Volume 73, Issue 4 pp. 2107-2128
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Why and when transformational leadership influences followers' qualitative job insecurity: A three-wave moderated mediation study

Xiaohong Xu

Corresponding Author

Xiaohong Xu

Department of Management, Carlos Alvarez College of Business, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States

Correspondence

Xiaohong (Violet) Xu, Department of Management, Carlos Alvarez College of Business, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, United States.

Email: [email protected]

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Lixin Jiang

Lixin Jiang

School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

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Sergio López Bohle

Sergio López Bohle

Departamento de Administración, Facultad de Administración y Economía, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile

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Felipe Muñoz Medina

Felipe Muñoz Medina

Departamento de Tecnologías de Gestión, Facultad Tecnológica, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile

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Meiqiao Gu

Meiqiao Gu

Department of Psychology, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, United States

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First published: 22 April 2024

Abstract

This study explored the mediation role of follower organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) and the moderation role of workplace friendship in the relationship between transformational leadership and follower qualitative job insecurity. We adopted a three-wave longitudinal design and collected survey data from 142 Chilean employees. Cross-lagged mediation panel analysis indicated that transformational leadership had a lagged effect on follower OBSE, which, in turn, had a lagged effect on follower qualitative job insecurity. Further, follower workplace friendship moderated the effect of transformational leadership on follower OBSE such that transformational leadership only promoted follower OBSE when followers had high workplace friendship but did not significantly moderate the indirect effect of transformational leadership on follower qualitative job insecurity via OBSE. Integrating the leadership literature with the job insecurity literature, our study takes the first attempt to explore how, why, and when transformational leadership may influence follower qualitative job insecurity.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The data that support the findings of this study are available upon reasonable request.