Abstract
At present, scholars have mainly focused on the individual-level influencing factors of constructive deviance, and few studies have concerned the motivating mechanism of empowering leadership on constructive deviance. Based on the conservation of resources theory, this study explored the cross-level influence of empowering leadership on constructive deviance in the Chinese cultural context. With the data of 85 leaders and 383 paired employees which were collected in two waves with one-month time lag, the results demonstrated that empowering leadership motivated employees to actively implement constructive deviance, and that organization-based self-esteem played a mediating role in the relationship. The high traditionality of employees weakened not only the positive effect of organization-based self-esteem on constructive deviance, but also the mediating role of organization-based self-esteem. This study lays a theoretical basis and provides some practical guidance for leaders to take effective empowerment strategies to motivate employees to engage in constructive deviance.
Highlights
In the VUCA era, leaders can hardly cope with the fast-changing external environment by themselves due to the limitation in management capacity and energy, such that they need to alter the traditional hierarchical management mode
This study provided a better understanding of why empowering leadership could stimulate employees’ constructive deviance
organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) and traditionality, which were regarded as important intrinsic motivation resources, had been introduced into the research model based on the conservation of resources (COR) theory in this study
Summary
In the VUCA era, leaders can hardly cope with the fast-changing external environment by themselves due to the limitation in management capacity and energy, such that they need to alter the traditional hierarchical management mode. Other scholars define constructive deviance as an umbrella term, including voice, job crafting, taking charge, extra-role behaviors, prosocial behaviors, etc (Vadera et al, 2013) At this time, constructive deviance shares definitional similarities with other pro-organizational behaviors. Since constructive deviance runs counter to organizational rules and challenges the authority and status of leaders, employees without essential resources support may choose not to actively implement such a behavior, according to the conservation of resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1989). This study explores the moderating role of traditionality in the relationship between OBSE and constructive deviance and in the mediation effect of OBSE in the Chinese cultural context.
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