Self-leadership and employees’ contextual performance: The roles of psychological empowerment and impression management motives

This study explored the impact of self-leadership on employees’ contextual performance, focusing on the mediating role of psychological empowerment and the moderating role of impression management motives. A two-wave survey was conducted via convenience sampling and temporal separation with 202 entry-level employees who had been working for more than 6 months in service and manufacturing industries in Taiwan. The findings of this study were as follows: (a) self-leadership was positively associated with employees’ contextual performance, (b) psychological empowerment mediated the relationship between self-leadership and contextual performance, and (c) impression management motives moderated the relationship between psychological empowerment and contextual performance. The research results have theoretical and practical significance, and implications are discussed along with study limitations and future research directions.