The double-edged sword of helping behavior in leader-follower dyads

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine potential consequences of helping behaviors on leader and follower relationship satisfaction and transformational leadership (TFL) ratings. It is argued that follower helping behaviors can violate leaders’ and followers’ expectations of each other, and especially disadvantage male leaders because of gender-role stereotypes. Design/methodology/approach – Two studies were conducted. In Study 1, data were collected from 61 dyads (25 male and 34 female supervisors, 23 male and 38 female subordinates, two participants did not disclose their gender; M age=35.56 years, SD=10.41). In Study 2, data were collected from 125 participants (66 female and 58 male subordinates, 22 female and 25 male supervisors; 79 respondents did not disclose their gender; M age=39.21 years, SD=11.25). Findings – Helping behaviors were positively associated with relationship satisfaction suggesting that leaders were amenable to receiving help from followers (Study 1). However, follower helping behaviors were negatively related to TFL ratings for male but not female leaders (Study 2). Research limitations/implications – While leaders may be amenable to increased follower involvement in leadership, future research is needed to investigate followers’ openness to, and intentions behind increasing their involvement in leadership, as well as strategies for leaders to mitigate unintended consequences. Practical implications – For the sake of their TFL ratings, leaders should minimize any direct benefit from follower helping behaviors, and emphasize how follower helping behaviors aid follower development and/or benefit the organization. Originality/value – The findings illustrate the dual-nature of follower helping behaviors: they have the potential to enhance leader relationship satisfaction, and also compromise perceptions of TFL.

Why happy employees help

“…The relatively sparse attention to this topic is somewhat surprising, in light of the widespread recognition that even if positive feelings about organizational functioning can be a source of energy that prompts positive work activities (Karriker and Williams, 2009;Quinn et al, 2012;Wei, 2012), such energy allocations also might be challenging and compromise employees' ability to fulfil their formal job tasks (Bergeron, 2007;Koopman et al, 2016). That is, the allocation of positive personal energy resources to voluntary behaviours that help co-workers with their jobs can be indirectly rewarding for employees-by generating personal fulfilment and possible reciprocation by the targets of these behaviours (Hoption, 2016;Hui et al, 2000)-but these discretionary activities also might undermine their abilities to meet prescribed job duties (Bolino et al, 2015).…”

“…This study has some shortcomings, which suggest research opportunities. First, the investigation centres on how job satisfaction spurs helping behaviour, instead of the reverse process whereby undertaking helping behaviours may be a source of satisfaction for employees: when employees believe that they can make a difference and assist their colleagues in becoming more successful, their excitement about these contributions could make them feel happier about their work situation (Hoption, 2016;Organ, 1988). Beyond the time lag of three weeks between the assessment of the predictor variable (job satisfaction) and dependent variable (helping behaviour), longitudinal research designs could explicitly investigate the long-term, causal processes that connect higher levels of job satisfaction with helping behaviours.…”

“…In particular, this theory postulates that employees are more likely to undertake positive work behaviours, such as helping co-workers, to the extent that they can leverage their current personal energy reservoirs to create additional resource gains (Hobfoll, 2001). Assisting co-workers voluntarily can be beneficial for employees, in that it might generate reciprocal behaviours at some later point in time (Deckop et al, 2003) or offer a general sense of fulfilment (Hoption, 2016). Thus, the application of positive job energy derived from job satisfaction may generate significant resource gains if employees undertake helping behaviours.…”

Explaining Helping Behavior in the Workplace: The Interactive Effect of Family-to-Work Conflict and Islamic Work Ethic

“…Helping behavior contributes to not only peer performance but also organizational effectiveness and employees' own well-being. To the extent that employees engage in such behaviors, they enhance the quantity and quality of peer performance (Podsakoff, Ahearne, & MacKenzie, 1997), improve group performance (Bachrach, Powell, Collins, & Richey, 2006), increase the organization's competitive advantage (Borman & Motowidlo, 1993), and enjoy higher levels of relationship satisfaction for themselves (Hoption, 2016). Moreover, the tendency to be a "good soldier" (Peloza & Hassay, 2006) and voluntarily reach out to other organizational members to help them complete their job tasks has an important ethical component, in that the notion of being "good" stems from employees' values and ethics (Turnispeed, 2002).…”

The Practice of Followership: From Theory to Application

“…Each of these conceptions of followership implicitly and explicitly includes behaviors, skills, and traits of the follower that are determinants of leader–follower effectiveness. For example, in a study of 61 workplace dyads, helpfulness by a follower was found to improve their leader's relationship satisfaction (Hoption, ), while in a survey of food service workers, emotional intelligence of followers was found to positively impact job performance (Sy, Tram, & O'Hara, ). Inasmuch as helpfulness or emotional intelligence can be learned, it is reasonable to posit that followership can be developed.…”