Integrating the bright and dark sides of temporal leadership on employees’ thriving at work

Abstract

PurposeDrawing on conservation of resources theory, this study aims to examine the relationship between temporal leadership (TL) and employees’ thriving at work (TW) by focusing on the positive mediating role of perception of work-goal progress (PWP), the negative mediating roles of job-based psychological ownership (JPO) and the moderating role of synchrony preference (SP).Design/methodology/approachWe employed a dedicated data collection platform called Credamo for two waves of online questionnaires in China between March 2022 and April 2022. A total of 326 questionnaires were collected and analyzed to test the hypotheses.Findings(1) TL directly and positively affects TW. (2) TL indirectly and positively affects TW via PWP. (3) TL indirectly and negatively affects TW via JPO. (4) SP positively moderates the positive mediating effect of PWP on the relationship between TL and TW. (5) SP negatively moderates the negative mediating effect of JPO on the relationship between TL and TW.Practical implicationsSupervisors in organizations ought to discreetly practice TL and try to maximize the positive role of PWP and minimize the negative role of JPO.Originality/valueThe findings simultaneously discuss the effects of TL on TW from dark and bright perspectives. The influence of interaction between contextual and individual features on TW is also specified.