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Figure 3. Effect of interaction between self-leadership and job autonomy on job 
satisfaction.
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Ho and Nesbit 
407
Although we have suggested that sales agents’ objective performance 
measures may not have been wholly under the control of agents, some 
degree of control would nevertheless be possible. To the extent that control 
over sales is represented by the degree of perceived job autonomy, sales 
agents were able to exercise their self-leadership skills in their work role 
and influence objective performance. Specifically, when the level of job 
autonomy was high, self-leadership was related to higher objective sales 
performance.
We also examined the moderating role of job autonomy in the relation-
ships between self-leadership with supervisory performance ratings and job 
satisfaction. We found that the positive relationships between self-leadership 
and performance ratings and job satisfaction were strongest for those employ-
ees reporting a high level of job autonomy. A possible explanation proposed 
for these findings can be found in situational strength theory (Mischel, 1977). 
In this theory, situations classified as strong situations limit discretion of 
action and weak situations allow more discretion. Low-autonomy jobs are 
strong situations with considerable constraints on actions, which may inhibit 
employees from proactively using their self-leadership skills. Thus, situa-
tions that inhibit self-leadership may lead to reduced goal-striving motivation 
effort and so lead to lower performance. Furthermore, employees may have 
lower job satisfaction when they are not able to use their self-leadership skills 
due to the lower autonomy in role activity. By contrast, high-autonomy jobs 
provide employees more opportunities to express their self-leadership ten-
dency and, therefore, are likely to lead to higher job satisfaction and self-
motivation for exhibiting good performance.
Another contribution of this research to the self-leadership literature 
relates to demonstrating that self-leadership is a distinct construct, explaining 
unique variance in job performance measures and job satisfaction, beyond 
the personality trait of conscientiousness. This conclusion suggests that the 
impact of self-leadership strategies on performance and job satisfaction oper-
ates apart from the influence of the personality trait of conscientiousness.
Managerial Implications
Our findings of a positive relationship between self-leadership and perfor-
mance along with job satisfaction may also have important practical implica-
tions. As noted in the introduction, increasingly complex and dynamic work 
environments are often associated with the need for greater employee respon-
sibility and autonomy in the way employees carry out job tasks. Given that 
self-leadership is conceptualized as a set of performance-related strategies 
and learnable skills (Furtner, Sachse, & Exenberger, 2012; Manz, 1986; Neck 
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408 
Group & Organization Management 39(4)
& Manz, 2010), employees may be able to be trained in their use (Manz, 
1986). Training interventions would typically first identify the current level 
of the employees’ leadership skills through administration of the Modified 
Self-leadership Questionnaire (Ho & Nesbit, 2009). This assessment would 
allow a more focused approach to self-leadership strategies requiring devel-
opment. Training of self-management techniques such as self-goal setting, 
self-observation, and self-reward (relabeled by self-leadership theorist as 
“behavior-focused strategies”) has been found to increase subsequent job 
attendance (Latham & Frayne, 1989) and sales performance (Frayne & 
Geringer, 2000).
The training program of natural reward strategies may focus on instructing 
employees how to build more naturally enjoyable features into their activities 
as well as how to focus their attention on the pleasant aspects of their jobs 
(Neck & Houghton, 2006). A number of research studies have shown that 
employees who take an active, self-directing approach to influence their 
work perceptions or who create environmental changes to highlight the 
intrinsically rewarding dimensions of their work tend to perform better than 
employees who focus only on the objective dimensions of the task (Crant, 
1995; Fuller & Marler, 2009).
Constructive thought strategies impact performance because actions are 
influenced by how people think (Bandura, 1986). Neck and Manz (1996) 
have shown that mental strategies training, which involves teaching the strat-
egies of positive self-dialogue, visualizing successful goal attainment, and 
identifying and challenging irrational beliefs and thought patterns, enhanced 
employees’ self-efficacy and optimistic perceptions of their work roles and 
organizational environments.
Also, to improve the productivity of individuals who have self-leadership 
capabilities, supervisors should consider giving these employees more dis-
cretion in determining their work schedule and work methods. By doing so, 
self-leading individuals would have more freedom to express their self-moti-
vation tendency in pursuit of goal attainment (Langfred & Moye, 2004; Manz 
et al., 1987; Parker, Williams, & Turner, 2006).