Follower Beliefs in the Co-Production of Leadership

Abstract

Drawing on a role-based approach to followership, we investigate followers’ beliefs about the co-production of leadership and examine the association of these beliefs with upward communication behaviors. We also investigate the potential moderating effects of leader consideration, leader-follower relationship quality, and autonomous work climate on the relationship between co-production beliefs and upward communication. The findings show a positive relationship between co-production beliefs and upward communication with leaders (i.e., voice and constructive resistance). Findings also show that leadership style, overall relationship quality, and autonomous work climate moderate the relationship between co-production beliefs and voice, but not constructive resistance. Interactions show that followers with weaker co-production beliefs use significantly less voice when leadership and contextual conditions were unfavorable, but that contextual conditions did not diminish the voice behaviors of those with stronger co-production beliefs. We discuss implications for both research and practice, and lay a foundation for how followership research may supplement and extend our understanding of the co-production of leadership in organizations.