Inclusive Leadership and Employee Proactive Behavior: A Cross-Level Moderated Mediation Model

PURPOSE: The proactive behavior of employees is one of the key determinants of organizational development in a rapidly changing business environment. While much attention has been paid to the antecedents of employees’ proactive behavior, little is known about the mechanisms that influence their psychological state and work behavior. The aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between inclusive leadership (IL) and proactive behavior, along with mediating role of employee trust and the moderating role of procedural justice climate. METHODS: The data were collected from 40 independent project teams from 30 companies in China, and the hypotheses were tested on 304 available samples, followed by the null model to conduct the cross-level regression analysis. RESULTS: The results indicated that IL significantly affects the employee proactive behavior, in which employee trust played a mediating role. Moreover, procedural justice climate respectively moderates the positive relationship between IL and employee proactive behavior, and the positive relationship between IL and employee trust. CONCLUSION: IL not only provides emotional support to increase employee trust but also inspires subordinates with a non-active personality to take initiative. Team-oriented organizational structures should promote procedural justice measures to create a trusting and fair work environment that more effectively furthers the effectiveness of IL on positive work behaviors of employees.