Power sharing and task performance: The role of work engagement and traditionality

We integrated the job demands–resources model with the cultural self-representation model and proposed and tested a research model to investigate how and when supervisors’ power sharing can enhance subordinates’ task performance. Participants were 311 subordinates employed in 16 branches of a large telecommunications firm located in northern China, who were paired with their supervisors. The data we obtained provided support for our model. Specifically, the results indicated that supervisors’ power sharing enhanced subordinates’ task performance via the mediator of work engagement. In addition, subordinates’ traditionality moderated this mediation relationship in such a way that the mediation relationship was more significant among subordinates with low traditionality than it was among subordinates with high traditionality.