The impact of manager-employee coaching 

relationship and self-leadership on performance 

behaviours of corporate graduate interns in a 

South African telecommunications company 

 

Solomon Molefi Molekwa 

 

Supervisor: Dr Jabulile Msimango-Galawe 

 

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law 

and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial 

fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of 

Management in Business and Executive Coaching 

 

Wits Business School 

Johannesburg, 2023 



ii 

 

ABSTRACT 

The objective of the study  was to evaluate the impact of the manager-employee 

coaching relationship and self-leadership practice on the performance of  

corporate graduate interns.   

The study employed a post-positivist paradigm and a quantitative approach. 

Through an online Qualtrics questionnaire, data was gathered from a sample size 

of 200 corporate graduate interns. Data analysis method that was adopted was  

regression analysis to test  hypotheses. The results demonstrated a significant 

positive impact between self-leadership skills practice and performance 

behaviours of corporate graduate interns. The hypothesis that the perceived 

quality of a manager-employee coaching relationship impacts positively on the 

performance behaviours of corporate graduate interns was not supported. 

The key message from this study is that the self-leadership coaching  is critical 

for the development and growth of corporate graduate interns. Leadership that 

practices coaching is vital for supporting employees to develop and practice self-

leadership skills, which impact positively on their development of desired job-

related performance behaviours. 

KEYWORDS: Self-leadership, Self-leadership strategies, Self-efficacy, Shared 

leadership, Coaching partnership[p, Developmental coaching, Managerial 

coaching, Employee development, Performance management, Performance 

behaviours, Performance behaviours, Graduate interns, and Internships. 



iii 

 

DECLARATION 

I, Solomon Molefi Molekwa, hereby confirm that except as noted in the references 

and acknowledgments, this research report is entirely mine. It is presented as 

part of the requirement for the University of the Witwatersrand’s Master of 

Management degree in Business Executive Coaching. It has not been submitted 

before to this university or any other for a degree or examination. 

 

Signature: -------------------------------------------------------Name: Solomon M Molekwa 

Signed at -----------------------------------on the ------------------------------- day of  

February 2023. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



iv 

 

DEDICATION 

This study is intended to help struggling corporate graduate interns find their 

footing in companies as they go through organisational training in improving their 

performance behaviours, and to assist organisational managers who dedicate 

time to apply employee coaching relationships to grow their underreports’ 

performance behaviours. It is further dedicated to those corporate graduate 

interns who consciously adopted personal leadership methods to increase their 

confidence, self-control, and self-management of their performance.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



v 

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

My sincere gratitude to Dr. Msimango-Galawe, my study supervisor, who helped 

me with my research. Although it has been a difficult journey, it has been full of 

insights and lessons that one cannot buy. 

I am appreciative of the help I received from my research and study peers, who 

exchanged learning swords with me and provided unwavering encouragement 

through messages and regular meetings. The difficulties of this research were 

made simpler by your inspiration, initiatives, contribution, and teamwork. It has 

been a thrilling experience that has allowed us to build professional networks that 

will support us long after our studies are complete. 

I am thankful and truly honoured to have had the opportunity to walk alongside 

the graduate interns who shared with me their experience with coaching and 

insights into research. Their dedication and participation in the study gave me 

confidence that this study could be completed.  

MTN deserves credit for giving me the time and the freedom to conduct this 

research on its premises. This research would not have been completed if 

management had not accepted my study and permitted participation from the 

graduate interns.  

An extra special thank you to my late wife, maKhanyile Lethiwe Innocentia 

Molekwa, whose spirit is like the wind beneath my wings. My sincerest gratitude 

to my current wife Kitiana Shela Molekwa, and our lovely children together with 

their partners; Palesa and Kgotso, Orethabbetse and Nkosha, Kakaretso, 

Batshego, and Esazante and grandchild Pelonolo for their continued support, 

inspiration, and encouragement to pursue my studies to transform, rebuild, and 

rediscover myself. 



vi 

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

ABSTRACT……………………………………………………….…..................II  

KEY WORDS……………………………………………………………………. II 

DECLARATION…………………………………………….……. …………... III 

DEDICATION……………….…………….……………….….…….……….... IV 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………….…………….........V 

LIST OF TABLES………………………….….………………………….…… X 

LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………....... XII 

LIST OF ACRONYMS………………………………………………………. XIII 

VARIABLE AND CONSTRUCT CODINGS………………………………. XIV 

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY………………………..………1 

1.1.  Introduction ......................................................................................... 1 

1.2. Purpose of the study ............................................................................ 2 

1.3. Context of the study ............................................................................. 2 

1.4. Research problem ............................................................................... 5 

1.5. Research objectives ............................................................................ 6 

1.6. Research questions ............................................................................. 7 

1.7. Significance of the study ...................................................................... 7 

1.8. Delimitations of the study ..................................................................... 9 

1.9.  Definitions of terms ........................................................................... 10 

1.9.1. Developmental coaching……………………………………………….10 



vii 

 

1.9.2. Graduate interns and internships……………………………………..10 

1.9.3. Manager as coach……………………………………………………...11 

1.94. Manager-employee coaching relationship ……………………………12 

1.9.5. Self-leadership…………………………………………………………..13 

1.9.6. Skill, performance, and performance behaviours……………………14 

1.9.7. Performance assessment and management…………………………14 

1.10. Assumptions .................................................................................... 15 

1.11. A research report outline ................................................................. 15 

1.12. Conclusion of Chapter 1. ................................................................. 17 

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………..18 

2.1.  Introduction ....................................................................................... 18 

2.2.  Background discussion ..................................................................... 18 

2.3.  Theoretical foundation ...................................................................... 20 

2.3.1.  Organisational support theory…………………………………………20 

2.3.2. Managerial and leadership coaching………………………………….23 

2.3.3.  Social cognitive theory…………………………………………………28 

2.4. Employee / corporate graduate intern performance .......................... 30 

2.4.1. Contextual performance………………………………………………..31 

2.4.2. Task performance, measurement, and behaviours…………………32 

2.5. Manager-employee coaching relationship and hypothesis ................ 32 

2.5.1. Nature of employee coaching relationship…………………………...32 

2.5.2. Hypothesis 1…………………………………………………………….33 

2.6. Self-leadership skills and hypothesis…………………………………...34 

2.6.1.  Behaviour-orientated strategies………………………………………35 

2.6.2.  Natural reward strategies……………………………………………..37 

2.6.3.  Constructive thought-pattern strategies……………………………..37 



viii 

 

2.6.4. Hypothesis 2……………………………………………………………..39 

2.6.5. Main strategies of self-leadership……………………………………..39 

2.7. Conceptual framework ....................................................................... 41 

2.8. Summary of literature review ............................................................. 42 

2.8.1. Hypothesis 1……………………………………………………………..42 

2.8.2. Hypothesis 2……………………………………………………………..43 

2.9. Conclusion of Chapter 2 .................................................................... 43 

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY…………………………………..44 

3.1. Introduction ........................................................................................ 44 

3.2.  Research approach .......................................................................... 45 

3.3.  Research paradigm .......................................................................... 46 

3.4.  Research design ............................................................................... 48 

3.5.  Sampling and population .................................................................. 49 

3.5.1.  Population……………………………………………………………….49 

3.5.2.  Sample and sampling method………………………………………..50 

3.6.  The research instrument ................................................................... 51 

3.7.  Procedure for data collection ............................................................ 56 

3.8.  Data analysis and interpretation ....................................................... 57 

3.9.  Limitations of the study ..................................................................... 58 

3.10.  Validity ............................................................................................ 59 

3.10.1. External validity (Generalizability)……………………………………60 

3.10.2.  Internal validity………………………………………………………...60 

3.10.3.  Face validity…………………………………………………………...61 

3.10.4.  Objectivity……………………………………………………………...61 

3.11.  Reliability ........................................................................................ 62 

3.12.  Ethical considerations ..................................................................... 64 

3.13. Conclusion of Chapter 3 .................................................................. 65 

 



ix 

 

CHAPTER 4: PRESENTATION OF RESULTS…………………………………67 

4.1. Introduction ........................................................................................ 67 

4.2. Data screening and quality ................................................................ 67 

4.3. Sample characteristics....................................................................... 68 

4.3.1. Gender distribution………………………………………………………68 

4.3.2 Age distribution…………………………………………………………..69 

4.3.3. Marital status…………………………………………………………….70 

4.3.5. Educational level………………………………………………………..72 

4.4. Descriptive statistics .......................................................................... 73 

4.4.1. Performance behaviours……………………………………………….73 

4.4.2. Manager-employee coaching relationship……………………………74 

4.6. Reliability of measurement scale results ............................................ 82 

4.6.1. Performance behaviour (SGS)…………………………………………84 

4.6.2. Manager-employee coaching relationship……………………………85 

4.6.3. Self-leadership…………………………………………………………..87 

4.7. Assumptions testing........................................................................... 94 

4.7.1. Assumption 1: Linearity and homoscedasticity Test………………...94 

4.7.2. Test for normality of error terms……………………………………….97 

4.7.3. Assumption 3: Independence of Error Terms………………………..98 

4.8. Hypothesis testing ............................................................................. 99 

4.9. Conclusion of Chapter 4 .................................................................. 103 

CHAPTER 5:  DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS……………………………..105 

5.1. Introduction ...................................................................................... 105 

5.2. Demographic profile of respondents ................................................ 105 

5.3. Manager – employee coaching relationship and performance ........ 106 

5.4. Self-leadership and performance behaviours. ................................. 109 

5.5. Conclusion of Chapter 5 .................................................................. 112 



x 

 

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS……………… 113 

6.1. Introduction ...................................................................................... 113 

6.2. Conclusions –  Impact of  manager-employee coaching relationship on 
performance behaviours .............................................................. 113 

6.3. Conclusions – Influence of self-leadership on performance 
behaviours…………………………………………………………….114 

6.4. Recommendations, Practical and Theoretical Implications………...115 

6.4.1. Implications for coaching practice…………………………………...115 

6.4.2. Implications for corporate graduate interns………………………...116 

6.4.3. Implications for graduate intern recruitment industry……………...117 

6.4.4.  Theoretical implications……………………………………………...117 

6.5. Study’s contribution to coaching, psychological and organisations..118 

6.6. Limitations of the study .................................................................... 120 

6.7. Research suggestions for the future ................................................ 121 

REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………….123 

APPENDICES……………………………………………………………………..150 

 



xi 

 

LIST OF TABLES 
 
Table 3.1. Research instrument summarised………………………………….55 

Table 4.1 Performance behaviours descriptive statistics ………….….…….73 

Table 4.2. Manager-employee coaching relationship statistics ……………..74 

Table 4.3 Self-leadership skills practice statistics……………...………….....76 

Table 4.4 KMO and Bartlett’s Test……………………………………………..77 

Table 4.5 Communalities………………… …………………………………....78 

Table 4.6 Total variance explained ….………………………………………...79 

Table 4.7 Pattern matrix………….……… …………………………………….81 

Table 4.8 Reliability scales ……...……………………………….…………….83 

Table 4.9  Inter-Item Statistics -Self-goal setting……………………………...84 

Table 4.10 Inter-Item correlation matrix – SGS………………………………...84 

Table 4.11 Item-Total Statistics – Genuineness of relationship……………...85 

Table 4.12 Inter-Item correlation matrix -GRL………………………………….85 

Table 4.13 Item-Total Statistics – Effective communication…………………..86 

Table 4.14 Inter-Item correlation matrix – EFC………………………………...86 

Table 4.15 Item-Total Statistics – Comfort in the relationship………………..87 

Table 4.16 Inter-Item correlation matrix – CRL………………………………...87 

Table 4.17 Item-Total Statistics – Self-reward………………………………….88 

Table 4.18 Inter-Item correlation matrix – SRW………………………………..88 

Table 4.19 Item-Total Statistics – Self-observation……………………………89 

Table 4.20 Inter-Item correlation – SOB………………………………………...89 

Table 4.21 Item-Total Statistics – Self-cuing…………………………………...90 



xii 

 

Table 4.22 Inter-Item correlation matrix – SLC………………………………...90 

Table 4.23 Item-Total Statistics – Self-punishment……………………………91 

Table 4.24 Inter-Item correlation matrix – SPN………………………………...91 

Table 4.25 Item-Total Statistics – Visualising successful performance……..92 

Table 4.26 Inter-Item correlation matrix – VSP………………………………...92 

Table 4.27 Item-Total Statistics – Self-talk……………………………………..92 

Table 4.28 Inter-Item correlation matrix – SLT…………………………………93 

Table 4.29 Item-Total Statistics – Evaluating beliefs and assumptions……..93 

Table 4.30 Inter-Item correlation matrix – EBA………………………………...94 

Table 4.31 Pearson’s correlation Matrix – Linearity .…………..……………...95 

Table 4.32 Test of homogeneity of variance…………………………………...97 

Table 4.33 Model 1 Durbin-Watson – Independence of Errors...…………….99 

Table 4.34 Model summary – performance behaviours….……………….....100 

Table 4.35 ANOVA results – performance behaviours……….…………......100 

Table 4.36 Coefficients results – performance behaviours……………….....101 

Table 4.37 Comparison of literature review findings ……….………………..103 



xiii 

 

LIST OF FIGURES 
 
 

Figure 2.1: Manager-employee - performance relationship……………………..42  

Figure 4.1: Gender of respondents………………………………………………...68 

Figure 4.2: Age of respondents………………………………………………….….69 

Figure 4.3. Marital status of respondents……………………………………….…70 

Figure 4.4: Race of respondents………………………………………………. ….71 

Figure 4.5: Educational level of respondents……………………………………..72 

Figure 4.6. Scree plot………………………………………………………………..80 

Figure 4.7: Homoscedasticity……………………………………………………….96 

Figure 4.8: Histograms, Q-Q Plots, and Scatterplot……………………………...98 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



xiv 

 

LIST OF ACRONYMS 
 
CFI  - Comparative Fit Index 

CoP  - Community of Practice 

CRL  - Comfort with the Relationship 

EBA  - Evaluating Beliefs and Assumptions. 

EFC  - Effective Communication 

FDV  - Facilitating Development 

FNR  - Focusing on Rewards 

GRL   - Genuineness of the Relationship 

IFI  - Incremental Fit Index 

OST   - Organisational Support Theory 

POS  - Perceived Organisational Support 

PQECR  - Perceived Quality of Employee Coaching Relationship 

RSMEA - Root Mean Square Error Approximation 

RSLQ  - Revised Self-leadership Questionnaire 

SEM  - Structural Equation Modelling 

SGS  - Self-goal Setting 

SLC  - Self-cueing  

SLT  - Self-talk 

SOB  - Self-observation 

SPN  - Self-punishment 

SRW  - Self-reward 

VSP   - Visualising Successful Performance



 

1 

 

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY 

1.1.  Introduction 

This chapter describes the research that assessed the impact of manager-

employee coaching relationship and self-leadership skills on corporate graduate 

interns’ performance behaviours in a South African telecommunications 

company. The study claims that organisations can improve the performance 

behaviours of corporate graduate interns by implementing coaching approaches 

of the manager-employee coaching relationship and self-leadership. The purpose 

was to generate knowledge and contribute to the implementation of coaching 

approaches of manager-employee relationship and self-leadership in 

empowering corporate graduate interns, according to the study’s goal.  

The context below explains how the research gap was discovered, focusing on 

the challenges faced by corporate graduate interns and how their deficient 

performance behaviours affect their eligibility for permanent positions at the end 

of their internship. The need for this study is explained in the problem statement 

section, along with its implications for South African businesses. The study’s 

goals explain why it was being done, and the objectives explain why it was 

different from others in terms of how it addresses the identified problems. The 

study’s research questions defined the study’s scope and were used to gather 

information that was important and relevant to the study. The study’s significance 

explains the importance of research and how it would help to solve the problems 

that corporate graduate interns face. The research delimitations establish 

behaviours for the scope, design, and management of the research process.  

The definition and conceptualisation section explains and defines the key terms 

and concepts used throughout the study. The study’s assumptions were 

statements that were assumed true for specific purposes, such as theory building 

or deciding what statistical technique to use to generate study results. The 



 

2 

 

research dissertation establishes the study format, making it easier for 

researchers to locate information. 

 1.2. Purpose of the study  

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the impact of self-

leadership abilities and the manager-employee coaching relationship on the 

performance behaviours of corporate graduate interns in a South African 

telecommunications company. 

 1.3. Context of the study 

The 2019 Statistics South Africa Report showed a 31% unemployment rate 

among graduates up to the age of 24, and the 2019 Quarterly Labour Task 

Survey revealed that the overall graduate unemployment rate for graduates was 

about 2.1%. According to the Statistic South Africa Report of June 2020, 

unemployment was about 30.1%, suggesting a cumulative increase in 

unemployment. Du Toit, De Witte, Rothmann, and Van den Broeck (2018) note 

that unemployment is a significant socio-political problem in South Africa, which 

has the highest unemployment in the world.  An important activity that allows 

interns to prepare for future jobs is internships for potential employees (Kasli & 

Ilban, 2013). 

The impact of skills shortage is very worrying for public and private institutions. 

The attempt to close skills shortages with employment and competitive factors of 

the current times is to set up graduate internship programmes to enhance skill 

development, knowledge, and experience. The introduction of graduate 

internship programmes as a component of skills development initiatives has 

increased significantly (Mabeba, 2019) considering that even the private sector 

adopted these programmes. According to earlier research by Basow and Byrne 

(1993) graduates use internships as a way to put what they have learnt at various 

institutions of higher learning to use. Following internship research, the benefits 



 

3 

 

include learning about business life, gaining first-hand experience, and 

developing problem-solving skills (Barr & Busler, 2011). Images acquired during 

this period,  whether positive or negative, influence the future years of interns in 

their professions (Kasli & Ilban, 2013). 

In order to gain a competitive edge in luring and keeping the talented workers 

necessary to ensure organisational success, South African businesses, like their 

international counterparts, are engaged in a war of talent (Wolfswinkel, 2019). 

According to Cilliers and Aucoin (2016) and Subban (2016) a talent paradox 

occurs when there is a sizable pool of unemployed jobseekers, the majority of 

whom lack skills necessary for employment (Subban, 2016; Tshilongamulenzhe, 

2017) as a result of socioeconomic factors manifesting  in high unemployment 

rates fuelled by a subpar educational system (Subban, 2016). Theron, 

Barkhuizen, and Du Plessis (2014) observed a rise in the competition among 

South African businesses, as well as how hiring managers and decision-makers 

relentlessly pursue their rivals to attract and retain new talent (Pop & Barkhuizen, 

2010) with the aim of consolidating and enhancing the competitive advantage of 

their organisations (Wolfswinkel, 2019).  

In light of this paradox, it makes sense that businesses are in competition for 

employees. In order to keep talented employees engaged and committed, 

businesses should monitor both their individual and organisational talent goals 

(Barkhuizen & Schutte, 2015). Organisations realised that creative approaches 

to performance management should incorporate systems and processes. 

Development of leadership and programme strategy must start with the manager-

employee coaching relationship and self-leadership approaches to workforce 

performance development (Pop & Barkhuizen, 2010).   According to Zigarmi 

(2018) 83% of organisations express the value of cultivating leadership at all 

levels. All leaders begin to develop at the individual level.   



 

4 

 

A working relationship between a manager and an employee that is focused on 

the employee’s performance and developmental needs is known as the manager-

employee coaching relationship (Gregory & Levy, 2010). Self-leadership involves 

motivating oneself and setting one’s behavioural standards while utilising 

particular cognitive and behavioural strategies (Stewart, Courtright, & Manz, 

2011). Stewart et al. (2011) also considered the intrinsic motivation of self-

leadership to influence oneself about what, why, and how to perform work. 

Despite the above-mentioned demonstration of the impact on job performance by 

the relationship between manager and employee (Gregory & Levey 2010, 2011, 

2012) and self-leadership skills (Manz, 1992; Neck & Manz, 2010; Neck & 

Houghton, 2006) prior quantitative studies on both variables failed to fully capture 

common elements influencing effective coaching outcomes. They often explored 

single concepts instead of recognizing symbiotic relationships between concepts. 

Basow and Byrne (1992) emphasized that graduates use what they learned from 

different higher learning institutions as an opportunity to achieve what they have 

learned, making skills and talent central to successful programmes for leadership.  

Hay (2002) cited skills and capacity building for talent as the most significant 

crucial factors related to employee well-being and retention. While an internship 

aims to practice theoretical knowledge in a business environment and learn new 

practical skills, the negative experiences of trainees during an internship will 

therefore undermine their intentions to acquire expertise and work in the business 

environment (Busby & Gibson, 2010).   

Lack of understanding of the impact of the coaching relationship between 

manager and employee (Bennett, 2006)  the practice of self- management, and 

work-role achievement results in neither the managers nor workers being able to 

increase their work performance (Keller, 2012, p. 225). The objective of the 

current study was to close the gap between, on the one hand, the intensive 

practice abundant in the theoretical literature on manager-employee coaching 

relationships and self-leadership (i.e., the coaching of employees) and on the 



 

5 

 

other hand, the limited knowledge of graduate interns based on performance 

behaviours and self-leadership practice.  

 1.4. Research problem  

South Africa is experiencing growth in its graduate labour force, but graduates 

face job challenges due to performance behaviour challenges which prevent 

them from performing and securing a permanent placement at the end of the 18- 

24-month internship period (Gralin, 2015). Although internships are a great 

platform for understanding the skills employers require for organisational 

performance from their graduates, several studies have identified problems 

perceived to cause graduate interns performance issues, including a lack of 

practical skills (Kasli & Ilban, 2013), lack of experience (Jung & Lee, 2017), and 

lack of adequate guidance and support (Gashaw, 2019), which are not the focus 

of this study. This study emphasises the difficulty corporate graduate interns have 

in meeting their performance goals due to a lack of work experience and 

employability skills, and it shows how important it is for employers to identify and 

develop future talent by offering graduate internships.  

Yorke (2006) defined employability as a set of skills, understandings, and 

personal attributes that will allow any graduate to gain employment and succeed 

in the occupation of their choice that will benefit themselves, the community, and 

the economy in turn. The lack of employability skills of internship students is often 

cited, and the study by Bist, Mehta, Mehta, and Meghrajani (2020) found that 

graduates lack communication skills, the ability to solve problems, analytical 

skills, and understanding of the business. Schreuder and Coetzee (2008) argued 

that to meet the demands of the rapidly moving, dynamic and highly competitive 

nature of the South African market, managing graduates as the next generation 

in the workforce is essential. The fact that graduate interns experience challenges 

such as lack of employability skills, job experience and managerial support, 



 

6 

 

(including deficient performance) sometimes impedes their growth and 

development. 

According to Harvey, Harvey, Locke, and Morey (2002) employers or institutions 

look for graduates who are proactive and possess skills that include analysis, 

criticism, synthesis, and communication. They must therefore design courses that 

incorporate these skills into learning activities or organize workshops related to 

the job/work profile that enhance employability skills (Cooper, Orrell, & Bowden, 

2010). To be successful as self-leaders, graduate interns must take responsibility 

for their success and what they need, and stop blaming systems, executives, and 

circumstances for creating unfavourable conditions (Zigarmi, 2018). Fresh 

alternatives are provided by the manager-employee coaching relationship and 

self-leadership skills practice.  

This research study aims to shed light on the issues of the inability of corporate 

organizations to equip graduate interns with employability and work experience 

skills by proposing innovative approaches to the manager-employee coaching 

relationship and practice of self-leadership skills to advance organisational 

performance. Promoting the connection between the two factors can lead to 

overcoming the organisational culture that hinders innovation (Pratoom & 

Savatsomboon, 2012) thus preventing managers and staff from improving work 

performance (Keller, 2012).  Notably, our limited knowledge of how self-

leadership and the manager-employee coaching relationship interact to affect 

performance behaviours is part of the problem.  

 1.5. Research objectives 

The study’s objective is to investigate the impact of manager-employee coaching 

relationship and self-leadership skills on performance behaviours of corporate 

graduate interns  

 



 

7 

 

The stated objectives of this study are as follows:  

1.1.1. To investigate the impact of the perceived quality of manager-employee 

coaching relationship on the performance behaviours of corporate 

graduate interns. 

1.1.2. To investigate the impact of self-leadership skills practice on the 

performance behaviours of corporate graduate interns. 

 1.6. Research questions 

The following research questions were formulated from the main objective of the 

study to guide the process and achieve conceptual alignment of the research 

study. 

1.1.3. What impact does perceived quality of manager-employee coaching 

relationship have on the performance behaviours of corporate graduate 

interns? 

1.1.4. To what extent does self-leadership skills practice impact on performance 

behaviours of corporate graduate interns? 

 1.7. Significance of the study  

Many studies explored the impact of manager-employee coaching relationship 

and self-leadership on performance achievement (Gregory & Levy, 2009, 2010, 

2011; Manz, 1998, 1992; Neck & Manz, 2010; Neck & Houghton, 2006; Aspinwall 

& Taylor, 1997). The study on the relationship between the manager-employee 

coaching relationship and self-leadership acknowledges the fact that “leadership 

is an activity that can be shared or distributed between members of a group or 

organization” (Pearce & Conger, 2003, p. 2) and similar studies discovered that 

the relationship between the manager-employee coaching relationship and  self-

leadership affected job performance (Motowidlo & Kell, 2012) and goal 

achievement (Carver & Scheier, 1998). Less research was done on the effects of 



 

8 

 

coaching between the manager and the employee, and self-leadership skills as 

single factors, and did not include their effect on performance behaviours of 

corporate graduate interns.  

There is a good deal of research investigating the role of manager as coach and 

self-leadership in improving performance. Markets and organisations require staff 

who are willing to develop,  lead themselves efficiently in teams, and expand 

business performance (Boss & Sims, 2008). Organisations have to invest in 

coaching skills to empower managers and graduate interns as next-generation 

employees to improve organisational performance and continuity to achieve a 

decision-making model in empowering managers as coaches and graduates as 

self-leaders (Cardon & Stevens, 2004). The idea focused on the abilities that the 

study sought to contribute to an emerging study of the importance of coaching 

executives and promoting informal leadership.  

This study on the relationship between the manager-employee coaching 

relationship and self-leadership acknowledges that it offers the basis for the idea 

that “leadership is an activity that can be shared or distributed among members 

of a group or organization” (Pearce & Conger, 2003, p. 2). This opens new lines 

of thinking about informal leadership (Fletcher & Kaufer, 2003b) in organizations 

where people are empowered to make decisions concerning their own tasks at 

work and to implement them (Conger & Kanungo, 1988).  

Specifically, the study attempts to contribute to research on internal coaching and 

informal leadership, constructs which have thus far received insufficient attention. 

The study suggests ways for organizations to enhance their performance through 

employees who build strong manager-employee coaching relationships, self-

leadership skills and receive appropriate and extensive rewards for their 

leadership skills and performance behaviours. The study aims to resolve the 

issue of corporate organizations’ inability to equip corporate graduate interns at 



 

9 

 

work through the manager-employee coaching relationship and the practice of 

self-leadership skills to advance organizational success. 

In particular, the results of the study aim to contribute significantly to the 

development of internal workplace coaching approaches, where managers and 

leaders engage employees in either formal or informal coaching sessions (Grant, 

2017) which has received insufficient attention so far. A manager can make the 

most important contribution to the organisation by developing others to perform 

at optimal levels (Allenbaugh, 1983). The research findings could assist  

organizations to formulate policies and programmes to facilitate good manager–

employee relationships for employee coaching that focus on employees’ 

achievement of measurable goals and objectives rather than formalized annual 

appraisals that only communicate one-way (Stanleigh, 2012), and to develop 

strong self-leadership that has a positive impact on the performance of graduate 

interns (Johari, 2011).  

1.8. Delimitations of the study 

Costa, Breda, Pinho, Bakas, and Durão (2016) define delimitations as the 

decision made by the researcher to set limits for the research’s scope, design, 

and management strategies. Consequently, the goal was to investigate a 

particular representative sample of graduate interns working for a South African 

telecommunications company that offered coaching in an organisational 

environment through direct managers / supervisors. The criteria for inclusion 

included: (a) graduate interns serving their internships (b) who received coaching 

by direct managers / supervisor and (c) who were accustomed to collaborating 

with their direct managers.  

The study evaluated the effects of manager-employee coaching relationships and 

self-leadership skills on the performance of corporate graduate interns in a South 

African telecommunications company, who served fixed internship contracts over 



 

10 

 

an 18–24-month period from 2020-2022. The research did not examine the 

management practices to improve employee coaching relationship and self-

leadership skills, nor the development of performance behaviours. This research 

examined performance behaviours only, and clearly a multidimensional construct 

was the job outcome at the individual level. One of the delimitations of the study 

is that while it is suggested that elements of organisational performance, culture, 

innovation and work performance and leadership are related, the study does not 

look into this relationship. To conduct a more thorough investigation, the 

delimitations were driven by factors such as time available and financial 

resources.  

1.9.  Definitions of terms  

The following concept definitions operational to this study were outlined as 

follows: 

1.9.1. Developmental coaching 

Developmental coaching represents an effort to develop the employee’s capacity 

to meet his / her own needs or goals, where the coach is in service to the 

employee’s interests (Stanleigh, 2012). Assessing how much the coaching 

relationship aids in the education and training of employees is known as 

“facilitating development” (Gregory & Levy, 2010).  

1.9.2. Graduate interns and internships 

There are various definitions of graduate interns depending on the 

socioeconomic settings. According to the South African Graduate Development 

Association (SAGDA) report (2013) an intern is a graduate looking to enter the 

corporate world or organisation through a structured bridging programme, who 

has no or little practical working experience in a specific discipline.  



 

11 

 

The term “graduate intern” in the context of this study, refers to a person who has 

a degree but has not been employed recently and needs work experience to 

increase his / her chances of landing a job in the future. Internships can take a 

variety of shapes depending on the industry, but they typically involve closely 

watched hands-on training. According to Maio (2018) applied learning 

opportunities and internships are essential for providing graduates with real-world 

work opportunities, first-hand exposure in the corporate setting, and the ability to 

put their newly acquired skills, knowledge and theoretical practice to use.  

Graduate internship programmes are described by Galbraith and Mondal (2020) 

as targeted training interventions where interns are given the chance to learn 

about  various fields of expertise. In a similar vein, Pietersen and Malatjie (2022) 

define a graduate internship as a recognised programme made available to a 

person who has successfully completed a university degree, is unemployed, but 

needs experience and skills to improve employment prospects.  Anjum (2020) 

points out that internship programmes combine both classroom learning with real-

world experience in the workplace to give graduates experience and give them 

the confidence to stand out in the contemporary and ever-changing market.  

Internship programmes are introduced to provide students with the opportunity to 

gain hands-on experience and facilitate a smooth transition from the academic 

world to the work setting (Mohaidin, Supar, Ibrahim, & Sidik, 2017). In general, 

internships assist graduates in honing their specialised and general skills while 

gaining experience.   

1.9.3. Manager as coach 

The are many ways to define a manager as a coach, but for the purpose of this 

study, we want to focus on just two. Hagen and Aguilar (2012) define manager 

as a coach as  the process by which a manager assists a member of his team in 

resolving a problem and completing a task more successfully or efficiently 



 

12 

 

through guided discussion and activity. Dahling, Taylor, Chau, and Dwight (2016) 

note that managerial coaching entails giving feedback, modelling behaviour, and 

setting goals with subordinates in order to enhance the handling of personal 

issues. This study adopts the definition that a coaching manager is an example 

of a business leader or manager who uses coaching to support his team 

members’ learning and development. This definition implies that a manager 

acting as a coach is less trained than an outside competent coach. 

According to de Haan and Nilsson (2017) it can be challenging to agree to what 

could be referred to as the coach’s best behaviours, referring to when and how 

to intervene as though there is a predetermined way that coaches should react. 

However, a lot of discussion has taken place without any supporting evidence, 

that is without knowing which behaviours clients exhibit and which behaviours 

coaches believe they use. LIaniro, Schermuly, and Kauffeld (2013) as well as de 

Haan, Culpin, and Curd (2011) claim that it has been uncommon to measure 

coaching behaviours or coaches’ and clients’ perceptions of coaching 

behaviours.  Since “meta communication” can announce, amplify, contradict, call 

into question or modify primary communication in many other ways, it always 

goes along with any coaching intention (de Haan & Nilsson, 2017). 

1.94. Manager-employee coaching relationship 

A collaboration between a worker and his managers, is known as  an employee 

coaching relationship (Gregory & Levy, 2009) which focuses on maintaining the 

performance of the job and addressing a worker’s developmental requirements 

(Gregory & Levy, 2010). This relationship also draws on experience in the 

workplace from collaboration and assessment and is therefore not merely a 

coaching relationship. The manager can contribute to the development of a high-

quality relationship by listening to individual concerns and building a positive trust 

and empathy-based feedback environment (Gregory & Levy, 2011). 



 

13 

 

Employee coaching is more precisely defined as a development-related activity 

in which “an employee works one-on-one with his direct manager to improve 

current job performance, and / or enhance his capabilities for future role / and or 

challenges, the success of which is based on the relationship between employee 

and manager, as well as the use of objective information, such as feedback, 

performance data or assets” (Gregory & Levy, 2010, p. 114).   

The definition of Gregory and Levy (2010), was adopted for the purpose of this 

study, which described an employee coaching relationship as a collaboration 

between a manager and a worker  that attends to the worker’s performance and 

developmental requirements. Relationships between a manager and an 

employee for the purpose of coaching are referred to as “employee coaching 

relationship” in both concepts. 

1.9.5. Self-leadership 

Self-leadership is about developing and managing individual energy to initiate, 

motivate and perform at a high level, improving and sustaining the organization’s 

leadership philosophy at an individual level (Zigarmi, 2018). It is defined as the 

process of influencing oneself to act in accordance with the desired goals by the 

person concerned (Neck & Manz, 2010). Expanding on the definition, Mantz 

(1986), Neck and Houghton (2006a), and Neck and Manz (2010) defined self-

leadership as a process of behavioural and cognitive self-evaluation and self-

influence, whereby people achieve self-direction and self-motivation needed to 

shape their behaviours in positive ways in order to enhance their overall 

performance (Mantz, 1986; Neck & Houghton, 2006b; Neck & Manz, 2010). 

Mantz (1986)’s definition of self-leadership was adopted, which explains self-

leadership as an influence-related process through which individuals or working 

groups navigate, motivate, and lead themselves towards achieving desired 

behaviours and outcomes.  



 

14 

 

1.9.6. Skill, performance, and performance behaviours 

Harrison (1993), defines skill as a technique that enables individuals to 

successfully take on system implementation and creation of new roles to achieve 

predetermined performance goals. It is the capacity to exhibit  behaviour that is 

actually connected to achieving performance objectives (Robbins, 1995). 

Performance is generally aligned to an employee’s skills, abilities, and 

knowledge, according to Pannuzzo cited in Chinn (2018), and refers to the level 

to which an employee successfully fulfils the factors included in the job 

description. According to Chandel (2016) performance behaviours are what you 

can do, which is heavily reliant on one’s attitude and in turn related to one’s 

personality. The focus of this study was on performance behaviours. 

1.9.7. Performance assessment and management 

“Performance is associated with quantity of output, quality of output, timeline of 

output, pressure / attendance on the job, efficiency of the work completed and 

effectiveness of work completed”  (Mathis & Jackson, 2009, p. 324). The 

definition of performance adopted by the researcher for study purpose states as 

follows: employee performance is about the timely, effective, and efficient 

completion of mutually agreed tasks. 

Performance measurement refers to “processes involving managers, individuals 

and team based on shared understanding, which define performance and 

contribution expectations, assess performance against expectations, provide for 

regular and constructive feedback and information agreed plans for performance 

improvement, learning and personal development” (Armstrong & Murlis, 2007, p. 

8).  According to Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, and Wright (1997, p. 196) 

“performance management is the means by which managers ensure that 

employee activities and outputs are in line with business goals” or as Smith and 

Mazin (2004, p. 42) state; “it is a systemic approach to tracking individual 



 

15 

 

performance against the targeted objectives of the organization and identifying 

strengths and opportunities for improvements”. The study adopted the following 

definition: Performance measurement or management refers to a continuing 

means by which an organization uses different tools to monitor, document, 

correct or reward individual and collective employees in an organization. 

1.10. Assumptions 

Wargo (2015), defined assumption as a statement that is presumed to be true, 

often only temporarily or for a specific purpose, such as building a theory; and 

the conditions under which statistical techniques yield valid results. The following 

assumptions were made in relation to this study: 

a) The respondents will respond to the online survey questionnaires in an honest 

and candid way because the study investigates an area of interest that would 

yield key information that they could use for self-development and 

improvement.  

 

b) Respondents have a sincere interest in participating in research and do not 

have any other motives. 

1.11. A research report outline 

This report is divided into the following five chapters: 

Chapter 1: Introduction 

This chapter introduced the topic of the study, background of the corporate 

graduate interns programme and its purpose for the study, statement of the 

problem, objectives of the study, the research objectives, questions, significance 

of the study, delimitations of the study, definition of key terms / concepts, and 

assumptions. 



 

16 

 

Chapter 2: Literature review 

This chapter focused on literature review, background discussion, the theoretical 

foundation, variables of manager-employee coaching relationship, self-

leadership, and performance, as well as their underlying hypotheses, the 

conceptual framework and conclusion of the literature review. A review of 

literature was conducted to determine the opinions of various academics on 

managerial coaching and self-leadership practice for corporate graduate interns. 

Chapter 3: Research methodology 

This Chapter described and explained the quantitative research design that was 

employed. For this study, a sample of 200 participants was identified and fully 

described. The technique for gathering data in the present study is known as 

quantitative / statistical analysis which is calculated as a numerical representation 

based on observation and manipulations, tools and instruments. Its limitations, 

validity, objectivity, reliability, and ethical considerations were discussed, as well 

as the validity and objectivity of the study. The ethical issues that were taken into 

consideration for this research, such as informed consent, approval to conduct 

the study, confidentiality, and others, were described. 

Chapter 4: Presentation of research findings 

This Chapter presented the study findings. Data analysis was conducted to 

evaluate the impact of the manager-employee coaching relationship and self-

leadership variables on performance behaviours of corporate graduate interns 

with the aid of graphs, figures, and tables.  

Chapter 5: Discussion of results 

This Chapter provided a detailed discussion of the research findings and 

interpreted these results in the context of theoretical literature. The study findings 

were covered in-depth in this chapter which included scholarly discussions. 



 

17 

 

 Chapter 6: Conclusions and recommendations 

Summaries of the answers to each of the study questions were provided in this 

Chapter, as well as their theoretical, practical contributions and implications, and 

limitations. The final recommendations were given before drawing conclusions 

from the study.   

1.12. Conclusion of Chapter 1. 

This Chapter provided the study’s background, purposes, problems statement, 

goal, and an outline of the study’s objectives and research questions. It listed the 

study’s assumptions, key concepts and terms, and the research limitations. By 

concentrating on the relationship between manager-employee coaching 

relationship and the use of self-leadership practice in South Africa, the research 

intended to help corporate graduate interns overcome performance challenges. 

The researcher’s difficulties coaching graduate interns at work, which also served 

as an impetus for this research endeavour, were discussed in this Chapter. The 

next chapter will review literature on the manager-employee coaching 

relationship, self-leadership, and graduate intern performance behaviours. 



 

18 

 

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 

2.1.  Introduction 

The aim of this chapter was to further investigate the concepts of manager-

employee coaching relationship and self-leadership skills and their sub-concepts, 

as well as their relationship with performance behaviours. When organisations 

address volatile business environments, companies empower employees to meet 

current competitive demands. Empowerment demands that non-traditional 

relationships exist in organisations and for employees. At the heart of 

empowerment lies the ability of managers to coach their own subordinates and 

staff to lead themselves. Employee coaching relationship and self-leadership 

were two most important approaches that could be used to empower staff to lead 

themselves and improve performance. However, emphasizing the significance of 

the relationship between manager-employee coaching and self-leadership and 

performance behaviours, it was important to explore how these concepts related 

to success of individual performance. This study, therefore, explored the 

interaction between manager-employee coaching relationship, self-leadership 

skills and performance behaviours, as well as other influences.  

The chapter covered areas of literature review, background discussion, the 

theoretical foundation, variables of manager-employee coaching relationship, 

self-leadership, and performance behaviours, as well as their underlying 

hypotheses, the conceptual framework and conclusion of the literature review. A 

review of literature was conducted to determine the opinions of various 

academics on managerial coaching and self-leadership practice for corporate 

graduate interns. 

2.2.  Background discussion 

As a potential approach to talent management for organisations in the twenty first 

century, coaching between the manager and employee has emerged, according 



 

19 

 

to Lakshman (2016) and Surijah (2016) to boost employees’ performance and 

increase manager-coach efficiency to manage employee motivational needs. 

According to Musselwhite (2008) performance is critical in the manager-

employee coaching relationship, which  has a significant impact on performance, 

a viewpoint shared by  Graham, Wedman, and Garvin–Kester (1993) who believe  

that the manager-employee relationship is an important component of successful 

employee coaching.  

This research on the other hand, suggested that self-leadership training is not 

only a performance-enhancing intervention, but also a means to anticipatory 

coping (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1997) which supports  Prussia, Anderson, and Manz 

(1998)’s assertion that employee self-leadership is a key foundation to 

empowering organisations. However, as important as empowerment 

programmes are for manager-employee coaching relationship and self-

leadership, valid measures of employee coaching relationship and self-

leadership among corporate graduate interns are limited. This begs the question 

of why companies don’t provide coaching training for managers. 

Manager-employee coaching relationship and self-leadership are recognized as 

new approaches that indicate that leadership is an activity that can be shared or 

distributed between an organization’s membership  (Pearce & Conger, 2003). 

Adopting this view opens up new lines of thinking about informal leadership 

(Fletcher & Kaufer, 2003a) in organisations in which individuals are empowered 

to make and implement decisions about their own work tasks (Conger & 

Kanungo, 1988). This study argued that efficient teams and organisations require 

staff who are willing to lead themselves, and self-leadership is significantly linked 

to higher perceptions of job satisfaction, improved communication, quality 

management, and efficient working relationships (Boss & Sims Jr, 2008).  

In addition, both employee coaching relationship and self-leadership help 

individuals and teams to address the challenges that inadvertently accompany 



 

20 

 

change by ensuring that optimistic perceptions of their ability and work situation 

are developed (Hauschildt & Konradt, 2012b). A study conducted on the effects 

of manager-employee coaching relationship and self-leadership on performance 

behaviours of graduate interns, suggested that the manager-employees coaching 

relationship centered on coaching aspects that promote worker advancement. 

This was essentially a conversation between two individuals, typically a 

supervisor and a worker, with the goal of assisting the worker in learning from the 

job to advance his growth (Hunt & Weintraub, 2011). Self-leadership influenced 

better performance behaviours because self-leaders know how to navigate and 

manage themselves in a relatively wide variety of circumstances (Latham & 

Locke, 1991). The next part of the research report looked at key conceptual / 

theoretical frameworks, variables, and operating hypotheses underpinning this 

research were explored in the subsequent portion of this report.  

2.3.  Theoretical foundation 

Currently, a broad variety of management coaching and self-leadership theories 

can be used to describe performance behaviours; however, many of them are 

theories of psychology. For this study, only those theories that are relevant to the 

variables of manager-employee coaching relationship, self-leadership, and 

performance behaviour were considered, such as organisational support, and 

social cognitive theories. In the following parts of this report, both theoretical 

structures are discussed. 

2.3.1.  Organisational support theory 

The current research used Organisational Support Theory (OST)  (Dai & Qin, 

2016) and  (Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002) as a basis for theorising about how 

managerial coaching affects its results. Expectations and perceptions about how 

much an employer values their work, respects their dedication, and is concerned 

about their physical and mental health are shaped by employees, according to 



 

21 

 

the theory. OST also looks at the psychological mechanism that underpins the 

relationship between employees’ expectations about how their organisation leads 

them and the implications of those beliefs. It is a common misconception that 

OST is primarily a social exchange theory. However, it also emphasizes 

techniques for improving oneself. Perceived Organisation Support, also known 

as POS, is thought to satisfy socioemotional needs by promoting emotional 

support, affiliation, and approval, which promotes identification with the 

organisation (Kurtessis et al., 2015). 

In a subjective sense, perceived organisational support represents the 

organisation’s overall aspirations of its members, as well as appreciation of the 

personal importance and commitment (Dai & Qin, 2016). Research on 

organisation support and employee engagement is based on “social exchange 

theory” and the “reciprocity principle.” The concept of a social exchange 

relationship is that if one person does something for another, he hopes to receive 

something in return in the future (Dai & Qin, 2016). According to the concept of 

reciprocity, workers can only provide a positive organisational contribution and 

participate and make active attitude or behaviour changes in order to make an 

effort to achieve organisational objectives if they feel support and care from the 

organisation (Asiedu-Appiah & Addai, 2014b). 

According to social exchange theory and a mutuality standard, these values may 

have an impact on employees’ willingness to contribute to the achievement of 

organisational goals, as well as their sense of responsibility for the success and 

welfare of the organisation over the long term. Secondly, the organization’s 

approval, appreciation, and care should meet employees’ socio-emotional needs, 

allowing them to see themselves as members of the organisation, accept 

organisational core values, consider the destiny of the organization, and 

assimilate the brand of the organisation into their identities in society (Settoon, 

Bennett, & Liden, 1996). 



 

22 

 

Employees form general opinions about how supervisors valued their efforts, put 

emphasis on their contributions to the team, and cared about their wellbeing in 

the same way they form views about how the company treated them. Employees 

interpret their managers’ behaviour and demeanor towards them as a 

demonstration of their loyalty to the organisation. Supervisors are principal 

agents of the organisation, with responsibility for controlling and assessing 

individual results (Levinson, 2009). According to recent research, supervisors’ 

organisational identification levels may vary, and POS is correlated with 

favourable leadership identification (Eisenberger et al., 2014). 

The perceived organisational support theory examines the relationship between 

managerial coaching activities and job satisfaction and success, as well as the 

exchange between employers and employees (Eisenberger, Fasolo, & Davis-

LaMastro, 1990). As a result, organisational support theory describes the 

exchange relationship between employee and organisation, and actions taken by 

a manager or leaders are seen as the organization’s spokesperson (Raza, Ali, 

Ahmed, & Ahmad, 2018). Thus, leadership and supervisory positions are crucial 

in giving employees access to organisational benefits and assets and they ought 

to be regarded as  an important source of organisational support than co-workers 

(Wayne, Shore, & Linden, 1997). 

Managers function as instructors in a coaching setting and subordinates describe 

their natural process as goodwill. Managers carry out several  tasks, such as 

identifying specific priorities and objectives and providing timely input to improve 

performance (Kim, 2014). Managerial coaching is given to employees, and 

managers play a critical role as coaches (Beattie et al., 2014). It has been 

proposed that managerial coaching is a critical act that enhances employee 

performance, productivity, contribution, and learning (Ratiu, David, & Baban, 

2017). 

 



 

23 

 

2.3.2. Managerial and leadership coaching 

Managerial coaching has been described and evaluated in several ways. It is 

described by Ellinger, Ellinger, Hamlin, and Beattie (2010) as a method of 

facilitator learning offered by a supervisor or manager to enable employees to 

learn and improve performance. It is regarded as a method for enhancing 

subordinates’ efficiency  (Grant, 2006).  In this analysis, the idea of managerial 

coaching and its outcome on performance behaviours of corporate graduate 

interns are assessed to see whether there was any theoretical support. It is seen 

as a more transformative phase for the coachee with personal growth as an 

essential component of skills creation (Beattie et al., 2014). The influence of the 

manager as a coach is linked to the construct of managerial coaching (Dahling, 

Taylor, Chau, & Dwight, 2016a). By using the coaching approach, individual 

consideration of individual needs can be met and delegation for development 

needs can be met, and delegation for growth processes can be met as well, 

based on fostering employee ownership and empowerment (Milner & McCarthy, 

2016). 

The research of Hahn (2016) shows a positive relationship between managerial 

coaching behaviour and employee psychological empowerment. According to 

Hahn (2016), the more psychological empowerment that is promoted during the 

training process, the more control employees will have over their own work 

circumstances. He further states that psychological empowerment is the idea that 

a person has discretionary power over his responsibilities and employment. In 

order to encourage coaching high performance work, line managers must also 

facilitate their employees’ learning as trainers (Raza et al., 2018).  

Research by Gilley (2000), and Hankins and Kleiner (1995) found that 

management coaching has gained considerable attention in recent years as a 

result of leadership in organisations. Several studies have looked at the possible 

outcomes of managerial coaching in terms of inspiring, creating, and educating 



 

24 

 

workers in organisations; individual and team learning (Matsuo, 2018); employee 

ownership and empowerment (Milner & McCarthy, 2016); manager skills set  

(Rick Ladyshewsky & Taplin, 2018) and performance feedback (Kim, 2014).  The 

study findings can be used to justify the need for organisational coaching 

practices and to guide interventions for their effective implementation.  

2.3.2.1. Employee development 

The purpose of coaching was recognised as the development of individual 

learning, including coaching as a way to lead genuine, lasting employees (Park, 

McLean, & Yang, 2008). As a coach, line managers need to promote their 

employees’ future growth (Evered & Selman, 1989), and play a role in their 

growth (Buhler, 1994).  Leibowitz and Schlossberg (1981) argue that managers 

need sufficient skills to promote growth through daily interactions with employees 

for subordinate development and that support for management has been shown 

to be important for employee development (Shore & Bloom, 1986). There has 

been, however, a lack of empirical studies to examine the link between 

managerial coaching and its potential impact on the performance of employees.  

Researchers Mom, Fourné, and Jansen (2015) stress the importance of the 

managers’ roles in enabling and inspiring workers to complete both their assigned 

tasks and newly mandated creative ones.   According to Eisenberger, Huntington, 

Hutchison, and Sowa (1986) managerial coaching can assist staff members in 

better understanding their duties and responsibilities of their jobs, and is 

potentially an effective tool that managers can use to encourage these two 

various forms of work achievement  (Hui, Sue‐Chan, & Wood, 2013).  In addition, 

managerial coaching creates an environment of empowerment and support by 

giving staff members the freedom to experiment with new concepts and pursue 

developing themselves independently (Heslin, Vandewalle, & Latham, 2006). 

 



 

25 

 

2.3.2.2. Transformational leadership and managerial coaching 

According to Milner and McCarthy (2016) transformational leadership is 

analogous to managerial coaching, which entails coaching within an individual’s 

background. Grant (2007) identified similarities between coaching and the 

dimensions of transformational leadership, which include serving as an 

exemplary role model, engaging, and inspiring others, promoting innovative 

thinking and creativity, and serving as a coach and mentor to assist others in 

achieving their results. Listening, analytical skills, interviewing, questioning, 

observational skills, input, setting and communicating goals, and building a 

coaching atmosphere are among the skills and behaviours that a coaching 

manager should possess, according to Ellinger, Beattie, and Hamlin (2018).  

Managerial coaching is implemented by those fulfilling leadership roles, although 

the implementation of manager as coach for leadership theories are not 

examined (Hagen & Gavrilova Aguilar, 2012).  The evolving qualities of 

transformation, vision, inspiration and charisma are modern leader-centered 

roles  (Yukl, 2008).  Leadership theories highlight the group member assumptions 

and beliefs about the attributes that leaders should have, what to expect, and 

how to respond to group and individual performance (Shondrick, Dinh, & Lord, 

2010). Leaders-member-exchange has an influence on employee performance, 

according to Kang and Stewart (2007) and provides a useful lens through which 

line manager coaching can be viewed. Interest in workplace coaching has 

increased, but limited attention has been paid to the areas of overlap and 

leadership theory (Hamlin, Ellinger, & Beattie, 2006). 

2.3.2.3. Criticism of managerial coaching 

It is important to note that managerial coaching has also received some criticism. 

According to Lawrence (2017) one of the issues with managerial coaching is that 

there isn’t a  common understanding of what it is, aside from a general agreement 



 

26 

 

on how it facilitates and improves performance, but there is less clarity on the 

process itself. However, neither these definitions nor perspectives make a 

distinction between managerial coaching and the other types of coaching (Beattie 

et al., 2014; Lawrence, 2017). Some models place an emphasis on the 

relationship, inspiration, and facilitation, as well as setting expectations, goals, 

and providing feedback in support of performance. The International Coaching 

Federation (ICF) and Graduate School Alliance for Executive Coaching (GSAEC) 

are two bodies that Mmaditla and Ndlovu-Hlatshwayo (2022) provide examples 

of coaching competencies a coach may adopt.  The contributions of the two 

coaching organisations in standardising the coaching competences are 

discussed in the next section.  

2.3.2.4. GSAEC competencies 

The GSAEC established competencies to harmonise and standardise the 

curricula of graduate institutions that provide coaching. Standard 8.0, which lists 

the essential skills needed to be a successful coach (GSAEC, 2018) is the 

academic standard that applies. These skills include co-creating the coaching 

relationship by developing and coaching presence, making meaning with others 

through listening and questioning abilities, assisting others in succeeding by 

reframing the mindset and contributing in a way that motivates the coachee to 

advance. These GSAEC competencies were not actively tested in the context of 

this study, despite the fact that they are crucial in determining the efficiency of 

the manager’s coaching skills and the coaching process.  

2.3.2.5. International Coaching Federation Competencies 

The International Coaching Federation (ICF) seeks to advance the coaching 

industry by standardising certification of internationally educated coaching 

experts  (Mmaditla & Ndlovu-Hlatshwayo, 2022). By reducing the list of 11 core 

competencies to 8, it created the benchmark of coaching that will promote 



 

27 

 

professionalism (ICF, 2017).  The eight core competencies were further divided 

into four groups: setting the foundation, co-creating the relationship, coaching 

presence, and facilitating learning and results.  

(a) Setting the foundation entails upholding a high standard for coaching, 

upholding mindset characterized by openness, curiosity, flexibility, and client-

centricity, and consistently applying coaching ethics.  

(b) Co-creating the relationship entails developing mutual trust and intimacy with 

the client through the creation of clear contractual guidelines regarding the 

coaching relationship, fostering trust and safety through the creation of a 

welcoming and supportive environment, and maintaining a presence in 

interaction with the coachee.  

© Communicating effectively means applying active listening by focusing on what 

the client is saying, in order to assist the coachee in making connections, enabling 

awareness and client insights. Tools and techniques that can be used include 

skillful questioning, silence, analogy, and metaphors. 

(d) Cultivating learning and growth entails facilitating the coachee’s growth by 

transforming learning and insights into actionable steps. 

The study by Chong, Yuen, Tan, Zarim, and Hamid (2016) found that five of 11 

International Coaching Federation (ICF) Core Competencies were related to 

coaching effectiveness. They discovered this by asking managerial coaches in 

Malaysian Telecommunications companies to evaluate each of the ICF 

Competencies. Establishing trust and intimacy, active listening and raising 

awareness were among the skills considered pertinent. These results imply that 

managerial coaches may not place as much importance on some competencies 

considered essential by external coaches, and that workplace coaching may be 

more directive that other types of coaching (Lawrence, 2017). 

 



 

28 

 

2.3.2.6. Perceived Quality of the Employee Coaching Relationship 

Questionnaire (PQECR) validity scales 

This study employs the PQECR questionnaire to assess the perceived quality of 

the employee coaching relationship between the graduate interns and their 

managers. According to (Gregory & Levy, 2010) this scale of the employee 

coaching relationship is used to assess the perceived quality of the coaching 

relationship. The PQECR measure consists of four components; genuiness of the 

relationship, effective communication, comfort of the relationship and facilitating 

development. The validity of the current employee coaching scales, however, has 

repeatedly come under scrutiny by researchers due to issues such as an  

unsatisfactory model of fit regarding dimensionality (Hagen & Peterson, 2014; 

Richard Ladyshewsky & Taplin, 2017). Koskinen and Anderson (2023) report that 

the review revealed a strong interdependence between the various relationship 

building behaviours and steps of the route and employee coaching. This could 

partially account for the challenges in identifying distinct elements for the 

coaching role or relationships (Koskinen & Anderson, 2023). 

2.3.3. Social cognitive theory 

The fundamental fact is that social action is social in nature and takes into 

account the behaviours of others by virtue of the subjective meaning attached to 

it by the individual acting, and is thus orientated in its nature  (Oyedokun, 2016).  

Likewise, Trueman (2015),  points out that social action takes account of other 

people’s past, present or future actions, behaviour and attitudes. Social cognitive 

theory suggests that, in the process of “reciprocal determinism” the environment 

causes behaviour and also shapes the environment (Bandura, 1986). The theory 

suggests a triadic reciprocal relationship among internal influences, external 

influences, and behavior to explain human behaviour.  



 

29 

 

When applying the principles of this theory to current research, it becomes 

relevant that the theory of social action gives researchers a better understanding 

of traditional, affective, value or rational aspects (Oyedokun, 2016). There are 

three elements of the theory that apply to organisations:  a) development through 

modelling of people’s cognitive, social and behavioral skills; b) confidence in their 

capacity to use their knowledge, skills, and abilities in an effective manner; and 

c) goal-orientated  motivation (Bandura, 1988). In line with social cognitive theory, 

self-leaders are in control of themselves and their own experiences because they 

are intentional, thoughtful, proactive, and self-reflective.  

Bandura and Cervone (1986), noted that three different types of self-influences 

serve as mediators in the relationship between objectives and output, notably 

self-satisfaction, self-efficacy, and relation of internal standards. Social cognitive 

theory stresses the importance of the self-reactive influences of satisfaction and 

self-efficacy. Self-efficacy describes a person’s self-assessment of their abilities 

required to perform a particular task (Bandura, 1991), and influences aspirations, 

effort, persistence and thought patterns. The main criticisms of social cognitive 

theory are that it lacks coherence, is so expansive that not all its components are 

fully understood, cannot be incorporated into just one explanation, that not all 

social learning can be directly observed, and that it frequently overlooks 

maturation over the course of a person’s the lifespan  (May-Varas, Margolis, & 

Mead, 2023). 

The concept of self-efficacy is of particular importance to self-leadership. Self-

efficacy, according to Bandura (1997), is the capacity of the individuals to perform 

on a particular task, and is connected to a particular cognitive procedure to a 

particular task. One’s confidence  in their ability to complete the given task is 

reflected in their capability (Bandura, 1997).  Therefore, individuals who believe 

they have the necessary skills to do the task will accept it willingly (Bandura, 

1997; Tenaw, 2013).   



 

30 

 

Fundamentally,  self-efficacy affects the self-leadership strategies that have been 

proposed, including behavioural focused, natural reward and constructive 

thought strategies (Neck & Manz, 2010). In order to achieve higher performance 

levels, these strategies are crucial for enhancing self-efficacy perceptions (Neck 

& Manz, 1992). As a result, people with high self-efficacy are more likely to be 

able to perform at a higher level  (Ibus & Ismail, 2018). This suggests that the 

main mechanism by which self-leadership strategies affect performance may be 

self-efficacy. Selected self-leadership competencies will enable leaders to 

manage current issues successfully while empowering corporate graduate 

interns. 

2.4. Employee / corporate graduate intern performance 

According to Mathis and Jackson (2011, p. 324) success is correlated with 

production quantity, production, consistency of product, output times, pressure / 

participation of work, and efficiency of job completion.  Job output  is 

characterized as the sum of the expected values of the various episodes on an 

individual progressively over time (Motowidlo, Borman, & Schmit, 1997). This 

description includes one crucial concept that success is a property of actions, but 

success only referred to activities that make a difference to achievement of 

organisational goals, according to Motowidlo and Kell (2012). In this study, the 

definition of performance evaluation was broadened to that of performance 

management, which is characterized as an organisational process that evaluates 

individual performance against defined goals and identifies strengths and 

opportunities (Smith & Mazin, 2004).  

The success of a company or business enterprise in the provision of goods and 

services is related to the quality and productivity with which it performs (Naude, 

2007). To achieve the most from its workers and thus maximize efficiency, it is 

crucial for organisations to respect their workers. All organisations requiring 

substantial improvements in productivity must have an atmosphere in which, 



 

31 

 

through their expertise, experience, skills and talents, their workers feel 

comfortable achieving the goals of the organisation (Asgari & Vakili, 2012). 

Without examining and understanding the personal characteristics of the 

employees, and analyzing how they influence their performance, this cannot be 

done. The study explored the link between manager-employee coaching 

relationship, self-leadership and the performance behaviours of corporate 

graduate interns, and attempted to close the gap of understanding what leads to 

failure in order to improve performance of the job (Keller, 2012).  

2.4.1. Contextual performance 

Contextual performance is the term for those minor  roles that are typical, support 

the environment in which task are performed, and depends on the employee’s 

preferences and willpower (Bhardwaj & Kalia, 2021). According to Borman and 

Motowidlo (1997) contextual performance refers to the actions by employees to 

support the social and psychological functionality of the organisation.  Successful 

contextual performance requires actions that impact on the personal, cultural, 

and working environment to boost organisational efficiency. Such actions 

consists of urging others to do useful work for the organization, transmitting 

collaboration, and fostering mutual trust (Tutar, Altinoz, & Cakiroglu, 2011). 

Contextual practices lead to organisational success by establishing social and 

psychological atmosphere, by volunteering for roles and things that don’t fall 

under structural employment and working together to complete tasks with other 

members of the organisation. This type of behavior allows the company at team 

level to achieve harmony, stability, and enhanced morale, and can have a positive 

effect on the success of group / team members. Therefore, people who support 

others, do their own jobs well and use organisational tools efficiently, will 

contribute to the contextualized process of their work satisfactorily (Johari, 2011).  

 



 

32 

 

2.4.2. Task performance, measurement, and behaviours 

Task performance refers to the activities that make up the programme for rewards 

for structures, including the employee’s performance related to contribution, and 

satisfying the role requirements (Asiedu-Appiah & Addai, 2014). Task execution, 

in its widest definition, refers to activities that turn crude ingredients into the 

organisation’s products and offerings (Motowidlo et al., 1997). Additionally, the 

accomplishment of duties includes undertakings that maintain an organisation’s 

technological foundation by exchanging raw materials, distributing completed 

goods, offering planning functions, managing coordination, or employing 

personnel that allows the organisation to run successfully and effectively and 

efficiently (Rich, Lepine, & Crawford, 2010). The study’s focus was on self-

leadership and performance behaviours of corporate graduate interns as a result 

of the relationship between manager and employee coaching. 

2.5. Manager-employee coaching relationship and hypothesis  

In organisational environments, coaching has become widespread and well-liked. 

Even though executive coaching is sometimes referred to as coaching in 

organisations, in this investigation the direct manager of an employee serves as 

the coach. Since employees are the ones who receive this coaching from the line 

manager, it is known as employee coaching (Gregory & Levy, 2010). Although 

the practice of managers coaching their staff is expanding in organisations, the 

practice has not been backed up by any empirical analysis. This study’s objective 

was to investigate the function of line managers in providing coaching to their 

employees and how employees perceived the type of coaching relationship 

formed between themselves and their supervisors. 

2.5.1. Nature of employee coaching relationship 

The focus of the study was on employee coaching relationships between staff 

and their direct supervisors. A manager’s coaching relationship with a 



 

33 

 

subordinate coachee is very different from an executive coach coaching a client. 

Employees seldom have a choice about who their coaching manager will be. 

Consequently, in the full range of coaching techniques, the nature of employee 

coaching relationship is unique. Employee mentoring is not a “once and done” 

conversation, according to London and Smither (2002, p. 87) but rather a 

sustained cooperative process. Depending on the parties involved, the employee 

mentoring relationship focus may change (Garman, Whiston, & Zlatoper, 2000). 

This means the mentoring arrangement is merely a facet of the already existing 

relationship between a manager and worker.  

Gyllensten and Palmer (2007, p. 173) pointed out that the coach and coachee 

relationship is “one of the most essential aspects of coaching” and that this 

relationship is the “basis upon which the coaching is built and without a 

relationship the coaching would not be as effective as it could be.” The “coaching 

relationship is the real vehicle for change” (Gyllensten & Palmer, 2007, p. 168) 

and is identified by Bennett (2006) as a particular subject on which the coaching 

should concentrate. The objective is to examine the role of this first construct in 

relation to the coaching relationship between manager and employee (Gregory & 

Levy, 2010). 

2.5.2. Hypothesis 1 

The current study investigated the impact of coaching relationship between 

managers and workers’ performance behaviours. The perceived quality of the 

employee coaching relationship questionnaire (PQERCR) was used to collect 

data. The following hypothesis was developed to assess the impact of the 

manager-employee coaching relationship variable on the performance 

behaviours of corporate graduates. 

 

 

H1 – The perceived quality of  manager-employee coaching relationship 

impacts positively on performance behaviours of corporate graduate interns. 



 

34 

 

2.6. Self-leadership skills and hypothesis 

The field of leadership research encompasses vast amounts of attention paid to 

enhancing leadership effectiveness, most of which is based on one or more of 

core leadership theories. However, Rima (2000), pointed out that in our efforts to 

become better leaders, we often overlooked the biggest leadership challenge we 

ever face – ourselves.  Ng (2017), explained that leadership was a cultivated art 

that begins with self-leadership.  

Self-leadership is defined as an influence-related process through which 

individuals or working groups navigate, motivate and lead themselves towards 

achieving desired behaviours and outcomes (Manz, 1992). Self-leadership 

comes due to a developed sense of who you are, what you can do, and where 

you are going coupled with the ability that influences your communication, 

emotions, and behaviours of getting there. Self-leadership as a concept 

developed from the general concept of leadership, where leadership is the 

process of influencing others to act in accordance with the organisational goals. 

This means that the concept of self-leadership is similar to the concept of 

leadership in general, except that in self-leadership the object is an individual, 

while leadership in general refers to an organisation or company. Self-leadership 

describes people who take personal initiative, direct their own efforts, motivate 

themselves and renew their thinking patterns (Manz & Sims, 1989). 

Self-leadership is a mechanism of self-influencing process (Manz, 1986) and it 

can  fit well with workers with strong self-leadership. Neck and Houghton (2006a), 

contended that self-leadership either personally or organizationally, is capable of 

achieving high efficiency. Neck, DiLiello, and Houghton (2006), found that 

individuals with self-leadership abilities performed without self-leadership relative 

to others. Self-leadership is characterized as a process of self-influencing (Neck 

& Manz, 2004) and better performance occurs in employees with good self-

leadership.  



 

35 

 

Neck and Houghton (2006a) clarified that self-leadership, either personal, team 

or organisational can achieve high results. This view is reinforced by the work of 

Ozturk (2015) which found that self-leadership in relation to employee success is 

a significant factor. Self-leadership allows team members to address the 

challenges that inadvertently accompany change by ensuring that they develop 

an optimistic understanding of their competency and work situation (Hauschildt & 

Konradt, 2012a). Those employees with excellent self-leadership qualities know 

how to achieve high  levels of self-direction and self-motivation (Neck & 

Houghton, 2006b).  

In addition, several other studies have shown that self-leadership adds to 

progress. In their study, Neck and Manz (1992) concluded that self-leadership 

has a positively significant influence on employee performance. DiLiello and 

Houghton (2006) discovered that people with self-leadership performed better 

than people without self-leadership. Warwer (2013), Ho and Nesbit (2014) and 

Şahin (2011) found similar findings where self-leadership had a significant 

positive impact on employee performance. As a broader construct, self-

leadership encompasses a set of three complementary cognitive and behavioral 

strategies which impact subsequent outcomes. These are behaviour-focused 

strategies, natural reward strategies, and constructive thought strategies which 

are discussed in the subsequent part of the report.  

2.6.1. Behaviour-orientated strategies  

People make a variety of assumptions on a daily basis to keep an eye on their 

own behaviour, develop self-awareness, and justify traits by learning about 

definitions of self-hood (Houghton & Neck, 2002). They may participate in 

reckless behaviours to develop therapeutic strategies and rely on the expected 

access data to create behavioural tactics (Neck and Houghton, 2006). In order to 

facilitate behavioural management, particularly behaviour related to necessary 



 

36 

 

but unpleasant tasks, behaviour-focused strategies work to increase an 

individual’s self-awareness (Neck & Manz, 2004). 

The following categories are classified for behavior-orientated approaches, which 

are typically classified into strategies for self-goal setting, self-reward, self-

punishment, self-observation, and self-cueing techniques. Self-goal setting is 

defined  as representing the self-directing sense of individual that results from 

choosing and working towards achieving personal goals in order to maximize  

successful performance (Houghton & Neck, 2002). Self-leadership behaviours 

are improved by aligning these personal and organisational goals. 

Self-reward strategies refers to a person’s choice to receive payment after 

successfully completing a task (Manz, 1992), while self-observation is a 

technique for developing self-control that involves asking oneself questions like: 

under what conditions, how frequently, where to take action, how to do it, and 

why (Alves et al., 2006). Both self-observation and self-cuing require preparation, 

practice, or outward signaling of certain items that need to be recalled or 

accomplished using physical objects. Self-observation encourages setting of 

priorities, including any other strategies, and defining goals for one’s activities.  

People who use this self-observation technique can easily increase their output 

and management of time. The concepts of self-punishment and self-

reinforcement, both of which influence individual behaviors (self-applied effects) 

are opposite sides of the same coin (Manz, 2015), with self-punishment requiring 

self-correction while criticism about oneself is used to strengthen oneself. Self-

punishment is suggested to undermine someone’s drive and imagination, but 

several individuals in life frequently employ this strategy (Houghton & Neck, 

2002).  Research by Prussia et al. (1998) found that self-reinforcement has a 

positive impact on success whereas self-punishment can result in negative 

results for trainees, college students and staff. The efficacy of behavior-focused 

intervention is reinforced for several reasons. Self-leaders put greater importance 



 

37 

 

on self-observation and its pursuit, they keep a diary, take notes about important 

events, and ask for advice from others (Neck & Manz, 2013); they are more likely 

to encourage better physical health, better stamina and wellbeing; and use goal-

supported and self-reinforcing techniques of exercise and meditation (Neck & 

Cooper, 2000). 

2.6.2. Natural reward strategies 

Natural reward techniques help people find satisfaction in a specific task or 

practice, which in turn leads to an increased sense of competence, self-control 

and intention (Deci & Ryan, 1985).  Individuals may use natural rewards either 

by creating a task or activity with more fun and friendly features so that the task 

itself becomes gratifying, or by transferring cognitive attention to the task’s 

intrinsically rewarding aspects  (Neck & Houghton, 2006a). By using constructive 

thinking approaches that makes people participate in successful behaviors by 

focusing on beneficial behavior and preventing unwanted habits, natural reward 

strategies have a positive influence (Anderson & Prussia, 1997). Thus, a normal 

individual tries to establish a connection with their workplace that inspires them 

to carry tasks for their own sake rather than any outside benefit. Therefore, 

natural reward methods are based on the principle of determination (Manz, 2015), 

where great focus is part of natural or inherent rewards that are part of the 

success of the task (Neck & Houghton, 2006a). 

2.6.3. Constructive thought-pattern strategies 

Constructive thought pattern strategies, which include identifying and replacing 

dysfunctional beliefs, assumptions, mental imagery and self-talk, are intended to 

facilitate the formation of constructive thought patterns and habitual ways of 

thinking that can positively impact performance (Neck & Manz, 2004). The 

underlying idea is that those methods centre on the knowledge that people have 

control over their own attention, emotions, mental activity and how their thoughts 



 

38 

 

are formed. In light of the knowledge that individuals have control over their 

attention, thoughts, mental activity, as well as how thoughts are formed, one can 

think more consistently by using the self-influencing concept, which is a 

component of overall self-leadership. Manz (1992), asserts the most important 

element of self-leadership is focus. The  Self-leadership Research Centre  

considers controlling the effectiveness of reflective behaviours and methods, 

including prototypes of workers, rather than focusing on the undesirable aspects 

(Manz, 1986). 

The visualization of good rewards, perfecting self-talk, and assessing expectation 

perceptions are positive thinking strategies. Below, each of these techniques is 

explained. Visualizing successful performance includes imagining situations, 

creating mental deceptions, imagining drills, and envisioning events as they were 

experienced through use of imagination, according to Houghton and Neck (2002). 

The process of visualizing successful performance entails a series of mental 

rehearsals of the desired actions that need to be activated; whereas self-talk 

takes place to a degree that cannot be detected in the mind of the individual (Neck 

& Houghton, 2006a). Self-talk happens by speaking to themselves positively and 

relying on their values and perceptions they build in their psychological 

environment (Godwin, Neck, & Houghton, 1999).  These actions might aid them 

in achieving their goals (Elloy, 2008). Evaluating assumptions and beliefs by 

testing values and perceptions, requires using mental models to solve issues in 

the everyday life of individuals (Godwin et al., 1999). These mental models are 

influenced by and based on thoughts, values, and experiences that people 

develop, and the resulting behaviors arise from thoughts which are also affected 

by environmental factors. Individuals need to change their dysfunctional 

behaviours and switch to receptive ones to get better performance results (Neck, 

Nouri, & Godwin, 2003). This implies that self-leadership is considered an 

independent variable, while performance behavior is a dependent variable. 

Modifications or manipulations of self-leadership will therefore result in changes 



 

39 

 

in the performance of graduate interns. The research investigated the extent to 

which graduate intern performance behaviours were influenced by the adoption 

of self-leadership skills.  

2.6.4. Hypothesis 2 

This study suggested that people with high self-leadership skills will exhibit better 

performance and thereby advance. The study hypothesis below was used to 

evaluate the connection between graduate interns at work and their use of self-

leadership skills. 

 

 

2.6.5. Main strategies of self-leadership  

2.6.5.1. Self-regulation 

Self-regulation is a behaviour pattern that allows someone to manage their 

behaviour by enhancing their inner states, particularly when it comes to 

necessary but often unpleasant tasks. Self-observation, self-assessment, goal 

setting, and self-cuing, which focus on knowledge of how, why, and the 

circumstances surrounding a person’s behaviour. Such self-regulation, according 

to Neck and Manz (2013) is a necessary first step towards changing or eliminating 

ineffective or unproductive behaviour. Self-regulation supports the idea that 

individuals can more effectively set behaviour change goals for themselves, 

provided that they have precise knowledge and understanding of present 

effectiveness and behaviour thresholds.  

 

 

H2 - Self-leadership skills practice has a positive impact on performance 

behaviours of corporate graduate interns. 



 

40 

 

2.6.5.2. Self-reflection 

Self-reflection is an effective habit for fostering the configuration of original 

thoughts and creative patterns that enhance one’s effectiveness. Identifying and 

replacing ineffective beliefs and assumptions, as well as practicing mental vision 

and positive self-talk, are examples of constructive thought pattern-based 

strategies. In order to change unhelpful beliefs and assumptions, with more 

original ones, one should first investigate the individual’s thought patterns.  

2.6.5.3. Self-talk 

Self-talk is a type of communication with oneself that includes evaluating oneself 

and one’s responses mentally (Ellis, 1977).  Positive self-talk can take the place 

of negative self-talk by analysing self-talk patterns  (Gillham & Seligman, 1999). 

Leaders are becoming aware of the effectiveness of constructive self-discussion 

in enhancing self-esteem and preventing negative feelings. Individuals with 

positive self-talk are thought to be more confident, motivated, and productive. 

Individuals who visualise themselves performing an activity successfully before 

doing so are more likely to succeed when confronted with the actual task (Neck 

& Manz, 2013) . 

2.6.5.4. Self-perspective 

Self-perspective is a healthy reward approach that illustrates how people form 

views and perspectives by examining and evaluating their own behaviour and are 

rewarded in line with those conclusions. Self-perception must be accurate 

considering the other person’s reality. To accomplish this, two natural reward 

strategies are used: creating an environment in which the task itself becomes 

naturally rewarding and shaping perspective by analysing one’s behaviour, while 

staying away from the undesirable elements of the job. 

 



 

41 

 

2.7. Conceptual framework 

The illustration in Figure 2.1 below indicates that the link between manager-

employee coaching relationship, self-leadership, and line manager rating and 

performance is complicated in nature. The operating theories of manager-

employee coaching relationship emphasized that the relationship is the key to 

performance, while self-leadership skills practice influence work success.  

The research variables and their constructs that serve as the foundation for the 

conceptual framework are summarised below (refer further to Table 3.1). 

• Manager-employee coaching relationship (IV1) – genuineness of the 

relationship (GRL), effective communication (EFC), comfort in the relationship 

(CRL), and facilitating development (FDV). 

• Self-leadership skills practice (IV2) – self-reward (SRW), self-observation 

(SOB), self-cuing (SLC), self-punishment (SPN), focus on natural rewards, 

Visualising successful and performance VSP), self-talk (SLT), and evaluating 

beliefs and assumptions (EBA). 

• Performance behaviours (DV) – self-goal setting (SGS). 

Figure 2.1 in the next subsection illustrates the relationship between manager-

employee coaching relationship, self-leadership, and job performance. For 

reference, the consistency matrix is placed in Appendix E. 

 

 

 

 

 



 

42 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 2.1. The relationship between manager-employee coaching relationship, self-leadership, 

and job performance 

2.8. Summary of literature review   

The findings of the literature review indicate that the manager-employee coaching 

relationship and self-leadership are positively related to the performance of 

workers, the culture of work / performance, and organisational success. To have 

an efficient and meaningful effect on the organisational culture, good managerial 

coaching and self-leadership accompanied by an excellent work culture were 

related to enhanced employee efficiency. Employees with a strong work morale 

and a sense of high job satisfaction were expected to contribute to the company’s 

success in general. The investigator adopted the following research hypotheses 

for the research study, based on the findings of the literature review:  

2.8.1. Hypothesis 1     

 

 

 

 

H1 – The perceived quality of manager-employee coaching relationship 

impacts positively on performance of corporate graduate interns. 

Independent Variable 1 

Manager-Employee Coaching Relationship 

 

Independent Variable 2 

Self-leadership Skills 

 

 

 

 

DV 

Performance 

Behaviours 

 

H2 

H1 



 

43 

 

2.8.2. Hypothesis 2 

 

 

2.9. Conclusion of Chapter 2 

The various facets of the manager-employee coaching relationship, self-

leadership, and performance behaviours were covered in this chapter. It outlined 

the aspects of the relationship between the practice of self-leadership, manager-

employee coaching relationship, and performance behaviour outcomes of 

corporate graduate interns. The process of developing hypotheses was guided 

by elements from the manager-employee coaching relationship, self-leadership, 

and performance behaviour var