Open Access
ARTICLE
Influence of Leaders’ Loneliness on Voice-Taking: The Role of Social SelfEfficacy and Performance Pressure
1 School of Management, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China
2 School of Economics and Business Administration, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, China
3 School of Business, Western Sydney University, Penrith, 2751, Australia
* Corresponding Author: Silu Chen. Email:
International Journal of Mental Health Promotion 2019, 21(1), 13-29. https://doi.org/10.32604/IJMHP.2019.010730
Abstract
This paper attempts to unlock how and when leaders’ loneliness influences their voice-taking behavior in the workplace by integrating the regulatory loop model of loneliness and the affect theory of social exchange. Through collecting a daily diary study of 87 paired leader-follower samples from two electronics industry companies based in Guangzhou, China, this study finds that (1) leaders’ loneliness has a significant negative impact on social self-efficacy and voice-taking behavior; (2) leaders’ social self-efficacy mediates the relationship between their loneliness and voice-taking behavior; (3) performance pressure moderates the relationship between leaders’ loneliness and voice-taking behavior; and, (4) the indirect effect between leaders’ loneliness and voice-taking behavior (through social self-efficacy) becomes stronger when performance pressure is higher. Therefore, this study provides some practical implications on: (1) how to provide a series of loneliness interventions to address loneliness in all areas of life; and, (2) how to establish an internal culture or atmosphere within the organization to encourage leaders to adopt followers’ suggestions for improvement.Keywords
Cite This Article
Zhang, G., Chen, S., Fan, Y., Dong, Y. (2019). Influence of Leaders’ Loneliness on Voice-Taking: The Role of Social SelfEfficacy and Performance Pressure. International Journal of Mental Health Promotion, 21(1), 13–29.Citations
