Influence of direct reports’ regulatory focus on their perceptions of a supervisor’s character during change in Kenya

This study investigates, in line with the adage “It is in the eye of the beholder,” how individual attributions vary regarding supervisors’ character traits, including being forgiving and considerate. This study, therefore, hypothesized that individual attribution might be influenced by the direct reports’ own psychological state, including their regulatory focus, which refers to promotion focus and prevention focus. These motivational systems explain how individuals either use approach or avoidance tactics to accomplish a goal. The study draws on organizational support theory, which emphasizes the norm of reciprocity. The study consisted of a quantitative, cross-sectional survey of employees in a Kenyan organization undergoing a planned change initiative, yielding 174 complete responses. Even after controlling for the perceived ability of the supervisor, the findings reveal that promotion-focused orientation is linked to increased attribution of supervisor support during a change initiative, whereas prevention-focused orientation is not. This study introduces an individual employee’s regulatory focus as a boundary condition that governs their attributions of supervisors’ character traits, such as being forgiving and considerate, and subsequently, the reciprocity norms. The study contributes to the literature on leaders’ character by highlighting the role of followers’ own psychological state when attributing whether their immediate supervisor is supportive during change. The study extends Organization Support Theory by contributing empirical evidence of the importance of supervisory support as a proxy for organizational support. The results have important implications for the recruitment of employees and the design of management and employee training programmes, focusing on employees’ individual differences in response to change and considering ethnic differences in developing country contexts.