Being Trusted Requires Being Proactive: An Empirical Investigation of Proactive Followership

  • Gulnaz Shahzadi National College of Business Administration and Economics, Lahore, Pakistan
  • Albert John Lahore Business School, University of Lahore, Pakistan
  • Imran Sharif Lahore Business School, University of Lahore, Pakistan
  • Hafiza Shamaila Mehnaz University of Education, Lahore, Pakistan
Keywords: Followership theory, Proactive followership behavior, Political skill, Dyadic trust

Abstract

This study examines the role of followers’ characteristics and proactive followership behavior in leaders’ perceptions and attitudes. We tested that politically skilled followers are proactive in their followership behavior; followers’ proactive behavior, in turn, engenders their leaders’ perception of followers’ support. Further, it is proposed that proactive followership and perceived follower support con-construct dyadic trust between leader and follower. It is a quantitative study. We conducted two self-administered surveys with a sample of 229 (leader-follower dyads) from Pakistan organizations to test the proposed relationships. Overall, we find support for the followership theory. Results suggest that followers’ political skill impacts the followers’ proactive behavior, which becomes a source to improve the leaders’ perception of followers' support. Moreover, the results confirm that the followers’ proactivity combined with perceived followers’ support and con-construct dyadic trust between followers and leaders. Very few research studies investigate leadership

outcomes resulting from followers’ behavior. Understanding followers’ role in effective leadership outcomes can provide us with unique
visions on the drivers of follower behaviors concerning their leaders. Therefore, this study investigates an essential aspect of the leadership process, currently missing in recent research.

References

Ali, A., Ahmad-Ur-Rehman, M., Haq, I. U., Jam, F. A., Ghafoor, M. B., & Azeem, M. U. (2010). Perceived organizational support and psychological empowerment. European Journal of Social Sciences, 17(2), 186-192.

Al-Madadha, A., Al-Adwan, A. & Zakzouk, F. (2021).Organisational culture and Oorganisational citizenship behaviour: The dark side of organisational politics. Organizacija, 54(1) 36-48. https://doi.org/10.2478/orga-2021-0003.

Bailey, J. (2014). The effects of hospital unit nurse leaders' perceived follower support on nursing staff performance outcomes (Ph.D Dissertation). Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia.

Benson, A. J., Hardy, J., & Eys, M. (2016). Contextualizing leaders' interpretations of proactive followership. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 37(7), 949-966. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2077.

Bjugstad, K., Thach, E. C., Thompson, K. J. & Morris, A. (2006). A fresh look at followership: A model for matching followership and leadership styles. Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management, 7(3), 304-319. https://doi.org/10.21818/001c.16673.

Blair, B. A., & Bligh, M. C. (2018). Looking for leadership in all the wrong places: The impact of culture on proactive follower ship and follower dissent. Journal of Social Issues, 74(1), 129-143. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12260.

Blau, P. M. (1964). Exchange and power in social life. London, UK: Transaction Publishers.

Blom, M., & Lundgren, M. (2020). The (In) voluntary follower. Leadership, 16(2), 163-179. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715019888078.

Bremner, N. (2011). The Influence of Follower Behaviour on Leaders’ Trust in Followers (Master dissertation). University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON.

Burris, E. R. (2012). The risks and rewards of speaking up: Managerial responses to employee voice. Academy of Management Journal, 55(4), 851-875. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2010.0562.

Byrne, B. M. (2013). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming. England, UK: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410600219.

Carsten, M. K., Uhl-Bien, M. And West, B.J. (2008) Exploring the Antecedents and Consequences of Follower Behavior. Annual Meeting of the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology, San Francisco, CA.

Carsten, M. K., Uhl-Bien, M., & Huang, L. (2017). Leader perceptions and motivation as outcomes of followership role orientation and behavior. Leadership, 14(6), 731-756. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715017720306.

Carsten, M. K., Uhl-Bien, M., West, B. J., Patera, J. L. & Mcgregor, R. (2010). Exploring social constructions of followership: A qualitative study. The Leadership Quarterly, 21(3), 543-562. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2010.03.015.

Çetin,M.,Samenova,G.,Tü rkkan,F. & Karataş,C.(2021).The Role of Daily Affect in Leader-Member Exchange: A Multilevel Investigation in Public Health Administration. Organizacija, 54(2) 112-130. https://doi.org/10.2478/orga-2021-0008.

Coyle, P., Foti, R., Giles, W., Langford, L., & Holup, D. (2013). An examination of prototype congruence on Leader Member Exchange. Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology, Houston, TX.

Crossman, B., & Crossman, J. (2011). Conceptualising followership–a review of the literature. Leadership, 7(4), 481-497. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715011416891.

e Cunha, M. P., Rego, A., Clegg, S., & Neves, P. (2013). The case for transcendent followership. Leadership, 9(1), 87-106. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715012447006.

Eisenberger, R., Wang, Z., Mesdaghinia, S., Wu, H., & Wickham, R. (2013). Perceived Follower Support: Contributions to Supportive Supervision and Workgroup Outcomes. Annual conference of the Society of Industrial Organizational Psychology, Houston, TX.

Epitropaki, O., Kapoutsis, I., Ellen III, B. P., Ferris, G. R., Drivas, K., & Ntotsi, A. (2016). Navigating uneven terrain: The roles of political skill and LMX differentiation in prediction of work relationship quality and work outcomes. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 37(7), 1078-1103. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2100.

Falbe, C. M., & Yukl, G. (1992). Consequences for managers of using single influence tactics and combinations of tactics. Academy of Management Journal, 35, 638-653. https://doi.org/10.2307/256490.

Ferris, G. R., Perrewé, P. L., Anthony, W. P. , & Gilmore, D. C. (2003). Political skill at work. Organizational Influence Processes, 395-407.

Ferris, G. R., Treadway, D. C., Kolodinsky, R. W., Hochwarter, W. A., Kacmar, C. J., Douglas, C. & Frink, D. D. (2005). Development and validation of the political skill inventory. Journal of Management, 31, 126-152.

Ferris, G. R., Treadway, D. C., Perrewé, P. L., Brouer, R. L., Douglas, C., & Lux, S. (2007). Political skill in organizations. Journal of Management, 33(3), 290-320. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206307300813.

Ferris, G., Davidson, S., & Perrewe, P. (2005). Developing political skill at work. Training-New York Then Minneapolis Then New York-, 42(11), 40.

Ford, J., & Harding, N. (2018). Followers in leadership theory: Fiction, fantasy and illusion. Leadership, 14(1), 3-24. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715015621372.

Fuller, B. & Marler, L. E. (2009). Change driven by nature: A meta-analytic review of the proactive personality literature. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75, 329-345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2009.05.008.

Gilani, P., Bolat, E., Nordberg, D., & Wilkin, C. (2020). Mirror, mirror on the wall: Shifting leader–follower power dynamics in a social media context. Leadership, 16(3), 343-363. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715019889817.

Hair, J. F. (2011). Multivariate data analysis: An overview. International encyclopedia of statistical science, 904-907.

Hakimi, N., Van Knippenberg, D., & Giessner, S. (2010). Leader empowering behaviour: The leader's perspective. British Journal of Management, 21(3), 701-716. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8551.2010.00703.x.

Han, S., Harold, C. M., & Cheong, M. (2019). Examining why employee proactive personality influences empowering leadership: The roles of cognition-and affect-based trust. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 92(2), 352-383. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12252.

Hurwitz, M. and Hurwitz, S. (2009). The romance of the follower: Part 1. Industrial and Commercial Training, 41(2), 80-86. https://doi.org/10.1108/00197850910939117.

Hurwitz, M., & Hurwitz, S. (2009). The romance of the follower: Part 2. Industrial and Commercial Training, 41(4) 199-206.

Hurwitz, M., & Hurwitz, S. (2009). The romance of the follower: Part 3. Industrial and Commercial training. 41(6) 326-333.

Jam, F. A., Akhtar, S., Haq, I. U., Ahmad-U-Rehman, M., & Hijazi, S. T. (2010). Impact of leader behavior on employee job stress: evidence from Pakistan. European Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences, 21, 172-179.

Jam, F. A., Singh, S. K. G., Ng, B., & Aziz, N. (2018). The interactive effect of uncertainty avoidance cultural values and leadership styles on open service innovation: A look at malaysian healthcare sector. International Journal of Business and Administrative Studies, 4(5), 208-223

Kark, R., & Van Dijk, D. (2019). Keep your head in the clouds and your feet on the ground: A multifocal review of leadership–followership self-regulatory focus. Academy of Management Annals, 13(2), 509-546. https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2017.0134.

Khan, S. N., Abdullah, S. M., Busari, A. H., Mubushar, M., & Khan, I. U. (2020). Reversing the lens: The role of followership dimensions in shaping transformational leadership behaviour; mediating role of trust in leadership.

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 41(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-03-2019-0100.

Kim, E. S. (2014). Leadership in Context of Followership: The Cooperative Role in Addressing the Global Problem of Climate Change. EPIK Journals Online, 5, 1-17.

Kimura, T. (2015). A review of political skill: Current research trend and directions for future research. International Journal of Management Reviews, 17(3), 312-332. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12041.

Kline, R. B. (2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. New York, NY: Guilford publications.

Küpers, W., & Weibler, J. (2008). Inter-leadership: Why and how should we think of leadership and followership integrally? Leadership, 4(4), 443-475. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715008095190.

Lambrechts, F., Sips, K., Taillieu, T., & Grieten, S. (2009). Virtual organizations as temporary organizational networks: boundary blurring, dilemmas, career characteristics and leadership. Argumenta Oeconomica, 1(22), 55-82.

Lapierre, L. M. & Bremner, N. (2010). Reversing the Lens: How can followers influence their leader's behavior. Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Ottawa, ON, Canada.

Liu, Y., Ferris, G. R., Zinko, R., Perrewé, P. L., Weitz, B. & Xu, J. (2007). Dispositional antecedents and outcomes of political skill in organizations: A four-study investigation with convergence. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 71(1), 146-165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2007.04.003.

Malakyan, P. G. (2014). Followership in leadership studies: A case of leader–follower trade approach. Journal of Leadership Studies, 7(4), 6-22. https://doi.org/10.1002/jls.21306.

Mintzberg, H. (1985). The organization as political arena. Journal of Management Studies, 22(2), 133-154. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.1985.tb00069.x.

Petersitzke, M. (2009). Supervisor psychological contract management. In Supervisor Psychological Contract Management. Berlin, Germany, Springer.

Ponting, S. S. A. (2020). Organizational identity change: impacts on hotel leadership and employee well-being. The Service Industries Journal, 40(1-2), 6-26.

Qazi, A., Raj, R. G., Tahir, M., Waheed, M., Khan, S. U. R., & Abraham, A. (2014). A preliminary investigation of user perception and behavioral intention for different review types: Customers and designers perspective. The Scientific World Journal, 2014.

Schedlitzki, D., Edwards, G., & Kempster, S. (2018). The absent follower: Identity construction within organisationally assigned leader–follower relations. Leadership, 14(4), 483-503. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715017693544.

Schneider, A., Gardner, W. L., Hinojosa, A., & Marin, A. (2014). Emotional responses of leaders to passive versus active members. Leadership, 10(4), 412-436. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715013504424.

Schyns, B., Kroon, B. & Moors, G. (2008). Follower characteristics and the perception of leader-member exchange. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 23(7), 772-788. https://doi.org/10.1108/02683940810896330.

Shahzadi, G., John, A., Qadeer, F. & Mehnaz, S. (2017). Followership behavior and leaders’ trust: Do political skills matter? Pakistan Journal of Commerce and Social Sciences, 11(2), 653-670.

Shi, J., Johnson, R. E., Liu, Y. & Wang, M. (2013). Linking subordinate political skill to supervisor dependence and reward recommendations: A moderated mediation model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(2), 374-384. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031129.

Thomas, J. P., Whitman, D. S., & Viswesvaran, C. (2010). Employee proactivity in organizations: A comparative meta-analysis of emergent proactive constructs. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 83(2), 275-300. https://doi.org/10.1348/096317910X502359.

Thompson, J. A. (2005). Proactive personality and job performance: a social capital perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(5), 1011-1017. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.90.5.1011.

Treadway, D. C., Breland, J. W., Adams, G. L., Duke, A. B. & Williams, L. A. (2010). The interactive effects of political skill and future time perspective on career and community networking behavior. Social Networks, 32(2), 138-147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2009.09.004.

Treadway, D. C., Hochwarter, W. A., Kacmar, C. J. & Ferris, G. R. (2005). Political will, political skill, and political behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26(3), 229-245. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.310.

Uhl-Bien, M., & Carsten, M. (2018). Reversing the lens in leadership: Positioning followership in the leadership construct. In Leadership Now: Reflections on the Legacy of Boas Shamir. Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-357120180000009005.

Uhl-Bien, M., Riggio, R. E., Lowe, K. B. & Carsten, M. K. (2014). Followership theory: A review and research agenda. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(1), 83-104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.11.007.

Waheed, M., Klobas, J. E., & Kaur, K. (2017). The importance of actual use in defining and measuring innovative behaviour: Comparison of e-book reader users and non-users. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 49(4), 368-379.

Wanberg, C. R., & Kammeyer-Mueller, J. D. (2000). Predictors and outcomes of proactivity in the socialization process. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(3), 373-385. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.85.3.373.

Wu, H. (2013). When do supervisors support followers? Role of perceived follower support (PhD thesis). University of Houston, Houston, TX.

Yeşiltaş, M., & Tuna, M. (2018). The effect of ethical leadership on service sabotage. The Service Industries Journal, 38(15-16), 1133-1159. https://doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2018.1433164.

Ziauddin, I., Khan, M., Jam, F., & Hijazi, S. (2010). The impacts of employees’ job stress on organizational commitment. European Journal of Social Sciences, 13(4), 617-622.

Zhang, Z., Wang, M. O., & Shi, J. (2012). Leader-follower congruence in proactive personality and work outcomes: The mediating role of leader-member exchange. Academy of Management Journal, 55(1), 111-130. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2009.0865.

Zhao, Y., Liu, F., & Chen, Y. (2016). The research review and prospect of followership. Advances in Psychology, 6(5), 604-611. https://doi.org/10.12677/AP.2016.65079

Published
2022-05-25
How to Cite
Gulnaz Shahzadi, Albert John, Imran Sharif, & Hafiza Shamaila Mehnaz. (2022). Being Trusted Requires Being Proactive: An Empirical Investigation of Proactive Followership. Journal of Management Practices, Humanities and Social Sciences, 6(3), 41-51. https://doi.org/10.33152/jmphss-6.3.3
Section
Articles