AIB 2012 Conference Proceedings - Academy of International ...

TUESDAY
This study explores the leadership challenges of Japanese expatriate managers in the UK and China. Based on
data from 18 in-depth interviews in two companies, we investigate the extent to which cultural differences
explain such challenges. Findings from the UK mostly support predictions from the cross-cultural leadership
literature, though indicate the importance of high-low context which has been largely ignored in the literature.
In the case of China, we find that the economic and institutional environment substantially influences leadership
challenges, while cultural differences appear to provide only a partial explanation. Implications for research and
practice are discussed. (For more information, please contact: Carol Reade, San Jose State University, USA:
carol.reade@sjsu.edu)
Impact of Leader-Follower Ethnicity Differences on Followers' Perceptions of Authentic Leadership and Job
Satisfaction
Andrei A. Lux, Auckland University of Technology
Romie Frederick Littrell, Auckland University of Technology
This study tests the effects of ethnicity as a moderating variable for the relationship between a follower's
perceptions of a leader's authentic leadership behaviours and the employee's job satisfaction. Two measures
were constructed and validated from parts of the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire and the Abridged Job
Descriptive Index. These were administered as a survey to an opportunistic, though representative, sample of
New Zealand adults working in small to medium-sized businesses. The results confirm that followers'
perceptions of authentic leadership are significantly and positively correlated with their job satisfaction. Ethnicity
did not demonstrate a moderating effect on this relationship. Both of the scales developed for this study proved
to be reliable measures of a follower's perceptions of authentic leadership and their job satisfaction respectively.
(For more information, please contact: Romie Frederick Littrell, Auckland University of Technology, New
Zealand: romie.littrell@aut.ac.nz)
Innovative Culture and Professional skills: The Moderating Role of Power Distance Orientation and Mediating
Role of Supportive Leadership
Pei-Li Yu, National Cheng Kung University
Improving employees' development of professional skills is increasingly an important function of an innovative
culture. However, the empirical evidence for the role of innovative culture in engendering development of
professional skills is scarce. To address this issue, the authors link positive and negative extrinsic motivators in
an integrated model. In addition to identifying the influences of innovative culture on development of
professional skills, this study focuses in particular on the mediating effects of supportive leadership and the
moderating effects of individual power distance orientation, which have largely been neglected in the previous
literature. Results from a study of Information Technology (IT) 317 technical professional workers confirmed
that innovative culture works through supportive leadership, which in turn interacts with power distance
orientation and enhances development of professional skills. This relationship was more positive when power
distance orientation was lower, rather than higher. (For more information, please contact: Pei-Li Yu, National
Cheng Kung University, Taiwan: h4584933@ms24.hinet.net)
Session: 3.1.14 - Interactive
Track: 3 - IB Theory, FDI, and Entry Mode
Local Linkages, Foreign Interactions
Presented On: July 3, 2012 - 09:00-10:15
Chair: Anna Lamin, Northeastern University
AIB 2012 Conference Proceedings
Page 205