Paternalistic leadership and idiosyncratic deals in a healthcare context

Abstract

Purpose

Reflecting a behavioral orientation specific to leaders in Confucian-based cultures, paternalistic leadership appears relevant to the Vietnamese business context. Taking healthcare organizations in Vietnam as a source of data collection, the purpose of this paper is to seek an insight into the relationship between paternalistic leadership and idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) among clinical members.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were harvested from 1,182 clinical employees and 168 direct supervisors from 19 hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Findings

The data analysis revealed that authoritarian leadership behaviors displayed a weak negative link with employees’ i-deals, while the benevolence and morality dimensions of paternalistic leadership exhibited positive relationships with i-deals. The research results also provide evidence for the roles of organizational identification and role breadth self-efficacy (RBSE) in mediating the relationships between paternalistic leadership dimensions and i-deals. The current study also verified the utility of employees’ flexible role identity as an enhancer of both the relationship between organizational identification and i-deals, as well as of the relationship between RBSE and i-deals.

Originality/value

This study extends the leadership literature by unveiling the role of paternalistic leadership in fostering i-deals among clinicians through organizational identification and RBSE as dual mediation paths as well as flexible role identity as a moderator of the relationship between both organizational identification and RBSE and i-deals.

Citation

Luu, T.T. and Djurkovic, N. (2019), "Paternalistic leadership and idiosyncratic deals in a healthcare context", Management Decision, Vol. 57 No. 3, pp. 621-648. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-06-2017-0595