FROM STRUCTURE TO SUPPORT: AN INTEGRATIVE MODEL OF LEADERSHIP, EMOTIONAL EXHAUSTION, ROLE CLARITY, AND DAOIST MODERATION

Author

• Aradhna Mohan, Southern Illinois University CarbondaleFollow

Date of Award

5-1-2026

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Lee, Yueh-Ting

Second Advisor

Davis, Randall S.

Abstract

Rooted in the understanding that effective leadership significantly influences organizational outcomes, this study examines process-oriented relationships between leader initiating structure and subordinate outcomes. Specifically, it extends the leadership literature by focusing on the cognitive resources underlying initiating structure behaviors, such as role-related clarity, that may enhance positive subordinate outcomes and mitigate negative ones. The study also incorporates an underexamined Eastern leadership style, Daoist Water-Like Leadership, and explores its associations with leader initiating structure and consideration. Guided by the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, this research assesses the effects of initiating structure and Daoist leadership on emotional exhaustion, examines the relationship between Daoist leadership and leader consideration, and tests a moderated mediation model in which role clarity mediates the relationship between initiating structure and emotional exhaustion, with Daoist leadership moderating the direct effect. Data were collected at a single time point from two samples: a student population (N = 270) and a working adult population (N = 231) recruited via Prolific. This design allowed for testing generalizability of results across a relatively homogeneous and a more heterogeneous sample. Hayes’ PROCESS macro (Model 5) was used to test the proposed moderated mediation framework. Across samples, Daoist leadership was consistently negatively associated with emotional exhaustion and positively associated with leader consideration. In the Hayes PROCESS model, the effects of initiating structure and the mechanisms through which emotional exhaustion was reduced differed across samples. Among students, role clarity functioned as a key explanatory pathway linking initiating structure to reduced emotional exhaustion, highlighting the importance of clear expectations. Among working adults, Daoist leadership strengthened the negative association between initiating structure and emotional exhaustion, suggesting that structure is most beneficial when enacted within a relational climate characterized by flexibility, humility, and non-coercive guidance. This pattern suggests that initiating structure is not inherently demanding or stressful and instead supports a view in which the effects of structure depend on how it is embedded within broader leadership configurations.