While previous research has established the significant role of line managers in bridging the gap between an organization’s human resource (HR) practices and the desired employee and organizational outcomes, little attention has been given to how HR practices, notably electronic monitoring, impact line managers’ leadership behavior. Electronic monitoring, a prevalent HR practice to enhance organizational oversight and employee productivity, reflects a high-level efficiency-oriented management approach, which may, in turn, impact basic-level human-oriented management behaviors. This study employs role theory to examine how the perception of organizational electronic monitoring by line managers influences their servant leadership (SL) behavior. We propose that perceived organizational electronic monitoring may hinder SL behavior by diminishing SL role conceptualization, i.e., line managers’ view of SL as an integral work responsibility. Furthermore, based on HR attribution theory, we investigate the moderating role of managerial control and feedback attribution on the relationship between perceived organizational electronic monitoring, SL role conceptualization and SL behavior. Our findings, drawn from a multi-source, multi-wave study, support these hypotheses. This study highlight the incongruity between prevalent HR practices (i.e., organizational electronic monitoring) and desirable leader behaviors (i.e., SL), and the moderating role played by HR attribution.
