Beyond leadership behaviors : a multi-context study of how perceptual alignment and psychological empowerment drive employee entrepreneurial action

This dissertation develops a follower-centric explanation of how leadership enables employees’ entrepreneurial behavior (EEB) by shifting focus from leaders’ behaviors per se to employees’ perceptions and comparisons of leadership. Building on implicit leadership theory, it argues that employees carry leadership prototypes and evaluate leaders against salient benchmarks—such as a predecessor, an “ideal leader,” or expectations formed during succession and change. The central claim is that leadership effectiveness for EEB is contingent on perceived (in)congruence: what matters is not only how much leadership is present, but whether leadership is experienced as meeting, exceeding, or falling short of employees’ implicit standards. Empirically, the dissertation spans multiple organizational contexts (higher education institutions, family firms, and high-tech firms) and employs a mixed-method, problem-driven design. It begins with an integrative literature review that consolidates fragmented evidence on leadership congruence/incongruence and EEB. It then uses fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to capture configurational causation and equifinality in leadership transitions and in dimension-level leadership expectation gaps (actual minus ideal). Complementing this, a variance-based (PLS-SEM) study in family firms tests a mechanism during succession, showing that perceived transformational leadership continuity/improvement enhances psychological empowerment (PE), which in turn promotes EEB. Across studies, four cross-cutting conclusions emerge. First, perceptual alignment is a robust driver of EEB: employees’ multidimensional comparisons (past vs. present; ideal vs. actual) are decisive for entrepreneurial initiative. Second, PE functions both as an amplifying mechanism (strengthening favorable leadership effects) and a compensatory buffer (sustaining EEB when leadership expectations are unmet). Third, leadership is configuration- and context-specific: different bundles of conditions can generate high EEB, underscoring equifinality rather than one “best” leadership profile. Finally, results suggest an “intellectual stimulation paradox”: intellectual stimulation is not universally necessary for high EEB and may be redundant for expert knowledge workers unless empowerment and competence resources are insufficient.