Abstract:

Multilevel proactive followership has been an important determinant during the growth of startup enterprises. Existing literatures have emphasized how different explicit leaderships influence followership, yet the conclusions are controversial. In response to this, based on the implicit leadership theory, we built a multi-level interactive model of “implicit entrepreneurial leadership-proactive following”. In this model, implicit entrepreneurial leadership could promote proactive followership of individuals and teams through relationship identification and leadership representation, while in turn team proactive followership may shape implicit entrepreneurial leadership through positive psychological capital. Besides, it has been found that team’s Chaxu atmosphere, employee traditionalism and leader’s regulatory focus are important boundary conditions of interactive relationship.

Key words: implicit entrepreneurial leadership, proactive followership, cross-level analysis, interaction mechanism, entrepreneurial team