Transformational Leadership and R&D Workers' Multiple Commitments: Do Justice & Span of Control Matter?

Cataloged from PDF version of article.This study examines how transformational leaders influence research and development (R&D) workers' commitment to their organizations and leaders. The study investigates the mediating role of organizational justice (i.e., procedural and interactional) based on social exchange theory and the moderating role of span of control in this relationship. In a sample of 445 Turkish R&D personnel, the study finds that transformational leadership significantly influences followers' organizational commitment partially through procedural justice and their supervisory commitment partially through interactional justice. Second, the findings reveal that transformational leaders boost perceptions of procedural justice and organizational commitment when the span of control is relatively narrow. Interestingly, when the span of control is large, transformational leadership has significant positive effects on supervisory commitment, but no significant effects on organizational commitment among R&D workers. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Opposite ends of the same stick? Multi-method test of the dimensionality of individualism and collectivism

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The construct of individualism–collectivism (IND-COL) has become the definitive standard in cross-cultural psychology, management, and related fields. It is also among the most controversial, in particular, with regard to the ambiguity of its dimensionality: Some view IND and COL as the opposites of a single continuum, whereas others argue that the two are independent constructs. We explored the issue through seven different tests using original individual-level data from 50 studies and meta-analytic data from 149 empirical publications yielding a total of 295 samplelevel observations that were collected using six established instruments for assessing IND and COL as separate constructs. Results indicated that the dimensionality of IND-COL may depend on (a) the specific instrument used to collect the data, (b) the sample characteristics and the cultural region from which the data were collected, and (c) the level of analysis. We also review inconsistencies, deficiencies, and challenges of conceptualizing IND-COL and provide guidelines for developing and selecting instruments for measuring the construct, and for reporting and meta-analyzing results from this line of research

The Bright and Dark Sides of Leadership: Transformational Leadership in a Non-Western Context

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The present study aims to explore positive and negative leadership behaviours (i.e. transformational and non-transformational leadership) in a non-Western ‘change and transformation’ context through qualitative methods. Thirty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with knowledge workers in Turkey. In addition to the original dimensions found in the literature, four categories of transformational leadership emerged: benevolent paternalism, implementation of the vision, employee participation and teamwork, and proactive behaviour. Among these categories, benevolent paternalism was identified to be the most frequently mentioned aspect of transformational leadership in the Turkish context, which implies that cultural context may influence the form and enactment of transformational leadership. Regarding non-transformational leadership, five categories emerged: destructive, closed, passive/ineffective, active-failed and a miscellaneous category. Among these, destructive leadership that includes authoritarian elements was identified as the most frequently mentioned form of non-transformational leadership. These findings imply that non-transformational leadership comes in many forms, supporting the numerous constructs on the destructive/unethical–ineffective/incompetent continuum found in the negative leadership literature. The findings are discussed with reference to the literature and to social change in Turkey

Self-construals and values in different cultural and socioeconomic contexts

In this study the authors investigated (a) how individuational and relational self-orientations, as well as self-directed and other-directed values, are related to one another, and (b) how these self- and value orientations differ across 2 cultural (i.e., 422 Turkish and 441 American university students) and 2 socioeconomic status (SES) groups (i.e., 186 lower SES and 167 upper SES Turkish high school students). Across cross-cultural and SES groups, individuational and relational self-orientations appeared to be not opposite but distinct orientations, as predicted by the Balanced Integration-Differentiation (BID) model (E. O. Imamoglu, 2003). Furthermore, both Turkish and American students with similar self-construal types, as suggested by the BID model, showed similar value orientations, pointing to both cross-cultural similarities and within-cultural diversity. Individuational and relational self-orientations showed weak to moderate associations with the respective value domains of self-directedness and other-directedness, which seemed to represent separate but somewhat positively correlated orientations. In both cross-cultural and SES groups, students tended to be high in both relational and individuational self-orientations; those trends were particularly strong among the Turkish and American women compared with men and among the upper SES Turkish adolescents compared with lower SES adolescents. Results are discussed as contesting the assumptions that regard the individuational and relational orientations as opposites and as supporting the search for invariant aspects of psychological functioning across contexts

A Re-Conceptualization of Transformational Leadership in the Turkish Context

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The present study adopting a cultural approach, investigated how transformational leadership is defined in the Turkish context, what its dimensions are and to what extent these cultural features differ from the universal dimensions in the literature. The first study examined how transformational leadership is defined and understood through interviews with 31 knowledge workers. In the second study with data from 230 R&D employees, we tested the psychometric properties of the emic items. Factor analysis conducted with both etic and emic items revealed three factors: Considerate-Paternalistic Leadership, Inspiring Charismatic Leadership, Active-Stimulating Leadership. Among these factors, Paternalistic and Active Leadership represented the emic aspects, while Inspiring-Charismatic Leadership included both emic and etic items. In the third hypotheses-testing study, data was collected from 256 R&D employees and their leaders. The results showed that 3 factors predicted important outcomes of transformational leadership and emic aspects of these dimensions predicted those outcomes above and beyond universal dimensions. Findings are discussed with reference to the recent economic and social change in Turkey in addition to theoretical suggestions regarding the emic aspects

Cross-cultural investigation of the link between identity processing styles and the actual work of identity in the career domain

The current study investigated and compared the associations between identity processing styles and the actual work of identity formation in the career domain in two national contexts, the US and Turkey. Identity styles represent individuals' orientations to identity work, and were measured by the Identity Processing Styles Q-Sort (IPSQ). The actual work of identity indicates engagement in exploration and commitment activities at multiple levels; and was measured by an adapted version of the Dimensions of Identity Development Scale (DIDS). In the current study, the actual work of identity was examined in the career domain only. The effects of gender and work status while in school on identity formation process in two national contexts also were examined. Results of the current study showed that the associations between identity processing styles and the actual work of identity are consistent across the two contexts, except that there is a stronger relation between informational style and identity work in Turkey; the impact of gender and work status on the actual work of identity also differed across contexts. The similarities and differences across the American and Turkish samples are discussed within the framework of broader contextual differences