Chinese family businesses from the 1960s to the 1980s. The specific
behaviors were thus ‘‘illustrative, not exhaustive’’ (Farh and Cheng,
2000 : 97). With rapid societal modernization, family businesses no
longer play such a dominant role in the Chinese economy, and there
has also been an accompanying change in social values. These changes
call for a re-examination of the construct domain of PL to render it
compatible with the contemporary period. We view the continuing
update of the construct domain as a natural part of the construct
validation process (Schwab, 1980 ). As Hanisch, Hulin, and Roznowski
pointed out, ‘‘it takes time to conceptualize important constructs, refine
them, and accurately assess them’’ (1998: 464).Table 6.3summarizes
a few proposed changes of construct domains for the three PL dimen-
sions, along with their original illustrative behaviors as described
by Farh and Cheng ( 2000 ). Although we propose to update part of
the construct domain of the PL dimensions, the overall definition
of each PL dimension remains the same as in the original model.
Authoritarian leadership
In Farh and Cheng’s ( 2000 ) model, authoritarianism describes leader
behaviors that assert absolute authority and control over subordinates
and demand unquestioned obedience of them. It is used to capture the
leadership characteristics in a socio-political context in which authori-
tarianism was widely practiced and viewed as legitimate at all levels
of the society. But with increased prosperity, higher educational
levels, and democratization in Chinese societies, the younger generations
have different expectations concerning their employment relation-
ships. They care more about their self-advancement than about obli-
gations to firms and are much less willing to accept the hierarchical
structure of bureaucracy (Liu, 2003 ). Meanwhile, competitive pressure
also forces Chinese businesses everywhere to demand more contribu-
tions from their employees. Nowadays, employees are frequently
required to be responsible for the business results achieved, rather
than to follow a narrow set of guidelines or seek permission for
variance (Hempel and Chang, 2002 ). Therefore, the construct domain
of authoritarian leadership needs revision.
The original set of authoritarian behaviors (column 1 ofTable 6.3)
includes asserting authority and control, building a lofty image, acting
in a didactic style, and underestimating subordinate competence.
Several of these behaviors are so outdated that they tend to be rejected
Paternalistic leadership in Chinese organizations 193