How leader secure-base support facilitates hotel employees’ promotive and prohibitive voices

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to extend the prior literature on voice behavior by integrating leader secure-base support, psychological capital (PsyCap) and regulatory foci with promotive and prohibitive voices. The current research draws on the notions of the proactive motivation model and regulatory focus to provide insights into why and when the influences of PsyCap on a certain type of voice are determined by its relevant regulatory focus.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a sample of 278 supervisor–subordinate dyads from Taiwan hotels. Hypothesis tests were conducted using AMOS 21.0 and the SPSS application PROCESS (Hayes, 2013).FindingsThe current study determined that PsyCap mediated the positive relationships between leader secure-base support and two types of voices. Promotion focus moderated the relationships between PsyCap and promotive voice and the indirect effect of leader secure-base support on promotive voice. This indirect relationship is more pronounced when promotion focus is low than when it is high.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has a few implications for future research. First, the use of PsyCap to explain the voice behavior of employees may extend the application of the proactive motivation model. Second, leader secure-base support should be viewed as a promising leadership behavior owing to its value as a PsyCap predictor. Third, results show that PsyCap can mediate the relationship between such support and two types of voices. Finally, incorporating the concept of ecological congruence provides improved insights into the role of regulatory foci.Originality/valueFirst, this study extends the notions of the proactive motivation model by elucidating the effects of PsyCap on promotive and prohibitive voices. Second, our findings indicate that leader secure-base support can enhance PsyCap, which in turn facilitate voice behaviors in hotel work settings. Finally, his study contributes to theory of regulatory focus by integrating the notion of Hobfoll’s (1998) ecological congruence to explain how each of the promotion and prevention focus can determine the path from PsyCap to different types of voices.