The downside of leader proactive personality at the team level: the role of subordinate seeking resources behavior

The present study aims to explore the effect of leader proactive personality on team outcomes and the moderating role of subordinate seeking resources behavior. Using a sample of 53 work teams from a Chinese pharmaceutical sales company, we found that when the level of subordinate seeking resources is low, leader proactive personality increases team-level exhaustion, which in turn is negatively related to team success (i.e., team performance and team-level job satisfaction); when the levels of subordinate seeking resources is high, leader proactive personality does not influence team-level exhaustion. These findings indicate the downside of leader proactive personality on team outcomes and highlight the critical role of subordinates’ seeking resources in helping them adapt to change in work situations.