Abstract
This paper attempts to unlock how and when leaders' loneliness influences their voice-taking behavior in the workplace by integrating the regulatory loop model of loneliness and the affect theory of social exchange. Through collecting a daily diary study of 87 paired leader-follower samples from two electronics industry companies based in Guangzhou, China, this study finds that (1) leaders' loneliness has a significant negative impact on social self-efficacy and voice-taking behavior; (2) leaders' social self-efficacy mediates the relationship between their loneliness and voice-taking behavior; (3) performance pressure moderates the relationship between leaders' loneliness and voice-taking behavior; and, (4) the indirect effect between leaders' loneliness and voice-taking behavior (through social self-efficacy) becomes stronger when performance pressure is higher. Therefore, this study provides some practical implications on: (1) how to provide a series of loneliness interventions to address loneliness in all areas of life; and, (2) how to establish an internal culture or atmosphere within the organization to encourage leaders to adopt followers' suggestions for improvement.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 13-29 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | International Journal of Mental Health Promotion |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Open Access - Access Right Statement
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Keywords
- leadership
- loneliness
- self-efficacy