Jiing-Lih Farh

Impetus for Action: A Cultural Analysis of Justice and Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Chinese Society

To understand variations in citizenship behavior within a culture, we examine the relationship between citizenship behaviors and organizational justice in two studies in a Chinese context, using two cultural characteristics (traditionality and modernity) and one individual (gender) characteristic. In Study 1, we develop an indigenous measure of organizational citizenship behavior and explore the similarities and differences of this measure with its Western counterpart. In Study 2, we use this citizenship behavior measure to test its relationship to justice. Results demonstrate that organizational justice (distributive and procedural) is most strongly related to citizenship behavior for individuals who endorse less traditional, or high modernity, values. In addition, we found the relationship between justice and citizenship behavior to be stronger for men than for women. The studies are discussed in terms of the generality of citizenship behavior and its relation to organizational justiqe and cultural characteristics.

Employee Learning Orientation, Transformational Leadership, and Employee Creativity: The Mediating Role of Employee Creative Self-Efficacy

We examined the relationship between employee creativity and job performance. Furthermore, we identified two learning-related personal and situational variables—employee learning orientation and tr...

INDIVIDUAL POWER DISTANCE ORIENTATION AND FOLLOWER REACTIONS TO TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERS: A CROSS-LEVEL, CROSS-CULTURAL EXAMINATION

Using 560 followers and 174 leaders in the Peoples Republic of China and United States, we found that individual followers “power distance” orientation and their groups shared perceptions of tra...

Accounting for Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Leader Fairness and Task Scope versus Satisfaction

Research has documented a consistent empirical relationship between satisfaction and Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB). Here we argue the case for why leader behavior (contingent leader reward, supportiveness, and participativeness) and task characteristics might accountfor such a correlation. Hierarchical regression analysis of data from a survey of 195 Taiwanese Ministry of Communications workers indicates that task scope accounts for more unique variance in both the Altruism and Compliance dimensions of OCB than does satisfaction, whereas leader fairness composed of the three leader behavior variables-accounts for unique variance only with respect to Altruism.

A Cultural Analysis of Paternalistic Leadership in Chinese Organizations

Paternalistic leadership, which combines strong discipline and authority with fatherly benevolence and moral integrity couched in a ‘personalistic’ atmosphere, has been found to be prevalent in overseas Chinese family businesses (CFBs). After critically reviewing the extant literature, we identify three constituent elements of paternalistic leadership (PL): authoritarianism, benevolence and moral leadership. We trace the deep cultural roots of each element and explore their relevance to organizations in contemporary Chinese societies. We then identify key research issues and propose a preliminary PL model for future studies on leadership in Chinese organizations.

Loyalty to Supervisor vs. Organizational Commitment: Relationships to Employee Performance in China

In this research, we investigated the relationship between loyalty to supervisor and employees in-role and extra-role performance in comparison with that of organizational commitment in the Peoples Republic of China. Two studies were conducted. In the first study, a five-dimension loyalty to supervisor scale was developed and validated. In the second study, the relationships between loyalty to supervisor, organizational commitment and employee performance were examined. Results indicated that loyalty to supervisor was more strongly associated with both in-role and extra-role performance than organizational commitment. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for future research and management practices in cross-cultural settings.

Task Conflict and Team Creativity: A Question of How Much and When

Bridging the task conflict, team creativity, and project team development literatures, we present a contingency model in which the relationship between task conflict and team creativity depends on the level of conflict and when it occurs in the life cycle of a project team. In a study of 71 information technology project teams in the greater China region, we found that task conflict had a curvilinear effect on team creativity, such that creativity was highest at moderate levels of task conflict. Additionally, we found this relationship to be moderated by team phase, such that the curvilinear effect was strongest at an early phase. In contrast, at later phases of the team life cycle, task conflict was found to be unrelated to team creativity.

Affective Trust in Chinese Leaders: Linking Paternalistic Leadership to Employee Performance

Adopting the theoretical framework of social exchange, the authors used the two dominant Confucian values—hierarchy and relationalism—to theorize the mediating role of affective trust in the relationship between paternalistic leadership and employee in-role and extra-role performance in the Chinese organizational context. Data from 601 supervisor–subordinate dyads of 27 companies in a Taiwanese conglomerate revealed that while the benevolence and morality dimensions of paternalistic leadership are positively associated with both in-role and extra-role performance, the authoritarian paternalistic leadership dimension is negatively related to subordinate performance. Furthermore, affective trust mediated the relationship between benevolent and moral paternalistic leadership and employee performance but did not mediate the relationship between authoritarianism and employee performance. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed in the Chinese context and beyond.

An Exploration of the Expertness of Outside Informants

This study reviews the use of outside informants-individuals not employed in the firm being studied-in strategy research reported in major journals. We empirically explored the expertness of these informants in terms of interrater reliability and accuracy of their ratings compared to those provided by insiders. Four groups of outside informants in the airline industry-consultants, security analysts, stakeholders, and academics-and senior airline executives whose companies initiated certain competitive moves rated strategic attributes associated with those moves. Informants in each group manifested high interrater reliability. Of the outsiders, analysts were the most accurate and were highly reliable, and academics were highly reliable and as accurate as consultants and stakeholders.

An Empirical Investigation of Self-Appraisal-Based Performance Evaluation

This study investigated the effectiveness of a self-appraisal-based performance evaluation system (SABPE) that incorporates self-assessment into traditional supervisory evaluation procedures. Its subject sample consisted of 88 faculty members and their chairpersons at a land-grant state university. Results indicated that (1) there was high congruency between self- and chairperson ratings, (2) both ratings had moderate to high levels of criterion-related validity, and (3) both faculty members and chairpersons reported high SABPE acceptance. The implications of these results for future self-appraisal research are discussed.