Empowering leadership for contextual performance: serial mediation of organizational support and commitment
International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management
ISSN: 1741-0401
Article publication date: 16 May 2023
Issue publication date: 4 April 2024
Abstract
Purpose
This study analyzes, from the perspective of social exchange theory, the influence of empowering leadership on contextual performance mediated by perceived organizational support (POS) and affective organizational commitment (AOC).
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was carried out with 182 employees of the Best Companies to Work in Brazil. Data analysis was performed by structural equation modeling (SEM) and by fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).
Findings
Results demonstrate that empowering leadership directly influences higher contextual performance and indirectly through the mediation of AOC, but not through POS. Serial mediation confirms that the model's variables self-promote each other to ultimately foster higher performance. Furthermore, all solutions to obtain high contextual performance include empowering leadership in the dimension of trust in the high performance of employees.
Research limitations/implications
The statistical support for the serial mediation indicates that empowering leadership promotes POS, which influences AOC that finally promotes the employee's contextual performance. However, this study's model does not include employees' task performance; our results add to the contextual performance literature.
Practical implications
The study highlights the role of the empowering leadership style in the organizational context, an aspect that deserves attention from the managers and organizations due to its effect on employee performance.
Originality/value
The study adds a new framework to the literature, which can be used by organizations to promote contextual performance. The variables, which include contextual and individual factors, foster the employee's contextual performance in a joint and self-promoting way. Contextual performance exceeds the manager's technical attributions; it covers psychological and discretionary behaviors.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors grateful to the two anonymous reviewers and the editor for the constructive comments and guidance. The authors also appreciate the helpful comments received from participants at the 6th UnB International Congress of Accounting and Governance. This work was supported by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES), Brazil, under the Finance Code 001; the Foundation for Research and Innovation Support of the State of Santa Catarina (FAPESC), Brazil and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq), Brazil.
Citation
Pazetto, C.F., Luiz, T.T. and Beuren, I.M. (2024), "Empowering leadership for contextual performance: serial mediation of organizational support and commitment", International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 73 No. 4, pp. 1005-1026. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-04-2022-0195
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited