Employee proactive behavior: A followership theory perspective

Abstract

This study proposes a multilevel model to explain employees' proactive behavior in organizational contexts by jointly examining the effects of leadership styles, employee attitudes, and managerial practices. Grounded in Followership Theory, the model moves beyond a sole focus on leader behaviors and builds a conceptual bridge between leadership, organizational practices, and employee behavior. The study explores the direct, indirect, and interactional relationships between empowering leadership, directive leadership, work engagement, affective commitment, intention to quit, talent management practices, and proactive behavior. Data were collected from 335 employees and 64 human resource managers across 64 companies operating in Türkiye. Given the nested data structure, the analysis employed advanced techniques including multilevel structural equation modeling (SEM), hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), multilevel moderation analysis, and necessary condition analysis (NCA). The findings reveal that empowering leadership has a direct positive effect on proactive behavior, whereas directive leadership does not show a significant direct effect. Talent management practices emerged as a key contextual factor that strengthens the impact of both leadership styles. Work engagement positively mediated the relationship between leadership and proactive behavior, while intention to quit served as a negative mediator. Affective commitment did not exhibit a significant mediating effect, calling into question its presumed role in proactive behavior. By adopting a multilevel perspective, this study provides theoretical, methodological, and practical contributions by offering a holistic understanding of how leadership styles, employee attitudes, and managerial practices shape proactive behavior. It presents an integrated framework that captures the interplay between individual-level and organizational-level influences, while emphasizing employee subjectivity through the lens of Followership Theory.