Future temporal focus in resilience research: when leader resilience provides a role model

Abstract

Purpose

Despite more and more researchers recommend that time-related issues should be considered into the resilience research, temporal issue is still largely neglected in empirical domain. The purpose of this study is to introduce the concept of future temporal focus, while investigating whether and when leader resilience contributes to subordinates' level of conveyed resilience.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey responses from a two-source field study involving 222 supervisor–subordinate dyads were collected. Regression-based moderation and bootstrapping analyses were adapted to analyze data and test hypotheses by using the PROCESS syntax in SPSS software.

Findings

Results showed that there is no significant effect of leader resilience on subordinate resilience. However, consistent with hypotheses, leader's future temporal focus and resilience had a significant interactive effect on subordinate's resilience. That is, when leaders had higher level of future temporal focus, their resilience would be positively correlated with subordinate resilience.

Practical implications

The findings of the study provide important practical insights into developing relevant training and intervention programs in organizations to cultivate employee resilience. These can also be strengthened by encouraging leaders' future-oriented cognition on work-related domains and leader–member exchange relationship.

Originality/value

Overall, this study introduced temporal focus into resilience theory by providing evidence of its impacts on employee behaviors, and emphasized the important role of future temporal focus of leader.

Citation

Lin, T.-T. and Liao, Y. (2020), "Future temporal focus in resilience research: when leader resilience provides a role model", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 41 No. 7, pp. 897-907. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-10-2019-0429