Bees Will Be Where Honey Is: The Role of Leader Humility and Leader Competence in Follower Behavior

Leader humility concerns leader behavior centering on acknowledging the limits to the leader’s knowledge, skills, and abilities. Even when leader humility concerns leaders acknowledging the limits of their competence, this does not mean that leader humility lowers follower perceptions of leader competence; there can always be limits to leaders’ knowledge, skills, and abilities they may acknowledge as well as reasons for the leader not to acknowledge these. Considering that leader humility can vary independently from perceptions of leader competence while leader humility concerns acknowledging the limits to one’s competence, it gives rise to the question of whether follower perceptions of leader competence inform follower responses to leader humility. Extending leader humility theory, we propose that with lower (as compared to higher) perceived leader competence, leader humility more strongly motivates followers to take charge, with positive downstream consequences for their job performance and innovative behavior. Results of a time-lagged study in Taiwan support the proposed moderation of perceived leader competence in the influence of leader humility on follower taking charge, as well as the moderated mediation model in which leader humility has a stronger indirect effect (mediated by follower taking charge) on job performance and innovative behavior with lower follower perceptions of leader competence.