Multi-cultural leadership teams and organizational identification in international joint ventures

Many international joint ventures (IJVs) fare poorly. An important factor is that members of an IJV top management team (TMT), which generally comprises people from different cultures, often find it difficult to work together. In this paper we argue that social identity theory and organizational identification processes can help us understand why this is so. We propose that factionalism in a TMT is a significant hazard posed by member identification with different parents. In addition, identification with both the IJV and a parent firm can lead to significant role conflict for IJV top managers. Factionalism and role conflict in turn can result in poor intra-TMT communications and inefficient decision making. Literature in social identity theory and organizational identification suggests that the relative status and power of parents as well as successes of IJVs can affect TMT members' identification with the IJV or the parent company. Preliminary field interviews provide general support for these propositions. Our analysis suggests that organizational identity and identification can be a valuable tool to facilitate the understanding of TMT functioning and IJV performance.     

The influence of transformational leadership and organizational identification on intrapreneurship

Managers play a vital role in encouraging and supporting the initiatives of individual employees to explore new opportunities, to develop new products or to improve work procedures for the benefit of the organization. This study examines the influence of manager leadership styles on employee intrapreneurial behavior and the mediating role of organizational identification. Partial Least Squares modeling was used to analyze the data from 186 employees belonging to several Spanish public and private organizations. The results show that transformational leadership has a positive impact on employee intrapreneurial behavior, whereas transactional leadership negatively influences it. Furthermore, these effects are found to be partially mediated by organizational identification.     

Authentic leadership and intrapreneurial behavior: cross-level analysis of the mediator effect of organizational identification and empowerment

Intrapreneurial activity is positively associated with the organizational growth, and the factors that stimulate such behaviors need to be identified. The general goal of this work is to explore the relationship of authentic leadership with employees’ intrapreneurial behavior and the intervening processes. A correlational study was carried out with 212 employees of Spanish companies, in which two cross-level mediation hypotheses were tested. The results obtained indicate that employees’ organizational identification and organizational empowerment both mediate the relationship between authentic leadership and employees’ intrapreneurial behaviors. In this work, we note the importance of including authentic leadership as an antecedent of intrapreneurship.     

Creating comprehensive leadership pipelines: Applying the real options approach to organizational leadership development

Typically, firms consider leadership development (i.e., training focused on skills required for success in leadership roles) and succession planning (i.e., the creation and implementation of long-term plans that address changes in top leadership roles) as two distinct organizational initiatives. In recent years, however, scholars and practitioners have called for a new, more comprehensive approach that considers the organization as a system. Rather than considering succession planning and leadership development as distinctly different initiatives, organizations should work to create internal leadership pipelines that span entry-level employees to executives. To leverage potential advantages associated with instituting comprehensive leadership pipelines and to address practical concerns associated with risk and talent management, we propose the introduction of incremental investment in organization-wide leadership development programs via distinct, evaluative stages – a real options reasoning (ROR) approach to leadership. We argue that blending ROR with skills-based leadership models diversifies risk associated with investments in talent management and increases the ability for targeted, purposeful investment in potential organizational leaders.     

Paternalist leadership style of the organizational trust

This study aims to evaluate the effect of paternalist administrators on the organizational trust of teachers working in their context. The notions of paternalist leadership style, trust, and organizational trust are explained based on literature. The study is based on qualitative research approach. Despite this, the short version of “Paternalist Leadership Scale”, developed by Cheng in 2004 and a short version prepared in 2014 is used initially. Administrators with paternalist leadership characteristic were established with the help of this scale. Later, open ended questions, developed by the authors, were asked to teachers in the schools as organizations of those administrators with the aim of establishing their “trust for the administrator and for the organization”. The sample of the research was made up of 30 teachers working at 5 primary schools of the North Cyprus Ministry of National Education during the 2016–2017 school year. It was observed in the findings that in the eyes of the teachers social characteristics of individuals were most important in creating and enhancing the feeling of trust. In addition, it was observed that personal characteristics were some of the defining factors in developing trust. The conclusion was reached that teachers working with paternalist administrators had positive communications with school administrators and colleagues, and that they carried out their relationships within the rules of good manners and kindness. Again, in the eyes of teachers, it was established that paternalist administrators were eager to renew themselves. Finally, paternalist administrators were found, with a high percentage, to be quite qualified in establishing organizational trust. In conclusion, based on the findings of this study, it can be said that administrators with paternal leadership qualities are qualified in creating organizational trust; therefore, it will be important to train administrators in developing their paternal leadership styles.     

Cultural Complementarity: Reshaping professional and organizational logics in developing frontline medical leadership

With the rise of clinical management, new skills of medical doctors stand out, including leadership skills. Medical doctors organize medical work and improve patient care. The training of frontline leadership skills, however, is weakly developed in residency programmes. Medical professional cultures tend to resist organizational techniques and values. This paper analyses cultural interventions in health-care organizations, aimed at overcoming ‘clashes’ between professional and organizational logics in frontline domains. These interventions do not work against, but ‘use’ professional traditions, styles and customs as cultural resources. We use one particular project to illustrate this, a project in which internal medicine residents are invited to join quality improvement sessions, during which they identify critical (organizational) experiences with care provision and realize change. We show how residents feel enabled to establish results and cooperate with other professionals. We also show how this project links organizational responsibilities and medical professionalism – how complementarity (instead of conflict) is established. This is done in practical ways, which commit instead of alienate medical professionals.     

The role of organizational culture in the relationship between leadership and organizational commitment: an empirical study in a Greek organization

The aim of this paper is to explore the nature of relationships between organizational culture and leadership behaviours in affecting employees' commitment to their work organization. Building on organizational commitment literature, this study used a survey methodology. Empirical evidence was obtained from 300 employees working in a large Greek service company. The analyses indicated that the culture orientations examined served as mediators in the relationship between leader behaviour and followers' affective and normative commitment to the organization. The findings also indicated that continuance commitment is a two-dimensional construct; the ‘personal sacrifices’ dimension was found to be related to organizational culture and transactional contingent reward. This research paper has key messages for practitioners contributing to the fields of commitment, organizational culture, leadership and human resource management.     

Transformational leadership behaviors,the empowering process,and organizational commitment: investigating the moderating role of organizational structure in Korea

Transformational leadership has received growing attention in leadership studies. However, open questions remain concerning its operationalization and its universal effectiveness. Drawing on transformational leadership theory and leadership contingency theory, this study explores these issues in an Asian context. Survey responses from 491 employees working for foreign subsidiaries in Korea were analyzed. Given their multi-dimensionality, transformational leadership behaviors were framed as a two-dimensional structure: organization-related behaviors (OBs) and person-related behaviors (PBs). Findings showed that both OBs and PBs were mediated by psychological empowerment to determine organizational commitment. More importantly, the findings indicated that the empowering process driven by both leadership behaviors is contingent on organizational structure. Specifically, centralization negatively moderated the empowering process of PBs. Formalization positively moderated the empowering process of OBs and negatively moderated that of PBs. These findings have noteworthy value by virtue of quantitatively revealing the organizational structure wherein the empowering process of transformational leadership behaviors is effectively induced in South Korea. Based on the results, significant theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Empowering leadership: leading people to be present through affective organizational commitment?*

Abstract

This study tested a mediation model in which empowering leadership was negatively related to three withdrawal behaviors: lateness, absenteeism, and turnover intention, with affective organizational commitment as a mediator. With 294 full‐time US employees, results from structural equation modeling indicated that empowering leader behaviors at one time were positively related to estimates of affective organizational commitment at a second time, which in turn was negatively related to absenteeism and turnover intention at a final time. Additionally, no significant direct effect was found between empowering leadership and withdrawal behaviors, further supporting the mediation model. However, neither empowering leadership nor affective commitment influenced followers' lateness. Empowering leadership, which provides employees with autonomy and developmental support, may have a favorable effect on employees' decisions to attend and stay in the organization, as well as their affective reaction to the organization in the form of psychological commitment. This study extended prior research models by examining a full range of withdrawal behaviors in relation to empowering leadership and showed that commitment may explain why empowering leader behaviors can affect employees' retention decisions.     

Examining transformational leadership,job satisfaction,organizational commitment and organizational trust in Turkish hospitals: public servants versus private sector employees

Leadership, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and trust have become important processes for healthcare management in recent years. One of the contemporary human resource management functions in the organizations involves engaging in leadership development, improving organizational trust and organizational commitment and increasing job satisfaction. Considering the rapidly changing healthcare technology and higher levels of occupational complexity, healthcare organizations are increasingly in need of engaging in leadership development in any given area of expertise to address ever-changing nature of the industry and the delivery of quality of care while remaining cost-effective and competitive. This paper investigates the perceptions of both public servants and private sector employees (outsourcing) on transformational leadership, organizational commitment, organizational trust and job satisfaction in Turkish healthcare industry. Additionally, the paper analyzes the predictability of organizational commitment based on employee – both public servants (physicians, nurses, administrative personnel and other healthcare professionals) and private sector employees (outsourcing) (auxiliary services such as administrative assistants, security personnel, kitchen, laundry and housekeeping employees) – perceptions of transformational leadership, job satisfaction and organizational trust. Using a survey instrument with items adopted from the transformational leadership inventory (TLI) [Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Moorman, R. H., & Fetter, R. (1990). Transformational leader behaviors and their effects on followers' trust in leader, satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Leadership Quarterly, 1, 107–142], the organizational commitment questionnaire [Meyer, J. P., & Allen, N. J. (1997). Commitment in the workplace: Theory, research, and application. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage], the organizational trust inventory (OTI) [Cummings, L. L., & Bromiley, P. (1996). The occupational trust inventory (OTI): Development and validation. In R. Kramer & T. Tyler (Eds.), Trust in organizations: Frontiers of Theory and Research (pp. 302–330). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage] and job satisfaction survey (JSS) [Spector, P. E. (1985). Measurement of human service staff satisfaction: Development of the job satisfaction survey. American Journal of Community Psychology, 13, 693–731], this quantitative study was conducted among 2108 healthcare employees (public servants and private employees) in two large government hospitals in Turkey. The study findings indicate a significant difference between the public servants and private sector employees in terms of their perceptions on two dimensions of transformational leadership (being an appropriate model, providing individualized support), overall transformational leadership and one dimension of job satisfaction (communication). The two dimensions of job satisfaction – operating procedures and communication – as well as organizational trust were the significant predictors of organizational commitment of public servants, whereas the two dimensions of leadership – individualized support and fostering the acceptance – as well as the two dimensions of job satisfaction – promotion and contingent rewards – and organizational trust were the significant regressors of organizational commitment of private sector employees. In addition, there is a significant difference between the predictors of the dimensions of organizational commitment (transformational leadership, job satisfaction and organizational trust) in terms of public servants versus private sector employees. Finally, organizational trust has a significant effect on overall organizational commitment as well as its three dimensions for public servants and private employees.     

Perceived organizational support and organizational identification: joint moderating effects of employee exchange ideology and employee investment

Organizational identification (OID) can be developed out of social exchange practices within an organizational setting. Drawing on social exchange theory, we propose that the effect of perceived organizational support (POS) on OID is stronger for employees with stronger exchange ideology. We further argue that employee investment in an organization may also create a social exchange process that positively influences OID. We expect that employee investment moderates not only the effect of POS on OID, but also the enhancing effect of exchange ideology on the effect of POS on OID. Specifically, POS has a stronger positive effect on OID when exchange ideology is high and employee investment is low. When employee investment is high, POS has a weaker effect on OID regardless of employees' exchange ideology. These effects were empirically supported by a survey. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.     

The moderating effect of leadership on perceived organizational justice and affective commitment: a study in China

While western literature proves the importance of procedural justice, interactional justice is found to have a greater impact on employees in China. This study investigates the effect of employees’ perceptions of organizational justice on affective commitment, and the moderating effect of leadership style in the relationship. The authors proposed that the positive association of interactional justice with affective commitment is stronger than the positive association of procedural and distributive justices with affective commitment. In addition, the authors hypothesized that leadership style in teams moderates the relationship between interactional justice and affective commitment. Data were collected from 10 companies in Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Wenzhou, Wuhan, and Qingdao, China. The results support the hypotheses stating that interactional justice has a robust impact on affective commitment and that leadership in teams moderates the relationship. These findings have important implications for human resource management. When setting up HR policy in China, putting the right HR procedures in place is essential. Employees’ affective commitment relies heavily on interactional justice and whether or not employees perceive that they are being treated fairly by their managers. We discuss the implications of these findings.     

Dual organizational identification among Japanese expatriates: the role of communication in cultivating subsidiary identification and outcomes

Dual organizational identification is significant for the success of multinational corporation (MNC) employees. This study has extended this research area by examining expatriates of Japan-based MNCs. In addition, this study has extended the existing identity-matching principle by incorporating a communication perspective. It investigated the antecedents and outcomes of subsidiary identification. Self-report survey data from 159 Japanese expatriates in the USA were analyzed. The results indicated the significance of local language proficiency in the development of identification with the subsidiary. In addition, local identification was the predictor of expatriates' adaptation to the subsidiary. Furthermore, the results showed that local organizational identification is related to their stress level in international assignments. These results also supported the growing view of situation-oriented identification. The follow-up interviews reinforced these results.     

Servant leadership,organizational identification,and work‐to‐family enrichment: The moderating role of work climate for sharing family concerns

The present study investigates the impact of servant leadership as perceived by followers on their work‐to‐family enrichment (WFE) by focusing on the mediating role of organizational identification and the moderating role of work climate for sharing family concerns. The results from a field survey of 230 married managers in China provide full support for our hypotheses, indicating that perceived servant leadership is positively related to WFE; this relationship is also mediated by organizational identification. In addition, work climate for sharing family concerns attenuates the effects of servant leadership on organizational identification and WFE. The theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Performance implications for the relationships among top management leadership,organizational culture,and appraisal practice: testing two theory-based models of organizational learning theory in Japan

The purpose of this study was to examine the interrelationships among top management leadership, organizational culture and human resource (HR) practices, and their associative effects on organizational performance. Based on the theory of organizational learning, we developed and tested two different causal models: (1) a feed-forward learning flow model in which supportive leadership by top management would create a community culture and HR practices within organizations; and (2) a feedback learning flow model in which a community culture would support the practice of supportive leadership by top management and HR practices within a firm. Our structural equation modelling (SEM) results for a sample of 225 Japanese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Japan supported the second model, in which the dominance of a community culture within the firm is an antecedent of top management's supportive leadership, which in turn necessitates a performance-based appraisal practice and eventually leads to better organizational performance in terms of objective indicators of turnover and absenteeism rates and workforce productivity. The findings are used to discuss the role of top management leadership in a particular organizational culture from the organizational learning perspective. Limitations and directions for future research are also discussed.     

The impact of socially responsible human resource management on employees' organizational citizenship behaviour: the mediating role of organizational identification

Based on insights from social exchange and social identity theories, this paper examines the influence of three dimensions of socially responsible human resource management (SR-HRM), namely legal compliance HRM, employee-oriented HRM and general CSR facilitation HRM, on employees' organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB). Structural equation modelling of dyadic data collected from Chinese employees and their direct supervisors in three phases revealed that whilst organizational identification fully mediated the relationship between employee-oriented HRM and employee OCB, general CSR facilitation HRM had a direct effect on employee OCB. In contrast, legal compliance HRM neither influenced employee OCB directly, nor indirectly through organizational identification. The findings highlight the important but complex role played by SR-HRM in eliciting positive employee work outcomes, and contribute to our knowledge of the mechanisms underlying this relationship.