To Empower or Not? How Empowering Leadership Induces the Resource-Gain and Resource-Loss Pathways

Abstract

While prior research has commonly emphasized the positive effects of empowering leadership, an increasing number of studies have called for attention to its “dark side”. The mixed findings reveal that empowering leadership may cause “double-edged sword” effects. However, little is known about how and when empowering leadership may have these effects. Drawing on conservation of resource theory (COR), we investigate the internal mechanisms and boundary conditions of the “double-edged sword” effects of empowering leadership. Based on data collected from 170 Chinese employees across a 3-wave study, we test our hypotheses and demonstrate two divergent pathways of empowering leadership. For the “resource-gain” pathway, empowering leadership positively influences followers’ self-efficacy and further promotes their explorative learning. For the “resource-loss” pathway, empowering leadership positively influences followers’ emotional exhaustion, and further diminishes their explorative learning and amplifies cyberloafing. Furthermore, followers’ power distance orientation attenuates the positive relationships between empowering leadership and followers’ self-efficacy but exacerbates the positive relationship between empowering leadership and emotional exhaustion. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.