Consequences of regulatory fit for leader–follower relationship quality and commitment

Abstract

A central tenet of regulatory focus theory is that people hold more positive appraisals and exhibit greater dedication when their regulatory focus is congruent with the orientation of the immediate context, a phenomenon known as regulatory fit. Unfortunately, scant attention has been paid to regulatory fit in interpersonal contexts and the consequences of relationship partners having congruent promotion and prevention foci. Integrating regulatory fit theory with theories of relational leadership, we predicted that regulatory fit would enhance relationship quality and commitment within leader–follower dyads. These predictions were examined across three samples, using data collected from multiple sources and at multiple times. Our results indicated that promotion fit, prevention fit and the interaction between them predicted relationship quality and commitment to the leader, which in turn predicted leader‐targeted citizenship behaviour and withdrawal cognition. These relationships remained after controlling for demographic fit and followers’ and leader's individual regulatory foci. Practitioner points Leader–follower regulatory fit predicts high‐quality relationship with one's supervisor. Leader–follower promotion fit predicts affective commitment to supervisor. Leader–follower prevention fit predicts normative commitment to supervisor. Promotion fit and prevention fit interact to have synergistic effects on outcomes.

Motivated or Demotivated to Be Creative: The Role of Self‐Regulatory Focus in Transformational and Transactional Leadership Processes

“…Specifically, employees felt valued at work under transformational leadership when their chronic promotion focus was high; and under transactional leadership when their chronic prevention focus was high. This perception of being valued is consistent with the feeling of “rightness” that is likely to emerge when people experience regulatory fit (Higgins, ; Johnson, Lin, Kark, Van Dijk, King, & Esformes, ). In an attempt to learn whether the feeling of “rightness”, arising as a result of regulatory fit, is important also for employee creativity, we examined the interaction between leadership and regulatory focus in both studies 1 and 2.…”

The Dual Fit Perspective: Examining the Simultaneous Effects of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Regulatory Fit on Motivation

“…Regulatory fit leads to "feeling right and increases the value of what the person is doing" (Cesario et al, 2004, p. 389). Thus, regulatory fit has an "energizing" effect that intensifies motivation during goal pursuit (Cesario et al, 2004;Johnson et al, 2017).…”

“…Perceived interpersonal regulatory fit affects one's response to feedback from interaction partners such as managers and co-workers. Interpersonal regulatory fit is associated with several outcomes including followers feeling valued by their leader (Hamstra et al, 2014), higher quality leader-member exchange (Johnson et al, 2017), OCBs (Shin, Kim, Choi, Kim, & Oh, 2017), and increased motivation and task enjoyment (Righetti et al, 2011).…”

“…Even though an employee might experience BP-Fit, the benefits of fit will not be maximized unless the employee also experiences WP-Fit. That is, BP-Fit (Misfit) can augment (mitigate) the effects of WP-Fit (Misfit) depending on the combination (Johnson et al, 2017). Therefore, BP regulatory fit acts as a moderator on the relation between WP regulatory fit and motivation.…”

“…Unlike intrapersonal regulatory fit, interpersonal regulatory fit effects manifest in social interactions such as holding more favorable interpersonal evaluations (Righetti et al, 2011), increased persuasiveness (Cesario & Higgins, 2008) and increased forgiveness (Santelli, Struthers, & Eaton, 2009). Establishing interpersonal regulatory fit can be useful for managers/supervisors wishing to increase employee motivation (Johnson, Lin, Kark, Van Dijk, King, & Esformes, 2017).…”