Organizational Stewardship: Examining a New Measure in the Stress and Well-Being Framework

Recently, scholars and practitioners have called for a more systemic approach to workplace well-being, shifting the focus from individual attitudes and behaviours to underlying factors of the work environment as key ingredients in the mitigation of work stress. While leadership has been examined extensively in organisational research as a personal characteristic, stewardship represents a metaphenomenon functioning beyond interpersonal exchanges. Stewardship is proposed as an organisational approach that emphasizes a sense of purpose toward the common good through the sharing of power, resources, and information across networks in working through complex issues. The present study examined the concept of stewardship within the framework of organisational stress and well-being. Using a large sample of 2,314 senior executives from the Canadian public service a questionnaire measure of stewardship was developed and tested using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and reliability estimates. Results indicated that the 5-item scale was reliable, displayed a unitary factor structure and correlated significantly with established job resources, perceived stress, and indicators of well-being. Then, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that stewardship contributed significant incremental variance in the relationship between psychological stress and measures of distress, cynicism, and work engagement. Moreover, hierarchical regression results revealed that stewardship was conceptually distinct from other established job resources (such as job control and social support). Overall, the results supported the notion of stewardship as an important additional systemic organisational resource. Findings have important implications for both researchers and practitioners interested in the well-being and performance of executives.