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Effectiveness of a moral and benevolent leader: Probing the interactions of the dimensions of paternalistic leadership
Author(s) -
Niu ChunPai,
Wang AnChih,
Cheng BorShuian
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
asian journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.5
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-839X
pISSN - 1367-2223
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-839x.2008.01267.x
Subject(s) - paternalism , morality , psychology , social psychology , authoritarian leadership style , authoritarianism , supervisor , deference , affect (linguistics) , compliance (psychology) , democracy , political science , law , communication , politics
Paternalistic leadership has three dimensions: authoritarianism, benevolence and morality. Although it is important to understand how these dimensions interact to impact leadership effectiveness, previous studies have failed to identify consistent interaction effects of these dimensions, probably because of the high intercorrelations among the three dimensions. By manipulating the three dimensions independently in an experimental study ( N = 265 Taiwanese employees), we found that: (i) benevolence and morality increased subordinates' deference to supervisor and work motivation, although authoritarianism was unrelated to these outcomes; and (ii) benevolence and morality interacted to affect the same employee outcomes. Specifically, benevolent and moral leaders elicited more favourable employee outcomes than leaders exhibiting other leadership styles.