Linking authoritarian leadership to employee organizational embeddedness, LMX and performance in a high-power distance culture: a mediation-moderated analysis

The dual influence path of decent work perception on employee innovative behavior

Background

The goal of decent work (DW) is a win-win situation for both employees and employers. It promotes an individual's employability and enhances the competitiveness of the organization.

Design

Based on the conservation of resources theory (COR), this paper conducted survey on knowledge workers and analyzed the data by hierarchical linear model (HLM).

Research purposes

This paper aims to examine how decent work perception (DWP) influences employee innovation behavior through the mediating effect of job engagement and burnout and the moderating effect of authoritarian leadership.

Findings

Based on the results of statistical analyses conducted on 489 valid knowledge workers, it was demonstrated that DWP positively influence employee innovative behavior. Job engagement has a full mediating effect on the relationship between DWP and employee innovative behavior. The study did not support the mediating effect of job burnout, however. There is a positive moderating effect of authoritarian leadership on the relationship between DWP and job engagement and a negative moderating effect on the relationship between DWP and job burnout.

Implications

In addition to contributing to theoretical studies on DW and work behavior, this paper also contributes to practice on employee motivation and leadership.

The Influence of Authoritarian-Benevolent Leadership on Subordinates' Work Engagement: A Social Information Processing Perspective

Purpose

The dynamic and complex external environment calls for leaders to be both benevolent and authoritarian to cope with the mutually exclusive demands in the management process. But few research paid attention to the dark side of leaders' inconsistent behaviors on employees' work outcomes. Based on social information processing theory, this study investigated the impact of authoritarian-benevolent leadership on subordinates' work engagement and explored the mediating role of leader-member exchange ambivalence and the moderating role of trait mindfulness.

Methods

A two-wave time-lagged survey approach was employed and data from 309 employees from three Chinese companies were collected. R 4.2.1 and SPSS 26.0 were used to test our hypotheses.

Results

The findings demonstrated how subordinates were influenced in their work engagement by authoritarian-benevolent leadership and leader-member exchange ambivalence and emphasized the value of maintaining a high level of trait mindfulness. This study indicated that (1) authoritarian-benevolent leadership was negatively associated with work engagement, which was mediated by leader-member exchange ambivalence; (2) subordinates' trait mindfulness moderated the relationship between leader-member exchange ambivalence and work engagement; (3) the indirect effect of authoritarian-benevolent leadership on subordinates' work engagement through leader-member exchange ambivalence was moderated by subordinates' trait mindfulness.

Conclusion

This study reveals the dark side of authoritarian-benevolent leadership and deepens our understanding of the mechanism underlying the effect of authoritarian-benevolent leadership on subordinates' work engagement from a new theoretical perspective. Practical implications are provided for managers to effectively develop authoritarian-benevolent leadership skills and improve subordinates' work engagement.

The dynamic nature of leader-member exchange relationships in health-care organizations

PURPOSE

This study aims to make visible the dynamic nature of leader-member exchange (LMX) in the changing realm of health-care leadership.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

The qualitative study used an open questionnaire, which was distributed amongst nursing staff and managers at a Finnish public university hospital.

FINDINGS

The participants described partly LMX theory, but the leader-member relationship was also influenced by the organizational culture and the existing management practices. Nursing staff were found to have a more variable and dynamic role in the LMX relationship than has previously been reported. The research therefore provided novel information for the field of health-care research.

RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS

The presented research was limited by the content of the data, as the collected single narratives were rather short; however, the fact that a large number of narratives were collected from diverse participants strengthened the ability to reliably answer the research questions.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Although the participants described partly LMX theory, the leader-member relationship is also influenced by the organizational culture and existing management practices; the finding that nurses have more variable roles in LMX relationships in the health-care context was new insight in this field. Therefore, the presented findings can help decision-makers change the current, perhaps antiquated, leadership practices at health-care organizations.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

This study provides new insight into the field of LMX research in terms of the important role of nursing staff, the organizational factors that influence the LMX relationship and the dynamic nature of LMX relationships.

Authoritarian leadership and cyberloafing: A moderated mediation model of emotional exhaustion and power distance orientation

Drawing upon the conservation of resource theory (COR), this study proposes a moderated mediation model of authoritarian leadership on subordinates’ cyberloafing. Paired samples of 360 employees working in 103 teams from Chinese companies were collected at 2 points in time. The results show that authoritarian leadership positively affects subordinates’ cyberloafing and this relationship is mediated by emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, power distance orientation negatively moderates the relationship between authoritarian leadership and emotional exhaustion and also negatively moderates the indirect effect of authoritarian leadership on subordinates’ cyberloafing through subordinates’ emotional exhaustion. Our findings expand and enrich the literature on authoritarian leadership and cyberloafing and have significant practical implications for managing employees in this digital era.

Effects of Leaders’ Power Construal on Leader-Member Exchange: The Moderating Role of Competitive Climate at Work

How leaders construe their power may greatly affect the quality of relationships they have with their followers. Indeed, we propose that when leader power is (perceived to be) construed as responsibility, this will positively affect the extent to which followers perceive high quality leader-follower relationships (LMX), whereas the opposite will be true when leader power is (perceived to be) construed as opportunity. Moreover, we argue that these relationships are contingent on contextual influences, such that the effects will be particularly strong in environments characterized by competition, because such environments exacerbate the impact of leaders’ behavior. The results of a scenario experiment (Study 1), and a two-week time-lagged study among organizational employees (Study 2), showed that a manipulation of leaders’ tendency to view power as responsibility (Study 1), and followers’ perception of the extent to which their leader sees power as responsibility (Study 2) is positively related to follower LMX perceptions. Moreover, both Studies 1 and 2 and a dyadic field study in which we asked leaders to report on their tendency to view power as responsibility (Study 3) showed that this effect is stronger when the organizational climate is highly competitive. The results pertaining to power as opportunity were less consistent, but suggest a negative relationship with perceived LMX (Study 2), particularly when the organizational climate is highly competitive (Study 3). We conclude that the potential effects of leaders’ construal of power as responsibility or opportunity deserve more research attention than previously awarded and provide managerial ramifications of our findings.

Moderating role of power distance in the relationship between leader-leader exchange (LLX) and knowledge sharing: is feedback-seeking behavior a missing link?

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the effect of leader-leader exchange (LLX) on knowledge sharing through feedback-seeking behavior. The study also explores the moderating role of power distance.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional data of 290 knowledge workers from manufacturing and service firms in India were taken as a sample of the study. The hypotheses were tested using confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling and hierarchical regression.

Findings

The results showed that LLX positively affects knowledge sharing and feedback-seeking behavior mediates the relationship between LLX and knowledge sharing. Moreover, power distance does not moderate the relationship between LLX and knowledge sharing.

Originality/value

The present study one of its kind explores the relationship between LLX, feedback-seeking behavior, knowledge sharing and power distance.

"A Two-Edged Sword": Paternalistic Leadership and Nurses Performance: A Moderated Mediation Model

Background: The study investigates the impact of paternalistic leadership on the performance of nurses. Furthermore, it looks into the role of self-efficacy as a mediator in the relationship between paternalistic leadership and performance. It also looks into the role of power distance as a moderator. Methods: The study used a quantitative survey-based research approach, with questionnaire responses collected over time. Initially, 315 Chinese nurses were surveyed about their views on paternalistic leadership, self-efficacy, and power distance. While their supervisors were called after 6 weeks for a dyadic answer, they were asked to offer their thoughts on their performance. The AMOS 22 software was used for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), while the SPSS 22 software was employed for descriptive statistics, such as the correlation and regression analysis. Results: The findings demonstrated that paternalistic leadership had a beneficial impact on performance. Furthermore, the role of self-efficacy as a mediator and power distance as a moderating mediator in this relationship has been evidenced. Conclusion: The results suggest that paternalistic leadership has a good impact on nurse performance. Furthermore, self-efficacy as a mediator explains the association between paternalistic leadership and nursing performance adequately. Furthermore, power distance appeared to be a powerful moderator, as the moderated mediation results revealed that in high-power-distant societies, such as China, self-efficacy enhances the link between paternalistic leadership and nursing performance. Limitations and future directions were also discussed.

The Inhibitory Effect of Perceived Organizational Politics on Employee Voice Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Model

Research on the mediating mechanisms and boundary conditions of perceived organizational politics’ (POP) effect on employee voice is underdeveloped. Based on conservation of resources theory, we proposed a moderated mediation model in which organizational embeddedness acts as a mediator to explain why POP inhibits promotive and prohibitive voice. Additionally, we posited sense of impact as a boundary condition affecting this relationship. A time-lagged survey of 227 employed MBA students from a university in southwestern China revealed that organizational embeddedness mediates the relationship between POP and promotive and prohibitive voice, and sense of impact moderates the relationship between POP and promotive voice, such that the relationship is stronger when sense of impact is weaker. The moderating effect was not significant for prohibitive voice. These findings have implications for theory, practice, and further organizational research.