Leader humility and employee organizational deviance: the role of sense of power and organizational identification

Purpose The authors examined the relationship between leader humility and employee organizational deviance. They also tested the mediating effects of personal sense of power and the moderating effects of organizational identification on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach The authors tested their hypotheses using a sample of 186 employees from an information technology (IT) enterprise in China. They used hierarchical regression and bootstrapping analyses to test for direct and indirect relationships. Findings Sense of power mediated the effect of leader humility on organizational deviance and organizational identification moderated the effect of sense of power on organizational deviance. In addition, organizational identification mediated the indirect effect of leader humility on organizational deviance via sense of power. Thus, employees who demonstrate high organizational identification may not conduct organizational deviant behavior, even if they have a high sense of power. Practical implications Organizations should explore and practice effective leader humility. Selection and training programs should be developed to choose humble leaders and teach them how to exhibit moderate humility. Originality/value The authors contribute to the literature by revealing the negative effects of leader humility in Chinese culture. They find support for their hypotheses that employee sense of power mediates the relationship between leader humility and employee organizational deviance and that this relationship is weaker when employee organizational identification is higher. This clarifies how and why leader humility stimulates employee organizational deviance.