The Effects of Humble Leadership on Failure-based Learning Behavior and Job Stress: The Mediating Effect of Resilience

Purpose: This study examined the effects of humble leadership on failure-based learning behavior and job stress, which were relatively overlooked in leadership research. In addition, the mediating effect of resilience in these relationships was analyzed.Methods: This paper used a cross-sectional design with questionnaires administered to 451 employees working in Korean firms. It applied an hierarchical and multi-regression analysis by using SPSS 21.0.Results: As a result of an empirical analysis, first, it was found that humble leadership had a positive effect on employees’ failure-based learning behavior. Second, it was also found that humble leadership reduced employee job stress. Finally, employees’ resilience was found to positively mediate the relationship between humble leadership and failure-based learning behavior while the relationship between humble leadership and employee job stress was found to negatively mediated by resilience.Conclusion: This study confirmed that humble leadership is an important determinant for promoting learning behavior for failures in the process of employees performing their jobs. In addition, by confirming the mediating role of resilience, this study provides our in-depth understanding of the connection mechanism of humble leadership leading to various positive and negative performances such as employee failure-based learning behavior and job stress. In sum, this study provided useful implications for organization and manager whose employees want to improve their failure-based learning behavior, and reduce job stress effectively.