An implicit leadership theory lens on leader humility and employee outcomes : examining individual and organizational contingencies

Abstract

An emerging leadership style centered on the moral practice of humility has recently garnered the attention of organizational researchers in the hospitality field. Taken in tandem with the prevailing empirical evidence supporting the various salutary effects of leader humility on employees' job attitudes and moral behaviors, the current set of studies offers an implicit theoretical perspective on leadership that underlines the importance of identifying both individual characteristics and organizational factors that can alter employees' assessments of humble leaders. We propose that employees' assessments of humble leaders' benevolence hinge on the employees' learning goal orientations and their perceptions of informational justice in the workplace. The results of two multi-wave field studies indicate perceptions of humble leaders' benevolence are significantly more favorable among employees who have strong learning goal orientations and high perceptions of informational justice. Employees' perceptions of leader benevolence are, in turn, positively associated with the employees’ affective commitment.