Title
Whipping into shape : construct definition, measurement, and validation of directive-achieving leadership in Chinese culture
Document Type
Journal article
Source Publication
Asia Pacific Journal of Management
Publication Date
9-1-2017
Volume
34
Issue
3
First Page
537
Last Page
563
Publisher
Springer New York LLC
Keywords
Authoritarian leadership, Confucianism, Directive-achieving leadership, Hierarchical approach to leadership, Role clarity, Trust
Abstract
Based on Confucian thought, this research theorizes a new form of hierarchical approach to leadership in Chinese culture. This leadership concept, termed as directive-achieving leadership, reflects the Confucian juxtaposition of hierarchical control with a training and achieving focus. Study 1 developed a measure for this leadership style and found evidence of its construct validity. In Study 2, we collected three-wave, multi-source data from 208 employees and their immediate supervisors working in a large state-owned group corporation located in China. This study examined how directive-achieving leadership affects subordinate job performance, in comparison with authoritarian leadership. Our findings revealed that directive-achieving leadership had a positive mediated relationship with subordinate job performance through role clarity and cognition-based trust. By contrast, authoritarian leadership showed no effect on the role clarity, trust, or job performance of subordinates. We discuss the implications of the hierarchical approach to leadership in the Chinese context and provide directions for future research.
DOI
10.1007/s10490-017-9511-6
Print ISSN
02174561
E-ISSN
15729958
Funding Information
This work is funded by a grant from Early Career Scheme, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (Project no. LU399913) and Li Ning Dissertation Grant of International Association for Chinese Management Research awarded to Tingting Chen. {LU399913}
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media New York. Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.
Additional Information
This research is based on Tingting Chen’s doctoral dissertation completed under the supervision of Kwok Leung at City University of Hong Kong. An earlier short version of this research was presented in the symposium entitled "Indigenous or universal? New progress in research on Chinese leadership" in the IACMR Hong Kong Conference during June 20–24, 2012.
Full-text Version
Publisher’s Version
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Chen, T., Li, F., & Leung, K. (2017). Whipping into shape: Construct definition, measurement, and validation of directive-achieving leadership in Chinese culture. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 34(3), 537-563. doi: 10.1007/s10490-017-9511-6
