The Impact of Leader Expressed Humility on Employee Social Orientation: A Moderated Dual-Path Model

Humility has long been regarded as a virtue in literature, bringing multiple benefits and thus, should be encouraged. Despite the emphasis on its benefits and necessity, there is a growing trend of a lack of humility among employees that creates a disconnect between scholarly discussion and practice. Drawing upon literature on social motives and attribution theory, I investigate the possibility that humble leaders might inadvertently prevent employees from adopting the other-oriented nature of the humble behavior they display. Specifically, I suggest that leader humility can enhance both other- and self-focused social orientations and subsequent behaviors while impression management attribution moderates the mechanisms. The results support the dual-path mediation pathways between leader humility and employee self- and other-oriented behaviors via self-concern and other-orientation, but failed to support for the moderating role of impression management attribution. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.