Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

6-2023

Abstract

According to the organizational support theory, leaders’ words and deeds are not only the products of their own will but also a reflection of organizations’ standpoints. We thus focus on leader apology in the case of organizational transgressions and predict that leaders’ apologetic acts are likely to influence employees’ organizationoriented attitudes and behaviors. Specifically, leader apology is hypothesized to positively influence employees’ perception of organizational support, which in turn, is positively associated with employees’ helping and risk taking behavior. Furthermore, drawing upon the organizational support theory that delineates the discretion and value perceived in the employee-organization relationship, we further propose that employees’ perceived leader competence and power distance belief serve as two contingencies that influence the relationship between leader apology and employees’ perceived organizational support. In particular, this relationship is stronger when employees perceive higher leader competence or hold stronger power distance beliefs. Two multi-wave data collected from hospitality employees support these hypotheses. The findings provide a new perspective to comprehending leader apology within the employee-organization relationship wherein leaders are considered as organizational agents. This research extends the existing literature on leader apology that largely focuses on leader apology following leaders’ transgressions and leader-oriented outcomes.

Keywords

Leader apology, Leader competence, Perceived organizational support, Power distance

Discipline

Industrial and Organizational Psychology | Organizational Behavior and Theory

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

Tourism Management

Volume

96

ISSN

0261-5177

Identifier

10.1016/j.tourman.2022.104694

Publisher

Elsevier

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