A Dual-Stage Moderated Mediation Model Linking Authoritarian Leadership to Follower Outcomes

• Published in: Journal of applied psychology Vol. 102; no. 2; pp. 203 - 214
• Main Authors: Schaubroeck, John M., Shen, Yimo, Chong, Sinhui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Psychological Association 01-02-2017
• Subjects: Adult; Authoritarianism; China; Commitments; Employee Attitudes; Employee management relations; Employees; Employment - psychology; Female; Human; Humans; Leadership; Leadership Style; Male; Management Personnel; Management theory; Models, Psychological; Occupational psychology; Organizational behavior; Self Efficacy; Studies; Supervisor Employee Interaction; Young Adult; China; autocratic leadership; power distance; authoritarian leadership; perceived insider status; role-based self-efficacy
• ISSN: 0021-9010; 1939-1854
• DOI: 10.1037/apl0000165

Although authoritarian leadership is viewed pejoratively in the literature, in general it is not strongly related to important follower outcomes. We argue that relationships between authoritarian leadership and individual employee outcomes are mediated by perceived insider status, yet in different ways depending on work unit power distance climate and individual role breadth self-efficacy. Results from technology company employees in China largely supported our hypothesized model. We observed negative indirect effects of authoritarian leadership on job performance, affective organizational commitment, and intention to stay among employees in units with relatively low endorsement of power distance, whereas the indirect relationships were not significant among employees in relatively high power distance units. These conditional indirect effects of authoritarian leadership on performance and intention to stay were significantly stronger among employees with relatively high role breadth self-efficacy. We discuss how the model and findings promote understanding of how, and under what circumstances, authoritarian leadership may influence followers' performance and psychological connections to their organizations.