Whom to seek orientation from in the work context? The role of regulatory mode and social orientation motives

Leaders are often presented as the main targets followers seek orientation from. However, depending on their characteristics and motives, followers might also prefer to seek orientation from other targets, such as their peers. Regarding characteristics, we considered regulatory mode (RM), that is locomotion mode (a concern for movement from state to state and maintaining action flow) versus assessment mode (a concern for critical analysis and comparison) of followers. Regarding social orientation motives, we considered their self-evaluation, self-improvement, self-enhancement, and emulation motives. We investigated how they jointly influence who followers prefer to seek orientation from. In three preregistered studies, we measured participants’ RM and manipulated the social orientation motives within-subjects. Participants indicated if they would rather seek orientation from their leader or a peer (Study1, N=280; Study2, N=280), or from their leader, a peer or nobody (Study3, N=272). Supporting our predictions, locomotion positively predicted preferences to seek orientation from a leader rather than a peer – independently of the social orientation motives. In addition, and also in line with predictions, assessment mode and social orientation motives interacted, such that assessment positively predicted preferences to seek orientation from peers rather than leaders for self-enhancement motive, whilst not predicting leader or peer preferences for the other motives. Implications for how different targets are relevant to motivating followers at work are discussed