Impact of Differential Leadership on Employee Zhengchong Behavior: A Complex Network’s Perspective

Abstract

Differential leadership exists widely in family businesses. How to maintain the effective operation of differential leadership by conforming to cultural traditions and shaping people’s psychology and sense of value has become a popular topic in recent years. At the same time, employee zhengchong (striving for a favor) behavior is common in the family enterprises formed by the logic that there are insiders (employees on leaders’ own side) and outsiders (employees not on leaders’ own side) in family enterprises. How to reasonably guide employee zhengchong behavior is very important to the sustainable development of family enterprises. Based on the social comparison theory, this study focuses on exploring the influence of differential leadership on employee zhengchong behavior. Based on the perspective of a complex network, a network evolutionary game model among employees was constructed, and through numerical simulation, it was attempted to explore the key factors affecting the choice of strategies for employee zhengchong behavior in family enterprises. The simulation results show that the degree of partiality of differential leadership has a certain influence on employee zhengchong behavior. For today’s family businesses, moderate partiality is more conducive to the spread of employee zhengchong behavior. In addition, employees’ perception of differential atmosphere has a positive role in promoting favoritism. Leadership plays an important role in the process of employees showing themselves and improving their skills. Therefore, it is of great significance for the sustainable development of the family business to understand how the differential leadership style can effectively promote the positive behavior of employees. This study innovatively uses the complex network theory to reveal the influence of differential leadership on employee zhengchong behavior and confirms that leaders’ moderate partiality and employees’ perception of differential atmosphere can promote employee zhengchong behavior. The research conclusions can provide practical experience for enterprises.