More humility,less counterproductive work behaviors? The role of interpersonal justice and trust

Leader humility has emerged as an important topic in understanding the role of leadership in organizations in recent years. Though it was found to enhance subordinates’ work performance and positive work behaviors, we are unaware of the psychological mechanism and boundary conditions underlying leader humility and employees’ negative behaviors toward leaders. Drawing on social exchange theory and using a multistage sample including 273 employees and 55 supervisors in China, we demonstrated a negative indirect effect between leader humility and subordinates’ counterproductive work behaviors toward supervisors (CWB-S) via interpersonal justice and trust in supervisor. Furthermore, we find that leader political skill moderates the effect of leader humility on interpersonal justice and trust in supervisor. The indirect effect of leader humility on subordinates’ CWB-S through interpersonal justice is stronger when leader political skill is high, suggesting a moderated mediation model. Finally, we discuss the theoretical contributions and practical implications of this study, and highlight future directions for research on leader humility.     

The Impact of Previous LMX Relationship on Current LMX Relationship: A Social Cognitive Model of Transference

Based on the social-cognitive model of transference, this paper discusses the transference effect of the leader-member exchange (LMX) relationship between the follower and the previous leader. The results show that the LMX between follower and the previous leader influences the follower’s LMX with the current leader. The study identifies two moderators: both the traits difference between the previous leader and the current leader and the follower’s individual transition resistance negatively moderate the main effect between the previous LMX and the current LMX.     

The Voice Link: A Moderated Mediation Model of How Ethical Leadership Affects Individual Task Performance

This study empirically examines the proposition that ethical leadership may affect individuals’ task performance through enhancing employees’ promotive voice. Our theoretical model was tested using data collected from employees and supervisors in a high-tech company located in South China. Analyses of multisource three-wave data from 37 team supervisors and 176 employees showed that ethical leadership could significantly affect individuals’ task performance through promotive voice. Further, it was found that the relationship between ethical leadership and promotive voice was moderated by leader–leader exchange. Specifically, ethical leadership may significantly enhance employees’ promotive voice when leader–leader exchange is low. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

How Servant Leadership Influences Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Roles of LMX,Empowerment, and Proactive Personality

While the link between servant leadership and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) has been established, the individual-level mechanisms underlying this relationship and its boundary conditions remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigate the salience of the mediating mechanisms of leader–member exchange (LMX) and psychological empowerment in explaining the process by which servant leaders elicit discretionary OCB among followers. We also examine the role of followers’ proactive personality in moderating the indirect effects of servant leadership on OCB through LMX and psychological empowerment. Analysis of survey data collected from 446 supervisor–subordinate dyads in a large Chinese state-owned enterprise suggests that while servant leadership is positively related to subordinate OCB through LMX, psychological empowerment does not explain any additional variance in OCB above that accounted for by LMX. Moderated mediation tests confirm the moderating effect of proactive personality through LMX. By providing a nuanced understanding of how and when servant leadership leads followers to go above and beyond their job role, our study assists organizations in deciding how to develop and utilize servant leaders in their organizations.     

Leaders’ Personal Wisdom and Leader–Member Exchange Quality: The Role of Individualized Consideration

Business scholars have recently proposed that the virtue of personal wisdom may predict leadership behaviors and the quality of leader–follower relationships. This study investigated relationships among leaders’ personal wisdom—defined as the integration of advanced cognitive, reflective, and affective personality characteristics (Ardelt, Hum Dev 47:257–285, 2004)—transformational leadership behaviors, and leader–member exchange (LMX) quality. It was hypothesized that leaders’ personal wisdom positively predicts LMX quality and that intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration, two dimensions of transformational leadership, mediate this relationship. Data came from 75 religious leaders and 1–3 employees of each leader (N = 158). Results showed that leaders’ personal wisdom had a positive indirect effect on follower ratings of LMX quality through individualized consideration, even after controlling for Big Five personality traits, emotional intelligence, and narcissism. In contrast, intellectual stimulation and the other two dimensions of transformational leadership (idealized influence and inspirational motivation) did not mediate the positive relationship between leaders’ personal wisdom and LMX quality. Implications for future research on personal wisdom and leadership are discussed, and some tentative suggestions for leadership development are outlined.     

Leadership Spiritual Behaviors Toward Subordinates: An Empirical Examination of the Effects of a Leader’s Individual Spirituality and Organizational Spirituality

This study notes three research requirements in workplace spirituality namely; need for conducting empirical studies, building on the existing research, and linking spirituality to organizational topics in general and leadership in particular. It also notes that the existing literature indicates a requirement for examining the spiritual sources of a leader’s spiritual behaviors toward subordinates. To address these research requirements in workplace spirituality, this study conducts an empirical examination of the effect of two spiritual factors—leader’s individual spirituality and organizational spirituality—on leadership spiritual behaviors toward subordinates. It specifies and empirically examines a direct effects model hypothesizing direct effects of these two variables on a leader’s spiritual behaviors toward subordinates. It also specifies and empirically examines a moderating effect model hypothesizing that organizational spirituality will moderate the relationship between a leader’s individual spirituality and the leader’s spiritual behaviors toward subordinates. The results of this study provided support for the direct effects model but not for the moderating effect model. Specifically, in the direct effects model, a leader’s individual spirituality accounted for statistically significant variance in leadership spiritual behaviors toward subordinates but organizational spirituality did not.     

Ethical Leader Behavior and Big Five Factors of Personality

Most research on ethical leadership to date investigates the consequences of ethical leadership rather than its antecedents. Here, we aim to contribute to this field by studying leader personality as a potential antecedent of ethical leader behavior. In two multisource studies, we investigated the relationships between personality traits and ethical leader behavior. Leader personality was measured through self-ratings using the five-factor personality framework. Two subordinates rated their leaders’ ethical behavior. Study 1 used a uni-dimensional Ethical Leadership Scale (ELS). In study 2 we used this scale as well as an instrument distinguishing three different ethical leader behaviors, namely, fairness, role clarification, and power sharing. Further, in study 2 we controlled for the influence of the relationship between leader and followers (LMX). As expected, conscientiousness and agreeableness were most consistently related to ethical leadership. In study 1, after controlling for the other personality traits, conscientiousness related positively with ethical leadership. In study 2, after controlling for other traits and LMX, conscientiousness related positively with ethical leadership and the behavior role clarification, and agreeableness with power sharing and fairness. Also, emotional stability related positively with ethical leadership and role clarification after controlling for LMX. As expected, openness to experience and extraversion were unrelated to ethical leader behaviors.     

For the Good or the Bad? Interactive Effects of Transformational Leadership with Moral and Authoritarian Leadership Behaviors

Although the ethical aspects of transformational leadership have attracted considerable attention, very little is known about followers’ reactions to the moral and immoral conduct of transformational leaders. Against this background, this study examined whether and how transformational leadership interacts with moral and authoritarian leadership behaviors in predicting followers’ in-role and extra-role efforts. Building on attribution theory, we hypothesized that the positive and negative effects of these leadership behaviors would be particularly pronounced for highly transformational leaders given that this leadership style elicits strong attention and sense-making efforts among followers. We tested our model in a sample of 228 individuals comprising 114 leader–follower dyads from a wide range of organizations and industries. In line with our hypotheses, results revealed that for highly transformational leaders, moral leadership behaviors related positively to employees’ in-role and extra-role efforts whereas authoritarian leadership behaviors related negatively to employees’ in-role and extra-role efforts. In contrast, moral and authoritarian leadership behaviors did not significantly affect followers’ reactions to leaders low in transformational leadership. Taken together, these findings suggest that transformational leadership, contrary to its largely positive perception in the literature, can be a rather mixed blessing. Implications for theory, future research, and managerial practice are discussed.     

Authentic Leadership and Employee Voice Behavior: A Multi-Level Psychological Process

This study investigates the psychological process of how authentic leadership affects employee voice behaviors. The theoretical model of this study proposes that employee positive mood and leader–member exchange (LMX) quality mediate the relationship between authentic leadership and voice behavior, while the procedural justice climate moderates the mediation effects of positive mood and LMX quality. Multi-level data from 70 workgroups of a real estate agent company in Taiwan support all hypotheses. This study reveals the cross-level effects of authentic leadership, and provides practical suggestions to help employees express their opinions in organizations.     

How is Benevolent Leadership Linked to Employee Creativity? The Mediating Role of Leader–Member Exchange and the Moderating Role of Power Distance Orientation

Previous research has shown that virtuous leader behavior in the form of benevolent leadership has considerable impact on employee creativity. However, little is known as to how and under what conditions these constructs are linked. In the current research, we proposed and tested a moderated mediation model positing leader–member exchange (LMX) as a mediator, and employee power-distance orientation as a moderator of this relationship. Two studies were conducted to test our hypothesized model. In Study 1, repeated measured data collected from 284 Chinese employees in an information technology company demonstrated that benevolent leadership had a lagged effect on LMX. In Study 2, analyses of multisource and lagged data from 391 Chinese employees in 42 research and development teams, and their direct supervisors indicated that benevolent leadership was positively related to supervisor-rated employee creativity via LMX. In addition, the relationship between benevolent leadership and LMX was stronger for employees high in power-distance orientation. Theoretical implications of benevolent leadership’s research and practical contributions concerning promoting creativity in organizations where benevolent leaders prevail are also discussed.     

Supervisors' overtime hours,abusive supervision and leader–member exchange: How supervisors' long work hours harm their relationships with subordinates

The current research examines the consequences of supervisors' overtime hours on subordinates. Drawing upon the stressor-emotion model of counterproductive behaviors, we argue that supervisors' overtime hours positively relate to abusive supervision behaviors through negative emotions, which in turn undermine leader–member exchange relationships. We further posit that this process is exacerbated among subordinates with a strong relational self-concept. Multisource multilevel data collected from an organizational sample of 181 employees and longitudinal data from 416 employees from multiple organizations support our predictions. This research indicates that the consequences of working overtime extend beyond supervisors, as subordinates may be negatively affected when their supervisors work long hours. We discuss implications for both theory and practice.     

The Interactive Effect of Authentic Leadership and Leader Competency on Followers’ Job Performance: The Mediating Role of Work Engagement

The effect of authentic leadership and leader competency on employee job performance has received growing attention in the past decades; however, few studies have simultaneously integrated these two leadership perspectives. We have thus developed a mediated moderation model to test the interactive effect of authentic leadership and competency on followers’ job performance through work engagement. Based on a sample of 248 subordinate–supervisor pairs, hierarchical regression analyses reveal that (1) authentic leadership positively relates to followers’ task performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB); (2) leader competency moderates the relationship between authentic leadership and OCB; (3) and followers’ work engagement mediates the main effect of authentic leadership and the interactive effect of authentic leadership and competency on followers’ task performance and OCB. All the three results are consistent with our hypotheses.     

A Multi-level Investigation of Authentic Leadership as an Antecedent of Helping Behavior

We develop and test a trickle-down model of how authentic leadership at the department level flows down the organizational hierarchy to encourage team leader authentic leadership and consequently, promotes team and individual-level supervisor-directed helping behavior. Analyses of multi-level and multi-source data collected from a total of 487 employees comprising 122 teams, 47 departments, and 4 different working areas of a major public sector organization in Taiwan show that team leaders’ authentic leadership mediates the relationship between departmental authentic leadership and individual-level leader–member exchange (LMX). We also found that intra-team trust completely mediates the influence of team authentic leadership on both team helping behavior and individual-level supervisor-directed helping behavior. Finally, the results reveal that self-concordance mediates the influence of team authentic leadership on individual-level supervisor helping behavior as well as the influence of individual-level LMX on individual-level supervisor-directed helping behavior. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

The Moderating Effects of Political Skill and Leader–Member Exchange on the Relationship Between Organizational Politics and Affective Commitment

Previous empirical studies have shown that perceptions of organizational politics are negatively related to individuals’ affective commitment. The key contribution of this study was that it found the interactive moderating effects of political skill and quality of leader–member exchange (LMX) on the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics and affective commitment. Our results indicated that politics perception affective commitment relationship was weaker when both political skill and quality of LMX are high. When only political skill is high and the quality of LMX is low, or LMX quality is high but political skill is low, the negative relationship between politics perception and affective commitment was not mitigated. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.     

Inquiry and Review of Dependence in Marketing Channels: An Economics of Exchange Approach

This article extends the economics of exchange for bilateral monopolists to more general situations in marketing channels, that is, exchange between two members with alternatives, by incorporating insights drawn from power-dependence theory, interdependence theory, and the concept of switching cost. It proposes a framework of three factors of channel dependence and reviews the literature on the operationalizations of channel dependence based on the framework. This study concludes that the approaches used by channels researchers, explicitly or implicitly, more or less, capture the three factors of channel dependence. It also notices weaknesses in some approaches, including missing important aspects of a factor, possibilities of inflating or deflating channel dependence, and falling short of being a one-dimensional construct. The article finally draws conclusions and reports implications from the findings of this inquiry and literature review.     

Leaders’ Core Self-evaluation,Ethical Leadership,and Employees’ Job Performance: The Moderating Role of Employees’ Exchange Ideology

With the increasing demand for ethical standards in the current business environment, ethical leadership has received particular attention. Drawing on self-verification theory and social exchange theory, this study investigated the effect of leaders’ core self-evaluation on the display of ethical leadership and the moderating role of employees’ exchange ideology in the relationship between ethical leadership and employees’ job performance (i.e., task performance and organizational citizenship behavior). Consistent with the hypotheses, the results from a sample of 225 dyads of employees and their immediate leaders showed a positive relationship between leaders’ core self-evaluation and ethical leadership. Moreover, the results showed that ethical leadership mediates the effects of leaders’ core self-evaluation on employees’ job performance. Furthermore, we found that employees’ exchange ideology moderates the relationship between ethical leadership and job performance. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

The role of subordinate emotional masking in leader–member exchange and outcomes: A two-sample investigation

Recent developments in the leadership literature call for research that emphasizes the role of the follower as well as that of emotion in the leader–member exchange (LMX). In response to these calls, this research examines the relationship between subordinate emotional masking and LMX quality, as well as the mediating role of LMX quality in emotional masking/outcome relationships. We collect data from two samples of MBA students from the United States and China, respectively. In both samples, we find that emotional masking by subordinates is negatively related to LMX quality. The mediating role of LMX quality in the relationship between emotional masking and work-related outcomes is also supported. Suggestions for future research and practice are discussed.     

You Don’t Actually Want to Get Closer to the Star: How LMX Leads to Workplace Ostracism

High-quality leader-member exchange (LMX) is commonly seen as beneficial to employees. However, this is not always the case in the eyes of other members of the same team. Based on social comparison theory, we propose that members who have high-quality LMX relationships with team leaders might face workplace ostracism through being envied by other members of the same team. Further, we hypothesize that this indirect influence is mitigated by the high-quality LMX member’s agreeableness. Based on data from 196 employees, we found that though ostensibly LMX quality directly led to less workplace ostracism, it had a positive effect on workplace ostracism through being envied by other team members, and agreeableness buffered this indirect positive effect. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Leading with moral courage: The interplay of guilt and courage on perceived ethical leadership and group organizational citizenship behaviors

This study uses a moderated mediation model to investigate the role of leaders’ moral courage and guilt in promoting group‐level organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Based on the idea that leaders model ethical behavior among followers, we examine whether leaders’ display of morally laden emotions weaken follower perceptions of ethical leadership, thus disrupting the influence of moral courage on followers. Two independent studies examined the proposed model. Study 1 used an experimental design to examine leaders’ moral displays, testing the interactive effects of leader moral courage, and guilt on follower perceptions of ethical leadership. Study 2 used a multisource field study with 100 leaders and 336 subordinates to explore how a leader displays of courage and guilt influenced group‐level OCB, mediated by ethical leadership. Consistent with our theoretical model, we find an indirect positive relationship between a leader’s moral courage and group OCB. However, we also find that this effect is weakened by displays of guilt by the leader.     

Do Role Models Matter? An Investigation of Role Modeling as an Antecedent of Perceived Ethical Leadership

Thus far, we know much more about the significant outcomes of perceived ethical leadership than we do about its antecedents. In this study, we focus on multiple types of ethical role models as antecedents of perceived ethical leadership. According to social learning theory, role models facilitate the acquisition of moral and other types of behavior. Yet, we do not know whether having had ethical role models influences follower perceptions of one’s ethical leadership and, if so, what kinds of role models are important. We conducted a field study, surveying supervisors and their subordinates to examine the relationship between three types of ethical role models and ethical leadership: the leader’s childhood role models, career mentors, and top managers. We found that having had an ethical role model during the leader’s career was positively related to subordinate-rated ethical leadership. As expected, this effect was moderated by leader age, such that the relationship between career mentoring and ethical leadership was stronger for older leaders. Leader age also moderated the relationship between childhood models and ethical leadership ratings, such that having had childhood ethical role models was more strongly and positively related to ethical leadership for younger leaders. We found no effect for top management ethical role models. Implications for research and practice are discussed.