A Cross Cultural Perspective on Perceived Leadership Effectiveness

Abstract

We propose a theoretical model to explain how societal/cultural settings may influence the leadership perception processes of followers and the ways perceived leadership effectiveness can be achieved. We adopt five cultural dimensions - collectivism/individualism (CI), masculinity/femininity (MASC), power distance (PD), uncertainty avoidance (UA) and fatalism (FT), and relate them to two types of leadership perception modes - recognition-based and inference-based processes, and perceived leadership effectiveness. Propositions are developed concerning how these cultural dimensions would be expected to influence leadership perception processes. We also discuss our propositions from a multidimensional perspective. We propose that in some cultural settings, fitting leadership behaviors and traits to leadership prototypes will be more likely to lead to perceived leadership effectiveness. In other cultural settings, more positive group or organizational performance outcomes will be more likely to lead to perceived leadership effectiveness. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these propositions as they are embedded within an organizational context.