How Does Empowering Leadership "Land"? — A Study on the Mediating Mechanism of Organizational Justice Perception Between Empowering Leadership and Team Performance
Journal: Modern Economics & Management Forum DOI: 10.32629/memf.v6i5.4523
Abstract
In the management context characterized by both digitalization and agility, empowering leadership is held in high regard but often becomes mere rhetoric due to "delegating power without truly relinquishing it." Based on social exchange and equity theories, this paper constructs and tests a cross-level mediation model of "Empowering Leadership → Organizational Justice Perception → Team Performance." Through multi-time-point data collection and objective performance data gathering from 96 knowledge-based teams in 42 enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta region, the study finds: (1) Empowering leadership has a significant positive effect on team performance (β = 0.42, p < 0.01); (2) Organizational justice perception (specifically the dimensions of procedural justice and informational justice) partially mediates this relationship, with the indirect effect accounting for 51% of the total effect; (3) When team size exceeds 8 members, the mediation effect is weakened, suggesting the existence of an "empowerment boundary." The results provide an actionable fairness leverage point for the "implementation" of empowering leadership and expand the "black box" perspective in leadership effectiveness research.
Keywords
empowering leadership; organizational justice perception; team performance; mediating mechanism; cross-level study
Full Text
PDF - Viewed/Downloaded: 1 TimesReferences
[1] Ahearne M, Mathieu J, Rapp A. To empower or not to empower your sales force? An empirical examination of the influence of leadership empowerment behavior on customer satisfaction and performance[J]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2005, 90(5): 945-955.
[2] Liu Ya, Long Lirong, and Li Ye. The Impact of Organizational Fairness Perception [J]. Management World, 2003(3):126-132.
[3] Colquitt J A. On the dimensionality of organizational justice: a construct validation of a measure[J]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2001, 86(3): 386-400.
[4] Peng Siqing and Han Jian. When Authoritative Leadership Works—— A Meta-analysis based on the China context [J]. Nankai Management Review, 2022,25(2):4-15.
[5] Mathieu J E, Gilson L L, Ruddy T M. Empowerment and team effectiveness: an empirical test of an integrated model[J]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2006, 91(1): 97-108.
[6] Wang Zhongming and Wang Yongli. Team Size and Team Effectiveness: A Moderated Mediating Model [J]. Nankai Management Review, 2017,20(1):4-13.
[7] Li Chaoping, Yu Xiao, Shi Kan. The Impact of Organizational Fairness Perception on Employee Performance: The Mediating Role of Psychological Security [J]. Journal of Psychology, 2014,46(6):868-880.
[8] Cropanzano R, Mitchell M S. Social exchange theory: an interdisciplinary review[J]. Journal of Management, 2005, 31(6): 874-900
[2] Liu Ya, Long Lirong, and Li Ye. The Impact of Organizational Fairness Perception [J]. Management World, 2003(3):126-132.
[3] Colquitt J A. On the dimensionality of organizational justice: a construct validation of a measure[J]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2001, 86(3): 386-400.
[4] Peng Siqing and Han Jian. When Authoritative Leadership Works—— A Meta-analysis based on the China context [J]. Nankai Management Review, 2022,25(2):4-15.
[5] Mathieu J E, Gilson L L, Ruddy T M. Empowerment and team effectiveness: an empirical test of an integrated model[J]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2006, 91(1): 97-108.
[6] Wang Zhongming and Wang Yongli. Team Size and Team Effectiveness: A Moderated Mediating Model [J]. Nankai Management Review, 2017,20(1):4-13.
[7] Li Chaoping, Yu Xiao, Shi Kan. The Impact of Organizational Fairness Perception on Employee Performance: The Mediating Role of Psychological Security [J]. Journal of Psychology, 2014,46(6):868-880.
[8] Cropanzano R, Mitchell M S. Social exchange theory: an interdisciplinary review[J]. Journal of Management, 2005, 31(6): 874-900
Copyright © 2025 Yixin Pan
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License