Carrot or stick? The impact of paternalistic leadership on the behavioral integration of top management teams in megaprojects

Abstract

PurposeFollowing the call to explore what leadership theory could be applicable in temporary organizations, the purpose of this study was to develop an integrative model linking the effects of paternalistic leadership styles (i.e. authoritarian, benevolent and moral) on the behavioral integration (BI) of top management teams (TMTs) in megaproject settings.Design/methodology/approachThe performance of the research model was tested based on empirical data collected from a sample of 43 megaproject TMTs.FindingsThe results show that the moral leadership style can significantly stimulate the BI of TMTs, whereas authoritarian leadership has a negative impact and benevolent leadership has no significant impact. Furthermore, trust in leader plays a partial mediating role between paternalistic leadership and BI, and the power distance value of TMT positively moderates the links between authoritarian and moral leadership styles and BI.Research limitations/implicationsThe TMT sample was drawn from China's megaprojects, most of which have global influence (e.g. Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge and Shanghai Expo), but the sampling approach limits the generalizability of the research findings to other contexts.Originality/valueThis study introduces the concept of BI into the realm of megaproject management and provides a novel perspective (i.e. paternalistic leadership) for exploring its antecedents. The findings, therefore, contribute to the literature by broadening the megaproject management research with a microfoundation perspective and by extending the extant paternalistic leadership in the context of temporary organizational settings.

A növekedéssel kapcsolatos kihívások és kontextuális kettős képesség. A felső vezetők (TMT) integráltságának vizsgálata

“…A magatartásbeli integráltság annak mértékére vonatkozik, hogy a felsővezetői csapat mennyire cselekszik egységként, osztja meg az információt, kollaborál és hoz együtt döntéseket. A magatartásbeli integráltság magában foglalja a felsővezetői csapat valamennyi fontos folyamatát (társas és érzelmi, feladat és magatartásbeli tendenciák), így ez egy átfogó és integrált fogalom, amely a felső vezetés működésének alapjait tükrözi vissza (Luo, Zheng, Ji & Liang 2018;Wan, Le, Wang, Xia & Liu, 2020).…”

Agresif Mizahın İntikam Niyetine Etkisinde Babacan Liderliğin Rolü

“…Babacan liderlerin organizasyonlarda yaşanan sinizm üzerinde olumsuz, etik iklim ve performans üzerinde ise olumlu bir etkiye sahiptir (Saygılı, Özer ve Karakaya, 2020). Bununla birlikte duygusal entegrasyonu sağladığı da görülmektedir (Wan, Le, Wang, Xia ve Liu, 2020). Babacan liderlik ile intikam niyeti arasındaki ilişkiyi doğrudan araştıran bir çalışma bulunmamakla birlikte, bu liderlik tarzının organizasyonlardaki olumlu iklime (Mussolino ve Calabrò, 2014) ve etik iklime (Erben ve Güneşer, 2008) katkı sunduğu, gerçekten aile lideri gibi içten davranan babacan liderlerin işyerindeki zorba ve sapkın davranışları azalttığı (Soylu, 2011) görülmüştür.…”

Complexity, leadership, and megaproject performance: A configuration analysis

“…This point was discussed by Mazur, Pisarski, Chang and Ashkanasy (2014) after studying a defense industry megaproject in Australia, wherein project managers exhibited high emotional-social competency when managing their stakeholders. Additionally, social competency allows proper communication, negotiation, and collaboration among multi-party teams (Wan, Le, Wang, Xia, & Liu, 2020) and stakeholders (Toor & Arain, 2012;Raziq, Borini, Malik, Ahmad & Shabaz, 2018;Sankaran, 2018). On the other hand, a project leader should also be flexible and adaptive, which are traits necessary to overcome change and any uncertain conditions that a megaproject might face.…”

“…Based on a narrative inquiry approach, Sankaran (2018) pointed out that megaproject managers must adapt to the project milieu to establish their individual roles, as it is important to balance all aspects of the project to support innovation and to meet unanticipated requirements. Recently, Wan et al (2020) discussed top managers in megaprojects across China, with a focus on adaptability in the paternalistic styles of leadership.…”