Under the humble mask: Investigating when and how leader-expressed humility leads to employee voice
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 29, 2025

Author Spotlight: Investigating the Impact of Emotional Prosodies on Voice Recognition and Perception
Published on: August 9, 2024
Wen-Qian Zou1,2, Shu-Chen Chen2
1Ningbo Childhood Education College, Ningbo, China.
Abstract:
This study aimed to explore the psychological mechanisms through which psychological safety and self-efficacy mediate the relationship between leader-expressed humility and employee voice. Moreover, attribution theory was applied to examine the possible detrimental effects of leader-expressed humility when employees perceive manipulative intentions in their humble leader. The current study proposed the leader's manipulative intention as a moderator to weaken the indirect relationships between leader-expressed humility and employee voice through psychological safety and self-efficacy. Time-lagged supervisor-subordinate matched data were used to test the model. Our findings reveal leader's manipulative intention weakens the positive effect that leader-expressed humility impacts on employee voice through psychological safety and self-efficacy. The implications of the findings were discussed from both theoretical and practical perspectives.
Related Concept Videos
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification
Social Loafing
Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping
Fundamental Attribution Error
Social Proof
Levels of Communication II: Organizational, Public, and Group Dynamics

