When Charismatic Leadership Loses its Luster: Examining the Interactive Effect of Charismatic Leadership and Abusive Supervision on Follower Prosocial Motivation and Citizenship Behavior

Abstract

We develop a multilevel framework that examines the simultaneous co-occurrence of charismatic leadership and abusive supervision and how they jointly diminish followers’ prosocial motivation. Furthermore, we tested a mediated moderation model to examine whether followers’ prosocial motivation mediates the link between charismatic leadership and followers’ citizenship behavior under high and low levels of abusive supervision. Results from a field study based upon 296 employees and 44 supervisors in 44 teams across three organizations provided support for the predicted relationships. Charismatic leadership positively influenced followers’ prosocial motivation when abusive supervision was low but not high. Furthermore, followers’ prosocial motivation mediated the link between charismatic leadership and followers’ organizational citizenship behavior when abusive supervision was low but not high. We discuss theoretical implications for abusive supervision's neutralizing effect, identify avenues to advance charismatic leadership and prosocial motivation research, and provide recommendations for practitioners to cultivate an environment that nurtures employees’ prosocial motivation.