Publication Type

PhD Dissertation

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

4-2026

Abstract

In current organizational management practice, the question of how leaders can transform the universal awareness of human finitude into constructive leadership is an issue that embodies both profound humanistic concern and significant managerial implications. Based on transcendence management theory and leadership style theory, this study explores how mortality awareness affects leaders’ task orientation and relationship orientation styles, revealing its underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions. By conducting a three-wave, matched-pair questionnaire survey involving 203 enterprise managers and their subordinates, the theoretical hypotheses were tested. The findings are as follows: First, mortality awareness has a significant direct positive effect on both task-oriented and relationship-oriented leadership styles, indicating that it can serve as a psychological resource for stimulating positive and balanced leadership behaviors. Second, mortality awareness can significantly enhance leaders’ emotion regulation ability and vision clarity. More importantly, emotion regulation and vision clarity play key mediating roles in the aforementioned effects. Third, age positively moderates the impact of mortality awareness on the two mediating variables; older managers are more likely to transform mortality awareness into emotion management capability and a clear vision of the future. Finally, heterogeneity analysis indicates that the promoting effect of mortality awareness on task orientation is stronger among middle and senior managers, while its effect on relationship orientation is stronger among frontline managers, reflecting the moderating role of managerial context. This study empirically confirms the positive value of mortality awareness for leadership styles, clarifies the differentiated mediating mechanisms of emotion regulation and vision clarity, and identifies the boundary effects of age and managerial hierarchy. The conclusions not only extend research on the positive outcomes of mortality awareness in the field of organizational behavior but also provide theoretical and practical insights for organizations to guide meaningful reflection and design differentiated leadership development programs for managers at different levels.

Keywords

Transcendence Management Theory, Mortality Awareness, Leadership Style, Emotion Regulation, Vision Clarity

Degree Awarded

Doctor of Bus Admin (CKGSB)

Discipline

Leadership Studies | Organizational Behavior and Theory

Supervisor(s)

TAN, Hwee Hoon

First Page

1

Last Page

175

Publisher

Singapore Management University

City or Country

Singapore

Copyright Owner and License

Author

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