The power of respect: examining how and when respectful leadership impacts followers’ contextual performance

Purpose This study focuses on the increasing need to understand the relational and identity-based mechanisms through which leadership influences employee performance. We draw on leader-member exchange (LMX) and social identity theories to explore the relationship between respectful leadership and employee contextual performance. Additionally, we investigate how social mindfulness mediates this relationship and how employees' identification with the leader moderates it. Design/methodology/approach Data of 183 employees working in Poland were collected at three points in time and analyzed using Mplus 8.3 and PROCESS Macro in SPSS. Findings Our results indicate that respectful leadership positively predicts followers’ social mindfulness, which in turn, positively affects followers’ contextual performance. The reverse relationship between respectful leadership and social mindfulness was insignificant. Furthermore, identification with the leader was found to strengthen both the direct and indirect effects of respectful leadership on followers’ social mindfulness and their subsequent contextual performance. Originality/value This study is the first to explore the bidirectional relationships between respectful leadership and followers’ social mindfulness. It also investigates the moderating effect of identification with the leader and the mediating role of social mindfulness in the relationship between respectful leadership and contextual performance.