Purpose
The roles that one single leadership style plays on motivating employees have been studied. However, in reality, an individual may exhibit more than one type of leadership style. This study aims to reveal how zhongyong leadership can lead to employees’ thriving at work in China, with a glance at ethical leadership as a moderator. The intrinsic motivation of employees is also considered as a mediator to show the specific path that bridges employees’ perceived leadership styles and their thriving at work.
Design/methodology/approach
Using three-period data from a sample of 346 employees working in Chinese companies, this study performs regression and bootstrap analyzes in PROCESS macro to test the hypotheses. By adopting the Johnson-Neyman technique, this study further identifies the specific moderating range within which ethical leadership makes a difference.
Findings
The positive correlation between zhongyong leadership and employees’ thriving at work only withstand scrutiny when the level of ethical leadership is sufficiently high and employees’ intrinsic motivation plays a mediating role. Specifically, when the ethical leadership level is higher than 6.022 (on a seven-point scale), zhongyong leadership can significantly increase the intrinsic motivation of employees and their thriving at work will be stronger as a result. On the contrary, when ethical leadership is lower than 1.089 (on a seven-point scale), this mediated relationship will head exactly in the opposite direction.
Originality/value
This study focuses on investigating the effects of multiple positive leadership behaviors on promoting employees’ thriving at work. The resultant findings provide compelling evidence for the integration of different leadership styles in practice and consolidate the theoretical underpinnings of related research on thriving at work.
