Transformational leadership and employee voice behavior: a Pygmalion mechanism

Jinyun Duan, Chenwei Li, Yue Xu and Chia-Huei Wu

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

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.

Keywords: transformational leadership; leader's voice expectation; voice role perception; personal identification; voice behavior; Pygmalion mechanism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-06-01
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Published in Journal of Organizational Behavior, 1, June, 2017, 38(5), pp. 650-670. ISSN: 0894-3796

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