The Moderating Effect of Employee Self-Supporting Personality on the Relationship between Paternalistic Leadership and Employee Well-Being in China

Abstract

Purpose- The p aternalistic leadership that prevails in Chinese culture and society is an established predictor of employee and organizational outcomes. However, little is known on the boundary conditions of its effect on employee well-being. Particularly, no research has investigated the moderating role of self-supporting personality (consists of interpersonal independence, interpersonal initiative, interpersonal responsibility, interpersonal flexibility, and interpersonal openness). The purpose of this paper is to investigate how self-supporting personality, an indigenous construct on personality in China, would moderate the relationship between paternalistic leadership and employee well-being (measured as work engagement and emotional exhaustion) in China. Design/methodology/approach- We employed SEM to test this moderating model based on a survey of 331 employees in China. Findings- The results show interpersonal selfsupporting personality significantly moderates the relationship between paternalistic leadership and employee well-being. Moreover, benevolent leadership is the most salient predictor of employees' well-being. Originality/value- Incorporating a Chinese indigenous construct self-supporting personality as a moderator in the relationship between paternalistic leadership and employee well-being, research will add empirical evidence to the literature and generate context-specific implications for the practitioners.