ABSTRACT Electronic monitoring at workplaces is a human resource (HR) practice that may shape how line managers enact people‐centered leadership. Integrating role theory and attribution theory, this study examines how and when line managers' perceived organizational electronic monitoring relates to their servant leadership (SL) behavior. We propose that perceived monitoring may hinder SL behavior by diminishing SL role conceptualization, defined as the extent to which line managers view serving and developing others as an integral role responsibility. We further theorize that this indirect relationship depends on managers' monitoring attributions: a managerial control attribution strengthens the negative indirect relationship, whereas a feedback provision attribution weakens it. Results from a three‐wave, time‐lagged field study of 237 matched line manager–employee dyads supported the proposed moderated mediation model. This study clarifies the HR–leadership interface by showing how a digitally enabled HR practice is associated with leadership enactment through line managers' role conceptualization and monitoring attributions.
Xie et al. (Thu,) studied this question.