Looking for Leadership in All the Wrong Places: The Impact of Culture on Proactive Followership and Follower Dissent

Abstract

AbstractDespite increasing globalization, we know little about how culture influences leader–follower relationships. Specifically, what is the impact of cultural values and norms on followers’ view of their role, and their willingness to disagree with a team's or a leader's decision? Recognizing that followers by definition represent a lower status and marginalized group, we explore how cultural values and tightness–looseness theories influence proactive followership and follower dissent. We theorize that the intersection of theories of followership, power distance, cultural tightness–looseness, and minority dissent provides a rich opportunity to understand cultural differences in how followers lead and follow. We develop propositions regarding these interrelations, and conclude with implications for predicting which contexts will be more or less conducive to proactive followership and follower dissent, with the goal of fostering more innovative and effective decisions. We suggest that values and norms focused on hierarchy and control will limit active follower beliefs in shared responsibility for leadership, thus marginalizing leadership exhibited by those in follower roles.