Abstract
This study aims to examine the relationship between authentic leadership and employee proactive behavior. Based on self-determination theory, we argue that such a relationship is sequentially mediated by psychological empowerment and core self-evaluations. In addition, political skill plays a moderating role in the third stage. These hypotheses are validated by a sample of 65 leaders and 275 subordinates from two private enterprises in mainland China. Results show that authentic leadership (Time 1) influences employees’ proactive behavior (Time 3) through the psychological empowerment (Time 1) and core self-evaluations of employees (Time 2), and the relationship between core self-evaluations and proactive behavior is positively moderated by employees’ political skill. In addition, bootstrapping results also verify the moderating role played by employees’ political skill in the indirect relationship between authentic leadership and proactive behavior through core self-evaluations. Theoretical and managerial implications are further discussed in the light of these findings.
Highlights
Dynamic and competitive environments require employees to go beyond formal job duties and take proactive steps to contribute to their organizations (Griffin et al 2007; Parker 1998)
By integrating the logic associated with Hypotheses 2 and 6, we propose a mediated moderation framework: core self-evaluations are posited to mediate the relationships between authentic leadership and proactive behavior, and political skill moderates the core self-evaluations-proactive behavior linkage
When psychological empowerment is included in regression analysis, psychological empowerment is significantly and positively related to core self-evaluations (Model 9, β = 0.20, p < 0.01), but the significant effect of authentic leadership and core self-evaluations becomes insignificant (Model 9, β = 0.08, n.s). These results indicate that psychological empowerment fully mediates the relationship between authentic leadership and core self-evaluations
Summary
Dynamic and competitive environments require employees to go beyond formal job duties and take proactive steps to contribute to their organizations (Griffin et al 2007; Parker 1998). After the emergence of authentic leadership, researchers have investigated its impact on employees’ job outcomes, such as affective organizational commitment (Leroy et al 2012) and voice (Hsiung 2012). In view of the fact that proactive behavior might change the status quo, which is not always welcomed by supervisors (Morrison and Phelps 1999; Parker et al 2010; Parker and Collins 2010), employees might balance benefits and costs before engaging in these behaviors. Previous studies have examined the influences of authentic leadership on voice, which is a form of employee proactive behavior (Morrison and Milliken 2000). The current research aims to fill in the gap with a longitudinal design
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