Two to Tango? A cross-cultural investigation of the leader-follower agreement on authoritarian leadership

Abstract

This study investigates how the leader–follower agreement on authoritarian leadership influences the quality of communication experience with the leader across three countries: Taiwan, Turkey, and the U.S. We also examine the mediating role of the quality of communication in linking agreement on authoritarianism to subordinate in-role and extra-role performance. Our sample consisted of 674 Taiwanese, 409 Turkish, and 294 American employees and their leaders. The results demonstrate that in the U.S., the leader–follower agreement on this negative form of leadership has positive effects on the quality of communication. In Turkey, however, the leader–follower agreement on high levels of authoritarian leadership has a negative effect on interpersonal interactions. In Taiwan, agreement or disagreement on authoritarian leadership is not as important as in the U.S. or Turkey. We also found that the quality of communication experience was a significant mediating mechanism between the leader–follower agreement and follower performance in all three countries.