TY - JOUR
T1 - The Threshold Effect of Participative Leadership and the Role of Leader Information Sharing
AU - Lam, Catherine K.
AU - Huang, Xu
AU - Chan, Simon C. H.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Academy of Management Journal.
PY - 2015/6/1
Y1 - 2015/6/1
N2 - Drawing on implicit leadership theory (Brown & Lord, 2001; Eden & Leviatan, 1975), we hypothesize that the relationship between participative leadership and employee performance is curvilinear (J-shaped), suggesting that participative leadership is unrelated to employee performance when participative leadership is below a moderate level (i.e., a threshold). Above this threshold, increased participative leadership is related to higher employee performance. Building on adaptive resonance theory (Grossberg, 1999), a variant of implicit leadership theory, we further hypothesize that leaders' information-sharing behavior will moderate this curvilinear relationship. We test this model using two independent samples: office and call-center employees (Study 1) and factory workers (Study 2). Results from Study 1 reveal that this curvilinear relationship is stronger when leaders' information sharing is high and weaker when information sharing is low. Furthermore, in Study 2, we find that leadership effectiveness mediates the interactive effect of participative leadership and information sharing on objective work performance.
AB - Drawing on implicit leadership theory (Brown & Lord, 2001; Eden & Leviatan, 1975), we hypothesize that the relationship between participative leadership and employee performance is curvilinear (J-shaped), suggesting that participative leadership is unrelated to employee performance when participative leadership is below a moderate level (i.e., a threshold). Above this threshold, increased participative leadership is related to higher employee performance. Building on adaptive resonance theory (Grossberg, 1999), a variant of implicit leadership theory, we further hypothesize that leaders' information-sharing behavior will moderate this curvilinear relationship. We test this model using two independent samples: office and call-center employees (Study 1) and factory workers (Study 2). Results from Study 1 reveal that this curvilinear relationship is stronger when leaders' information sharing is high and weaker when information sharing is low. Furthermore, in Study 2, we find that leadership effectiveness mediates the interactive effect of participative leadership and information sharing on objective work performance.
KW - leadership effectiveness
KW - implicit leadership theory
KW - participative leadership
KW - performance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84939797145&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.5465/amj.2013.0427
DO - 10.5465/amj.2013.0427
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:84939797145
SN - 0001-4273
VL - 58
SP - 836
EP - 855
JO - Academy of Management Journal
JF - Academy of Management Journal
IS - 3
ER -