Despotic and Transformational Leadership in Collectivistic Culture: Evidence from Asian Tech Firms

Abstract

This study aims to test that how employees’ creativity and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) are affected by two contrasting leadership styles in technology firms in a collectivistic culture. A quantitative approach and a dyadic design are used in this study. Data were collected from technology firms and the hypotheses were tested using various statistical techniques. The results regarding the role of positive and negative leadership styles for employees’ OCB and creativity were found as expected. However, when a boundary condition (i.e. culture as moderator) was set, the direct relationships between the two leadership styles and OCB were either strengthened or weakened. This research may not be generalizable across cultures. Therefore, future studies may explore the moderating role of individual and collective cultures, while incorporating more exogenous variables (e.g. transnational, servant, and inclusive leadership styles) and endogenous (e.g. individual job satisfaction and turnover intentions) variables. Similarly, one could test our theory by testing the interactive effect of two leadership styles. The study has contextual implications for local firms. So international investors, like Chinese firms need to understand the collective culture of tech firms in Pakistan. First, this study fills an empirical gap by collecting data from technology firms in the South Asian context. Second, this research identifies the need to understand the role of national culture in order to increase leaders’ success in a collectivistic culture.