A Cultural Analysis of Paternalistic Leadership in Chinese Organizations
Abstract
Paternalistic leadership, which combines strong discipline and authority with fatherly benevolence and moral integrity couched in a ‘personalistic’ atmosphere, has been found to be prevalent in overseas Chinese family businesses (CFBs). After critically reviewing the extant literature, we identify three constituent elements of paternalistic leadership (PL): authoritarianism, benevolence and moral leadership. We trace the deep cultural roots of each element and explore their relevance to organizations in contemporary Chinese societies. We then identify key research issues and propose a preliminary PL model for future studies on leadership in Chinese organizations. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Paternalistic leadership's benevolence and morality are theorised to increase followers' trust, while authoritarianism is theorised to decrease trust.
“Benevolent leaders show genuine care for their followers and do things to support them. These positive exchanges should strengthen the bonds of trust with followers. Similarly, when leaders act in line with high moral standards and integrity, followers are more likely to be view them as role models, thus developing trust with their leaders. Conversely, the monitoring and controlling behaviours”
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- Authors
- Farh, J.-L., & Cheng, B.-S.
- Venue
- Management and Organizations in the Chinese Context
- Publisher
- Palgrave Macmillan UK
- Published
- 2000
- Pages
- 84-127
- OpenAlex
- W42432407
- Cited by
- 1,045
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 56 · 2025: 64 · 2024: 70 · 2023: 80 · 2022: 101 · 2021: 78 · 2020: 79 · 2019: 81 · 2018: 60 · 2017: 50 · 2016: 33 · 2015: 39 · 2014: 33 · 2013: 39 · 2012: 49
- FWCI
- 50.52
- Type
- book chapter
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Rare & Special e-Zone (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Global and Cross-Cultural Management
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Leadership and Management in Organizations
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Family Business Performance and Succession
- Keywords
- paternalistic leadership, Chinese organizations, authoritarianism, benevolence, moral leadership, personalism, family business, organizational culture, leadership models
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