In a 1st attempt to identify an implicit theory of leadership among Chinese people, the authors developed the Chinese Implicit Leadership Scale (CILS) in Study 1. In Study 2, they administered the CILS to 622 Chinese participants from 5 occupation groups, to explore differences in perceptions of leadership. Factor analysis yielded 4 factors of leadership: Personal Morality, Goal Efficiency, Interpersonal Competence, and Versatility. Social groups differing in age, gender, education level, and occupation rated these factors. Results showed no significant gender differences, and the underlying cause for social group differences was education level. All groups gave the highest ratings to Interpersonal Competence, reflecting the enormous importance of this factor, which is consistent with Chinese collectivist values.

We conceptualized work engagement as a mediator and person–supervisor fit as a moderator for understanding the impact mechanism of organizational commitment on turnover intention. With survey data collected from a sample of 512 building engineers in Taiwan, we tested the total effect moderation model that we proposed in this study via a path analysis procedure using a parametric bootstrap method. Results indicated that work engagement partially mediated the negative effect of organizational commitment on turnover intention, and that the negative relationship between organizational commitment and turnover intention became weaker when person–supervisor fit was closer. Implications for management theory and practice are discussed.

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the fundamental content and structure of destructive leadership within the Chinese cultural context, through surveys of employees in Chinese organizations.Design/methodology/approachMethodologies such as documentary analysis, interview and survey were used in the study, and surveys were conducted on over 1,300 employees from Beijing, Shanghai and other cities in Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces. Then the content and structure of destructive leadership perceived by Chinese employees were examined using multiple statistical techniques including EFA (exploratory factor analysis) and CFA (confirmatory factor analysis).FindingsThe results of the survey showed that destructive leadership in Chinese organizations consists of four factors: corruption, excoriation of subordinates, abuse of subordinates and the loss of professional morality. The authors then compared the structure with relevant Western research findings and revealed their similarities and differences.Practical implicationsThe structure of Chinese destructive leadership not only reflects the characteristics of Chinese culture, but also reflects the characteristics of current Chinese organizational management, which have practical implications for identifying management problems in Chinese organizations and improving workplace leadership behavior.Originality/valueThis is the first paper of its kind in mainland China to empirically explore the theoretical model of destructive leadership within the context of Chinese culture, which will facilitate future research by offering a theoretical basis and research instrument.

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