Unlocking Employee Performance Through Humble Leadership: Organisational Identification and Psychological Ownership as Mediators

This study investigates how humble leadership—characterized by selfawareness, openness to feedback, and recognition of others—affects employee job performance in China's high-technology industry. Drawing on self-determination theory and social exchange theory, the research investigates the mediating roles of organisational identification and psychological ownership in this relationship. Using data collected from 327 non-managerial employees and analyzed through PLS-SEM, the findings demonstrate that humble leadership contributes to higher job performance both directly and indirectly by fostering a sense of belonging and responsibility among employees. Organisational identification and psychological ownership are shown to partially mediate this relationship. The study offers valuable theoretical and practical insights, suggesting that cultivating humility in leadership can fulfill employees' core psychological needs and promote sustained job performance improvements.