research

Journal Articles

2022

1. LODJ

   Perceived Competence Overrides Gender Bias: Gender Roles, Affective Trust and Leader Effectiveness

   Lingyan Hu, Ning Jiang, He Huang, and Yan Liu

   Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Jun 2022

   Abs DOI

   

   Purpose Despite abundant research on the negative effect of gender stereotypes on female leaders, it remains unclear whether leader competence perceived by the subordinates could overcome this backlash effect. Drawing on expectation states theory and expectancy violation theory, the authors investigate how the interaction among leaders’ gender roles, leader sex and subordinates’ perceived leader competence influences leader effectiveness through subordinates’ affective trust. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through two-wave surveys among 489 participants from various sectors in different parts of China. SPSS and Hayes PROCESS were used to test the hypotheses. Findings High competence perceived by the subordinates helps female leaders to overturn the negative effect of masculinity and strengthen the positive effect of femininity, whereas this positive moderation does not hold for male leaders. Originality/value This study addresses the ongoing debate about “female advantage” in leadership by showing that female leaders benefit from high perceived competence and are penalized by low perceived competence to a greater extent than male leaders in terms of leader effectiveness.

Conference Articles

2025

1. AOM

   Mutual Efforts into Leader-Follower Relationship, Relational Energy, and Resilience

   He Huang, Junfeng Wu, Ning Jiang, and Yan Liu

   In Academy of Management Proceedings, Jun 2025

   Proceedings Best Paper Abs DOI

   This work is considered as one of the “Best Papers” (top 10%) as designated by the Organizational Behavior DIG Program Chairs.

   Relational energy literature predominantly emphasizes leader’s role, suggesting that positive leader behaviors energize followers. However, the follower’s role and the dyadic interaction remain under-explored. Drawing on recent developments in dyadic research, we reexamine the relational nature of relational energy. By integrating Collins’s interaction ritual chain theory with Heider’s balance theory, we develop and test a model examining how the balance of efforts into the relationship influences relational energy and subsequent follower resilience. Using multilevel polynomial regression response surface analysis of 309 leader-follower dyads, we find that the balance of efforts into the relationship matters in generation of relational energy and then resilience. Our study extends theoretical understanding of relational energy, interaction ritual chain theory, dyadic research, and resilience management.

2. AOM

   The Trickle-down Effect of Servant Leadership Revisited: A Longitudinal Investigation

   Junfeng Wu, Lynda Jiwen Song, He Huang, and Adam M. Zhang

   In Academy of Management Proceedings, Jun 2025

   Abs DOI

   Drawing on social learning theory and integrating the literatures on servant leadership and trickle-down effects, we test a dynamic model in which changes in organizational leaders’ servant leadership are related to changes in the servant leadership displayed by team leaders who report to organizational leaders. We collected three-wave longitudinal data with repeated measures from 52 organizations, 234 teams, and 1,063 employees over a 12-month period. Our two-level latent growth modeling results supported the hypotheses. Specifically, we found that changes in organizational leaders’ servant leadership have a positive indirect effect on changes in team leaders’ servant leadership, as mediated by changes in role model influences. Furthermore, changes in team leaders’ servant leadership are positively related to changes in team creativity. Our findings highlight the role modeling process that explains the learning and propagation of servant leadership in organizations. We unpack the mechanism through which organizational leaders can influence team creativity, shedding light on the organization-team interface that affects team creativity.

2021

1. AOM

   Competence-Bonus Effects for Female Leaders: Gender Roles, Affective Trust and Leader Effectiveness

   Lingyan Hu, Ning Jiang, and He Huang

   In Academy of Management Proceedings, Aug 2021

   Abs DOI

   Understanding how social perceptions of gender roles influence leader effectiveness is very important because female leaders are still far underrepresented in most organizations. Despite abundant research on the backlash against female leaders displaying masculine leadership roles, little is known about how female leaders could overcome negative effects of gender stereotypes to enhance leader effectiveness. Drawing on a legitimacy perspective and expectancy violation theory, this research investigates how leaders’ sex and competence moderate the indirect relationship between leaders’ gender roles and leader effectiveness through subordinates’ affective trust. Through a two-wave study of 489 subordinates, we have found that leaders’ high competence positively moderates the indirect effect of both leaders’ gender roles (masculinity and femininity) on leader effectiveness through subordinates’ affective trust; whereas this moderating effect only holds for female leaders, not for male leaders. Demonstrating a bonus effect of leaders’ competence for female leaders, our research contributes to the existing gender and leadership literature by addressing the approaches for female leaders to leverage gender role perceptions to overcome gender bias and achieve leader effectiveness.

2. AOM

   A Theory of Attribution Profiles and Employee (Dis)Trust Reactions to Supervisor Justice Enactment

   Yan Liu, He Huang, Ning Jiang, and Yan Li

   In Academy of Management Proceedings, Aug 2021

   Abs DOI

   Although they value fair treatment, employees may not react in an equally favorable manner when experiencing the same justice from their supervisors. Prior research has suggested that employees tend to reason why their supervisors acted fairly and their attributions lead to cognitive, affective, and behavioral consequences. However, this research stream overlooks the reality of employee-supervisor power dependence, thus providing an oversimplified theory of employee attributions to supervisor justice motives. Drawing on power-dependence theory, we develop a theoretical framework delineating how the different forms of power dependence within the employee-supervisor dyad shape distinct patterns of employee attributions of supervisor justice motives, and how the combinations of motive attributions affect employee (dis)trust reactions to supervisor justice. Challenging the assumption that there is homogeneity in employee attributions of supervisor justice motives, our research conceptualizes heterogeneous groups of employees when making justice motive attributions, advances the understanding of employee reactions to justice, and has important implications for research on interpersonal relationships.