Leadership, control at work, supervisor-subordinate guanxi and psychological ownership: A longitudinal study in China
type: CreativeWork
description: The development of globalization in China has generated a growing number of Western organizations that engage in co-operations, joint ventures, or direct investments in this country. These foreign companies mostly bring their own management styles to China. As a consequence, enterprises are dealing with cultural differences and challenges from different leadership styles. The purpose of this study was to longitudinally test a theoretical model of the relations among leadership, perceived control, personal guanxi and psychological ownership in China with two data collection points separated by a six-month interval (N= 971 at Time 1, N=201 at Time 2), and to examine the relationship between leadership styles (transformational and paternalistic leadership), perceived control, supervisor-subordinate guanxi, and psychological ownership in Chinese work contexts. SPSS and structural equation modelling (SEM) were used to conduct the correlation and mediation analyses, respectively. Findings from this study indicated that perceived control was related to supervisor-subordinate guanxi in the Chinese work context. The results showed Chinese workers had good personal guanxi with their supervisor when they perceived high work control. Perceived control also had stronger mediation effects between Chinese paternalistic leadership and supervisor-subordinate guanxi than between Western transformational leadership and supervisor-subordinate guanxi. Supervisor-subordinate guanxi had significant positive effects on psychological ownership of the job and psychological ownership of the organization. Cross-sectional results showed that supervisor-subordinate guanxi had mediation effects between perceived control and psychological ownership of the job and psychological ownership of the organization, respectively. In contrast, longitudinal analyses did not show similar results. The consequences of psychological ownership of the job and of the organization in the Chinese work context were co…
abstract: The development of globalization in China has generated a growing number of Western organizations that engage in co-operations, joint ventures, or direct investments in this country. These foreign companies mostly bring their own management styles to China. As a consequence, enterprises are dealing with cultural differences and challenges from different leadership styles. The purpose of this study was to longitudinally test a theoretical model of the relations among leadership, perceived control, personal guanxi and psychological ownership in China with two data collection points separated by a six-month interval (N= 971 at Time 1, N=201 at Time 2), and to examine the relationship between leadership styles (transformational and paternalistic leadership), perceived control, supervisor-subordinate guanxi, and psychological ownership in Chinese work contexts. SPSS and structural equation modelling (SEM) were used to conduct the correlation and mediation analyses, respectively. Findings from this study indicated that perceived control was related to supervisor-subordinate guanxi in the Chinese work context. The results showed Chinese workers had good personal guanxi with their supervisor when they perceived high work control. Perceived control also had stronger mediation effects between Chinese paternalistic leadership and supervisor-subordinate guanxi than between Western transformational leadership and supervisor-subordinate guanxi. Supervisor-subordinate guanxi had significant positive effects on psychological ownership of the job and psychological ownership of the organization. Cross-sectional results showed that supervisor-subordinate guanxi had mediation effects between perceived control and psychological ownership of the job and psychological ownership of the organization, respectively. In contrast, longitudinal analyses did not show similar results. The consequences of psychological ownership of the job and of the organization in the Chinese work context were co…
author: Li, Tian
keywords: leadership, perceived control, supervisor-subordinate guanxi, psychological ownership, longitudinal study
license: https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstreams/35097f7d-f436-4310-bfee-0c12ac24595c/download
date published: 2014
date modified: 2026-07-24T05:57:41Z
provider: University Waikato
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Waikato