This study investigates how leader boundary spanning behavior shapes subordinates voice through two mechanisms – one structural and one relational – and identifies when these effects are more or less likely to occur. Drawing on conservation of res...
This study investigates how leader boundary spanning behavior shapes subordinates voice through two mechanisms – one structural and one relational – and identifies when these effects are more or less likely to occur. Drawing on conservation of resources theory and paradox theory, I propose a dual-path model in which leader boundary spanning behavior-leaders’ efforts to secure external resources and build external connections-simultaneously (a) enhances social structural empowerment, defined as employees’ access to information, support, and resources (“access flow”), and (b) reduces leader availability, the extent to which leaders are accessible for guidance and interaction (“distancing flow”). These structural shifts, in turn, shape both promotive voice and prohibitive voice. I further examine dependent decision making as an individual difference that moderates whether these structural and relational resources are translated into voice behavior.
Using two-wave dyadic survey data from 135 leader–subordinate pairs in Korean firms, I tested a moderated mediation model through hierarchical regression and PROCESS analyses. Results provided strong support for the access flow: leader boundary spanning behavior enhanced social structural empowerment, which in turn increased promotive-not prohibitive-voice. Evidence for the distancing flow was weaker. Leader boundary spanning behavior showed a partial positive relationship with leader availability, and indirectly increased promotive voice through leader availability. Across both pathways, dependent decision making weakened the positive effects of social structural empowerment and leader availability on promotive and prohibitive voices. The indirect effects of leader boundary spanning behavior on both types of voices were significant primarily when dependent decision making was low.
These findings suggest that, in practice, leader boundary spanning functions more as a resource-enhancing behavior that promotes subordinate voice, rather than as a double-edged activity that diminishes leader availability. However, its benefits accrue mainly to subordinates who are less reliant on others for decision guidance, highlighting the need to consider individual decision-making tendencies when evaluating when and for whom boundary spanning is the most effective.