Ekin K. Pellegrini

Paternalistic Leadership: A Review and Agenda for Future Research

The growing interest in paternalistic leadership research has led to a recent proliferation of diverse definitions and perspectives, as well as a limited number of empirical studies. Consequently, the diversity of perspectives has resulted in conceptual ambiguities, as well as contradictory empirical findings. In this article, the authors review research on paternalistic leadership in an effort to assess the current state of the literature. They investigate the construct of paternalistic leadership and review the findings related to its outcomes and antecedents as well as the various measurement scales used in paternalistic leadership research. On the basis of this review, the article concludes with an agenda for future theoretical and empirical research on this emerging and intriguing new area for leadership research.

Cross-Cultural Generalizability of Paternalistic Leadership: An Expansion of Leader-Member Exchange Theory

Paternalism is an emerging concept with significant potential for international leadership research. Paternalistic leaders combine benevolence with authority. Paternalism is a prevalent leadership style in non-Western business organizations. In this article, the authors extend research on paternalism to the Western business context. They compare the attitudes of employees from the United States ( N = 215) and India (N = 207) with respect to paternalistic leadership and its correlates. Paternalism had a significant positive effect on job satisfaction in India, but the relationship was not significant in the United States. In both cultural contexts, paternalistic leadership was positively related to leader—member exchange and organizational commitment. Results suggest paternalistic leadership may generalize across cultures.

Trust and Leader–Member Exchange: A Closer Look at Relational Vulnerability

Trust in work relationships is an intriguing topic in leader—member exchange (LMX) research, however, previous LMX studies examined trust as unidimensional. Research on LMX has yet to explore the multidimensional nature of trust and how different dimensions may affect LMX quality. This study with 228 full-time employees explores the effect of different trust dimensions on LMX relationships. It is interesting that LMX quality was positively related to identification-based trust as well as calculus-based trust, which involves calculative exchanges. Results found support for a nonlinear association between calculus-based trust and LMX. Thus, contrary to expectations, trust appears to be vulnerable even in high-quality LMX relations.

Construct Equivalence across Groups: An Unexplored Issue in Mentoring Research

Ensuring construct comparability is a prerequisite for testing cross-group differences, yet this assumption is rarely tested in mentoring research. More studies testing for factorial invariance are needed for the construct validation of mentoring. Multiple group confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were used to investigate the factorial stability of the Mentoring Functions Questionnaire (MFQ-9) across two groups: protégéswho are satisfied with their mentor and those who are not. CFA results supported a three-factor structure for the MFQ-9 composed of the dimensions of vocational support, psychosocial support, and role modeling. However, tests of invariance demonstrated nonequivalence for five item-pair measurements. Overall, the MFQ-9 demonstrated excellent psychometric properties with unsatisfied protégés; however, the instrument may need further development for use with satisfied protégés.