Transformational leadership and employee voice behavior: A Pygmalion mechanism

Duan, Jinyun; Li, Chenwei; Xu, Yue; Wu, Chia-huei

Abstract

We theorized and examined a Pygmalion perspective beyond those proposed in past studies in the relationship between transformational leadership and employee voice behavior. Specifically, we proposed that transformational leadership influences employee voice through leaders' voice expectation and employees' voice role perception (i.e., Pygmalion mechanism). We also theorized that personal identification with transformational leaders influences the extent to which employees internalize leaders' external voice expectation as their own voice role perception. In a time‐lagged field study, we found that leaders' voice expectation and employees' voice role perception (i.e., the Pygmalion process) mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and voice behavior. In addition, we found transformational leadership strengthens employees' personal identification with the leader, which in turn, as a moderator, amplifies the proposed Pygmalion process. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Citation

Duan, J., Li, C., Xu, Y., & Wu, C.-H. (2017). Transformational leadership and employee voice behavior: A Pygmalion mechanism. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38(5), 650-670. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2157

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 6, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Nov 7, 2016
• Publication Date: Jun 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jul 13, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 7, 2018
• Journal: Journal of Organizational Behavior
• Print ISSN: 0894-3796
• Electronic ISSN: 1099-1379
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 38
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 650-670
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2157
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1325877
• Related Public URLs: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/68035/7/Wu_Transformational%20leadership%20behaviour_2016_author_LSERO.pdf