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Does paternalistic leadership promote innovative behavior? The interaction between authoritarianism and benevolence
Author(s) -
Tian Qing,
Sanchez Juan I.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/jasp.12431
Subject(s) - paternalism , authoritarianism , authoritarian leadership style , psychology , social psychology , supervisor , political science , democracy , law , politics
Abstract We theorize about the separate and interactive effects of the two primary elements of paternalistic leadership: authoritarianism and benevolence. Accordingly, we test a mediating mechanism through which these components of paternalistic leadership stimulate employee innovative and knowledge‐sharing behaviors. A multi‐source and multi‐level study involving 302 employee‐supervisor‐peer triads in 60 Chinese technology‐based organizations supported the association between the interaction of benevolent and authoritarian leadership and employee affective trust, innovative behavior, and knowledge sharing. Moreover, affective trust mediated the interaction of benevolence and authoritarianism on employee innovative behavior and knowledge sharing. We suggest that, the two constructs underlying paternalistic leadership might promote employee breakthrough behaviors across cultures. That is, their demanding and yet selfless stance turns authoritarian‐benevolent leaders into prototypes of the followers' aspirational social identity.