Does Authorization Have to Be Omnipotent? The “Double-Edged Sword” Effect of Empowering Leadership on Employee’s Behavior

Abstract

There are conflicting views about the consequence of empowering leadership. To further explain the inconsistencies in existing studies, our study bases on the cognitive appraisal theory of stress and the transactional model of stress, discussing the indirect effect of employee’s stressor appraisal to empowering leadership (as challenge stressors or hindrance stressors) between empowering leadership and employee’s behaviors (citizenship and incivility), and the regulatory effect of employee’s proactive personality. It reveals the double-edged sword effect of empowering leadership. In our study, a questionnaire survey was conducted with 234 employees as samples and the collected data were statistically analyzed. The results show that empowering leadership positively affects employees’ citizenship through the challenge stressors, and positively affects employees’ incivility through the hindrance stressors. Moreover, the relationship between empowering leadership and challenge stressors will be stronger when employees’ proactive personality was high. And the relationship between empowering leadership and hindrance stressors will be stronger when employees’ proactive personality was low. Finally, implications for theory and research are provided.