Visionary leadership effectiveness: Moderating roles of power distance and middle-way thinking

Abstract

In existing studies on leader effectiveness, scholars have focused on the significance of the power distance orientation of followers for transformational leadership. In this study we identified middle-way thinking as a critical contingency for the effectiveness of leaders in China that reflects idiosyncratic Chinese values. Participants were 304 Chinese employees and their supervisors. Multilevel modeling revealed that middle-way thinking of followers accentuated the positive effect of visionary leadership, the core component of transformational leadership, on the organizational citizenship behavior of followers. The results also indicate that the power distance orientation of followers had a relatively limited moderating effect on the relationship between organizational citizenship behavior and visionary leadership. In the context of Chinese organizations, our findings provide insight into the emic middle-way thinking of followers as a meaningful contingency that affects the effectiveness of leadership.