Strength-based leadership with followers' work–life balance and workplace deviance: the roles of proactive vitality management and mindfulness

Purpose The strengths-based approach has become an increasingly popular way of investigating strengths-based leadership. The present study investigates the effects of strengths-based leadership on followers' work–life balance and workplace deviance as well as the mediating role played by proactive vitality management and the moderating role played by followers' mindfulness in these relationships. Design/methodology/approach This research is conducted on the basis of an empirical analysis of data collected from 427 Chinese participants at three time points. Findings Results reveal that strengths-based leadership has a positive effect on followers' work–life balance via proactive vitality management and a negative effect on followers' workplace deviance via proactive vitality management. Moreover, followers' mindfulness moderates the effects of strengths-based leadership on work–life balance and workplace deviance via proactive vitality management. Practical implications Organizations should consider selecting, training and evaluating leaders based on SBL and try to develop mindfulness in employees through human resource management practices. Originality/value This study makes important theoretical contributions to the literature by providing incremental value to the mechanisms underlying the effects of strengths-based leadership on followers' work–life balance and workplace deviance.