When leaders are forced to stay: The indirect effects of leaders' reluctant staying on subordinates' performance

Abstract

Leaders who desire to leave the current organization are sometimes forced to stay. The leadership behaviors of these leaders are underexplored in the current literature. Building on proximal withdrawal states theory, this study examines two pathways through which leaders' reluctant staying mindset (i.e., desire but are unable to quit) relates to their subordinates' task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB). One pathway proposes increased laissez-faire leadership behaviors due to leaders' lower intrinsic motivation; the second pathway proposes increased delegation behaviors due to leaders' higher extrinsic motivation. Using three-wave data collected from 100 leaders and 313 subordinates, we found that leaders' reluctant staying was indirectly and negatively associated with subordinates' task performance and OCB through leaders' lower perceptions of task significance and higher laissez-faire leadership behaviors. At the same time, leaders' reluctant staying increased their bottom-line mentality and delegation behaviors, but the indirect effects on subordinates' performance outcomes were not significant. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory, practices, and future research regarding how to manage leaders who stay reluctantly in the organization.