Relationships between Leadership Styles and Prosocial Motivation Depend on Cultural Values: A Case Study in Sri Lanka
Organizations are increasingly concerned about their social and environmental responsibilities and are interested in developing strategies to improve their performance and accountability in these areas. One such strategy focuses on leadership styles, by which leaders are selected or trained to addre...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2023-07-01
|
| Series: | Merits |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8104/3/3/26 |
| _version_ | 1797578873278300160 |
|---|---|
| author | Donald G. Gardner Vathsala Wickramasinghe |
| author_facet | Donald G. Gardner Vathsala Wickramasinghe |
| author_sort | Donald G. Gardner |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Organizations are increasingly concerned about their social and environmental responsibilities and are interested in developing strategies to improve their performance and accountability in these areas. One such strategy focuses on leadership styles, by which leaders are selected or trained to address the needs of people and entities outside themselves (i.e., stakeholders), and subsequently inspire their followers to do the same. Implicit in this strategy is an assumption that a new type of leadership is required to achieve social and environmental responsibility goals. In this study, we offer a different perspective by proposing that leaders may only need to be encouraged or trained to emphasize some aspects of their existing leadership styles, while minimizing the use of others. We focus our study in Asia, where a paternal leadership style is prevalent, and often expected by followers. This leadership style consists of behaviors that may be organized into three dimensions: authoritarian, benevolent, and moral. We propose that the benevolent and moral dimensions reflect leadership styles that promote followers’ social motivation and examine their interaction with the self-transcendent values of their followers in predicting followers’ prosocial motivation to help others through their work. We found that only the benevolent dimension was significant and appeared to compensate for low self-transcendent values in followers. Implications for using leadership to promote social responsibility are discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:27:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4fd37040d615465bb491527fe8ccae2d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2673-8104 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:27:52Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Merits |
| spelling | doaj.art-4fd37040d615465bb491527fe8ccae2d2023-11-19T11:54:45ZengMDPI AGMerits2673-81042023-07-013344545810.3390/merits3030026Relationships between Leadership Styles and Prosocial Motivation Depend on Cultural Values: A Case Study in Sri LankaDonald G. Gardner0Vathsala Wickramasinghe1Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO 80918, USADepartment of Management of Technology, Faculty of Business, University of Moratuwa, Moratuwa 10400, Sri LankaOrganizations are increasingly concerned about their social and environmental responsibilities and are interested in developing strategies to improve their performance and accountability in these areas. One such strategy focuses on leadership styles, by which leaders are selected or trained to address the needs of people and entities outside themselves (i.e., stakeholders), and subsequently inspire their followers to do the same. Implicit in this strategy is an assumption that a new type of leadership is required to achieve social and environmental responsibility goals. In this study, we offer a different perspective by proposing that leaders may only need to be encouraged or trained to emphasize some aspects of their existing leadership styles, while minimizing the use of others. We focus our study in Asia, where a paternal leadership style is prevalent, and often expected by followers. This leadership style consists of behaviors that may be organized into three dimensions: authoritarian, benevolent, and moral. We propose that the benevolent and moral dimensions reflect leadership styles that promote followers’ social motivation and examine their interaction with the self-transcendent values of their followers in predicting followers’ prosocial motivation to help others through their work. We found that only the benevolent dimension was significant and appeared to compensate for low self-transcendent values in followers. Implications for using leadership to promote social responsibility are discussed.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8104/3/3/26leadershippaternal leadership stylepersonal valuesself-transcendent valuesprosocial motivationcorporate social responsibility |
| spellingShingle | Donald G. Gardner Vathsala Wickramasinghe Relationships between Leadership Styles and Prosocial Motivation Depend on Cultural Values: A Case Study in Sri Lanka Merits leadership paternal leadership style personal values self-transcendent values prosocial motivation corporate social responsibility |
| title | Relationships between Leadership Styles and Prosocial Motivation Depend on Cultural Values: A Case Study in Sri Lanka |
| title_full | Relationships between Leadership Styles and Prosocial Motivation Depend on Cultural Values: A Case Study in Sri Lanka |
| title_fullStr | Relationships between Leadership Styles and Prosocial Motivation Depend on Cultural Values: A Case Study in Sri Lanka |
| title_full_unstemmed | Relationships between Leadership Styles and Prosocial Motivation Depend on Cultural Values: A Case Study in Sri Lanka |
| title_short | Relationships between Leadership Styles and Prosocial Motivation Depend on Cultural Values: A Case Study in Sri Lanka |
| title_sort | relationships between leadership styles and prosocial motivation depend on cultural values a case study in sri lanka |
| topic | leadership paternal leadership style personal values self-transcendent values prosocial motivation corporate social responsibility |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8104/3/3/26 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT donaldggardner relationshipsbetweenleadershipstylesandprosocialmotivationdependonculturalvaluesacasestudyinsrilanka AT vathsalawickramasinghe relationshipsbetweenleadershipstylesandprosocialmotivationdependonculturalvaluesacasestudyinsrilanka |