IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jobhdp/v113y2010i1p51-61.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Blazing the trail versus trailing the group: Culture and perceptions of the leader's position

Author

Listed:
  • Menon, Tanya
  • Sim, Jessica
  • Fu, Jeanne Ho-Ying
  • Chiu, Chi-yue
  • Hong, Ying-yi

Abstract

Research suggests that power triggers assertive action. However, people from different cultures might expect different types of action from powerful individuals such as leaders. In comparing cultural differences in leadership imagery, we find that Americans represent leaders standing ahead of groups, whereas Asians also represent leaders behind groups. We propose that front versus back positions embody two faces of leader action: individual assertion versus group-focused action. Studies 1a and 1b respectively employed etic and emic methods to demonstrate that Singaporeans were more likely than Americans to represent leaders behind groups. In Study 2, Singaporeans evaluated back leaders more favorably than Americans did, and group focus mediated cultural differences. Simulating the conditions under which cultural differences arise, Study 3 demonstrates that a primarily Western managerial sample primed with threat (versus opportunity) preferred back leaders. By describing cultural variations in imagery, we reveal more nuanced implicit theories of leader action.

Suggested Citation

  • Menon, Tanya & Sim, Jessica & Fu, Jeanne Ho-Ying & Chiu, Chi-yue & Hong, Ying-yi, 2010. "Blazing the trail versus trailing the group: Culture and perceptions of the leader's position," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 51-61, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:113:y:2010:i:1:p:51-61
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749-5978(10)00039-7
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lee, Angela Y. & Aaker, Jennifer L. & Gardner, Wendi L., 2000. "The Pleasures and Pains of Distinct Self-Construals: The Role of Interdependence in Regulatory Focus," Research Papers 1577r, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    2. Zemba, Yuriko & Young, Maia J. & Morris, Michael W., 2006. "Blaming leaders for organizational accidents: Proxy logic in collective- versus individual-agency cultures," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 101(1), pages 36-51, September.
    3. Clyde Brooklyn Derr & Sylvie Roussillon & Frank Bournois, 2002. "Cross-cultural approaches to leadership development," Post-Print hal-02298021, HAL.
    4. Giessner, S.R. & Schubert, T.W., 2007. "High in the Hierarchy: How Vertical Location and Judgments of Leaders' Power are Interrelated," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2007-021-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    5. Giessner, Steffen R. & van Knippenberg, Daan, 2008. ""License to Fail": Goal definition, leader group prototypicality, and perceptions of leadership effectiveness after leader failure," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 105(1), pages 14-35, January.
    6. Giessner, Steffen R. & Schubert, Thomas W., 2007. "High in the hierarchy: How vertical location and judgments of leaders' power are interrelated," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 104(1), pages 30-44, September.
    7. Raghubir, Priya & Valenzuela, Ana, 2006. "Center-of-inattention: Position biases in decision-making," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 66-80, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stam, D.A., 2019. "Leading for Innovation," ERIM Inaugural Address Series Research in Management 117229, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam..
    2. Wang, Hui & Waldman, David A. & Zhang, Hongyu, 2012. "Strategic leadership across cultures: Current findings and future research directions," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 571-580.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Barone, Michael J. & Coulter, Keith S. & Li, Xingbo, 2020. "The Upside of Down: Presenting a Price in a Low or High Location Influences How Consumers Evaluate It," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 96(3), pages 397-410.
    2. Aitao Lu & Meichao Zhang & Yulan Shao & Yanping Yu & Shuang Zheng & Jing Ye & Hui Yi & Lu Wang, 2015. "What Directions Do We Look at Power from? Up-Down, Left-Right, and Front-Back," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(7), pages 1-16, July.
    3. Liang, Yongyi & Yan, Ming & Law, Kenneth S. & Wang, Haibo & Chen, Yuanyi, 2021. "Integrating the bright and dark sides of leadership: An investigation of the intragroup and intergroup effects of leader group prototypicality," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 89-97.
    4. Edward Bishop Smith & Tanya Menon & Leigh Thompson, 2012. "Status Differences in the Cognitive Activation of Social Networks," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 67-82, February.
    5. Geng, Liuna & Liu, Ting & Zhou, Kexin & Yang, Genmao, 2018. "Can power affect environmental risk attitude toward nuclear energy?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 87-93.
    6. Machiels, Casparus J.A. & Orth, Ulrich R., 2017. "Verticality in product labels and shelves as a metaphorical cue to quality," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 195-203.
    7. Elena Beketova & Irina Leontyeva & Svetlana Zubanova & Aleksandr Gryaznukhin & Vasily Movchun, 2020. "RETRACTED ARTICLE: Creating an optimal environment for distance learning in higher education: discovering leadership issues," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 6(1), pages 1-6, June.
    8. Bittmann, Felix, 2020. "The relationship between height and leadership: Evidence from across Europe," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    9. Schaerer, Michael & du Plessis, Christilene & Yap, Andy J. & Thau, Stefan, 2018. "Low power individuals in social power research: A quantitative review, theoretical framework, and empirical test," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 73-96.
    10. van Quaquebeke, N. & Giessner, S.R., 2010. "How Embodied Cognitions Affect Judgments: Height-Related Attribution Bias in Football Foul Calls," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2010-006-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    11. Forsell, Eskil & Viganola, Domenico & Pfeiffer, Thomas & Almenberg, Johan & Wilson, Brad & Chen, Yiling & Nosek, Brian A. & Johannesson, Magnus & Dreber, Anna, 2019. "Predicting replication outcomes in the Many Labs 2 study," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 75(PA).
    12. Yanli Huang & Chi-Shing Tse, 2015. "Re-Examining the Automaticity and Directionality of the Activation of the Spatial-Valence "Good is Up" Metaphoric Association," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-32, April.
    13. Tok, Dickson & Chen, Xi & Chu, Xing-Yu (Marcos), 2021. "“I Want It! Can I Get It?” How product-model spatial distance and ad appeal affect product evaluations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 454-463.
    14. Amit, Elinor & Danziger, Shai & Smith, Pamela K., 2022. "Medium is a powerful message: Pictures signal less power than words," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    15. Teng, Lefa & Xie, Chenxin & Liu, Tianjiao & Wang, Fan & Foti, Lianne, 2021. "The effects of uppercase vs. lowercase letters on consumers’ perceptions and brand attitudes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 164-175.
    16. Ye, Xiaoyin & Guo, Zhaoyang & Ye, Jun, 2020. "The effect of the synchrony experience on product evaluation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 247-258.
    17. Chan, Eugene Y. & Northey, Gavin, 2021. "Luxury goods in online retail: How high/low positioning influences consumer processing fluency and preference," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 136-145.
    18. Cheng, Junjun & Chen, Bo & Huang, Zihang, 2023. "Collective-based ad transparency in targeted hotel advertising: Consumers’ regulatory focus underlying the crowd safety effect," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    19. Zhang, Jason Q. & Craciun, Georgiana & Shin, Dongwoo, 2010. "When does electronic word-of-mouth matter? A study of consumer product reviews," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(12), pages 1336-1341, December.
    20. Leder, Susanne & Mannetti, Lucia & Hölzl, Erik & Kirchler, Erich, 2010. "Regulatory fit effects on perceived fiscal exchange and tax compliance," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 271-277, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Culture Leadership Position;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:113:y:2010:i:1:p:51-61. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/obhdp .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.