Linking authoritarian leadership to employee creativity

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 384-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jibao Gu ◽  
Gang Wang ◽  
Hefu Liu ◽  
Derun Song ◽  
Changqing He
Keyword(s):  
Low Power ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Team Building ◽  
Power Distance ◽  
Team Identification ◽  
Employee Creativity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Authoritarian Leadership ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Negative Relationships

PurposeThe present study aims to examine how and when authoritarian leadership affects employee creativity. Based on social exchange theory and team identification literature, the present research attempts to simultaneously explore how leader–member exchange (LMX) and team identification serve as two important mediating processes in the relationship between authoritarian leadership and employee creativity. Furthermore, this research uncovers the mechanism under which conditions the effects of authoritarian leadership will be magnified or minimized.Design/methodology/approachA survey has been conducted in China by using a questionnaire to collect data. The study sample consisted of 325 employees. LISREL 8.7 and SPSS 18.0 were used to test the mediating and moderating effects, respectively.FindingsResults from 325 employees revealed that both LMX and team identification mediated the negative relationships between authoritarian leadership and employee creativity. Specifically, the relationship between two mediators was that LMX was positively related to team identification. In addition, the relationship between authoritarian leaderships and LMX and team identification was moderated by power distance, such that the negative relationships will be weaker with high power distance and stronger with low power distance.Practical implicationsFirst, firms and managers should recognize and take actions to reduce the negative effects of authoritarian leadership, such as effective selection system and interventional mechanisms because authoritarian leadership is important in influencing employee creativity. Second, managers are suggested to take specific actions, such as increasing communications and team-building activities, to promote LMX and team identification, thereby enhancing employee creativity. Third, managers should engage in behaviors that motivate employee creativity, such as empowerment behaviors, other than authoritarian leadership, when the employee has low power distance.Originality/valueThe primary contribution of this research is that two psychological processes (i.e. LMX and team identification) have been identified through which authoritarian leadership is related to employee creativity. Meanwhile, this study explores the relationship between LMX and team identification. Moreover, the current research deepens our understanding of power distance by empirically examining the moderating effect of power distance. Overall, the findings extend our understanding about the relationship between authoritarian leadership and employee creativity and contribute to literature on authoritarian leadership and creativity.

Effect of authoritarian leadership on user resistance to change: evidence from IS project implementation in China

2020 ◽  
Vol 120 (10) ◽  
pp. 1813-1834
Author(s):  
Yajun Zhang ◽  
Peiran Gao ◽  
Junwei Zhang ◽  
Lu Lu
Keyword(s):  
Resistance To Change ◽  
Negative Emotion ◽  
Power Distance ◽  
Matched Pair ◽  
Project Implementation ◽  
Project Leadership ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Authoritarian Leadership ◽  
User Resistance ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeUser resistance to change has been identified as a significant cause of information system (IS) implementation failure. Previous studies have proposed antecedents of user resistance to change. However, whether project leadership (e.g. authoritarian leadership) can lead to user resistance to change remains unclear. By drawing on project leadership, affective event theory and contingency theory of leadership, the authors address this void by empirically examining whether authoritarian leadership can lead to user resistance to change through the mediation of negative emotion and whether the magnitude of this mediation depends on the power distance level.Design/methodology/approachThis study examines the authors’ research model that integrates authoritarian leadership, negative emotion, power distance and user resistance to change using data from a matched-pair survey of 278 users and their supervisors involved in IS project implementation in China.FindingsNegative emotion plays a mediating role in the relationship of authoritarian leadership and user resistance to change. In addition, power distance moderates the relationship between authoritarian leadership and negative emotion and the indirect effect of authoritarian leadership on user resistance to change in IS project implementation through negative emotion.Originality/valueThe authors’ research provides a comprehensive understanding of the antecedents of user resistance to change in IS project implementation and ultimately contributes to the IS project implementation literature and practice.

Modeling team performance from the perspective of politics and ethical leadership

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 1357-1380
Author(s):  
Chieh-Peng Lin ◽  
Na-Ting Liu ◽  
Chou-Kang Chiu ◽  
Kuang-Jung Chen ◽  
Ni-Chen Lin
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
Team Performance ◽  
Ethical Leadership ◽  
Insurance Industry ◽  
Team Identification ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Member Exchange ◽  
Performance Development ◽  
Indirect Relationship ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a model of team performance by applying social exchange and social capital perspectives in a single model setting. It hypothesizes that team performance is indirectly affected by politics through leader–member capitalization (LMC) and by ethical leadership through leader–member exchange (LMX). Meanwhile, team identification is hypothesized to moderate the relationships between politics and LMC and between ethical leadership and LMX. Design/methodology/approach The hypotheses of this study were empirically tested using a survey of work teams from the banking and insurance industry in Taipei, Taiwan. Findings The relationship between team performance and ethical leadership is fully mediated by LMX, while the indirect relationship between team performance and politics is mediated via both LMC and LMX. Team identification positively moderates the relationship between ethical leadership and LMX. Originality/value This study is one of the few to examine the mediating roles of LMC and LMX simultaneously in team performance development. This study provides several key findings that complement the existing literature by evaluating fresh associations among LMC, LMX and their determinants and moderator.

Frontline employee age and customer mistreatment: a meta-analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehmet Okan ◽  
Ayse Banu Elmadag ◽  
Elif İdemen
Keyword(s):  
Low Power ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Power Distance ◽  
Range Restriction ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Frontline Employee ◽  
Older Employees ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Employee Age

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive meta-analytic examination of the relationship between employee age and customer mistreatment. Drawing on socioemotional selectivity theory and taking the cross-cultural and cross-sectoral differences into account and making the country-level and occupation-level comparisons possible for uncovering when age matters, the role of employee age on decreasing customer mistreatment is examined. Design/methodology/approach The data comprises of 103 independent samples collected from 48,067 frontline employees. Random effects individual correction meta-analysis procedure is used to aggregate correlation coefficients and correct them for sampling, measurement and range restriction errors. Meta-regression is used for examining the impact of key moderators. Findings Results consistently show that frontline employee exposure to customer mistreatment is decreased with age. Regarding national differences, negative associations are stronger in low power distance countries. Age has more potential to provide high-quality relations with customers in healthcare, banking, compared to call centers and hospitality sectors. Practical implications Healthy customer relations with fewer customer mistreatments come with employee age. However, results warn service managers about cultural and industry-related boundary conditions such as power distance and service orientation expectations. Originality/value This study is the first meta-analysis on the relationship between two contemporary challenges in organizational frontlines: the aging workforce and customer mistreatment. By conducting comprehensive data collection and analyses, this study concludes that older employees, especially in low power distance cultures, bring wisdom to service environments.

Linking servant leadership to employee creativity

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 215-233
Author(s):  
Jin Yang ◽  
Cuiping Ma ◽  
Jibao Gu ◽  
Hefu Liu
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Servant Leadership ◽  
Social Identity Theory ◽  
Team Identification ◽  
Employee Creativity ◽  
Mediation Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Leadership Influence ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose This paper aims to put forth a model that accounts for the effect of servant leadership on employee creativity from a social identity perspective. Specifically, this paper aims to examine team identification as the mediating mechanism by which servant leadership influence employee creativity. This paper also intends to investigate the moderating influences of horizontal and vertical collectivism on the effectiveness of servant leadership on follower team identification. Design/methodology/approach Servant leadership, team identification, collectivism (consisted of horizontal and vertical collectivism) and employee creativity were assessed in an empirical study based on a sample of 451 employees from 11 banks in China. Findings Drawing on social identity theory, this study found that follower team identification partially mediates the relationship between servant leadership and employee creativity. In addition, results showed that horizontal collectivism moderates the relationship between servant leadership and follower team identification; the relationship was more positive when horizontal collectivism was high, rather than low; vertical collectivism also moderates the relationship between servant leadership and follower team identification; the relationship was more positive when vertical collectivism was low, rather than high. However, results of this study indicated that the moderated mediation effects of team identification on the relationship between servant leadership and employee creativity are nonsignificant. Practical implications First, this research affirmed the need to promote servant leadership in employment settings. Second, managers’ understandings of the instrumental role of servant leadership in showing interpersonal acceptance, offering encouragement and support and expressing trust would prove to be valuable because it could enhance employee creativity. Finally, the findings from this study should help managers gain a better understanding of the contextual factors. Originality/value The first contribution of the current study was to identify team identification as an important psychological process that can link servant leadership to employee creativity. Another important contribution of the current research was the identification of the boundary conditions (e.g. horizontal and vertical collectivism).

Abusive supervision and employee creativity: a moderated mediation model

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-207
Author(s):  
Chuangang Shen ◽  
Yucheng Zhang ◽  
Jing Yang ◽  
Siqi Liu
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
Harmful Effect ◽  
Abusive Supervision ◽  
Proactive Personality ◽  
Employee Creativity ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the harmful effect of abusive supervision on employee creativity through feedback-seeking behavior (FSB) and the moderation of this mediation by proactive personality.Design/methodology/approachThis study conducted hierarchical regression and path analysis to analyze the 341 manager–employee dyads data gathered from 11 companies in China.FindingsThe results reveal that abusive supervision had a detrimental effect on employee creativity partially mediated by employee FSB, and employees' proactive personality moderated the mediation.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the findings of this research are based on multiple sources data, it is hard to draw causal inferences because the nature of the data is cross-sectional.Practical implicationsOrganizations should be aware of the deleterious effect of abusive supervision on employee creativity and should seek to inhibit supervisors' abusive behavior in the workplace.Originality/valueThis study re-examines the relationship between abusive supervision and employee creativity in the Chinese context from the social exchange perspective. The mediating role of FSB and the moderating role of proactive personality offer new insights in-to the mechanisms and boundary conditions associated with the relationship between abusive supervision and employee creativity.

Combined influence of exchange quality and organizational identity on the relationship between authoritarian leadership and employee innovation: evidence from China

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
ShanLiang Zhang ◽  
Yongwei Wang ◽  
Jinhua Ye ◽  
Yiru Li
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Exchange Theory ◽  
Research Model ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Authoritarian Leadership ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Innovation Behavior

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the combined influence of exchange quality (i.e. leader-member exchange or LMX, and coworker exchange or CWX) and organizational identity on the relationship between authoritarian leadership and employee innovation based on social cognition theory and social exchange theory.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used mediation analysis, moderation analysis and bootstrapping method to test the proposed model with data from 286 supervisor-subordinate dyads in China, covering manufacturing and Internet companies. This study also used the time-lag design, and the questionnaires were collected by means of multi-source and multiphase.FindingsThe results indicate that authoritarian leadership can positively influence employee innovation behavior, and organizational identity mediates this relationship. Both LMX and CWX can significantly moderate the relationship between authoritarian leadership and organizational identity, while the moderating effect is the opposite. To be specific, CWX has appositive effect, while LMX has a negative effect. Furthermore, the indirect effect of authoritarian leadership on employee innovation behavior via organizational identity is also moderated by LMX.Originality/valueAt present, scholars have not yet reached a consensus on the relationship between authoritarian leadership and employee innovation behavior. Based on social cognition theory and social exchange theory, this study incorporates organizational identity and exchange quality into the research model to explore this lack of consensus. By verifying the research model, this study offers original views on when and how authoritarian leadership and exchange quality affect employee innovation behavior, which enriches the current research on employee innovation and the effectiveness of authoritarian leadership in different cultural contexts.

Team Networks and Team Identification: The Role of Leader-Member Exchange

2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (7) ◽  
pp. 1115-1123 ◽  
Author(s):  
KeXin Guan ◽  
ZhengXue Luo ◽  
JiaXi Peng ◽  
Zhen Wang ◽  
HaiTing Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
Social Identity Theory ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Team Identification ◽  
Leader Member Exchange ◽  
Exchange Relationships ◽  
Member Exchange ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Relationship

We examined the relationship among team networks, leader-member exchange (LMX), and team identification in the workplace. Social network theory, social exchange theory, and social identity theory served as references for our theoretical propositions and analyses. We collected data from a sample of 223 teams of military personnel, serving in the artillery in West China. We found that the team networks had a significant effect on team identification. Further, the variance and the mean for LMX in teams interacted in influencing team identification (β =-.893, p < .01). Our findings indicated that creating productive networks in teams would be useful to enhance team identification, the effect of which may be carried on through to building exchange relationships between leader and follower.

Civil engineers’ personal values/demographics linkage in project team building

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 1337-1349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atilla Damci ◽  
David Arditi ◽  
Gul Polat
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Personal Values ◽  
Team Building ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Team Leaders ◽  
Content Type ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Civil Engineers

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between civil engineers’ demographics (e.g. age, marital status, education, work experience) and their personal values. The objective was to predict civil engineers’ personal values based on their demographics. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire survey was administered to civil engineers to collect data on their demographics and their personal values. Statistical analysis was performed to verify whether a significant statistical relationship exists between civil engineers’ demographics and their personal values. Findings The most important and the least important personal values were identified for civil engineers. Statistical analysis indicated that civil engineers’ values do vary based on their demographics. Research limitations/implications The results of this study cannot be generalized, because individuals’ personal values and demographics are, by definition, local. Location and culture may affect the personal values of civil engineers. Practical implications Team leaders normally have access to information about the demographics of the engineers they employ; based on the results of this study, they should be able to predict their personal values, and to make more informed decisions when appointing them to particular positions on project teams. Originality/value The research presented in this paper, establishes for the first time, that a linkage exists between civil engineers’ personal values and their demographics, and makes it easier for team leaders to make assignment decisions.

Effects of suppliers’ trust and commitment on customer involvement

2015 ◽  
Vol 115 (6) ◽  
pp. 1041-1066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Li ◽  
Gang Li ◽  
Taiwen Feng
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Social Exchange Theory ◽  
Exchange Theory ◽  
Governance Mechanism ◽  
Relational Governance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Involvement ◽  
Specific Investment ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships among suppliers’ trust and commitment, transaction-specific investment, switching cost, and customer involvement within the context of relational governance mechanism and the social exchange theory. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use survey data from 214 Chinese manufacturing firms and employ the structural equation model to verify the conceptual model. Findings – Relational governance benefits customer involvement. Transaction-specific investment mediates the relationship between trust and commitment of suppliers. Switching costs negatively moderate the relationship between suppliers’ trust and customer involvement, but positively moderate the relationship between suppliers’ commitment and customer involvement. Research limitations/implications – The authors focus on two key elements of relationship, namely, trust and commitment of suppliers, but neglect other relational factors, such as relational norms and interdependence. Originality/value – These findings broaden the understanding and present new directions for the implementation of customer involvement from the perspective of relational governance and social exchange theory.

Dual crossover mechanisms of benevolent supervision on followers' contextual performance and emotional exhaustion alleviation

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ya-Ting Chuang ◽  
Hua-Ling Chiang ◽  
An-Pan Lin ◽  
Yung-Chih Lien
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
Leadership Style ◽  
Emotional Exhaustion ◽  
Contextual Performance ◽  
Conservation Of Resources ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Performance Orientation ◽  
Member Exchange ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeAdopting conservation of resources (COR) theory as a guiding framework, this study proposes that benevolent supervision (BS) is a feasible leadership style for building a positive resource gain process in subordinates' extra-role actions and reducing their exhaustion, and leader-member exchange (LMX) and positive affect (PA) serve as indirect crossover mechanisms.Design/methodology/approachSurveys were conducted at three-time points with four-week intervals. A total of 304 subordinates and 55 supervisors at a Taiwanese university participated in the surveys, and a multilevel model was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results showed that prior BS (time 1) was positively associated with subordinates' subsequent LMX and PA (time 2). LMX mediated the relationship between BS and subsequent supervisor-rated contextual performance (time 3), and PA mediated the relationship between BS and subordinate-rated emotional exhaustion (time 3). In addition, supervisors' learning orientation positively moderated the relationship between BS and contextual performance via LMX, whereas supervisors' performance orientation negatively moderated this relationship.Practical implicationsThe results of the study encourage leaders to exhibit benevolence toward subordinates, increase subordinates' contextual performance and enhance personal feelings, thereby ultimately benefitting the organization.Originality/valueThis study reveals that BS is a source of resource investment in the process of subordinates' positive job (contextual performance) and personal (emotional exhaustion) resource gains through social exchange (LMX) and affective (PA) crossover mechanisms and that supervisors' goal inclinations impact this process.

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