Transformational and transactional leader behaviors in chinese organizations: Differential effects in the People's Republic of China and Taiwan

Transformational leader behaviors are defined as those behaviors that make followers more aware of the importance and values of task outcomes, activate their higher-order needs and induce them to transcend self-interests for the sake of the organization (Bass, 1985; Yukl, 1989a, b). These behaviors primarily include six types: articulating a vision, intellectual stimulation, demonstrating high performance expectations, providing an appropriate model, fostering collaboration and providing individualized support. Transactional leader behaviors, on the other hand, are founded on an exchange process in which the leader provides rewards/ punishments in return for the subordinate's effort and performance (Burns, 1978). They often include four types: contingent/non-contingent reward and contingent /non-contingent punishment. We examined the effects of these leader behaviors on subordinates' job satisfaction, organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in Chinese organizations. Data from 410 subordinate-supervisor dyads (287 in Taiwan and 123 in the PRC) suggest that while transformational leader behaviors in both samples have a more profound impact than transactional behaviors on employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment, the effects of each specific transformational and transactional behavior are different in the PRC and Taiwan. In particular, among the six types of transformational behaviors, ‘providing an appropriate model” and “demonstrating high expectation of performance” significantly influenced PRC employees' job attitudes and OCB, whereas “providing individualized support” and “fostering collaboration” had significant influence on Taiwan employees' job attitudes and OCB. Furthermore, among the four types of transactional behaviors, contingent reward and punishment had significant positive impact on PRC employees' job satisfaction and organizational commitment, whereas the job attitudes of the Taiwan employees were not significantly affected by contingent punishment. Instead, it was found that non-contingent reward had significant positive impact while non-contingent punishment had significant negative effect on their job attitudes. In addition, both contingent and non-contingent punishment had significant negative effects on Taiwan employees' OCB, whereas only non-contingent punishment had such negative effects in the PRC. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the contingent nature of leadership effectiveness.