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The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of social identity and the psychological contract as plausible frameworks of transformational leadership (TL)-attitudes relationship.

A cross-sectional study was conducted amongst 134 employees. All variables were measured using self-report measures and multiple mediator analysis was used to test the hypotheses.

Both social identity and psychological contract acted as significant mediators between leadership and attitudinal outcomes. However, social identity emerged as the stronger mediator.

This study provides evidence on the relative significance of social identity over the psychological contract in explaining TL-attitudes relationship at work. Further longitudinal work is warranted.

The results suggest providing internal work environments and practices which enable employees to experience a high degree of fairness and, above all, a sense of identity with the organization can link better their perceptions of their leaders with work attitudes.

This study contributes to the literature by highlighting the importance of TL not only on work attitudes but also on the value of important mediators like social identity and the psychological contract as feeding into this relationship. It therefore promotes and raises awareness of the need to explore the explanatory power of these two mediators in understanding the effects of leadership on followers.

The European Innovation Scoreboard is an important indicator of innovation performance across European Member States. Despite its wide application, the indicator fails to highlight the interlinkages that exist among innovation measures and focuses primarily on the linear relationship between the individual measures and the predicted outcome. This study aims to address this gap by applying a novel technique, the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), to shed light on these interlinkages and highlight the complexity of the determinants underlying innovation performance.

The authors adopted a configurational approach based on fsQCA that is implemented on innovation performance data from European Member States for the period 2011–2018. The approach is based on non-linearity and allows for the analysis of interlinkages based on equifinality, that is, the model recognises that there are different potential paths of high and low innovation performance. In addition, the approach allows for asymmetric relations, where a low innovation outcome is not the exact inverse of that which leads to high innovation outcome.

The results clearly indicate that innovation outcomes are not based on simple linear relations. Thus, to reap the desired effects from investments in innovation inputs, the complex set of indicators on which innovation performance is based should be taken into consideration. The results clearly indicate the elements of equifinality and asymmetric relations. Different paths lead to high innovation performance and low innovation performance.

The method applied to investigate the determinants of innovation performance is the prime original factor of this study. Thus, the study contributes to literature by highlighting the complexity involved in understanding innovation. By recognising and attempting to detangle this complexity, this study will assist not just academics but also policymakers in designing the necessary measures required to reach this important outcome for a country’s competitive edge.

Medical errors in obstetric departments are commonly reported and may involve both mother and neonate. The complexity of obstetric care, the interactions between various disciplines, and the inherent limitations of human performance make it critically important for these departments to provide patient-safe and friendly working environments that are open to learning and participative safety. Obstetric care involves stressful work, and health care professionals are prone to develop burnout, this being associated with unsafe practices and lower probability for reporting safety concerns. This study aims to test the mediating role of burnout in the relationship of patient-safe and friendly working environment with unsafe performance. The full population of professionals working in an obstetrics department in Malta was invited to participate in a cross-sectional study, with 73.6% (n = 184) of its members responding. The research tool was adapted from the Sexton et al.’s Safety Attitudes Questionnaire – Labor and Delivery version and surveyed participants on their working environment, burnout, and perceived unsafe performance. Analysis was done using Structural Equation Modeling. Results supported the relationship between the lack of a perceived patient-safe and friendly working environment and unsafe performance that is mediated by burnout. Creating a working environment that ensures patient safety practices, that allows communication, and is open to learning may protect employees from burnout. In so doing, they are more likely to perceive that they are practicing safely. This study contributes to patient safety literature by relating working environment, burnout, and perceived unsafe practice with the intention of raising awareness of health managers’ roles in ensuring optimal clinical working environment for health care employees.

The psychological contract is defined as a perceived exchange agreement of promissory obligations between employee and organization. Most approaches to this concept ignore the role of context in shaping its features. However, others have pointed out the need to evaluate the features of the construct within the context in which it is studied. Three salient features of the construct include the use of the term “promises” versus “obligations”, its implicit nature and reference to the “other” party, and the exchange content. Rousseau and Schalk suggest that these features are weighted and interpreted differently across different countries. The purpose of this paper is to test this proposition in the island state of Malta, a European Union micro‐state.

Semi‐structured interviews are used. Three questions are addressed: do employment obligations vary from promises in this context? Are employment obligations in this context necessarily explicited? Who is considered the employer in this context?.

The results show that some findings are similar to those found in other settings (e.g. acknowledgement of an exchange relationship in employment), others are more context‐bound (e.g. the meaning of obligations as predicting future reciprocal behaviours compared to promises). The paper also shows that many of these understandings are related to and construed by the way the employment relationship is construed in a country like Malta.

These findings strengthen the need to incorporate the contextual realities in which the features of the construct are employed as this has implications for both the generalizability of results and theory building.

To investigate specific barriers that might be hindering Maltese women from achieving a managerial position.

This study is based on research by Cromie. Barriers are classified into two main categories; internal and external barriers. Job‐involvement and work‐based self‐esteem are considered to be internal barriers, whereas attitudes towards women in management are considered to be external barriers. The total population was 200, consisting of male and female middle managers, female and male employees and B. Commerce students.

Results indicate no differences between job involvement and work‐based self‐esteem of male and female managers. On the other hand, both male employees and students seem to hold more stereotypical attitudes towards women in management than their female counterparts.

One of the basic limitations of this study was the sample size since small samples make it difficult to generalize. Further research may focus on two main areas. First, it would be useful to have qualitative research on the work experiences of female managers to further investigate the various factors that have helped and hindered women thorough their career advancement. Secondly, research on corporate climate can be helpful in identifying organizational practices that might be blocking female career prospects. Finally, a study considering how attitudes can be reshaped through the educational system and through the use of the media can also help to reduce gender stereotypes.

This study indicates that women often have to face several attitudinal barriers, which in turn may explain the lack of female participation in managerial occupations. A change in organizational policies can help women to overcome these barriers.

This paper confirms that, as in several countries, Maltese women are facing several barriers, which are hindering their career prospects. It also highlights the important role of organizations in reducing workplace barriers.

The purpose of this study is to both understand the motives for volunteering in local government (a strong/structured context) and determine how such motivation and other demographics interact with organisational contexts to influence volunteering outcomes.

The study adopts a functional approach to volunteerism. The Volunteer Functions Inventory is modified to better assess the motivations of elected local government volunteers. The responses of 152 Maltese local councillors were used to answer four research questions empirically.

Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the introduction of a seventh VFI dimension, namely the political function. The study provides evidence that local councillors who received greater amounts of functionally relevant benefits reported more satisfaction and a stronger intention to continue volunteering in local government. The aggregated effect of multiple motives as well as other person-based determinants (marital status and education) produced a significant impact on volunteering outcomes in this strong/structured situational context of this public sector environment.

This study contributes to a better understanding and assessment of the motivations of elected local government volunteers. It addresses practical recommendations for sustaining civil society, while acknowledging the potential and contribution of volunteers with various demographic characteristics.

The following case study aims to explore management's, health professionals' and patients' experiences on the extent to which there is visibility of management support in achieving effective interdisciplinary team working, which is explicitly declared in the mission statement of a 60-bed acute rehabilitative geriatric hospital in Malta.

A total of 21 semi-structured interviews were conducted with the above-mentioned key stakeholders.

Three main distinct yet interdependent themes emerged as a result of thematic analysis: “managing a team-friendly hospital”, “interdisciplinary team components”, and “interdisciplinary team processes”. The findings show that visibility of management support and its alignment with the process and content levels of interdisciplinary teamwork are key to integrated care for acute rehabilitative geriatric patients.

The emerging phenomena may not be reproducible in a different context; although many of the emerging themes could be comfortably matched with the existing literature.

The implications are geared towards raising the consciousness and conscientiousness of good practice in interdisciplinary teamwork in hospitals, as well as in emphasizing organizational and management support as crucial factors for team-based organizations.

Interdisciplinary teamwork in acute rehabilitative geriatrics provides optimal quality and integrated health care delivery with the aim that the older persons are successfully discharged back to the community.

The authors draw on solid theoretical frameworks – the complexity theory, team effectiveness model and the social identity theory – to support their major finding, namely the alignment of organizational and management support with intra-team factors at the process and content level.

Employee participation is an important construct in contemporary organisations. Recently, the argument has concentrated on whether leader direction and participation can co‐exist. It is argued that leader direction is perceptually acceptable by employees at the strategic level of the decision process but is interpreted as intrusive at the tactical (task) level. This study examined the possibility of any interaction effects between leader direction at the task level and participation, and whether this exacerbated the relationship between participation and favourable work‐related attitudes. A total of 108 middle managers were surveyed using measures for both dimensions of leader direction, participation, job satisfaction, commitment and intrinsic motivation. Separate two‐step moderator regression analysis was conducted to test the hypothesis. Results indicate that while participation predicts significantly all work‐related attitudes, both leader direction variables exacerbated the relationship between participation and job satisfaction. Implications of the results and future research are also discussed.

The psychological contract is the construct through which one attempts to explain the quality of the employment relationship from the point of view of each of the contract party with regards to obligations and inducements and can be employed to explain organizational change dynamics. Failing to provide promised obligations is termed as violation. This study examined the occurrence of contract violation amongst 132 Maltese public service employees at a time when radical changes in practices were being proposed. Violation was conceptualised in two ways: under‐fulfilled employer obligations and over‐fulfilled employee obligations. Results show that whereas employees were likely to report that their employer violated obligations, they themselves were more likely to over‐fulfil their obligations towards their employer. In addition, contract term violations were related to important work outcomes and generally in a different way for the two forms of violation. Results are discussed and future research suggestions highlighted.