Fostering calling in the leader–member exchange: individual and team-level effects

Purpose: Career calling is an individual orientation that leads people to see work as central to their identity, as a source of passion and as a way to find purpose in life. This study’s aim is to examine antecedents of calling and how organizations can foster it. Doing so is important as those who feel called toward a job transcend themselves, which results in a number of desirable outcomes for both individuals and organizations. Design/methodology/approach: We collected online data in a sample of 157 leaders and 656 employees working for Italian organizations and analyzed it using multilevel structural equation modeling. Findings: We found multilevel evidence that employees’ calling is fostered by their leaders’ calling through the means of supervisor support and high-quality leader–member exchange. Research limitations/implications: A cross-sectional design limits the interpretation of mediation effects. Future longitudinal studies should explore the role of group dynamics in the emergence of calling and its positive and negative outcomes. Originality/value: This study is among the first to demonstrate the role of leaders in developing employees’ calling and the only study currently available that finds support for the existence of calling in group dynamics.