Based on the self-regulation perspective, the current research examines how authoritarian leadership behaviors influence employee service performance via work engagement.
We collected multi-source data from 820 service employees and 211 supervisors in star-rated hotels.
We found a U-shaped effect of authoritarian leadership on employee work engagement, and that work engagement transmitted the curvilinear effects of authoritarian leadership to service performance indicators (i.e. service quality and customer-oriented organizational citizenship behavior). Furthermore, employee proactive personality mitigated the U-shaped effect of authoritarian leadership on work engagement and the indirect U-shaped effects of authoritarian leadership on service performance indicators through work engagement.
This study highlights the potential detrimental effect of moderate authoritarian leadership in service contexts and enriches the understanding of the nonlinear effects of authoritarian leadership.
