Returning to work after lockdown: A multi‐study investigation into the temporal effects of directive leadership

Abstract Leaders' use of directive leadership has been found to increase when they face an unprecedented crisis. However, extant literature has failed to answer how directive leadership functions in this specific situation. Using the return‐to‐work after COVID‐19 lockdown as an example, we drew upon regulatory focus theory and conducted three studies to investigate the temporal effects of directive leadership on followers' regulatory foci and work role performance. In Study 1, we conducted an experience sampling method (ESM) study tracking a sample of 250 employees over 1 week when the COVID‐19 was originally reported in China. In Study 2, we conducted another ESM study on 125 employees over 2 weeks when the Omicron variant was surging in China. Both studies showed that the positive effect of daily directive leadership on followers' work promotion focus was strongest on the first day upon returning to work after lockdowns but decreased over time. In contrast, the positive effect of daily directive leadership on followers' work prevention focus increased throughout our sampling periods and became strongest on the last day. Moreover, our results indicate that daily directive leadership interacts with the elapsed time to influence two forms of work role performance – task proactivity and task proficiency – through the mediating roles of promotion focus and prevention focus, respectively. In Study 3, we conducted a vignette experiment employing a within‐ and between‐subject design on a sample of 171 U.S. participants. The results further supported the moderating role of elapsed time after returning to work in the differential effects of directive leadership on followers' two regulatory foci.