Jasenko Ljubica, Romie Frederick Littrell, Gillian Warner-Søderholm and Inga Minelgaite
The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the relationships between societal culture value dimensions and employee preferences for empowerment behaviors by…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the relationships between societal culture value dimensions and employee preferences for empowerment behaviors by managerial leaders across societal cultures. To do this, the authors synthesize the extant literature to underpin this study and to set the research agenda for future empirical work.
Design/methodology/approach
Using field survey research method, the authors obtain and analyze data from ten samples in eight geographically and culturally diverse societies from a global longitudinal study of preferred managerial leader behavior.
Findings
Cultural value dimension predictor variables affect employee preferences for leader empowerment behaviors in the societies studied. Some significant effects of gender and organizational factors on these relationships were found.
Research limitations/implications
Future research should expand upon variations in the meaning of employee empowerment across cultures, consider other cultural models and theories, and a more extensive set of personal, organizational and relational factors.
Practical implications
Employee preferences for leader empowerment behaviors are more likely the result of the interplay, exchange and trade-offs between cultural, personal and organizational values. The effectiveness of employee empowerment is contingent upon well-designed training programs aligning management and worker values, goals and tasks.
Originality/value
The authors offer more realistic, objective and evidence-based insights into the cultural influences on the effectiveness of empowerment and employee cognitions towards it than the extant, conceptually and methodologically compromised, strategic cross-cultural studies.
Details
Keywords
Gillian Warner-Soderholm, Inga Minelgaite and Romie Frederick Littrell
The purpose of this paper is to refine and validate the most widely used leader behavior measurement instrument, LBDQXII, into a more parsimonious instrument for assessing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to refine and validate the most widely used leader behavior measurement instrument, LBDQXII, into a more parsimonious instrument for assessing cognitive templates of preferred leader behavior across cultures.
Design/methodology/approach
The 100-item LBDQXII survey was administered to 6,451 participants from 14 countries; these data were used to refine the survey.
Findings
The shorter survey instrument is a valid and reliable tool for assessing preferred leader behavior. Four periods in the LBDQXII “evolution” are identified: emergence, expansion, stagnation and revival.
Research limitations/implications
The new LBDQ50 can be used to collect data across cultures, contributing to both global management development and scholarly studies.
Practical implications
This project corresponds to calls to shorten the well-established leader behavior instrument into a measurement tool that is reliable and valid across cultures and languages. This can be administered by both private and public organizations, contributing to greater effectiveness. Furthermore, it retains its scholarly scope encompassing follower-centric studies of leadership.
Social implications
Leadership processes are found in all aspects of life and can be better understood and improved within and across cultures using the shorter version.
Originality/value
An efficient instrument to measure preferred leadership behavior across and within cultures. The availability of the LBDQ50 will allow practitioners and researchers to advance understanding of preferred leadership behavior as a predictor of organizational effectiveness. Most such instruments are overly-long, which hinders data collection opportunities. This newly developed instrument can lead to better response rates and easier applicability in organizational settings.