In search of chinese paternalistic leaderhip: Conflicting evidence from samples of mainland China and Hong Kong's small family businesses

Extant empirical research has failed to support the popular belief that paternalistic leadership (PL) style is a basic characteristic in Chinese organizations. In search of empirical evidence that paternalistic leadership (PL) is a practicing style in Chinese culture, surveys were conducted with employees from small Chinese family-owned businesses (CFBs) in mainland China (n = 275) and Hong Kong (n = 251). In the China Sample, PL’s three dimensions (authoritarianism, benevolence, and morality) were internally convergent, managers exhibited reasonably high levels of PL, and PL as a whole predicted positive employee-perceived outcomes. In the Hong Kong sample, however, PL’s three dimensions showed inconsistent correlations, which are similar to the extant empirical findings; PL as a whole subsequently could not be analyzed for that sample. Information gleaned from post hoc interviews helped explain the survey findings.