Transformational Leadership, Ethical Leadership, and Participative Leadership in Predicting Counterproductive Work Behaviors: Evidence From Financial Technology Firms

Stanley Y B Huang; Ming-Way Li; Tai-Wei Chang

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.658727

Transformational Leadership, Ethical Leadership, and Participative Leadership in Predicting Counterproductive Work Behaviors: Evidence From Financial Technology Firms

Front Psychol. 2021 Aug 4:12:658727. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.658727. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Stanley Y B Huang¹, Ming-Way Li², Tai-Wei Chang³

Affiliations

¹ Master Program of Financial Technology, School of Financial Technology, Ming Chuan University, Taipei City, Taiwan.
² Department of Marketing and Logistics Management, College of Business Management, Chihlee University of Technology, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
³ Graduate School of Resources Management and Decision Science, National Defense University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.

Abstract

Counterproductive work behaviors are a crucial issue for practice and academic because it influences employees' job performance and career development. The present research conceptualizes Kahn's employee engagement theory and employs transformational leadership, ethical leadership, and participative leadership as its antecedents to predict counterproductive work behaviors through a latent growth model. The present research collected empirical data of 505 employees of fintech businesses in Great China at three waves over 6 months. The findings revealed that as employees perceived higher transformational leadership, ethical leadership, and participative leadership at the first time point, they may demonstrate more positive growths in employee engagement development behavior, which in turn, caused more negative growths in counterproductive work behaviors. The present research stresses a dynamic model of the three leaderships that can alleviate counterproductive work behaviors through the mediating role of employee engagement over time.

Keywords: counterproductive work behaviors; employee engagement; ethical leadership; participative leadership; transformational leadership.