The Persistence or Diminishment of Employee Stewardship Behaviour: Exploring the Crucial Roles of Supervisors' Cultural Orientation, Admiration, and Status Conferral

Abstract

Scholars and practitioners have long sought to clarify ways to motivate employees to engage in stewardship behaviour, which involves personal sacrifices for the public interest. However, a critical question remains unanswered: How does a supervisor's cultural orientation, admiration, and status conferral determine the persistence or diminishment of employees' stewardship behaviour? Drawing on the moral virtue theory of status attainment, we argue that employees' stewardship behaviour either promotes or diminishes subsequent actions through increased or decreased admiration and status conferral from supervisors, depending on supervisors' cultural orientations. Study 1, a vignette-based experiment involving 222 participants, revealed that supervisors with a collectivist orientation tend to admire and grant status to employees who exhibit stewardship behaviour, whereas those with an individualist orientation tend to decrease such feedback. Study 2, a four-wave survey with 302 leader–employee dyads, replicated these findings and further explained the role of status conferral in sustaining or diminishing stewardship behaviour in the future. This research advances stewardship theory by revealing the complex dynamics that sustain stewardship behaviour and provides valuable insights for managers aiming to motivate employees to consistently engage in stewardship behaviour.