IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i22p15713-d1275835.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Transformational Leaders Promote Employees’ Feedback-Seeking Behaviors: The Role of Intrinsic Motivation and Its Boundary Conditions

Author

Listed:
  • Jin Cheng

    (School of Management, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China)

  • Kunlin Li

    (School of Management, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China)

  • Ting Cao

    (School of Management, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China)

Abstract

Feedback-seeking behavior is critical to employee self-change and self-improvement, which is conducive to the sustainable development of employees’ own knowledge and abilities. Drawing on self-determination theory, this study aims to examine the underlying psychological mechanism and the boundary conditions of the relationship between transformational leadership and employees’ feedback-seeking behavior. Data were collected from a large manufacturing firm in China, encompassing 415 employees, and subsequently analyzed employing SPSS 22.0 and SPSS PROCESS Macro. The results showed that employee intrinsic motivation mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and employees’ feedback-seeking behavior. In addition, the positive association between transformational leadership and intrinsic motivation was more pronounced when organizational virtuousness was high than when it was low. On the contrary, the positive link between transformational leadership and intrinsic motivation was stronger when job complexity was low than when it was high. Organizational virtuousness and job complexity further moderated the indirect effect of transformational leadership on feedback-seeking behavior through intrinsic motivation. Our findings offer a better understanding of employee feedback-seeking behavior by considering factors that may trigger and influence employees’ psychological motivation. In this way, this study contributes to the literature on self-determination theory and feedback-seeking behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Jin Cheng & Kunlin Li & Ting Cao, 2023. "How Transformational Leaders Promote Employees’ Feedback-Seeking Behaviors: The Role of Intrinsic Motivation and Its Boundary Conditions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-25, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:22:p:15713-:d:1275835
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/22/15713/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/22/15713/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Levy, Paul E. & Albright, Michelle D. & Cawley, Brian D. & Williams, Jane R., 1995. "Situational and Individual Determinants of Feedback Seeking: A Closer Look at the Process," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 23-37, April.
    2. Fong-Yi Lai & Hui-Chuan Tang & Szu-Chi Lu & Yu-Chin Lee & Cheng-Chen Lin, 2020. "Transformational Leadership and Job Performance: The Mediating Role of Work Engagement," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(1), pages 21582440198, January.
    3. Koveshnikov, Alexei & Ehrnrooth, Mats, 2018. "The Cross-Cultural Variation of the Effects of Transformational Leadership Behaviors on Followers’ Organizational Identification: The Case of Idealized Influence and Individualized Consideration in ," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 747-779, December.
    4. Marcel Meyer, 2018. "The Evolution and Challenges of the Concept of Organizational Virtuousness in Positive Organizational Scholarship," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 245-264, November.
    5. Qian, Jing & Lin, Xiaosong & Chen, George Zhen-Xiong, 2012. "Authentic leadership and feedback-seeking behaviour: An examination of the cultural context of mediating processes in China," Journal of Management & Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(3), pages 286-299, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sherry E. Moss & Meng Song & Sean T. Hannah & Zhen Wang & John J. Sumanth, 2020. "The Duty to Improve Oneself: How Duty Orientation Mediates the Relationship Between Ethical Leadership and Followers’ Feedback-Seeking and Feedback-Avoiding Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(4), pages 615-631, September.
    2. Venkatesh, Viswanath & Maruping, Likoebe M. & Brown, Susan A., 2006. "Role of time in self-prediction of behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 100(2), pages 160-176, July.
    3. Dr. Khan Sarfaraz Ali & Professor Dr. Mezbah-Ul-Islam & Tamanna Nowrin Azam & Lt. Cdr. (Retd.) Wares-Ul-Matin, 2021. "Influence of Job Engagement on Transformational Leadership Style and Organizational Performance," iRASD Journal of Management, International Research Alliance for Sustainable Development (iRASD), vol. 3(1), pages 14-21, june.
    4. Yang Ching Hian & Ying-Leh Ling, 2019. "The Influence of Transformational Leadership towards Employee Feedback Seeking Behaviour," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 3(3), pages 14-22, March.
    5. Guangyi Xu & Jianji Zeng & Hongli Wang & Chen Qian & Xinran Gu, 2022. "How Transformational Leadership Motivates Employee Involvement: The Roles of Psychological Safety and Traditionality," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440211, February.
    6. Mohamad Azrin Ahamad & Kadir Arifin & Azlan Abas & Mahfudz Mahfudz & Muhammad Basir Cyio & Muhammad Khairil & Muhammad Nur Ali & Ilyas Lampe & Muhammad Ahsan Samad, 2022. "Systematic Literature Review on Variables Impacting Organization’s Zero Accident Vision in Occupational Safety and Health Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-28, June.
    7. Julia Aubouin-Bonnaventure & Evelyne Fouquereau & Hélène Coillot & Fadi-Joseph Lahiani & Séverine Chevalier, 2023. "A New Gain Spiral at Work: Relationships between Virtuous Organizational Practices, Psychological Capital, and Well-Being of Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-16, January.
    8. Jolly Sahni, 2021. "Employee Engagement Among Millennial Workforce: Empirical Study on Selected Antecedents and Consequences," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440211, March.
    9. Lord, Robert G. & Brown, Douglas J. & Freiberg, Steven J., 1999. "Understanding the Dynamics of Leadership: The Role of Follower Self-Concepts in the Leader/Follower Relationship," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 78(3), pages 167-203, June.
    10. Maria Clara Figueiredo Dalla Costa Ames & Mauricio C. Serafim & Felipe Flôres Martins, 2022. "Analysis of Scales and Measures of Moral Virtues: A Systematic Review," RAC - Revista de Administração Contemporânea (Journal of Contemporary Administration), ANPAD - Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Administração, vol. 26(6), pages 190379-1903.
    11. Andiola, Lindsay M., 2014. "Performance feedback in the audit environment: A review and synthesis of research on the behavioral effects," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 1-36.
    12. Nguyen Hai Thanh & Nguyen Van Quang, 2022. "Transformational, Transactional, Laissez-faire Leadership Styles and Employee Engagement: Evidence From Vietnam’s Public Sector," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, May.
    13. Irene Tsachouridi & Irene Nikandrou, 2020. "The Role of Prosocial Motives and Social Exchange in Mediating the Relationship Between Organizational Virtuousness’ Perceptions and Employee Outcomes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(3), pages 535-551, October.
    14. Niko Sudibjo & Siti Aulia & HG Retno Harsanti, 2022. "Empowering Personal Knowledge Management Among Teachers in Indonesia: A Multi-Faceted Approach using SEM," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440221, March.
    15. Eckhaus Eyal, 2021. "The Fourth Dimension of Happiness and Work Satisfaction," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 16(2), pages 118-133, June.
    16. Ali Falah Dalain, 2023. "Nurturing Employee Engagement at Workplace and Organizational Innovation in Time of Crisis With Moderating Effect of Servant Leadership," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(2), pages 21582440231, May.
    17. Namjun Cha & Junseok Hwang & Eungdo Kim, 2020. "The optimal knowledge creation strategy of organizations in groupthink situations," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 207-235, June.
    18. Magdy Sayed Ahmed Abolnasser & Ahmed Hassan Abdou & Thowayeb H. Hassan & Amany E. Salem, 2023. "Transformational Leadership, Employee Engagement, Job Satisfaction, and Psychological Well-Being among Hotel Employees after the Height of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Serial Mediation Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-27, February.
    19. Kan Jia & Tianlun Zhu & Weiwei Zhang & Samma Faiz Rasool & Ali Asghar & Tachia Chin, 2022. "The Linkage between Ethical Leadership, Well-Being, Work Engagement, and Innovative Work Behavior: The Empirical Evidence from the Higher Education Sector of China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-15, April.
    20. Wei Zhang & Xuejun Wang & Dingnan Xie, 2021. "Evaluating the Impact of Positive Implicit Followership towards Employees’ Feedback-Seeking: Based on the Social Information Processing Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-16, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:22:p:15713-:d:1275835. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.