Abstract: Empowering leadership is a common management way for organizations to improve employees’ working efficiency, but can empowering leadership always have a positive effect? Based on social cognitive theory, the relationship between empowering leadership and employee proactive behavior is explored. Through hierarchical regression analysis on the basis of data from 224 employer-employee samples at three time points, it is found that employee ability moderates the effect of empowering leadership on employee perceived insider status. That is, empowering leadership is positively related to employee perceived insider status only when employee ability is strong. Employee perceived insider status is positively related to employee proactive behavior. Furthermore, employee ability moderates the effect of empowering leadership on employee proactive behavior via perceived insider status. That is, the effect is positive only when employee ability is strong. The results enrich the achievements of empowering leadership research and provide implications on stimulating employee proactive behavior. 

Key words:  empowering leadership, proactive behavior, employee ability, perceived insider status, social cognitive theory