Being Authoritarian down the Road: Authoritarian Decision-Making and Implementation

Abstract

This paper focuses on disentangling the relationship between authoritarian decision-making and implementation, and how each relates to work unit outcomes. Survey data from 376 entry- level employees and 24 executives of 114 work units in a Chinese Fast Moving Consumer Goods company revealed three important findings. First, authoritarian decision making and implementation was shown to be two distinct components of authoritarian leadership. Second, the negative relationship between authoritarian decision making and work unit decision quality can be mitigated by authoritarian decision implementation, particularly when the leaders are viewed as competent. Third, compared to leaders who are evaluated highly on authoritarian decision implementation, those who are rated low build a stronger relationship between their authoritarian decision making and their work units’ citizenship behavior and voluntary turnover, which was mediated by work unit decision quality. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.