The impact of demographic factors and culture on leadership preference among Malaysian managers
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Date
1999-05
Authors
Zainun Hamzah, Mohd Yusoff
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Abstract
The relationship between leadership style and culture has long been a subject of academic
scrutiny since the seminal work of Hofstede. The developing countries have not been
similarly investigated, as what have been done in the developed countries, thus the picture
for them is not very coherent. This study attempts to shed some additional light on the
relationship between culture and subordinate preference of leadership style of their bosses.
A sample of one hundred forty-two managers participated in this study. The results showed
that the three ethnic groups of Malaysia appear to be significantly different with respect to
their level of power distance uncertainty avoidance and individualism-collectivism. The
evidence also revealed that there is a significant re1ationship between culture and preference
for leadership style. In particular, significant relationship was found between power distance
and telling style of leadership, confirming the works of Hofstede (1980) and Gill (1998).
However the results differed from those of Gill (1998) as they show a significant relationship
between uncertainty avoidance and participating leadership style. The centra] implication
of the findings is that in order for the management to adopt an effective leadership style,
there is need for it to take account of the cultural and religious affiliations of the
subordinates.
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The relationship between leadership style and culture , of academic scrutiny since the seminal work of Hofstede.