An ample body of research has enlightened us on the impact of desirable leadership by assessing it at a specific moment in time and tracking beneficial outcomes. Nonetheless, one significant aspect has been overlooked. Leadership may not be consistent. The onerous burden and incessant demands placed on leaders impede their ability to sustain a steady course of action. Empowering leadership (EPL), which requires great care in delegating responsibility and authority, is particularly susceptible to such variations. To capture this more realistic picture than the current literature, this study investigates how inconsistent EPL affects followers. Drawing on sensemaking theory, we predict that the degree of inconsistency between prior and current EPL may deplete followers’ resources as they adapt to change, and this may subsequently hinder their creative performance. Extending the theory, we anticipate that the time followers have spent with their leaders (i.e., dyadic tenure) will help them more readily make sense of variations and mitigate these negative impacts. To test our hypotheses, three-wave surveys of leader-follower dyads from two major sources (an MBA and a private company) were analyzed using polynomial regression. These findings demonstrate that even positive behaviors, such as EPL, can have negative consequences when they vary considerably (‘Too-Varying-of-a-Good-Thing’). This provides theoretical and practical implications for leadership literature.
