Linking empowering leadership and change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior : The role of thriving at work and autonomy orientation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to build a link between empowering leadership and change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) based on the theory of the socially embedded model so as to explore why empowering leadership has an impact on change-oriented OCBs and for whom this effect may be amplified or alleviated. Design/methodology/approach Using data collected from 203 employees and 80 supervisors in one information technology company, the authors examined the mediating role of thriving at work and the moderating role of autonomy between empowering leadership and change-oriented OCBs. The authors used statistical methods such as hierarchical regression, bootstrapping test, and so on to analyze the data. Findings The results indicated that empowering leadership was positively related to thriving at work, and thus in turn influenced change-oriented OCBs. In addition, employees’ autonomy orientation moderated those relationships such that when employees were had high autonomy orientations, they thrived at work to a high degree and were more likely to perform change-oriented OCBs. Research limitations/implications The authors collected the data of this study within a single organization, and that may limit the observed viability and decrease external validity. Practical implications The findings suggest that leaders’ empowering behaviors are a critical factor for simulating employees’ change-oriented OCBs. They also indicate that leaders are better off empowering individuals with high autonomy orientations. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by linking empowering leadership and change-oriented OCBs. It clarifies how and why empowering leadership can stimulate employees’ change-oriented OCBs.