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While current management theory is largely based on economic assumptions, there is evidence to suggest capitalism is at a crossroads. Humanistic management is accordingly proposed as an alternative new paradigm. The present study follows this approach in considering Confucianism as a humanistic practice. The purpose of this study is to explore humanistic leadership displayed by a Confucian leader and how he/she presents humanistic concern in corporate management to pursue the common good.

This study adopted a structured–pragmatic–situational approach to conduct a case study and collected data from three sources: semi-structured interviews, consultant observations and archival data.

The findings reveal that a Confucian leader takes all stakeholders' interests into account while engaging in corporate management and displays humanistic behaviors toward the stakeholders that are in line with five Confucian virtues. The leader cultivates the employees as Confucian humanistic agents. These employees accordingly act as bridges to transmit the humanistic spirit to their customers and other industries in the same market. To initiate an industry change to achieve collective welfare, a Confucian leader must first influence his/her primary stakeholders. The primary stakeholders next collectively influence the secondary stakeholders (i.e. the industry). Consequently, the overall goal of the common good is ultimately sustained.

This study identifies valuable practical implications for humanistic practices in corporate management from a Confucian perspective. In addition, this study takes a significant academic step forward by illuminating the humanistic paradigm.

This paper reports the first part of a recent interview with Dr Bor-Shiuan Cheng on his values, beliefs or thoughts on how to lead a fulfilling life as a person and a researcher.

This paper is based on a recent interview with Dr Bor-Shiuan Cheng.

Life is a journey of discovering our purpose and fulfilling our own destiny. Once Dr Cheng decided his career direction after trying out different alternatives, he sticks to it and makes the best out of it. His choice of majoring in psychology became a basis for the contributions to Chinese management research.

Dr Cheng’s life and career paths showcased a successful scholar who keeps doing one thing in his life, being himself, being focused and persistent. His experience may inspire and encourage junior scholars for career development.

The interview presents the life and career paths of Dr Cheng, who has chosen to take a road less traveled and enjoyed different views along the road.

This article aims to report the second part of the interview with Dr Bor-Shiuan Cheng on his insights into Chinese indigenous management research, including challenges and future directions.

This paper is based on a recent interview with Dr Bor-Shiuan Cheng.

The biggest challenge for current Chinese management research is the administrative system and restrictive publication policy. Under the current system, it is best for researchers to consider a dual approach to research. That is, research must be relevant to local issues and significant to the international community.

The system that might sabotage academic system needs to be changed. And future leadership studies should be focused on developing mindful and moral leaders.

The interview provides an insightful view on the current challenges of Chinese management research and valuable advice from Dr Cheng, who also showed the future direction of leadership studies.

Existing literature on organizational culture focuses on the strategic fit between a firm's culture values and its technology and task environment. This study, however, emphasizes the diffusion perspective of organizational culture, that organizations often imitate cultures of successful firms to reduce uncertainty, resulting in a homogeneous set of organizational culture values that are considered universally beneficial to organizational functioning. Culture values falling into this category include modern values that emphasize innovation, risk-taking, and change, as opposed to more traditional values that focus on stability and consistency. Using 1958 employees from 50 firms in Taiwan and Mainland China, we developed an organizational culture measure consisting of both modern and traditional organizational culture values. We showed that modern organizational culture values were considered beneficial even by employees with traditional personal values.

The current leadership literature has paid little attention to understanding the intervening mechanism by which leaders influence followers. In order to partially bridge this gap, the article aims to present a value‐fit charismatic leadership theory which focusses on the key intervening mechanism – person‐organization values fit.

The model was tested empirically on 180 participants, including 51 managers and 129 employees from 37 large‐scale companies in Taiwan.

Based on the block regression analysis, the results showed that CEO charismatic leadership has both direct and indirect effects on employees’ extra effort to work, satisfaction with the CEO, as well as organizational commitment, which are mediated by employees’ perceived person‐organization values fit. The findings also provided evidence that the relationship between charismatic leadership and person‐organization values fit is significant. Furthermore, the analysis also showed the significant effects of person‐organization values fit on employee outcomes.

The study shows how CEO charismatic leadership can, through the mediating effect of person‐organization values fit, have profound influence on employee outcomes.

This present work aims to report on a study that examines the applicability of Paternalistic Leadership (PL) to public sector organisations in Indonesia. The paper seeks to discuss whether the construct of PL is perceived the same way across different cultures on the basis of an empirically‐based profile of Indonesian public sector leadership developed on the basis of a large‐scale survey carried out in Indonesian government agencies.

The study sample consisted of 1,000 civil servants in the East Java and Jogyakarta Special Region Provinces of Indonesia. Data were collected using simple random sampling techniques. The 42 items in the PL instrument were subjected to explanatory factor analysis (EFA) with variamax rotation. EFA was used to test the degree to which the model of PL proposed by Cheng applied to the Indonesian sample.

Using confirmatory factor analysis the results showed that there are core similarities with the Cheng et al. model which has been tested in Taiwan. The Indonesian benevolent, moral‐leadership behaviour is substantially confirmed with the model adopted for this study. According to civil servants' perception, it seems likely that Indonesian leaders are visible and authoritarian.

The findings are based on a relatively small proportion of the total number of Indonesian civil servants, and focuses on those who are most likely to still uphold Javanese values. Another limitation is in the design of the study, broader focus on PL will allow the study to explain in any detail what the actual impact of PL is on management practices.

This research suggests that people teaching leadership or acting in leadership roles in Indonesia need to develop a clear understanding of the particular values of that country, rather than assuming that all Asian cultures are exactly alike.

The paper adds insight into the applicability of PL in Indonesian public sector organizations.

The people of Taiwan are no strangers to natural disasters; the island sits astride the junction point of the Philippine and Eurasian tectonic plates, making it a frequent victim of sometimes calamitous earthquakes. The island also lies in the path of yearly typhoons that buffet the island, risking life and property damage. These natural disasters have become a fact of life for the Taiwanese people, and the population has long looked to the government for leadership in ensuring disaster preparation, relief, and recovery. This chapter is focused on the leadership qualities exhibited by public administrators in the field of emergency management in Taiwan, and how they navigate the uncharted waters of this new field in a traditional culture. Beginning with a general examination of the cultural and societal influences on the position of leader in Taiwan society and the qualities demanded of that position, the research narrows to the specific field of emergency management and how administration in this realm is accomplished given (a) the relative newness of the field itself and (b) the cultural barriers in Taiwan to the widespread embrace of such disaster mitigation initiatives. The struggle of Taiwan public administrators to adopt disaster preparedness programs in the nation presents itself as a unique opportunity to examine how leaders in such situations walk the razor’s edge between doing what is necessary to ensure that the population have access to the advantages of the modern world while respecting the cultural sensitivities that can often stand in the way of administrative progress.

Soon Ang (Ph.D., Minnesota) is the distinguished Goh Tjoei Kok chair professor in strategy, management, and organization at the Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She has published in Academy of Management Journal, Information Systems Research, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Management Science, MIS Quarterly, Organization Science, Social Forces, and others. She has co-authored two books on cultural intelligence published by Stanford University Press. Her research focuses on cultural intelligence, global leadership development, foreign talent management, and outsourcing (E-mail: asang@ntu.edu.sg).