The topic of work engagement is moving up on the managerial agenda as it sets the stage for numerous beneficial outcomes for both organizations and their employees. It is clear, however, that not all employees are equally engaged in their job. The current study taps into theory on positive self-fulfilling prophecies induced by leaders’ high expectations of followers (i.e., the Pygmalion effect) and examines their potential to facilitate follower work engagement. By integrating literature on implicit followership theories with the Pygmalion model, we investigate the assumption that leaders’ high expectations are universally perceived as and therefore foster the same desirable results for all employees. We argue and find that the extent to which followers’ work engagement benefits from high leader expectations depends on their implicit followership theory of industry (IFTI; i.e., the general belief that employees are hardworking, productive, and willing to go above and beyond). We also find that when followers hold a high IFTI but feel that their leader does not convey high expectations, their engagement at work suffers. In addition, we examine whether leaders’ IFTI forms the origin of naturally occurring Pygmalion effects. Our results show that a positive IFTI among leaders is especially interpreted as high/positive expectations by followers who also hold a high/positive IFTI. Our study introduces boundary conditions to the Pygmalion-at-work model by revealing the interactive role of leaders’ and followers’ implicit followership theory of industry. We contribute to the advancement of cognitive, follower-centric perspectives on leadership and provide evidence for the importance of schema congruence.

工作参与的话题正在管理议程上上移，因为它为组织及其雇员创造了许多有益的成果。但是，很明显，并非所有员工都平等地从事其工作。当前的研究利用了有关领导者对追随者的高度期望（如皮格马利翁效应）所产生的积极自我实现的预言的理论，并考察了其促进追随者工作参与的潜力。通过将关于隐性跟随者理论的文献与皮格马利翁模型进行整合，我们研究了以下假设：领导者的高期望被普遍视为，因此为所有员工创造了相同的理想结果。我们争论并发现，领导者的高期望值使跟随者的工作参与程度在多大程度上取决于他们的隐性跟随者行业理论（IFTI；即，人们普遍认为员工勤奋，富有生产力并愿意超越自我）。我们还发现，当追随者持有较高的IFTI却认为其领导者没有传达出很高的期望时，他们的工作投入就会受到影响。此外，我们研究了领导者的IFTI是否构成了自然发生的皮格马利翁效应的起源。我们的结果表明，领导者中积极的IFTI尤其被持有同样IFTI的追随者解释为高/积极的期望。我们的研究通过揭示领导者和追随者的隐性产业追随者理论的互动作用，将边界条件引入了“工作中的皮格马利翁”模型。我们为领导力的认知，以追随者为中心的观点的发展做出了贡献，并为图式一致性的重要性提供了证据。