Effectiveness of a moral and benevolent leader: Probing the interactions of the dimensions of paternalistic leadership

Abstract

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.

The curvilinear effect of benevolent leadership on team performance: The mediating role of team action processes and the moderating role of team commitment

“…Although some studies find that benevolence positively predicts follower performance (e.g,. Chan & Mak, 2012;Chan, Huang, Snape, & Lam, 2013;Chen et al, 2014Chen et al, , 2015, others maintain that leaders exhibiting high levels of personal concern for followers do not necessarily always result in favorable follower work outcomes (e.g., Niu, Wang, & Cheng, 2009;Pellegrini et al, 2010;Wang, Chiang, Tsai, Lin, & Cheng, 2013;Wu, Huang, Li, & Liu, 2012). Indeed, a leader who is too nice could perhaps unintentionally harm his or her team (Fertik, 2014).…”

Does paternalistic leadership promote innovative behavior? The interaction between authoritarianism and benevolence

“…Chan et al () reported that the negative effect of authoritarianism on task performance and citizenship behavior was weakened by its interaction with benevolence. However, the AL by BL interaction effects on employee outcomes have proven elusive (Chan et al, ; Chen et al, ; Cheng, Chou, Wu, Huang, & Farh, ; Cheng et al, ; Farh, Cheng, Chou, & Chu, ; Niu, Wang, & Cheng, ).…”

Relationship between Paternalistic Leadership and Organizational Commitment in Hospitality Industry: Case of Antalya, Turkey

“…Farh and Cheng (2000) state that paternalistic leadership dimensions affect the employees' effectiveness. Niu et al (2009) argue that high benevolence strengths the positive relationship between authorism and subordinates' activities and that the moral virtues of leader will enhance the influence of the leader' authoritarian and benevolence characteristics on the employees' effectiveness. Cheng et al (2004) claim that if the leader has a sense of high benevolence, authoritarianism has either positive effect or no effects but if the leader has a sense of low benevolence, authoritarianism has negative effects on employees' behaviors.…”