Would You Help Your Leader Out? The Role of Leader Parenthood and Gender in Followers' Upward Support Intentions

ABSTRACT Social support at work has primarily been studied as a top‐down process from leaders to their followers or as a lateral process among co‐workers. We complement this focus by studying followers' support intentions toward their leaders (i.e., upward support). Based on the Stereotype Content Model and the behaviors from intergroup affect and stereotypes map framework, we propose that a leader's parenthood (having children or not) increases followers' perceptions of communion (being seen as warm and moral), in turn, increasing upward support intentions. We expect that this effect is stronger for women than for men. Using two online scenario experiments, we found a general parenthood bonus effect in Study 1 ( N = 217 German employees). The leader who was a parent (vs. not a parent) was rated higher in communion and, in turn, received higher upward support intentions. We found a motherhood bonus effect in Study 2 ( N = 193 Singaporean employees). We discuss these findings in light of our theoretical framework, gender role assumptions, and the work‐related social support literature.