Leader Humility and Taking Charge: The Role of OBSE and Leader Prototypicality.

Wenwen Zhang,Wenxing Liu

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02515

Abstract

Taking charge refers to an extra role behavior that is change oriented and can bring constructive benefits to the organization. However, taking charge always involves risks and might incur potential costs for employees. Understanding how to encourage employees’ taking charge has become increasingly important for today’s organizations. Drawing on self-concept-based theory, we intend to explore when and why leader humility would inspire followers’ taking charge behavior in China. Employing a time-lagged research design with a sample of 190 supervisor-subordinate dyads, we found that the association between leader humility and taking charge is significantly and positively correlated, with organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) mediating the connection. We also found support for the moderating effect of leader prototypicality. Leader humility positively affected taking charge via followers’ OBSE, though only in cases of high leader prototypicality. Finally, we probed into the practical and theoretical implications of this research.

Highlights

Over the last decade, organizations worldwide have witnessed a tremendous change in the business environment, especially under the impact of a global economic crisis
We argue that leader humility would promote organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) in followers and their subsequent taking charge
Leader humility was significantly associated with followers taking charge (r = 0.28, p < 0.01) and OBSE (r = 0.58, p < 0.01)

Summary

Introduction

Organizations worldwide have witnessed a tremendous change in the business environment, especially under the impact of a global economic crisis. Scholars have documented that such economic change would have a significant impact on organizations and workers around the world (Burns et al, 2012; Giorgi et al, 2015; Mucci et al, 2016). They might face the reality of job insecurity, job uncertainty, and even unemployment, which would have a significant impact on the attitudes, cognitions, and behaviors of employees (Mucci et al, 2016). When deciding whether to engage in taking charge, employees will weigh anticipated

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