Leadership, happiness, and extra-role behavior: The role of happiness at work as a mediator between instrumental leadership and OCB in newcomers

Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. Zeitschrift für angewandte Organisationspsychologie (2025) 56:263–273 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11612-025-00809-0 HAUPTBEITRÄGE – THEMENTEIL Leadership, happiness, and extra-role behavior: The role of happiness at work as a mediator between instrumental leadership and OCB in newcomers Patrik Fröhlich1 · Ricarda Rehwaldt2 · Sebastian Beitz3 · Stefan Diestel1 · Timo Kortsch2 Accepted: 31 March 2025 / Published online: 15 May 2025 © The Author(s) 2025 Abstract The present article in the journal “Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. Zeitschrift für Angewandte Organisationspsychologie (GIO)” investigates the longitudinal relationship between instrumental leadership, happiness at work, and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) among organizational newcomers. Leaders have a strong impact on the affective experience and performance of newcomers immediately after they enter an organization. Based on affective events theory and social exchange theory, we predict that instrumental leadership relates to newcomers’ happiness at work and their OCB. We performed a mediation analysis with longitudinal survey data (three questionnaires: immediately after entry, after two weeks, and after four weeks) among 121 newcomers. The findings show that happiness at work fully mediates the relationship between instrumental leadership and OCB among newcomers. Contributing to organizational socialization research, leadership research, and research on happiness at work in positive psychology, this article provides a novel perspective on the role of instrumental leadership for newcomers early after entry. Furthermore, it underscores the importance of happiness at work in linking leadership with OCB. Practical implications regarding the role of leadership and happiness at work for affective experiences and newcomer extra-role behaviors are discussed. Keywords Newcomers · Happiness at work · Instrumental leadership · OCB  Patrik Fröhlich 1 Schumpeter School of Business and Economics, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany 2 Department of Social Sciences, IU International University of Applied Sciences, Erfurt, Germany 3 IOP.BUW-GmbH, Wuppertal, Germany K 264 P. Fröhlich et al. Führung, Glück und Extra-Rollenverhalten: Die Rolle von Glück bei der Arbeit als Mediator zwischen instrumenteller Führung und OCB bei Neueinsteigern Zusammenfassung Der vorliegende Artikel in der Zeitschrift „Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. Zeitschrift für Angewandte Organisationspsychologie (GIO)“ untersucht die längsschnittlichen Zusammenhänge zwischen instrumenteller Führung, Glück bei der Arbeit und Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) von Neueinsteigern. Führungskräfte haben einen großen Einfluss auf das affektive Erleben und die Leistung von Neueinsteigern unmittelbar nach deren Eintritt in eine Organisation. Basierend auf der Theorie affektiver Ereignisse und der Theorie des sozialen Austauschs nehmen wir an, dass instrumentelle Führung mit Glück bei der Arbeit und OCB von Neueinsteigern zusammenhängt. Es wurde eine Mediationsanalyse mit Längsschnittdaten (drei Fragebögen: unmittelbar nach dem Eintritt, nach zwei Wochen und nach vier Wochen) von 121 Neueinsteigern durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Glück bei der Arbeit die Beziehung zwischen instrumenteller Führung und OCB bei Neueinsteigern vollständig mediiert. Beitragend zur Forschung zu organisationaler Sozialisation, zur Führungsforschung und zur Forschung über Glück bei der Arbeit in der Positiven Psychologie bietet dieser Artikel eine neuartige Perspektive auf die Rolle von instrumenteller Führung für Neueinsteiger in der ersten Zeit nach dem Eintritt und unterstreicht die Bedeutung von Glück am Arbeitsplatz für die Verbindung zwischen Führung und OCB. Es werden praktische Implikationen bezüglich der Rolle von Führung und von Glück bei der Arbeit für das affektive Erleben und das Extrarollenverhalten von Neueinsteigern diskutiert. Schlüsselwörter Neueinsteiger · Glück bei der Arbeit · Instrumentelle Führung · OCB 1 Introduction Within the first weeks of organizational entry, newcomers (i.e., new employees of any age who recently started a new job or role) start to transition from being outsiders to becoming organizational insiders. During this critical phase, the role of leaders and their behaviors are particularly important for newcomers. Early interactions and (instrumental) support from leaders are crucial for newcomers during their initial weeks, as these factors enhance adjustment, socialization, and performance (e.g., Bauer et al. 2021; Kammeyer-Mueller et al. 2013). Meta-analytical studies strongly suggest that supportive leadership behavior considerably shapes followers’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) (e.g., LePine et al. 2002). OCB refers to voluntary, beneficial behaviors supporting the organization or organizational members (Spector et al. 2010). Here, instrumental leadership can play a vital role. It is defined as a leadership style that integrates strategic leadership behaviors (i.e., monitoring the work environment and providing strategical guidance) and behaviors aimed at work facilitation (i.e., enabling employees’ goal achievement and monitoring work outcomes) (Antonakis and House 2013). Instrumental assistance is especially important for newcomers upon entry (Bamberger et al. 2017), and studies show how instrumental leadership behaviors can facilitate extra-role behavior (Antonakis and House 2014). Additionally, studies indicate that leadership shapes employees’ evaluations of positive affective reactions that manifest in happiness at work (HAW; Rehwaldt and Kortsch 2022; Salas-Vallina et al. 2020), which are considered to predict OCB (Scott et al. 2018). K Despite the crucial role of leadership during organizational entry and evidence on the impact of leadership on affective processes and OCB, it remains unclear how instrumental leader behavior shortly after entry relates to newcomers’ positive evaluations of affective experiences (i.e., HAW) and their OCB. Linking leadership with newcomers’ HAW and OCB is important for research and practice, particularly since engaging in OCB indicates early success in newcomers (Cooper-Thomas and Anderson 2006). Thus, our research highlights prerequisites for early socialization success and extra-role behavior. In particular, instrumental leadership emphasizes supportive behaviors regarding monitoring the environment and performance and providing strategic and instrumental support that help newcomers shortly after entry (Antonakis and House 2014). We link affective events theory (AET, Weiss and Cropanzano 1996) with social exchange theory (Cropanzano and Mitchell 2005) to hypothesize that instrumental leadership immediately after organizational entry is positively related to newcomers’ HAW and OCB (see Fig. 1). We examine the proposed effects of instrumental leadership on newcomers’ OCB via HAW based on longitudinal d (...truncated)