Do grateful employees take charge more in China? A joint moderating effect model

ABSTRACT

Taking charge plays a vital role in the survival and development of an organization, but the inherent voluntary and risky characteristics of this action may prevent employees from engaging in this proactive work behaviour. To identify employees who are willing to take charge and to understand why they do so, this research focuses on the influence of trait gratitude on taking charge while incorporating a joint moderator that combines supervisor-subordinate guanxi and role breadth self-efficacy. Data concerning 255 employees working in Jiangsu Province in China were analysed, and the results show that gratitude is positively related to taking charge and that this relationship is jointly moderated by supervisor-subordinate guanxi and role breadth self-efficacy. In other words, the relationship between gratitude and taking charge is stronger among employees who exhibit strong guanxi with supervisors and exhibit high role breadth self-efficacy. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• China
• gratitude
• taking charge
• supervisor-subordinate guanxi
• role breadth self-efficacy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The original model fit was (χ2 = 626.10, df = 246, χ2/df = 2.55, CFI = .88, TLI = .87, RMSEA = .08). According to the modification indices, we made error correlation between one pair of items stated above. Following Hystad et al. (2010), Xia, Schyns, and Zhang (2020), error correlation is acceptable when the two items have similar meanings and there is perceived redundancy in the item content.

Additional information

Funding

The contribution of Dr Yan Liu was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [71772133]. The contribution of Dr Yishuai Yin was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Youth Project [72002084], and Humanities and Social Science Project of The Ministry of Education of China [20YJC630194].

Notes on contributors

Lei Ren

Lei Ren has a Master’s degree, and is now a doctoral student in Dongwu Business School at Soochow University.

Yan Liu

Yan Liu, who received her PhD from Nanjing University, is a full Professor of Management at Jiangnan University. Her research interests include international human resource management and whistle-blowing.

Yishuai Yin

Yishuai Yin, who received his PhD from Macquarie University, is an Associate Professor of Management at Soochow University. His research interests include idiosyncratic deals, employee empowerment and leadership.