Positive affect, environmental uncertainty, and self-sacrificial leadership influence followers’ self-sacrificial behavior

Drawing on affective events theory, we examined why and when self-sacrificial leadership motivates followers to engage in self-sacrificial behavior. Participants were 371 full-time employees from 91 work teams in multiple organizations located in central China, who completed measures of self-sacrificial leadership, their own self-sacrificial behavior, positive affect, and environmental uncertainty. The hierarchical linear modeling results indicated that self-sacrificial leadership correlated positively with follower self-sacrificial behavior. In addition, the relationship between self-sacrificial leadership and follower self-sacrificial behavior was mediated by follower positive affect. Finally, this mediating factor was found to be stronger when the environmental context was highly uncertain compared to when it was steady. The contribution of these results to theory and management practice is discussed, along with the study limitations and directions for future research.