Differential effects of empowering leadership on in-role and extra-role employee behaviors: Exploring the role of psychological empowerment and power values

Abstract

In this research we examined the impact of empowering leadership behaviors (ELBs), psychological empowerment, and individual-level power values on a broad range of employee behaviors. Drawing on self-determination theory (Gagné and Deci, 2005), we hypothesized that ELBs would have direct effects on in-role and affiliative extra-role behaviors, but that the impact of ELBs on challenging extra-role behaviors would be mediated by psychological empowerment. Further, we hypothesized that individual-level power values (Schwartz, 1992) would moderate the mediated effect of ELBs on challenging behaviors. Responses to questionnaires from 541 employees and their supervisors were obtained from 16 hotel properties located in 11 Middle Eastern and Asian countries. Results supported our hypotheses of direct and mediated effects of ELBs on employee behaviors, and supported moderated mediation involving psychological empowerment and power values such that psychological empowerment was more strongly related to challenging behaviors for individuals low in power values.