Cultural variation of leadership prototypes across 22 European countries

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Felix C. Brodbeck
  • Staffan Akerblom
  • Giuseppe Audia
  • Gyula Bakacsi
  • Helena Bendova
  • Domenico Bodega
  • Muzaffer Bodur
  • Simon Booth
  • Klas Brenk
  • Phillippe Castel
  • Deanne Den Hartog
  • Gemma Donnelly-Cox
  • Mikhail V. Gratchev
  • Ingalill Holmberg
  • Slawomir Jarmuz
  • Jorge Correia Jesuino
  • Ravaz Jorbenadse
  • Hayat E. Kabasakal
  • Mary Keating
  • George Kipiani
  • Edvard Konrad
  • Paul Koopman
  • Alexandre Kurc
  • Christopher Leeds
  • Martin Lindell
  • Jerzey Maczynski
  • Gillian S. Martin
  • Jeremiah O'Connell
  • Athan Papalexandris
  • Nancy Papalexandris
  • Jose M. Prieto
  • Boris Rakitski
  • Gerhard Reber
  • Argio Sabadin
  • Jette Schramm-Nielsen
  • Majken Schultz
  • Camilla Sigfrids
  • Erna Szabo
  • Henk Thierry
  • Marie Vondrysova
  • Jürgen Weibler
  • Celeste Wilderom
  • Stanislaw Witkowski
  • Rolf Wunderer

This study sets out to test the assumption that concepts of leadership differ as a function of cultural differences in Europe and to identify dimensions which describe differences in leadership concepts across European countries. Middle-level managers (N = 6052) from 22 European countries rated 112 questionnaire items containing descriptions of leadership traits and behaviours. For each attribute respondents rated how well it fits their concept of an outstanding business leader. The findings support the assumption that leadership concepts are culturally endorsed. Specifically, clusters of European countries which share similar cultural values according to prior cross-cultural research (Ronen & Shenkar, 1985), also share similar leadership concepts. The leadership prototypicality dimensions found are highly correlated with cultural dimensions reported in a comprehensive cross-cultural study of contemporary Europe (Smith, Dugan, & Trompenaars, 1996). The ordering of countries on the leadership dimensions is considered a useful tool with which to model differences between leadership concepts of different cultural origin in Europe. Practical implications for cross-cultural management, both in European and non-European settings, are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology
Volume73
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)1-29
Number of pages29
ISSN0963-1798
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.03.2000
Externally publishedYes

DOI