Regulatory Focus as a Mediator of the Influence of Initiating Structure and Servant Leadership on Employee Behavior

In this research, the authors test a model in which the regulatory focus of employees at work mediates the influence of leadership on employee behavior. In a nationally representative sample of 250 workers who responded over 2 time periods, prevention focus mediated the relationship of initiating st...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied psychology 2008-11, Vol.93 (6), p.1220-1233
Main Authors: Neubert, Mitchell J, Kacmar, K. Michele, Carlson, Dawn S, Chonko, Lawrence B, Roberts, James A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Behavior Patterns
Behavioral Science Research
Behavioural psychology
Biological and medical sciences
Creativity
Deviant behaviour
Employee attitude
Employee Attitudes
Employee Performance Appraisal
Employees
Employment - psychology
Female
Firm theory
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Helping Behavior
Human
Humans
Job satisfaction
Leadership
Leadership style
Leadership Styles
Male
Measures (Individuals)
Occupational psychology
Organization and management. Professional relation
Organization theory
Organizational Behavior
Organizational Culture
Personnel management
Prevention
Promotion
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Regulation
Servant leadership
Social Behavior
Social psychology
Studies
Surveys and Questionnaires
Work place
Workplaces
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Summary:In this research, the authors test a model in which the regulatory focus of employees at work mediates the influence of leadership on employee behavior. In a nationally representative sample of 250 workers who responded over 2 time periods, prevention focus mediated the relationship of initiating structure to in-role performance and deviant behavior, whereas promotion focus mediated the relationship of servant leadership to helping and creative behavior. The results indicate that even though initiating structure and servant leadership share some variance in explaining other variables, each leadership style incrementally predicts disparate outcomes after controlling for the other style and dispositional tendencies. A new regulatory focus scale, the Work Regulatory Focus (WRF) Scale, also was developed and initially validated for this study. Implications for the results and the WRF Scale are discussed.
ISSN:0021-9010
1939-1854
DOI:10.1037/a0012695