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When leader humility meets follower competitiveness: relationships with follower affective trust, intended and voluntary turnover

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Liborius, Patrick, Kiewitz, Christian·2022·Journal of Vocational Behavior
DOI 10.1016/j.jvb.2022.103719
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Abstract

Leader expressed humility (LEH) is an interpersonal, positive leader behavior that involves appreciating the strengths and contributions of others, recognizing one's own weaknesses, and being teachable. Investigating boundary conditions, our research juxtaposes LEH with followers' competitiveness, an indiscriminate need to compete and win at any cost. Employing social exchange theory, we theorize how follower competitiveness potentially impacts the positive effects of leader expressed humility on followers' affective trust in the leader and subsequent turnover. We examine our proposed moderated-mediation model with data from employees working in various German industries in two studies: a field study (Study 1) with four measurement points (time points 1–3 were separated by 1-month intervals and Time 4 followed 14 months after Time 2) and an experimental scenario study (Study 2). Results show (a) followers' competitiveness to weaken the effect of leaders' expressed humility on followers' affective trust in the leader as well as (b) indirect effects on followers' intended and actual, voluntary turnover. Notably, a consistent interaction pattern emerged across the two studies demonstrating that low (but not high) leader humility has divergent effects on followers as a function of followers' levels of competitiveness. From these results, we develop novel insights into the role of personality variables in social exchange processes and propose a minor extension of social exchange theory.

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  • Humble leadership is negatively related to voluntary turnover.

    “However, humble leadership is negatively related to turnover intention (Li et al., 2016; Liborius and Kiewitz, 2022), voluntary turnover (Owens et al., 2013; Liborius and Kiewitz, 2022), and negative affect (Basford et al., 2014).”

    From Humble leadership and its outcomes: A meta-analysis (2022) · cites this paper as Liborius and Kiewitz, 2022

  • Humble leadership is negatively related to turnover intention.

    “However, humble leadership is negatively related to turnover intention (Li et al., 2016; Liborius and Kiewitz, 2022), voluntary turnover (Owens et al., 2013; Liborius and Kiewitz, 2022), and negative affect (Basford et al., 2014).”

    From Humble leadership and its outcomes: A meta-analysis (2022) · cites this paper as Liborius and Kiewitz, 2022

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Liborius, P., & Kiewitz, C.
Affiliations
  • University of Liechtenstein (LI)
  • University of Dayton (US)
Corresponding author
Liborius, Patrick
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Vocational Behavior
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2022-06
Volume
135
Pages
103719
ISSN
0001-8791 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.jvb.2022.103719
OpenAlex
W4220967521
Cited by
60
References
4
Citations by year
2026: 13 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 10
FWCI
11.11
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
Journal of Vocational Behavior (publishedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Forgiveness and Related Behaviors
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
Keywords
leader humility, affective trust, turnover intention, voluntary turnover, social exchange theory, moderated mediation, leader-follower relationships, personality traits

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