Abstract: Followership is defined as the positive behavioral response of subordinates to the leader in the process of subordinate-subordinate interactions,as well as the ability to carry out the leader's instructions and competently perform the assigned work by the leader.Currently,there is a constantly increasing demand for employees to improve initiative and followership in organizational practices.Therefore,how to maintain individual employees' continuous positive followership has become a topic of key concern for companies and managers.However,as the new generation of employees,who are mainly status followers in the organization,seeks a cooperative and reciprocal leader-follower relationship,the superior-subordinate interaction in the organization moves from “one-way projection” to “two-way interaction ”.Employees' followership is affected by the attitude and behavior of leaders and the interaction process between subordinates and superiors,and many leaders fail to motivate the competent employees they recruit.Therefore,it is necessary to explore followership in the context of subordinate-supervisor matching situations and interaction processes.
Based on the role theory,this study explores the double-edged sword effect of followership prototype-trait matching on employee followership.The empirical analysis of 299 matching data reveals that followership prototype-trait matching has both promoting and depleting effects on employee followership.The main findings are as follows:(1)Followership prototype-trait matching can awaken employees' belief in reciprocity and further improve their followership; (2)Followership prototype-trait matching also causes role overload and inhibits their followership; (3)Leadership empathy positively and negatively moderates the influence of followership prototype-trait matching on belief of reciprocity and role overload respectively; furthermore,the moderating effect of followership prototype-trait matching on followership has been verified.
This study has the following theoretical contributions.First,this study places employee followership in the context of supervisor-subordinate interactions,and explains the promoting and depleting mechanisms of the followership prototype-trait matching,providing an integrated analytical framework for bridging theoretical conflicts.Second,this study explores the moderating role of leadership empathy in the relationship between followership prototype-trait matching and employee followership from the perspectives of positive reinforcement and negative mitigation,providing a theoretical interface for the subsequent exploration of the motivational value of leadership empathy.Finally,based on the role theory,this study explains the matching principle of followership prototype-trait,constructs the promotion and depletion mechanisms of followership prototype-trait matching on employee followership,and couples the optimization effect of leadership empathy,expanding the application of the role theory in the study of organizational interactions.
The managerial implications of the study are as follows:First,the study focuses on equal and high-quality matched leader-follower relationships and benign interactions between subordinates and superiors in organizations,which guide employees to sustained followership.Second,the study inspires leaders to “reciprocate and cooperate” to “get the best out of people”,warning that over-employment is counterproductive.Finally,it calls for leaders to emphasize the development and improvement of their empathy ability,which provides theoretical guidance for leaders to improve their management strategies.
This study also has some limitations.First,due to thematic limitations,this study only explores the effects of the superior-subordinate followership prototype-trait matching on employee followership,and future research can focus on different types of this match (e.p.,low-high,high-low)within the same research framework.Second,this study focuses on the effects of followership prototype-trait matching on employee followership,and future research can focus on how followership prototype-trait matching may affect leaders' psychology and behavior.In addition,this study explores the contextual perspective of hierarchical matching,and in the future,a qualitative comparative analysis of the antecedent constructs that motivate employee followership can be conducted to synthesize the combination of antecedent constructs that can motivate employee followership.

Key words: Employee Followership, Followership Prototype-trait Match, Belief of Reciprocity, Leadership Empathy, Role Theory

摘要： 随着组织中的上下级互动由“单向投射”走向“双向磨合”,不少领导者纳“强将”却不可“尽用”。本研究基于角色理论,探讨上下级追随原型-特质匹配对员工追随力的双刃剑效用,对299份领导-员工匹配数据的实证检验发现,追随原型-特质匹配能够强化员工的互惠信念,进而提升其追随力;同时,亦会引发员工过高的角色负荷,抑制其追随力;领导者共情能力分别对追随原型-特质匹配的促进、损耗效用具有“正向强化”和“负向减缓”的调节效果。研究从多个视角切入为激发员工的追随力提供建议,也为管理者的上下级互动策略提供一定的参考和借鉴。

关键词: 追随力, 追随原型-特质匹配, 互惠信念, 领导者共情能力, 角色理论