How and When Does Leader Humility Enhance Employee Proactive Career Behavior

This study examines the relationship between leaders’ humility and their career success. We propose that humble leaders are more likely to occupy central positions in their subordinate teams’ voice networks where they improve their own performance and gain favorable reward recommendations. We also argue that in seemingly disadvantageous competitive work contexts, humble leaders become more central in the team voice network and increase their career prospects. We found support for these hypotheses in a multisource field study of 116 supervisors, 461 subordinates, and 34 shop managers from a Chinese company and in a vignette-based experiment with 233 working adults. Theoretical and practical implications for career success, leader humility, and voice literature are discussed.

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How stakeholders’ CSR attribution is formed: The role of leader humility

Academy of Management Proceedings ◽

10.5465/ambpp.2021.15805abstract ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 (1) ◽

pp. 15805

Author(s):

NAIDAN ZHANG ◽

Alim J. Beveridge

Keyword(s):

Leader Humility

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Leader humility and employee organizational deviance: the role of sense of power and organizational identification

Leadership & Organization Development Journal ◽

10.1108/lodj-07-2019-0287 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 41 (3) ◽

pp. 463-479

Author(s):

Guo Qiuyun ◽

Wenxing Liu ◽

Kong Zhou ◽

Jianghua Mao

Keyword(s):

Organizational Identification ◽

Chinese Culture ◽

Deviant Behavior ◽

Hierarchical Regression ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Organizational Deviance ◽

Content Type ◽

The Relationship ◽

Sense Of Power ◽

Leader Humility

PurposeThe authors examined the relationship between leader humility and employee organizational deviance. They also tested the mediating effects of personal sense of power and the moderating effects of organizational identification on this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe authors tested their hypotheses using a sample of 186 employees from an information technology (IT) enterprise in China. They used hierarchical regression and bootstrapping analyses to test for direct and indirect relationships.FindingsSense of power mediated the effect of leader humility on organizational deviance and organizational identification moderated the effect of sense of power on organizational deviance. In addition, organizational identification mediated the indirect effect of leader humility on organizational deviance via sense of power. Thus, employees who demonstrate high organizational identification may not conduct organizational deviant behavior, even if they have a high sense of power.Practical implicationsOrganizations should explore and practice effective leader humility. Selection and training programs should be developed to choose humble leaders and teach them how to exhibit moderate humility.Originality/valueThe authors contribute to the literature by revealing the negative effects of leader humility in Chinese culture. They find support for their hypotheses that employee sense of power mediates the relationship between leader humility and employee organizational deviance and that this relationship is weaker when employee organizational identification is higher. This clarifies how and why leader humility stimulates employee organizational deviance.

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

Social Behavior and Personality An International Journal ◽

10.2224/sbp.7811 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 47 (6) ◽

pp. 1-12 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

XuHui Li ◽

Mingze Li ◽

Jingtao Fu ◽

Asad Ullah

Keyword(s):

Leadership Style ◽

Regulatory Focus ◽

Role Theory ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Employee Voice ◽

Role Conception ◽

Using Data ◽

The Relationship ◽

Leader Humility

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.

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The Behaviors, Benefits, and Barriers of Humanitarian Aid Leader Humility

Journal of Psychology and Theology ◽

10.1177/0091647119847539 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 47 (3) ◽

pp. 143-159 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Laura R. Shannonhouse ◽

Mary Chase Breedlove Mize ◽

M. Elizabeth Lewis Hall ◽

Jamie D. Aten ◽

David C. Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Research ◽

Humanitarian Aid ◽

Consensual Qualitative Research ◽

Aid Workers ◽

Faith Based ◽

And Behaviors ◽

Leader Humility ◽

Humble Leadership

This study explores how humility is contextualized in the culture of faith-based humanitarian aid leadership. Consensual Qualitative Research was used to synthesize the personal and observational experiences of 13 humanitarian aid leader exemplars. Characteristics and behaviors of humble leaders are discussed, along with the benefits of humble leadership on aid workers, local partners, and recipients of humanitarian aid services. A theistic dimension of humility is noted along with an outcome pathway for humble practice which considers barriers native to the humanitarian aid context.

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