The Indirect Effects of Reluctant Staying on Laissez-faire Leadershhip and Leader Delegation

Abstract

Leaders who desire to leave their current organizations are sometimes forced to stay. The leadership behaviors of these leaders are underexplored in prior research. Building on proximal withdrawal states theory and the theories of the meaning of work, this study examines how and when laissez-faire leadership and delegation emerge among leaders who are reluctant to stay in their current organizations. Using three-wave data from 100 leaders and 313 employees, we found that reluctant staying was indirectly associated with laissez-faire leadership via reduced perception of task significance and indirectly associated with delegation through increased bottom-line mentality. Moreover, we found that job clarity strengthened the indirect effects of reluctant staying on the two types of leadership behaviors. We discussed the implications of our findings for theory, practices, and future research regarding how to manage leaders who stay reluctantly in the organizations.