What is happening just below the CEO?

Abstract

Purpose The executives, just below the chief executive officers represent an important but rarely investigated senior executives. The purpose of this paper is to investigate their need for social acceptance and the impact of culture on the perceived use of transformational and transactional leadership behaviors. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional, multi-instrument design was used to investigate 439 Australian executives at the apex of their organization. Findings The results suggest that these executives identified a prominent need to self-deceive themselves when assessing their perceived use of transformational and transactional leadership behaviors. In addition, the cultural dimensions, such as supportiveness and performance orientation, were identified as influencing specific leadership behaviors, in order to produce competitive advantages. However, the cultural dimension of emphasis on rewards uniquely decreased the perceived use of several leadership behaviors (i.e. articulates vision, fosters the acceptance of group goals, and provides an appropriate role model). Research limitations/implications The study provides further evidence of how the social context impacts on leadership behaviors and thinking Practical implications The development of executive requires insights into how their personal need for social acceptance and culture alter their use of leadership. Originality/value Social desirability and specific culture dimensions do not uniformly influence the perceived use of transformational and transactional leadership behaviors.