Leader-Follower Agreement on Paternalistic Leadership: A Cross-Cultural Investigation

Abstract

This study investigates how leader-follower agreement on two dimensions of paternalistic leadership (i.e., authoritarianism and benevolence) influence quality of communication experience with the leader across three countries: Taiwan, Turkey, and the U.S. We also examine the mediating role of quality of communication in linking agreement on paternalism to subordinate performance (i.e., in-role and extra-role performance). Our sample consisted of 674 Taiwanese, 409 Turkish, and 294 American employees and their leaders. For benevolence dimension, the highest quality of communication was reported for in-agreement/high leaders, second highest for under-estimators, third highest for in-agreement/low and the lowest for over-estimators, regardless of culture. However, agreement on benevolence was more important in Turkey and the U.S., as compared to Taiwan in predicting the quality of communication with leaders. Authoritarianism dimension, a negative leadership style, revealed more variability across countries suggesting that not only leader-follower agreement per se, but also the nature of leadership under question is important. Quality of communication experience was found to be a significant mediating mechanism in all three countries.