding of the interdependencies of competing priorities in the complex succession process that is essential for family business sustainability and performance.
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Succession in a business requires careful planning, and it presents one of the most difficult challenges in a family business...
The next generation is sometimes thrust into leadership without knowing how to run or grow a company or having learned from a parent’s mistakes. This article presents a case study of a failed generational transition within a small family business in Eastern Europe. In the case study, the business, which was already in decline, was given to an inexperienced daughter with no invested employees to help her improve and grow the experience. Lessons learned from this failed generational transition validate previous research findings that generational transitions within family businesses present similar types of problems around the world.
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The aim of this article is twofold: (a) to investigate the degree to which small churches plan for succession of departing pastors, and (b) to determine the degree to which church governing bodies (councils) select insiders or outsiders as replacements for departing pastors...
We investigated these two questions with a French religious association comprised of 30 small churches that have congregations of approximately 100 parishioners each using an adaptation of the Global Survey of Executive Succession (GSES) in Nonprofit Organizations/NGOs (Santora, Sarros, & Cooper, 2009). The survey response rate from the association membership was 73%. The results indicated that most association churches (65%) do not plan for succession and that most churches (80%) select outsiders as replacements for departing pastors, even though 40% of the churches in the survey had assistant pastors. Implications for leadership and management are discussed. Limitations of the study include a lack of generalizability and the small sample size. Recommendations for future studies are provided.
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Professionals of human resources (HR) use different criteria in practice than they verbalize. Thus, the aim of this research was to identify the implicit criteria used for the selection of high-potential employees in recruitment and development settings in the pharmaceutical industry...
A semi-structured interview guide was developed and used to collect data from 15 European and US recruiters in the pharmaceutical sector. The interview guide included an embedded association test to identify potential differences between implicit assumptions about high potentials and verbalized criteria among participants. Findings include differences and similarities between the criteria to define high potentials and the implicit assumptions HR professionals use in their initial selection of employees who are selected for further assessment and development programmes. Learning how HR professionals use implicit assumptions about potential recruits should inform practitioners about selection, promotion and training strategies. Given the increasing application of automated search algorithms to identify and select high potentials for recruitment, development and promotion purposes, future studies should account for the differences between used and verbalized criteria underlying the development of these systems.
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This case study describes a true heroic rescue operation of a wounded Israeli paratrooper, behind enemy lines. It follows the rescue team leader, who was decorated by a medal of honor afterward, to discuss his dilemmas, decisions and actions...
With a focus on authentic and ethical leadership, the challenges of “in extremis leadership” in the uncertain and dangerous realm of the battlefield are revealed. Leaders’ capabilities and behaviors, which create trust, commitment, self-confidence and loyalty of followers, become vivid through this story. The relationships revealed and dilemmas that arose have important implications to leadership within today’s high velocity organizational environment.
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In this study we identified and examined the characteristics of nonprofits that have organizational leadership development (OLD) initiatives integrated with executive succession planning to ensure the continuity of organizational leadership...

Results from a survey of the 54 nonprofit Israeli executive directors (EDs) found that the importance of OLD and its availability and accessibility were positively associated with succession planning. Findings included the extent to which EDs advise boards about succession planning and the likelihood of internal recruitment (including an institutional policy) as a mechanism for EDs’ replacements. Implications for nonprofit boards and EDs and recommendations for future research are provided.
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The aim of this article is to compare the extent to which nonprofits have planned for executive director succession in six different countries...
The article compares the data from the survey findings of six recently published articles that used the same questionnaire in Australia, Brazil, Israel, Italy, Russia, and the United States. The article focuses on succession planning and executive selection issues (formal versus informal planning and insider-outsider selection) and provides demographic comparisons of the respondents. Implications for managing sustainable organizations include the need to be attentive to strategic priorities to anticipate and deal with the expected and unexpected departures of incumbents. Limitations such as convenience samples are noted as are recommendations for future research.
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Although executive coaching has become increasingly popular in the corporate world for the last 2 decades, there have been few empirical studies on how the match between coach and coachee affects the coaching relationship...

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of gender similarity and perceived similarity on executive-coaching effectiveness, as reflected in the improvement in attitudinal and behavioral outcomes (i.e., self-awareness, career satisfaction, organizational commitment, and supervisor-rated task performance). Study participants (68 coach-coachee dyads) were drawn from the clients of 4 Israel-based firms that provide executive coaching. Overall, the coach-coachee match had little significant effect on coaching outcomes. More specifically, gender similarity and perceived similarity had no significant effect at all on career satisfaction and organizational commitment. However, we found gender similarity had a significant relationship with the change of coachee’s self-awareness. That is, male executives with female coaches responded that their self-awareness was not improved as a result of coaching. Additionally, the more coaches perceived similarity with coachees, the higher their supervisor-rated task performance. Since, unlike a mentoring relationship, executive coaching has more specific goals and a highly structured process, it appears to be unnecessary for HR/OD practitioners to be concerned about coach-coachee matching based on similarity (gender or overall perception).
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Executive coaching has become a newly established practice for management development within two decades. Despite its increasing popularity, there is limited empirical evidence on the effectiveness of executive coaching...

Drawing on data from a larger research project, the purpose of this study was to investigate the influences of coachee characteristics (i.e., learning goal orientation and developmental self-efficacy) and coaching relationships (i.e., coach credibility and perceived similarity) on coachee’s feedback receptivity and self-awareness. Based on the results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses, when a coachee had a higher learning goal orientation and stronger perceived coach credibility, the coachee perceived higher feedback receptivity. Additionally, when a coachee had a higher developmental self-efficacy and perceived similarity with the coach, the coachee felt a higher self-awareness. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed, and recommendations for future research are provided.
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Little empirical research has examined the role of coach characteristics in coaching success. This study addresses this gap in the literature by identifying and testing the relationships between a coach’s academic background in psychology and credibility with executive coaching effectiveness as reflected in greater levels of individual outcomes...

These factors were examined through a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design. Participants were drawn from the client bases of four Israeli executive coaching agencies. A coach’s academic background in psychology was positively related to executive coaching effectiveness as reflected in greater improvement in coachee self awareness and job performance as reported by the direct supervisor. Further, coach credibility was positively related to executive coaching effectiveness as reflected in higher mean scores in coachee self reported job performance. Findings should assist businesses and educators in improving the formal preparation of coaches and in better identifying and selecting competent coaches. This may lead to better executive coaching design, implementation and outcomes. Recommendations for future research are provided.
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This paper aims to offer a theoretical foundation for a testable framework of executive coaching effectiveness and to share key findings from the research study in executive coaching effectiveness based on the theoretical framework...

This article draws on the results from a quasi-experimental field study of four firms whose primary professional services focused on executive coaching. Practical implications and lessons learned for the three constituents: the coachee, the coach and the organization are discussed. This research can assist individuals and organizations in making informed decisions about designing, implementing and measuring executive coaching programs, thus building the profession of coaching.
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While there is ample literature regarding the rapidly growing Israeli nonprofit sector, scant attention has been paid to the particular considerations, challenges, and opportunities pertaining to succession planning in this unique sector...

Consequently, this exploratory study investigates the degree to which Israeli nonprofit organizations prepare themselves for executive succession. Based on a survey developed by Santora, Sarros and Cooper (2009), the authors collected data on succession planning from the executive directors of 100 Israeli nonprofits and conducted comparative analyses on nine succession planning indicators. The findings suggest that most Israeli nonprofit organizations do not plan for succession, and they are also ill-prepared for succession. While these findings echo those of nonprofit organizations in other countries, they appear to signal a warning sign for the Israeli nonprofit sector given its importance as a dominant provider of services not provided by the public sector. Furthermore, the authors explore the major organizational impediments to succession planning in the context of Israeli society. Finally, practical organizational implications are considered, followed by suggestions for future research.
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Executive coaching is gaining in popularity as a management developmental activity which facilitates organisational change for sustainability...

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships among coachee feedback receptivity, pre-training motivation, learning goal orientation, developmental self-efficacy, self-reported job performance improvement, self-awareness, task performance and affective commitment in terms of executive coaching effectiveness as a form of management development. A non-randomised controlled trial research design was conducted to examine the hypothesized relationships among coachee characteristics and executive coaching effectiveness, as reflected in greater levels of individual outcomes in corporate Israel. A significant interaction between learning goal orientation and pre-training motivation on improvement in job self-reported performance was found. Additionally, a negative relationship was found between learning goal orientation and improvement in self-reported job performance among coachees with low levels of pre-training motivation. Finally, self-efficacy demonstrates a positive relationship with job performance improvement. This research provides greater insights about the type of individual outcomes executive coaching should achieve, and under which conditions coaching is likely to be more beneficial for participants. This research has value for designing and implementing coaching programmes to drive sustainable development and innovation.
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While executive coaching is a key means by which organisations and individuals build executives’ capabilities, very little research has investigated how effective or beneficial this development tool is to the individuals or the organisations in which they work...
The purpose of this study was to examine executive coaching effectiveness by investigating whether executive coaching has an impact on coachee performance outcomes as well as individual outcomes as manifested by self awareness, career satisfaction, job affective commitment, and job performance. Coaching outcomes were examined through a quasi-experimental field pre-post design with an untreated control group. The study participants (n=197) were drawn from the client bases of four Israeli-based firms whose primary professional services focused on executive coaching. The primary conclusion is that executive coaching may be a mechanism by which executives could be helped in improving and maintaining a high level of career satisfaction. The results should assist organizations in designing more effective executive coaching programs, and in making informed decisions about implementing and measuring executive coaching.
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Within the traditional business organizational climate in which an executive coach operates, the identity of ‘the coached’ (coachee) can be quite clearly differentiated from the business identity...
This is not the case within the world of family business, where the incumbent family business leader, the successor, the business and the family culture, are interwoven. This unique feature of family business means that, for executive coaching to be effective within the family business environment, a radically different approach to that used in traditional business environments must be adopted – namely, the consideration of what generally are thought of as noneconomic variables. This article represents a first attempt to effectively address the key and unique variables executive coaches need to know to work within the family business environment.
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Human Resources departments love them but how do you know of an executive coach is doing any good. In this article we go looking for answers and propose a framework of successful executive coaching.
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