A Study on the Role of Principal Leadership, Agent, and Psychological Capital

• In Event: Poster Session: Innovations in Public Administration Research & Experimental Research
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Innovations in Public Administration Research

Abstract

Researchers who support the value of organizational fairness believe that if members believe that they have been treated fairly by the organization, they will have more positive attitudes toward their work, their results, and their superiors. Organizational fairness is influenced by the absolute and relative size and value of the output (reward, etc.) received by the individual from the organization, the rationality of the standards and procedures for distributing the output, and the trust in decision makers related to the distribution of output. In addition, perceived organizational fairness is also significantly affected by power relations between leaders and members, ability to acquire information, and the degree of discretion in the decision-making process. Therefore, from the principal agent theory perspective, the discovery and development of leadership types that can overcome information asymmetry, and strategies to enhance fairness and trustworthiness within organizations through this process are critical, specifically in an age of mis- and disinformation. In the case of public organizations, since the leader plays various political and managerial roles within or between the organizations, this research will focus on the role of leadership behaviors containing innovative, entrepreneurial, and ethical values. In this study, we also examine the mediating role of psychological capital, which can be understood as a positive psychological state that enables individual and organizational growth and performance, and hope, resilience, self-efficacy, self-esteem, immersion, goal consciousness, and optimism. Through testing a set of research hypotheses with regard to the relationship among leadership, positive psychological capital, and organizational trust, this research discusses ways to overcome the status of distortion and asymmetry of information, as well as ultimately increase fairness and justice within the organization. This study plans to utilize the 'Survey on Perceptions of Public Institution Operation' for Korean public institutions. The perception survey on the operation of public institutions was conducted in 2022 to form basic data to present the direction and priorities of institutional innovation that public institutions need to seek as our society goes through the COVID-19 era. Regarding the methodology, this study plans to conduct the following analysis using SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 23.0 for each research variable. First, exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis will be conducted to measure the validity and reliability of research variables. Second, after the exploratory factor analysis, a confirmatory factor analysis will be conducted to verify whether the entire model is valid from a macroscopic point of view. Third, in order to verify the research hypotheses dealt with in this study, a covariance structure analysis will be conducted through a structural equation model. Fourth, the significance of positive psychological capital set as a parameter is verified by using bootstrap. In addition, various theoretical and practical implications of the research findings will be derived by applying social network analysis, FGI in-depth analysis, and content analysis using quantitative and qualitative mixed methods. This study aims to present practical caveats for practitioners who are dealing with various organizational management innovations using leadership and psychological capital in public organizations where information asymmetry occurs and information distortion is created.

Author

• Sung Min Park, Sungkyunkwan University