How and when does benevolent leadership promote followers’ proactive customer service behavior?

Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to investigate the impact of benevolent leadership on proactive customer service performance by creating a moderated mediation model. The model focuses on the role of harmonious passion as a mediator in the relationship between benevolent leadership and proactive customer service performance as well as the moderating influence of proactive personality on this mediation.

Design/methodology/approach

The model was tested using data from 339 immediate supervisor-subordinate pairs in eight five-star hotels in Egypt. Frontline service employees and their immediate supervisors completed separate questionnaires, and the responses were matched using identification numbers.

Findings

The results indicate that harmonious passion fully mediates the positive relationship between benevolent leadership and proactive customer service performance. Additionally, proactive personality was found to moderate the mediated relationship between benevolent leadership and proactive customer service performance through harmonious passion, such that the mediation was stronger for employees with higher proactive personalities.

Research limitations/implications

By testing the moderated mediation model, this study contributes to our theoretical understanding of the motivational mechanism through which benevolent leadership influences proactive customer service performance.

Originality/value

This research offers initial evidence of the mediating role of harmonious passion in the positive relationship between benevolent leadership and proactive customer service performance. The moderated mediation model extends existing findings by incorporating proactive personality as a significant moderator in explaining the impact of benevolent leadership on proactive customer service performance.

Citation

Elsaied, M. (2025), "How and when does benevolent leadership promote followers’ proactive customer service behavior?", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 46 No. 1, pp. 139-165. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-04-2024-0224