How spiritual leadership contributes to followers’ helping behavior

Keywords:
spiritual leadership, leadership style, helping behavior, workplace behavior, organizational identification, positive affect, leader–follower relationship
Abstract

We integrated social information processing theory and the broaden-and-build theory of positive affect to investigate how spiritual leadership affects employees’ helping behavior, thus incorporating both cognitive and affective perspectives. Data were collected from 342 employees of companies operating in three cities in China, who completed scales measuring spiritual leadership, positive affect, and organizational identification, and the 71 immediate supervisors of these employees, who assessed their followers’ helping behavior. The results indicate that spiritual leadership had a significant positive effect on employees’ helping behavior, and that both positive affect and organizational identification mediated this relationship. Our results can be used by managers seeking to promote the effectiveness of spiritual leadership and employees’ helping behavior.

Author Biographies
  1. Lin Wang, Haikou University of Economics
    School of Business Administration
  2. Hua-Qiang Wang, Yangtze University

    Economics and Management School

  3. Yi-Ping Sun, Hubei University Of Economics
    School of Business Administration
References
Published
2020-08-12
Section
Articles
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