Under the mask: The double-edged sword effect of leader self-sacrifice on employee work outcomes

Abstract

Building on attribution theory, this study applied regression analysis and explored the double-edged sword effect of leader self-sacrifice behavior on employee work outcomes, thus revealing the potential negative impacts of such behavior. Specifically, when leadership self-sacrifice was met with low employee authenticity attribution, we found that employees tended to perceive leadership as hypocritical, thus reducing their organizational citizenship behavior. By contrast, when leaders’ self-sacrifice behavior was met with high employee authenticity attribution, employees tended to trust the leader and improve their task performance. Given these findings, we challenge the general scholarly consensus on leadership self-sacrifice behavior, enrich the current literature on leadership self-sacrifice, and emphasize the important role of employee attribution in the relevant leadership process.

Reducing Employees’ Time Theft through Leader’s Developmental Feedback: The Serial Multiple Mediating Effects of Perceived Insider Status and Work Passion

“…For example, scholars have argued that when employees attribute leadership humility to impression management tactics, i.e., leaders' attempts to be seen favorably or positively, they will perceive leaders as hypocritical and may even perform more time theft [49]. Additionally, when leaders' self-sacrifice is attributed to low authenticity, employees may view leaders as hypocritical and lose trust in them [50]. Thus, our study further explores the boundary effect of perceptions of leader hypocrisy.…”

“…However, leadership styles are highly conceptualized and relatively stable, resulting in difficulty in real interventions. For example, both authoritarian leadership and laissez-faire leadership can exacerbate employees' time theft [49,50], placing leaders in a dilemma that they should avoid being either too strict or too lenient. Additionally, leadership styles are often associated with various deviant behaviors, e.g., authoritarian leadership has a positive correlation with broader employee deviant behavior [49], meaning that it is often difficult to merely employ leadership style to identify the corresponding and effective time theft preventive methods.…”

“…The majority of previous studies on supervisor developmental feedback have mainly focused on employees' traits, e.g., emotional intelligence [61], whereas few have considered leaders' traits. In addition, scholars in leadership studies have focused more on the ambivalent effect of leadership styles in recent years, e.g., the attribution of leadership humility to impression management tactics, where leaders' attempts to be seen favorably or positively [49], and the attribution of authenticity to self-sacrificing leadership [50]. Thus, our paper examined the moderating effect of perceptions of leader hypocrisy based on the potential inconsistency in the behaviors and statements of supervisor developmental feedback.…”