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This research study investigated the relationship between participative decision-making and innovative work behavior by considering the moderating role of power distance orientation of individuals. Grounded in the approach-inhibition theory of power, the authors proposed that participative decision-making could mitigate perceived power gap and motivate individuals with high power distance orientation to engage more in innovative work behavior.

Survey data were collected from 243 faculty members from 2 universities located at Dhaka, Bangladesh. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used for data analysis.

The results from the model estimation showed that the positive relationship between participative decision-making and innovative work behavior was stronger among faculty members with high power distance orientation than those with low power distance orientation. The simple slope analysis also clarified the fact that faculty members with high power distance orientation could increase their innovative work behavior to be at the same level as that of faculty members with low power distance orientation when the members were involved highly in participative decision-making.

Participative decision-making is a management practice that should be implemented in order to motivate faculty members to actively engage in innovative work behavior. Particularly for faculty members who are sensitive towards the power status of other members in the workplace, this management practice is highly recommended to lessen the perceived social barrier that discourages these faculty members from engaging in innovative work behavior.

The authors' research advanced knowledge from prior studies by offering new theoretical insight into the role of empowerment practice that could motivate individuals with high power distance orientation to engage more in innovative practices.

Downward line extension is a valuable growth strategy that enables multiple products and services to meet diverse customer needs. However, downward extended products launched by high-status brands may be challenged by horizontal extended products launched by relatively low-status brands when these two types of products target similar consumers. This study aims to examine the impact of product type (horizontal extended versus downward extended) on consumers’ purchase intentions, the underlying mechanism and the moderating role of power distance belief.

Four scenario-based experiments were conducted to probe the research questions.

Consumers develop lower purchase intentions for downward (versus horizontal) extended products due to the reduction of perceived fit and self-congruity (Study 1). Beyond that, power distance belief moderates the impact of product type on consumers’ purchase intentions, as a low power distance belief reduces the negative effect of downward line extension (Studies 2a, 2b and 2c). Perceived fit and self-congruity mediate the interaction effect between product type and power distance belief on consumers’ purchase intentions (Study 2c).

This study provides marketing practitioners with guidance on implementing the strategy of downward line extension.

This study serves as a preliminary effort to compare consumers’ responses between downward and horizontal extended products, which deepens the understanding of downward line extension. It also contributes to the body of knowledge about line extension and power distance belief by demonstrating the moderating role of power distance belief in a line extension context.

Integrating the conservation of resources theory, Hofstede's national culture theory and the cognitive-motivational-relational theory of emotions, the authors propose that power distance (as a moderator) and emotional exhaustion (as a mediator) play a role in the relationship between workplace incivility, emotional exhaustion and job embeddedness.

The data were collected in two stages using an online survey of 404 employees from three sectors, including hospitality, banking and manufacturing, in Indonesia. The authors tested a moderated mediation model using Hayes' macro PROCESS version 3.5.

Workplace incivility contributes to emotional exhaustion, which predicts job embeddedness. Emotional exhaustion also contributes to job embeddedness. In the moderation model, the authors found that the effect of workplace incivility on emotional exhaustion was more substantial for employees with high perceived power distance. Furthermore, power distance also played a moderating role in the relationship between emotional exhaustion and job embeddedness.

Since workplace incivility and job embeddedness differ across cultures, the results of this study contain practical management implications for Indonesian settings, especially the hospitality, manufacturing and banking sectors. The authors provide practical management implications for redesigning organizational culture to help employees avoid uncivil interactions in the workplace. The authors also provide implications concerning strategic managerial directions to improve communication and supervisors' skills at all levels of management.

This study is the first to introduce power distance as a complementary explanation for the relationship between workplace incivility, emotional exhaustion and job embeddedness while focusing on an Asian developing country.

This paper aims to investigate why followers have low perceptions of leader openness and thus feel reluctant to communicate novel ideas by examining leader–follower relationship conflict (i.e. interpersonal incompatibility) and a follower’s power distance orientation (i.e. an acceptance of uneven power distribution in organizations) as antecedents.

The research administrators conducted a three-wave work behavior survey in Study 1, a laboratory experiment in Study 2, and an online experiment in Study 3.

The results demonstrated that leader–follower relationship conflict reduced followers’ perceptions of leader openness. However, the negative impact of relationship conflict became non-significant when followers have high power distance orientations (i.e. an acceptance of uneven power distribution in organizations). The findings also showed an indirect interaction effect of leader–follower relationship conflict and followers’ power distance orientation on the followers’ communication of novel ideas through the followers’ perceptions of leader openness.

The research suggests that followers with higher power distance orientations are more likely to communicate novel ideas consistently because their relationship conflicts with their leaders do not negatively influence their perceptions of leader openness. Although researchers traditionally view cultures with a high level of power distance value as an obstacle to employee creativity, the present study reveals the benefits of an individual-level power distance orientation.

Dark triad (DT) personality traits, that is, Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy, are socially unenthusiastic and predict a range of antisocial behaviors. Academic entitlement, similarly, demonstrates the students’ rising temptation of higher grades without putting corresponding efforts. Based on coercion theory, this research investigated power distance as mediator between DT and academic entitlement (externalized responsibility and entitled expectations). Further, this study examined DT model of personality as a predictor of academic entitlement in Chinese higher education institutions (HEIs).

Chinese HEIs were ascertained for data collection. Students (with bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. degrees) responded to 719 questionnaires for data analysis. Hypothesized relationships were examined through partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM).

This study established positive and significant direct link between DT and academic entitlement. The indirect effect through power distance was found insignificant between the relationship of DT and academic entitlement.

Based on coercion theory, this study extends the prevailing literature through unexplored effects of DT on academic entitlement and role of power distance in Chinese HEIs. This study validated the effect of DT on academic entitlement; however, direct-only no-mediation of power distance between the relationships is novel in Chinese HEIs. Moreover, power distance as mediator is novel between the relationships. Hence, this study provides an understanding of mentioned associations and contributes to the literature.

This study aims to investigate the impact of managerial power distance on the corporate sustainability performance of Chinese firms and to explore the regulatory role of corporate digitalization in the Chinese capital market.

The study collects data from 2,632 A-share Chinese non-financial firms listed on Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges during the period from 2010 to 2020. The authors apply different panel data regression techniques (fixed effects, GMM-System) to investigate the impact of managerial power distance on corporate sustainability performance and to explore the regulatory role of corporate digitalization in the Chinese capital market.

The results of the study show a positive relationship between high managerial power distance and the sustainability performance of Chinese non-financial firms. This positive relationship is particularly pronounced in Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs). The results also show that corporate digitalization increases the sustainability performance of Chinese firms. Further, corporate digitalization weakens the positive relationship between high-power distance and the sustainability performance of Chinese firms. These results are robust to alternate sustainability performance measures and various regression techniques.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the regulating impact of corporate digitalization on the relationship between managerial power distance and corporate sustainability performance in China.

This study aims to shed light on the relationship between gender diversity and group performance by considering the moderating role of relative cultural distance. Drawing from the categorization–elaboration model (CEM), the authors hypothesize that gender-diverse collaborative learning groups perform better when a low level of relative cultural distance in country-level individualism–collectivism or power distance exists among group members.

To test this hypothesis, the authors conducted a study on 539 undergraduate students organized into 94 groups. The assessment of group performance was based on scores given by external raters.

The authors found that relative cultural distance significantly moderated the gender diversity–group performance relationship such that gender diversity was positively related to group performance when the collaborative learning group included members who similarly valued individualism–collectivism or power distance (i.e. relative cultural distance was low) and was negatively related to group performance when the collaborative learning group comprised members who differently valued individualism–collectivism or power distance (i.e. relative cultural distance was high).

This study contributes to understanding when gender diversity is positively associated with group performance by expanding the range of previously examined diversity dimensions to include relative cultural distance in country-level individualism–collectivism and power distance.

Drawing on the dual process theory and the cultural dimension of power distance, the current research investigates the impact of a specific service clue—the linguistic style of address forms (salutation) in hotel manager letters to guests—on customer satisfaction in a hotel context in Ecuador.

Following an experimental design research approach, this research conducted a series of two studies to examine how customers' cultural values (high vs low power distance), linguistic style of address forms (formal vs casual) and service valence (service success vs service failure) together influenced customer satisfaction. Specifically, Study 1 examined the service success condition, and Study 2 investigated the service failure condition.

The research results show that, in the service success condition, customers follow their distinct cultural orientations (high vs low power distance) when responding to the different linguistic styles (formal vs casual). On the other hand, in the service failure situation, as customers desire for expressions of respect that can be reflected in a formal address form, the level of satisfaction is lower when the casual address form is used in guest communications, regardless of customers' cultural orientations in power distance.

This research adds to existing cross-cultural service research, particularly in terms of service valence, and provides practical implications for enhancing service providers' cultural awareness and sociolinguistic competence to effectively communicate with customers from diverse cultural backgrounds.

This study aims to investigate the effect of leader-leader exchange (LLX) on knowledge sharing through feedback-seeking behavior. The study also explores the moderating role of power distance.

A cross-sectional data of 290 knowledge workers from manufacturing and service firms in India were taken as a sample of the study. The hypotheses were tested using confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling and hierarchical regression.

The results showed that LLX positively affects knowledge sharing and feedback-seeking behavior mediates the relationship between LLX and knowledge sharing. Moreover, power distance does not moderate the relationship between LLX and knowledge sharing.

The present study one of its kind explores the relationship between LLX, feedback-seeking behavior, knowledge sharing and power distance.