The Impact of Paternalistic Leadership on Organization Identification: A Moderated Mediation Model

School of Business Administration, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China

linqiu@scut.edu.cn

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the two components of paternalistic leadership, namely authoritarianism and benevolence, jointly influence employee organization identification. Using a sample of 182 full-time employees China, this study found that benevolent climate mediated the positive relationship between benevolent leadership and employee organizational identification, and authoritarian leadership moderated the direct effect of benevolent leadership on benevolent climate and the indirect effect of benevolent leadership on organizational identification via benevolent climate. That is, when benevolent leaders simultaneously exhibit authoritarianism, they are more likely to promote perception of benevolent climate among employees who are then more likely to identify with the organization.