The Effects of Authoritarian and Transformational Leadership on In-Role Performance: The Moderating Role of Power Distance Orientation and Time-with-Leader

Abstract

Focusing on recent trends in leadership research, this study tries to identify the effectiveness of authoritarian leadership by comparing effects of authoritarian with transformational leadership on in-role performance. Furthermore, this study investigates the conditions that limit effectiveness of two leadership styles positing power distance orientation and time-with-leader as moderating variables. In particular, although the time-with-leader is not widely known as a critical variable in leadership research, it needs to be discussed in leadership studies considering the reality of less face-to-face contact with leaders due to the telecommuting (eg. working at home). Based on the responses of 224 office workers in China, this study revealed that authoritarian and transformational leadership are positively related to in-role performance. Also, both power distance orientation and time-with-leader have significant positive moderating effects on the relationship between authoritarian leadership and in-role performance. On the contrary, in the case of transformational leadership, both moderating effects have been rejected. This study has a significance in that there are few studies comparing authoritarian and transformational leadership despite advances in leadership research. In addition, it also has a significance in introducing a variable, time-with-leader, which has not been considered as a major variable in leadership research.