Is subordinate's loyalty a precondition of supervisor's benevolent leadership? The moderating effects of supervisor's altruistic personality and perceived organizational support

Based on Cheng's differential leadership theory, we investigated the relationship between a subordinate's loyalty to a supervisor (SLS) and the supervisor's benevolent leadership in Chinese organizations. We also explored two moderators of this relationship, the supervisor's altruistic personality and perceived organizational support (POS). Using survey research, we collected data from supervisor-subordinate dyads in Taiwan and made 167 valid observations. The results showed that SLS positively relates to the supervisor's benevolent behaviours; however, this relationship is diminished by the supervisor's altruistic personality and POS. That is, when the supervisor has a high level of altruistic personality or POS, the association of SLS with the supervisor's benevolent leadership is weaker.