Leadership in Hybrid Workplaces: A Win-Win for Work-Innovation and Work-Family Balance Through Work-Related Flow?

Building on the mutual-gains perspective, the present chapter aimed to contribute to the discussion on the future way of (hybrid) working by drawing lessons from employees’ experiences with leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. More specifically, we investigated the mediating role of work-related flow in the relationships between empowering and directive leadership behaviours, on the one hand, and innovative work-behaviour and work-family balance, on the other. We employed Partial Least squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to analyse the perceptions, experiences, and behaviours of a group of employees (N = 172) regarding the study’s core variables during three phases of the COVID-19 pandemic (Summer 2020, Autumn 2020 and Winter 2021). Our findings show that work-related flow mediates the relationship between empowering leadership and innovative work-behaviour positively and the relationship between directive leadership and innovative behaviour negatively. However, we found no significant evidence for work-related flow mediating the relationship between leadership behaviour and work-family balance. Additionally, this chapter provides guidance for leaders leading a hybrid workforce