Managerial coaching and subordinates' workplace well‐being: A moderated mediation study

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12280
• Date: 01 April 2020
• Published date: 01 April 2020
• Author: Weiwei Liu,Hongdan Zhao

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Managerial coaching and subordinates' workplace

well-being: A moderated mediation study

Hongdan Zhao | Weiwei Liu

School of Management, Shanghai University,

Shanghai, China

Correspondence

Hongdan Zhao, School of Management,

Shanghai University, Shanghai, China.

Email: zhdtongji@gmail.com

Funding information

National Natural Science Foundation of China,

Grant/Award Numbers: 71772116, 71802087

Abstract

Taking a self-categorisation perspective, we predict that

managerial coaching affects subordinates' workplace well-

being through perceived insider status and that Chinese

traditionality moderates this indirect effect. To test these

hypotheses, we designed a three-stage research method to

collect data from 276 subordinates in a large state-owned

enterprise located in Shanghai, China. Results indicated that

(a) managerial coaching was positively related to subordi-

nates' workplace well-being; (b) perceived insider status

mediated the linkage between managerial coaching and

subordinates' workplace well-being; and (c) Chinese

traditionality moderated the indirect relationship between

managerial coaching and subordinates' workplace well-

being via perceived insider status, such that the indirect

effect was stronger for subordinates with low rather than

high Chinese traditionality. This study sheds new light on

the intervening process (i.e., perceived insider status) that

explains how managerial coaching influences subordi-

nates' workplace well-being. The findings also extend the

current literature by adding a substantive moderator

(i.e., Chinese traditionality) to explain when and why sub-

ordinates increase their well-being when faced with man-

agerial coaching.

KEYWORDS

Chinese traditionality, managerial coaching, perceived insider

status, workplace well-being

Received: 6 June 2018 Revised: 7 November 2019 Accepted: 20 December 2019

DOI: 10.1111/1748-8583.12280

Hum Resour Manag J. 2020;30:293–311. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hrmj © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 293

Practitioner notes

What is currently known

•Practitioners are unclear how and when managerial coaching affects workplace well-being.

What this paper adds

•A new theory to explaining the process and boundary underlying the relationship between managerial

coaching and workplace well-being, namely self-categorization perspective.

The implications for practitioners

•A two-pronged approach offers explanations of current practices and ways to improve workplace well-

being, for example, simultaneously improving managerial coaching behaviours and perceived insider sta-

tus and adjusting managerial practices for subordinates with different levels of Chinese traditionality.

1|INTRODUCTION

Managerial coaching features “a supervisor/manager serving as a facilitator of learning by enacting behaviors that

enable employees to learn and develop work-related skills and abilities”(Ellinger, Ellinger, Bachrach, Wang, &

Elmada

g Bas¸, 2011, p. 68). It has aroused considerable interest as a potential predictor to subordinates' workplace

well-being (e.g., a positive evaluation of various aspects of one's work; Grant, Curtayne, & Burton, 2009; Horn, Taris,

Schaufeli, & Schreurs, 2004; Kalkavan & Katrinli, 2014). Researchers have considered managerial coaching as an

effective way to enhance subordinates' goal attainment, resilience, and job satisfaction (Grant et al., 2009; Kalkavan &

Katrinli, 2014). However, empirical study exploring the potential impact of managerial coaching on subordinates'

workplace well-being is relatively limited. To fill this void, the first aim of this article is to investigate the relationship

between managerial coaching and subordinates' workplace well-being.

In addition to the direct effect of managerial coaching on subordinates' workplace well-being, scholars (e.g., Kim,

Egan, Kim, & Kim, 2013) have begun to call for an examination of how managerial coaching influences workplace

well-being. In line with their appeal, several intervening mechanisms of managerial coaching have been identified,

such as role clarity, self-set goals, and psychological empowerment (Kalkavan & Katrinli, 2014; Kim et al., 2013).

Despite these encouraging findings, a notable omission is subordinates' self-categorisation process. This oversight is

vital because self-categorisation theory (Turner, 1987) suggests that an organisation often uses rewards or induce-

ments to create an insider–outsider distinction, and the way the organisation treats employees will affect their self-

positioning and self-awareness within the organisation. Supervisors act as organisational agents (Inceoglu, Thomas,

Chu, Plans, & Gerbasi, 2018), and subordinates often generalise supervisory treatment as organisational treatment

(Zhang & Chen, 2013). Therefore, the inducements (e.g., training, support, and authorisation) provided by coaching

leaders send signals to their subordinates, signals that indicate they are valuable to the organisation and have

achieved insider status. Once they perceive insider status—“a sense that employees have earned a ‘personal space’

and acceptance inside their work organization”(Masterson & Stamper, 2003, p. 483)—subordinates tend to report a

positive evaluation of their work (Hui, Lee, & Wang, 2015). This in turn cultivates their workplace well-being. As

such, perceived insider status may be a potential mediator of the managerial coaching–workplace well-being associa-

tion. Therefore, drawing on the self-categorisation theory, our second aim is to examine the mediating role of per-

ceived insider status.

294 ZHAO AND LIU