How Developmental HR Practices Enhance Employee Taking Charge Behavior: The Mediating Role of Psychological Empowerment and the Moderating Role of Authentic Leadership

Since HR (Human Resource) practices and leadership behaviors are two key elements of a HRM (Human Resource Management) system, they coexist and jointly signal to employees. This study examines how developmental HR practices and authentic leadership influence subordinates' "taking charge" behavior, and the mechanisms for achieving it, thus seeks to provide new insights into the organization-leadership in the Chinese context. Based on the 363 leader-subordinate paired data from China, we found developmental HR practices are significantly related to psychological empowerment and taking charge. Second, psychological empowerment mediated the relationship between developmental HR practices and taking charge. Moreover, authentic leadership moderated both the developmental HR practices-subordinate taking charge relationship and the mediating effect of psychological empowerment, such that the relationship and its mediating mechanism were stronger for subordinates with high authentic leadership. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications of our findings and directions for future research were discussed.