How Should Leaders Exert Influence? The Role of Job Demands and Leader Competence in Influence Tactics

The effectiveness of a leader depends on how they exert influence to motivate organizational members to invest effort in their work. Despite significant advancements in research on leaders' influence tactics, inconsistencies in empirical findings from previous studies and the lack of identified moderating factors underscore the need for a more comprehensive and theoretically grounded approach. Additionally, it is crucial to identify key situational factors from the perspective of organizational members. Accordingly, this study examines the effects of hard, soft, and rational influence tactics, categorized based on the meta-categories proposed by Kipnis and Schmidt (1985), on employees’ task performance. Furthermore, it empirically investigates the moderating effects of job demands and leader competence on these relationships. A survey was conducted with employees from multiple domestic companies and their immediate supervisors, yielding a final sample of 195 matched cases for analysis. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that hard influence tactics had a negative effect on task performance, whereas soft influence tactics had a positive effect. However, the effect of rational influence tactics was not significant. Regarding the moderating effects, high job demands mitigated the negative impact of hard influence tactics on task performance while amplifying the positive effect of soft influence tactics. Similarly, when leader competence was high, the adverse effects of hard influence tactics were reduced, and the positive effects of soft influence tactics were enhanced. However, the hypothesized effects of rational influence tactics were not supported, as the results indicated an opposite directional effect. Based on these findings, this study discusses theoretical implications, practical strategies for enhancing leader influence, and directions for future research, while also acknowledging its limitations.