Supporting me or objectifying me? The divergent effects of temporal leadership on employee work behaviors

Purpose Existing research on temporal leadership has largely emphasized its benefits for time management and task efficiency, with limited attention to its potential drawbacks for employee outcomes. Grounded in social information processing theory, we propose a dual-path model that simultaneously examines both the “supporting” and “objectifying” pathways of temporal leadership's (TL) influence. Design/methodology/approach Using a three-wave, multi-source research design, data were collected from 374 employee–supervisor dyads in China. Findings We found that TL enhances employees' perception of leader support, which in turn promotes their taking charge. Meanwhile, TL also increases employees' perception of being objectified, thereby leading to more expediency behavior. Furthermore, in organizations with a high performance goal orientation, the indirect effect via the “supporting” path is strengthened, whereas the indirect effect via the “objectifying” path is attenuated. Originality/value These findings make theoretical contributions to the TL literature while offering practical implications for organizational managers seeking to optimize leadership effectiveness.