| Abstract [eng] |
Nowadays in business world one of the most important recourses and competitive advantages of organizations are employees. Employees who are given sufficient attention to their needs and wellbeing generate 23% higher profits for the organization and 18% higher sales. Therefore, when organizations and leaders are faced with various organizational challenges, such as decreasing employee engagement and motivation, employee resistance, sustainability development, employees’ development, team inspiration and expectation management, it is necessary to focus on the most important resource of the organization - employees. Leaders play an important role – a positive relationship between the leader and the follower can promote better performance, team productivity and problem solving. Therefore, it is important to have the right leaders in the organization who build a relationship with employees and ensure performance results and the achievement of goals. Transformational and transactional leadership styles can ensure the implementation of these conditions, because organizations with transformational and transactional leaders achieve better performance results. Transformational leadership, working through inspiring motivation, intellectual simulation, individual attention and idealized influence, can ensure a positive relationship with followers, thus encouraging them to achieve the vision and goals of the organization. Transactional leadership works through a punishment and reward mechanism and is characterized by contingent reward and management by exception. In this way, transactional leaders ensure high performance. For organizations and leaders seeking to implement organizational goals and achieve high performance without applying strict rules and control mechanisms, nudges can become an effective tool. Nudges are revealed through subtle actions applied to influence another person's choices or behavior in a predictable way without limiting freedom of choice. Nudges can help solve such challenges as implementing changes, increasing work productivity, promoting sustainability, and making work organization more efficient to achieve organizational goals. However, there is a lack of academic research that would reveal what nudges can be applied by transformational and transactional leaders. Therefore, it is necessary to reveal what nudges can be applied to employees. To understand the usage of nudges, it is important to find out the forms of nudges and the reasons for usage, which will further deepen the understanding of the usage of nudges. Therefore, the aim of this study is to reveal the nudges applied by transformational and transactional leaders. To achieve the aim of the study, the following objectives were set: to describe the construct, characteristics, and impact of employees’ nudges on different stakeholders. To determine the features of transformational and transactional leadership, emphasizing the links with the nudges. To develop a methodology for researching nudges used by transformational and transactional leaders. To empirically study the nudges applied by transformational and transactional leaders. Based on the research data, it can be stated that transformational leaders use nudges more often than transactional leaders. 11 types of nudges were identified, of which 2 were new – encouraging reflection and giving responsibility. Transformational and transactional leaders most often use the same types of employee nudges: informational nudges, default nudges, social references and reminders. It was found that the most common types of nudges used by transformational and transactional leaders are feedback, automatic agreements, references to the behavior or results of others and written reminders. The most mentioned reasons identified were increasing productivity, promoting the implementation of goals, ensuring compliance with deadlines, solving problems and promoting employee growth. To understand the most common goals for which behavioral incentives are used, the main goals of organizations, teams, and leaders were identified: customer satisfaction, team competency development, team satisfaction, efficiency, and financial goals. Finally, the effectiveness of employee nudges was revealed. It was found that the most effective type is information disclosure. |
