For example, a father should be kind to his children, and the children
should show respect and filial piety to their father. Confucian ethics
also stress the importance of reciprocity (bao) in social relations.
Benevolence on the part of the superiors should generate indebtedness
on the part of the inferiors, who should try to reciprocate in earnest.
This reciprocity may take the form of genuine gratitude, personal
loyalty, or obedience to and compliance with the superior’s requests,
even beyond what is normally required in the subordinate role (Yang,
1957 ). When this relationship generalizes to the workplace, mutual
obligations based on duty fulfillment emerge. They entail protection
of the follower by the leader and loyalty toward the leader by the
followers.
Finally, Confucius believed that, both in the realm of family and in
government, the use of moral principles, moral examples, and moral
persuasion should be emphasized. Chinese society has a long history
of selecting and evaluating leaders on moral grounds. Law and punish-
ment are inherently ineffective because they can only regulate overt
behaviors, not inner thoughts. The most effective form of governance
is thus leading by virtue and moral example. In China where the
tradition of the rule of law was never firmly established in its long
history, the citizens were always at the mercy of the ruler. As a result,
the moral excellence of the ruler is essential for guarding against
abuses of authority and protecting the citizens. Therefore, in Chinese
organizations, moral leadership is not only rooted in Confucian ethics,
but also desired by subordinates for their own safety against potential
abuses of authority by the superior.
Effects of paternalistic leadership on subordinate outcomes
Farh and Cheng’s ( 2000 ) model further identified the typical subordin-
ate responses to authoritarianism, benevolence, and moral leadership
(seeFigure 6.1). Specifically, the leader’s authoritarian behavior is
expected to evoke the psychological responses of dependence and
compliance on the part of subordinates, whereas the leader’s benevo-
lence is expected to be matched by the subordinate’s gratitude and
obligation to pay back, and the leader’s morality is expected to lead to
the subordinate’s respect for and identification with the leader. These
subordinate role responses are rooted in traditional Chinese culture,
which emphasizes dependence on and submission to authority on
174 Jiing-lih Farhet al.