Charismatic leadership influences employees’ improvisation ability: Harmonious passion as a mediator and job insecurity as a moderator

Improvisation ability has become an important competency for employees to adapt to dynamic, volatile work environments. However, the effect of charismatic leadership style on the improvisation ability of employees is yet to be revealed. We used self-determination theory and conservation of resources theory to explore the effect of charismatic leadership on employees’ improvisation ability, with job insecurity as a moderator and harmonious passion as a mediator. Our goal was to enrich research on leadership styles shaping employee behavior and employee competencies. We collected 267 valid questionnaires through the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform, and conducted model testing using SPSS 25.0. Results of empirical analysis showed that charismatic leadership positively affected employees’ improvisation ability. Employees’ harmonious work passion mediated the effect of charismatic leadership on employees’ improvisation abilities, and job insecurity played a moderating role in enhancing the positive effect of charismatic leadership on employees’ improvisation ability. We discuss the practical implications for how organizations can improve employees’ improvisation ability in a dynamic and changing internal and external environment.