Humble leadership and employee self-development in SMEs: a four-wave multilevel study of job autonomy and intrinsic motivation

Abstract Background Employee self-development is important for workers to update their skills and respond to changing work environments. However, less is known about how humble leadership is positively associated with self-development through employees’ psychological experiences. Drawing on social information processing theory and the job demands-resources perspective, this study examines whether team-level humble leadership is positively associated with individual self-development through job autonomy and intrinsic motivation. Methods A four-wave survey was conducted among employees from small and medium-sized enterprises in Shandong Province, China. The final sample included 368 employees nested in 83 teams. Humble leadership was measured at Time 1, job autonomy at Time 2, intrinsic motivation at Time 3, and self-development at Time 4. Multilevel structural equation modeling in Mplus was used to test the hypotheses. Confidence intervals estimated in Mplus were used to examine the indirect effects. Results At the between level, humble leadership was positively related to employee self-development, job autonomy, and intrinsic motivation. At the within level, job autonomy and intrinsic motivation were positively related to self-development. Job autonomy was also positively related to intrinsic motivation at both the within and between levels. The sequential indirect effect of humble leadership on self-development through job autonomy and intrinsic motivation was significant. The indirect effect through job autonomy alone was not significant. Conclusions The findings suggest that humble leadership is positively associated with employee self-development through employees’ perceived job autonomy and intrinsic motivation. Job autonomy may provide room for self-development, but it may not be enough by itself in a cross-level process. Employees are more likely to use autonomy for sustained self-development when autonomy is linked to intrinsic motivation. This study highlights a multilevel psychological mechanism linking humble leadership to employee self-development in SMEs.