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Journal of Business and Psychology

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14-09-2022 | Original Paper

Employee Status and Voice Under Authoritarian Leadership: An Attachment Perspective

Authors: Jinyun Duan, Tingxi Wang, Yue Xu, Yue Zhu

Published in: Journal of Business and Psychology | Issue 3/2023

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Abstract

Attachment style is essential in guiding individuals’ social interactions, especially in adversities. Based on social defence theory, we develop a moderated-mediation model to explore how employees’ attachment style guides employees’ reactions to threatening authoritarian leadership. Through a time-lagged design with 258 employees and their 142 direct leaders, we find that insecure attachment exhibits a positive role in alleviating authoritarian leaders’ negative indirect influence on employee voice via employees’ perceived status. However, secure attachment strengthens authoritarian leaders’ negative influence on employee status perception and voice behaviour. These findings expand the perspective of leadership drawn upon attachment theory and provide practical implications for management.

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Title: Employee Status and Voice Under Authoritarian Leadership: An Attachment Perspective
Authors: Jinyun Duan
Tingxi Wang
Yue Xu
Yue Zhu
Publication date: 14-09-2022
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Journal of Business and Psychology / Issue 3/2023
Print ISSN: 0889-3268
Electronic ISSN: 1573-353X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-022-09845-9

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