恩威并施、積極執(zhí)行與工作績效——探索中國情境下雙元領導的有效性

摘要： 當今復雜多變的環(huán)境呼吁領導者應采取雙元領導策略,以平衡組織內(nèi)部的相異訴求。恩威并施是我國傳統(tǒng)文化塑造的一種具有雙元特性的典型領導行為,被大量學者視為提升下屬產(chǎn)出的有效方式。然而,以往研究忽略了"施恩"(仁慈領導行為)和"立威"(威權領導行為)不同組合對下屬工作產(chǎn)出的差異化影響及其內(nèi)部機理。為了彌補這些不足,文章通過引入追隨力理論,探討了施恩和立威組合情況如何塑造下屬執(zhí)行力進而影響工作績效。采用多項式回歸和響應面分析方法,對130份兩時間點上下級配對數(shù)據(jù)進行分析,發(fā)現(xiàn):(1)在施恩與立威水平相當情況下,恩威皆高時下屬積極執(zhí)行程度要高于恩威皆低;(2)在施恩與立威水平不一致情況下,恩多威寡時下屬積極執(zhí)行程度要高于威多恩寡;(3)施恩與立威組合情況對下屬積極執(zhí)行的影響能夠波及至下屬工作績效,其中,恩威皆高通過積極執(zhí)行對工作績效間接效應是最強的。以上結(jié)果細化了學界對恩威并施作用效果的認識,對雙元領導、追隨力和工作績效等研究領域均有一定的啟發(fā)意義。
Ambidextrous leadership is key to solving organizational tension and complex problems. This type of leadership has gained attention in the field of organizational behavior in recent years. Ambidextrous leadership refers to a set of two complementary leadership behaviors and the flexibility switch between two different behaviors. Existing studies noted the extensive benefits of ambidextrous leadership to employees and organizations. These advantages include enhancement of the psychological empowerment of employees, exploratory and exploitative behaviors, innovation, and organizational change. Prior studies focused on ambidextrous leadership from the Western context. These studies include opening-closing leadership and transformational-transactional leadership. However, the consequences of indigenous ambidextrous leadership in the Chinese context remain poorly understood. A particular ambidextrous leadership embedded in Chinese culture was identified, namely, authoritarian-benevolent leadership. The present study focuses on the combination of authoritarian and benevolent leadership, which is regarded as a type of indigenous ambidextrous leadership. The researchers aimed to investigate the effect of different combination modes of benevolent and authoritarian leadership on the work outcome of subordinates and its underlying mechanism.The researchers identified four scenarios by combining the two kinds of leadership, namely, high authority–high benevolence, low authority–low benevolence, high authority–low benevolence, low authority–high benevolence. This approach was based on the level of authoritarian and benevolent leadership. The former two forms of leadership fall under the congruence category, whereas the latter two fall under the incongruence category. By drawing on followership theory, the researchers expected that the active implementation of subordinates was high when leaders were at a high level of authoritarian leadership and benevolent leadership than when at a low level of authoritarian leadership and benevolent leadership. The researchers also found that the active implementation of subordinates was high when the benevolent leadership of leaders exceeded authoritarian leadership rather than when authoritarian leadership exceeded benevolent leadership. Third, the active implementation of subordinates carried the joint effect of benevolent and authority leadership to the job performance of followers. A multiwave, multiresource survey was used to test the hypotheses. Surveys were given to 204 voluntary subordinates at Time 1. They were required to report their leaders' benevolent leadership and authoritarian leadership and demographic information. The researchers obtained 183 effective survey responses. After one month, the researchers conducted Time 2 survey, which required leaders to rate the job performance of their subordinates. The subordinates were then required to rate their active implementation. A total of 130 effective survey responses were obtained. The researchers used polynomial regression combined with response surface analysis based on the two-wave data. The results supported the hypotheses. The findings offered several contributions to literature. First, different combination modes of benevolent and authoritarian leadership have different effects on the work outcome of subordinates. Second, the researchers uncovered the dynamics between authoritarian-benevolent leadership and work outcome of subordinates. These findings can aid Chinese scholars to gain an improved understanding of indigenous ambidextrous leadership. These findings advance the understanding on how authoritarian leadership combined with benevolent leadership affects the performance of followers. The findings also provide further practical insights to practitioners.