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Authentic leadership and feedback-seeking behaviour: An examination of the cultural context of mediating processes in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Jing Qian ,
Xiaosong Lin  and
George Zhen-Xiong Chen
Jing Qian
Affiliation:
Department of Human Resource Management, School of Economics and Business Administration, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
Xiaosong Lin*
Affiliation:
School of Management, Marketing, and International Business, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
George Zhen-Xiong Chen
Affiliation:
School of Management, Marketing, and International Business, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
*
1e-mail: xiaosong.lin@anu.edu.au
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Abstract

Despite an increasing number of studies that show a positive relationship between the supportiveness of the feedback source and feedback seeking, little is known about the role that supervisors play in promoting employee feedback-seeking behaviour when they serve as feedback sources. The present article developed a model to fill this void and tested it with data from a sample of 237 supervisor–subordinate dyads. We hypothesized and found that authentic leadership was positively related to feedback-seeking behaviour mediated by both perceived instrumental value and image cost of feedback seeking. The results also demonstrated that employees' individual cultural value of power distance moderated the relationships between authentic leadership and the perceived instrumental value and image cost of feedback seeking.

Keywords

authentic leadershipfeedback-seeking behaviourperceived instrumental value of feedback seekingperceived image cost of feedback seekingpower distance
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , May 2012 , pp. 286 - 299
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2012

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