New research confirms that employees with empowering leaders are more proactive and, for the first time, shows that this effect occurs by increasing “role breadth self-efficacy”—defined as the confidence to do a variety of tasks beyond the job description. The research further shows that when subordinates trust the leader’s competency, the leader’s power sharing behavior increases the subordinates’ role breadth self-efficacy. However, contrary to what might be expected, the researchers propose that when subordinates trust the leader’s competency, it is less necessary for the leader to share their power to motivate proactive behaviors. The study, published today in Frontiers in Psychology, provides practical recommendations on empowering leadership for managers and organizations.