Can prototype followers create leaders’ positive perceptions of them? A study on follower group prototypicality and empowering leader behavior

While studies of group prototypicality have predominantly focused on how leaders influence the attitudes and behaviors of their followers, this research shifts the focus to examine how leaders’ perceptions of follower group prototypicality elicit leaders’ responses. Specifically, drawing upon the social identity theory of followership, this study investigates how and when leaders’ perceptions of follower group prototypicality relate to empowering leader behavior towards focal followers. Through a multi-wave, multi-source field study (Study 1) and a scenario experiment (Study 2), our findings indicate that there is an increase in leaders’ trust when leaders perceive the followers as prototypical of the group, which, in turn, enhances empowering leader behavior towards the focal followers. Furthermore, we find that both the direct effect of leaders’ perceptions of follower group prototypicality on leader trust and the indirect effect of leaders’ perceptions of follower group prototypicality on empowering leader behavior through trust are moderated by the leaders’ level of team identification. These findings contribute to our understanding of how follower group prototypicality influences leaders’ responses, and how social identity theory of followership operates in organizational contexts.