Leader humility and employee voice: The role of employees’ regulatory focus and voice-role conception

Abstract

In recent years, a bottom-up leadership style has received considerable attention from researchers. However, few empirical studies have been conducted to explore the link between leader humility and employee voice. Drawing on role theory, in this study we examined the relationship between leader humility and employee voice. Using data from 222 employees and their leaders, our results revealed that leader humility was positively related to employee voice. Voice-role conception fully mediated this relationship. Further, we delineate how employees’ regulatory focus moderates the mediated relationship between leader humility and voice, such that when an employee has a high promotion focus or low prevention focus, leader humility will be more positively related to voice via voice-role conception. These findings will provide guidelines for managers promoting employee voice.