From empowering leadership to proactive work behavior in hospitality: a study of multiple cross-level mediation processes

Abstract

Purpose

On the basis of the hierarchical organizational structure, this study investigated how empowering leadership influences hotel employees' proactive work behavior through multiple cross-level mediation processes. This study also investigated whether psychological empowerment, positive psychological capital, job characteristics and job embeddedness can activate the linkage of the aforementioned trickle-down effects.

Design/methodology/approach

This study draws data from 826 international tourist hotel employees at different times with hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analyses.

Findings

Multiple cross-level mediation analyses indicate that (1) psychological empowerment mediates the cross-level influences of empowering leadership on job characteristics and positive psychological capital; (2) positive psychological capital mediates the cross-level influences of empowering leadership on job embeddedness and proactive work behavior; and (3) job embeddedness mediates the cross-level influences of psychological empowerment and job characteristics on proactive work behavior.

Practical implications

In the post-pandemic era, the valuable trickle-down effects of empowering leadership could spill over into employees' positive beliefs of psychological empowerment, which ultimately benefit working responsibility and organizational operations.

Originality/value

The results support and suggest that maximizing the benefits of empowering leadership could eventually foster proactivity and performance in the workplace under hospitality and tourism settings.

Citation

Wang, C.-J. (2024), "From empowering leadership to proactive work behavior in hospitality: a study of multiple cross-level mediation processes", Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 371-393. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTI-11-2022-0547