Degree

Master of Science in Management

School

School of Business Studies (SBS)

Department

Department of Management

Date of Submission

Spring 2026-10-1

Supervisor

Dr. Yasir Mansoor Kundi, Assistant Professor, Department of Management

Submission Type

MS Management Research Project

Document Type

Restricted Access

Keywords

Play at Work, Perceived Playful Leadership, Playful Work Design, Scale Development, Daily Diary Study

Abstract

Despite their significant role in shaping work environments and employee experiences, existing play literature has seldom explored leaders’ impact on fostering play at work. Current research largely focuses on employee-initiated playful work design (PWD), leaving the leadership domain of play behaviors untapped. To bridge this gap, the present study conceptualizes Perceived Playful Leadership (PPL) as a novel construct and develops its measurement scale based on the principles of Playful Work Design. The study follows a multi-stage research design including expert review, pilot testing, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and a twelve-day diary study, to develop and validate a psychometrically sound measure of Perceived Playful Leadership. The final scale consisting of eight items covering Designing Fun and Designing Competition dimensions, was used to test the proposed theoretical model. Multilevel structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationship between Perceived Playful Leadership, Playful Work Design, and four job outcomes, namely, leaning goal orientation; flow experience; pleasure at work; and work engagement. The results show initial evidence for Perceived Playful Leadership as a distinct leadership construct. Perceived Playful Leadership demonstrated a significant positive relationship with Playful Work Design which mediated Perceived Playful Leaderships relationship with the job outcomes. Findings suggest that playful leadership affects employee motivation and daily experiences by creating conditions that enable employees to redesign their daily tasks and interactions to be engaging and meaningful. By introducing and validating the Perceived Playful Leadership scale, the study directs workplace play research from self-initiated to leader-driven play behaviors. By establishing playful leadership as a key contextual resource for enhancing employee motivation, engagement, and well-being, the study augments organizational and leadership literature and provides foundation for future play-based leadership research and inquiry.

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