Impacts of leader anger expressions on newcomer proactive career behavior and work alienation in the construction industry

Purpose Despite the growing body of empirical research on leader anger expressions, the issue of how and when leader anger expressions shape newcomers’ proactive career behavior and work alienation in the construction industry has been largely overlooked. Building upon social information processing theory, this research identifies newcomers’ organization-based self-esteem as a mediator, and suggests that newcomers’ performance goal orientation could moderate the relationship. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire study was conducted on the construction industry in China, and the PROCESS program developed by Hayes was used to test the hypothetical model with 215 valid cases. Findings The results suggest that leader anger expressions are negatively associated with newcomers’ organization-based self-esteem, and organization-based self-esteem mediated the link between leader anger expressions and newcomers’ proactive career behavior and work alienation. Furthermore, the newcomers’ performance goal orientation moderates the negative impact of leader anger expressions on newcomers’ organization-based self-esteem. Research limitations/implications Due to the cross-sectional nature of this study, causal implications are difficult to draw. Moreover, all data we received was based on participant self-reports, which may raise concerns about common method variance. Originality/value In this paper, we contribute to a deeper understanding of the mediating mechanisms and boundary conditions by which leader anger expressions influence newcomers’ proactive career behavior and work alienation from social information processing perspective, in addition to providing valuable insights for management of newcomers in the construction industry.