Leading with Meaning: Investigating the Role of Leader Work Meaningfulness

Experiencing work as meaningful benefits both individuals and organizations. While prior research has indicated that leaders may shape followers’ work meaningfulness, little is known about the role of leaders’ own work meaningfulness in this process. Drawing from self-concept based theory and interpersonal sensemaking processes, we argue that work meaningfulness trickles down from strategic leaders to mid-level leaders to employees through visionary leadership. Additionally, we propose that organizational tenure shapes this transfer in such a way that leaders’ influence is higher for followers new to the organization. Finally, we expect work meaningfulness to positively relate to important behavioral outcomes across different hierarchies. In order to test the derived hypotheses, we conducted two multilevel studies among 54 CEOs and 267 mid-level managers (Study 1), and 39 mid-level leaders and 173 employees (Study 2). Using multilevel structural equation modeling, our results confirmed most hypotheses. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.