Investigation of Leader Motive Between Transformational Leadership and Pro-Social Voice: An Empirical Study in China

摘要

Prosocial voice, as a form of citizenship behavior with a purpose of expressing constructive changes and improving the status quo, is desirable in both teams and organizations. Also, transformational leadership (TL) has been documented as a leadership style that prompts employees to engage in prosocial voice. Recently, whether or not the effects of transformational leadership on prosocial voice have boundaries becomes a topic of interest to organizational researchers. We presented two separate models for the moderating effects of perceived leader motive (altruistic vs. instrumental) on the relationship between transformational leadership and prosocial voice in the workplace. From an employee perspective, this study documents that one’s perception towards his/her leader’s motive (altruistic vs. instrumental) underpinning leadership behaviors is related to the boundaries of TL’s effect on prosocial voice. Data with 167 employees at an auto maker in China were used and the analysis results provided support for the models.