The Effect of Empowering Leadership on Followers’ Withdrawal Behaviors: Focusing on the Role of Organization-Based Self-Esteem as a Mediator and Role Clarity as a Moderator

Based on conservation of resources theory, the present study examines how empowering leadership affects followers’ three withdrawal behaviors, focusing on (1) the underlying mechanism of organization-based self-esteem and (2) the boundary condition of role clarity. Data were obtained from 242 full-time Korean employees across three surveys with a two-month interval to examine empowering leadership to predict followers’ lateness, absenteeism, and turnover intention. Results from moderated mediation analyses with PROCESS indicated that organization-based self-esteem mediated the negative relationships of empowering leadership with lateness, absenteeism, and turnover intention. In addition, the indirect effect of empowering leadership on the three withdrawal behaviors via organization-based self-esteem was stronger for those who have more clear roles. No significant direct effect was found between empowering leadership and three withdrawal behaviors. Overall, findings emphasize the roles of empowering leadership, organization-based self-esteem, and role clarity as job resources in reducing employees’ withdrawal behaviors.