Balancing Hardness With Softness:Research On The Antecedents And Consequences Mechanisms Of Paradoxical Leadership Behavior

"Paradoxes" exists in many ways of organizational development,such as organizational interests vs.employee interests,centralization vs.empowerment,efficiency vs.flexibility,stability vs.innovation and so on.In recent years,in order to solve the paradoxes in the process of employee management——structural demands of organizational development and individual demands of employee development,scholars proposed the concept of paradoxical leadership behavior(PLB)from the perspective of Chinese philosophy of "Yin-Yang ".PLB advocates the management mindset of "both-and" and emphasizes that the organization should accommodate different interest needs in the practice of employee management and meet the paradoxical needs of the organization and employees at the same time,rather than either one or the other.Existing studies provide a good basis for scholars to discuss PLB,but there are three limitations.First,existing studies have not paid enough attention to the antecedents of PLB,Second,existing studies have not fully explored the effect of PLB on leaders themselves.Third,the existing studies have not explored the effect of PLB on employees from the perspective of paradox.These limitations are not conducive to the theoretical development and practical application of PLB.Therefore,this study conducted three studies to further promote and develop the research situation of PLB.Drawing on paradox theory,Study 1 explores the antecedents of PLB through two models and two studies——Study 1A and Study 1B.In study 1A and 1B,91 and 104 two-wave leader data were obtained respectively,and hierarchical regression and BOOTSTRAPPING methods were used to analyze the data.The results of model 1 shown that organizational social management context is positively related to PLB.Organizational performance management context is positively related to PLB.Furthermore,social management context and performance management context have an interactive effect on PLB.Specifically,on the one hand,when social management context is high,the positive effect of performance management context on PLB is stronger;on the other hand,when performance management context is high,the positive effect of social management context on PLB is stronger.The results of model 2 show that the modernity of leader positively related to PLB,the traditionality of leaders negatively related to PLB.Furthermore,traditionality and modernity have an interactive effect on PLB.Specifically,on the one hand,when traditionality is high,the positive effect of modernity on PLB is stronger;on the other hand,when modernity is low,the negative effect of traditionality on PLB is stronger.Drawing on conservation resources of theory,Study 2 explores the effects of PLB on leaders themselves.The multi-source and two-wave leader-follower dyads of 78 leaders and 339 followers were obtained.Hierarchical regression and BOOTSTRAPPING methods were used to analyze the data.The results shown that follower conscientiousness moderates the effect of PLB on leader emotional exhaustion,such that PLB is positively related to leader emotional exhaustion when follower conscientiousness is low.Emotional exhaustion is positively related to leader work-family conflict and negatively related to leader work-family facilitation.Follower conscientiousness moderates the effect of PLB on leader work-family conflict and work-family facilitation through emotional exhaustion,such that PLB is positively related to leader work-family conflict through emotional exhaustion when follower conscientiousness is low,and PLB is negatively related to leader work-family facilitation through emotional exhaustion when follower conscientiousness is low.Drawing on social learning theory and from the perspective of paradox,Study 3 explores the effect of PLB on employee paradoxical behavior through three studies——Study 3A,Study 3B,and Study 3C.Study 3A,3B and 3C obtained 241,221 and 249 two-wave employee data respectively.Hierarchical regression and BOOTSTRAPPING methods were used to analyze the data.The results of Study 3A shown that PLB positively related to employee creative deviance.Employee paradox mindset plays a mediating role in the relationship between PLB and employee creative deviance.Leader-member exchange moderates the effect of PLB on employee paradox mindset,such that the effect of PLB on employee paradox mindset is stronger when leader-member exchange is high.Leader-member exchange moderates the indirect effect of PLB on employee creative deviance through paradox mindset,such that the indirect effect of PLB on employee creative through paradox mindset is stronger when leader-member exchange is high.The results of study 3B were consistent with study 3A.Study 3C further confirms that PLB positively related to employee paradox mindset.The theoretical contributions of this study are manifested in three aspects.First,this study explores the antecedents of PLB,which makes up for the limitation of existing studies on the antecedents of PLB and provides a new research direction for scholars to explore PLB in the future.Second,this study explores the effect of PLB on leader work-family conflict and work-family facilitation,and further broadens the perspective of research on the effects of PLB.Third,this study explores the effect of PLB on employee creative deviance from the perspective of paradox,and finds the novel outcome of PLB on employee.The management implications of this study are manifested in three aspects.First,organization should be aware that the specific organizational management context and personality traits have important effects on PLB.Therefore,organizations can predict and manage the PLB by intervening in the management context and screening individual personality traits.Second,this study suggests that organizations should pay attention to the effect of PLB on leaders themselves and take appropriate intervention measures to improve the positive effects of PLB on leaders themselves.Third,this study suggests that organizations should notice the effects of PLB on employee’s paradoxical behaviors,and then take intervention measures to improve the positive effects of PLB on employees.