It’s not what you do, it’s how they feel: how humble leadership activates employee affective-cognitive units to foster innovation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how humble leadership (HL) influences employee innovative behavior (EIB) through pride and relational identification, drawing on the cognitive-affective personality system (CAPS) theory. We explore the moderating role of employees’ attributions of leader humility to performance improvement motives (PIM) and impression management motives (IMM). Design/methodology/approach This study conducted a three-wave time-lagged survey design with two-week intervals, collecting data from 312 employees working in technology enterprises. Findings This research demonstrates that HL fosters EIB through pride and relational identification. The relationship between HL and pride is amplified when employees attribute leader humility to PIM but attenuated when employees attribute it to IMM. Moreover, employees attribute leader humility to IMM impairs the indirect relationship between HL and EIB via pride and relational identification. Originality/value Drawing on CAPS theory, this research introduces an integrated affective-cognitive mechanism to explain how HL fosters EIB. It further identifies employees’ attributions of leader humility as key contingencies. Moreover, the findings reveal an asymmetric attribution pattern, in which negative attributions exert a stronger influence than positive attributions on the effectiveness of HL. These findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding about the effectiveness of HL, highlighting the active role of employees.