Type 4. Dictatorial PL leaders(Abc). This group of leaders com-
bines high authoritarianism with low benevolence and low moral
character. In the eyes of followers, these leaders give scant atten-
tion to their needs. They do not identify with or respect these
leaders, because of the leaders’ perceived low moral character.
These leaders are tyrants who rule primarily by ruthless use of
positional authority.
Type 5. Selfless benefactor PL leaders(aBC). These leaders act
benevolently toward subordinates while upholding high personal
moral standards and exercising little authoritarianism. They lead
by winning subordinates’ respect and gratitude and rarely resort
to positional authority.
Type 6. Indulgent PL leaders (aBc). These leaders are highly
benevolent toward subordinates but have low authoritarianism
and moral character. They influence followers primarily through
acting nicely, thereby creating gratitude and indebtedness on the
part of followers.
Type 7. Ideological PL leaders(abC). These leaders exhibit both
low authoritarianism and low benevolence but high personal
moral character. They are labeled as ideological because they
influence subordinates primarily through their personal beliefs
and moral excellence.
Type 8. Laissez-fairePL leaders(abc). This group of leaders has low
levels for all three dimensions of PL. We think that this group
of leaders exists rarely in contemporary Chinese organizations
because they will not be able to meet the basic requirements of
leadership. They are included here merely as a residual category
for comparison purposes.Employee preferences for the eight types of paternalistic leader
To find out which PL type matches the ideal leadership type as
perceived by employees, Niu ( 2006 ) created eight scenarios depicting
the eight types of paternalistic leader. In all, 265 employees from
various private organizations in Taiwan read through each of the eight
scenarios in random order and then selected one type of PL leader
that they considered to be closest to their ideal leader. Two sample
scenarios are presented below.
Mr. Chen is a supervisor who cares about his subordinates. He would like to
show consideration and provide a hand when his followers have troubles in
186 Jiing-lih Farhet al.