Paternalistic leadership, employee creativity, and retention: The role of psychological empowerment

Abstract

Drawing upon the cognitive evaluation theory, this study examined the relationship among the three dimensions of paternalistic leadership, namely, authoritarianism, benevolence, and morality on both employee creativity and intention to stay. Data from 344 subordinates and 132 leaders/supervisors were collected from 32 SMEs in the manufacturing industry of Ghana. The findings of the study revealed that while authoritarian leadership has a negative relationship with creativity, benevolent leadership impacts positively on both creativity and intention to stay. No significant relationship was recorded between moral leadership and creativity, as well as authoritarian leadership and intention to stay. Moreover, psychological empowerment was found to mediate the relationship among benevolent leadership, creativity, and intention to stay, as well as between moral leadership and intention to stay. The study provides a fresh practical and theoretical perspective on the underlying mechanism pertaining to the relationship among paternalistic leadership, creativity, and intention to stay.

Leadership integrity and employees’ success: role of ethical leadership, psychological capital, and psychological empowerment

“…Also, subordinates with low psychological empowerment may not feel empowered to follow business ethics strictly (Muniandi et al, 2021). In this regard, Gyamerah et al (2022) found that benevolent leadership combined with psychological empowerment can enhance employees' creativity and their intention to stay. Mubarak et al (2022) also examined the role of ethical leadership in project management and found that ethical leadership promotes project success directly and along with psychological empowerment as well.…”

A Cross-Level Analysis of Linking Transformational Leadership and Employee Creativity to Enhance Task Performance: The Mediating Effects of Person-Supervisor Fit and Psychological Empowerment

“…Another study indicated that transformational leadership greatly contributes to the linkage between organizational innovation at the corporate level and creativity at the individual level (Al Harbi et al, 2019). Psychological empowerment mediates the relationship between benevolent leadership and employee creativity in the dyadic relationship of 344 subordinates and 132 leaders/supervisors from 32 SMEs in the manufacturing industry of Ghana (Gyamerah, He, Asante, Ampaw, & Gyamerah, 2022). Transformational leadership can intrinsically motivate employees and play a crucial role in promoting individual employee creativity (Żywiołek et al, 2022).…”

Can Paternalistic Leadership Promote Chinese College Teachers’ Creativity? Understanding the Mediating Role of Creative Self-Efficacy

“…Paternalistic leadership, which has its roots in Chinese Confucianism (Hou et al, 2019), is a very distinct leadership style that formed in Western society . According to Gyamerah et al (2022), paternalistic leadership is defined as a leadership style combining strict authority, fatherly kindness, and moral integrity with three dimensions: authoritarianism, benevolence, and moral leadership. Authoritarian leadership usually implies specific rewards, punishments, centralized power, and absolute control of leadership behaviors influenced by the ancient Chinese hierarchy (Chen et al, 2018).…”

“…Benevolent leadership refers to behaviors in which leaders show holistic concern for individual employees and their families, manifested in individual care and compassionate tolerance (Farh & Cheng, 2000;Gyamerah et al, 2022). Leaders show genuine kindness and care for their subordinates, which creates gratitude and further enhances subordinates' compliance (Lee et al, 2023).…”