The effect of supervision style and decision‐making on role stress and satisfaction of senior foreign managers in international joint ventures in China

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of supervision style and decision‐making on role stress (role conflict, role ambiguity, role overload) and satisfaction of senior foreign managers working in international joint ventures (IJVs) in China.

This paper is a quantitative study using an international mail survey among Sino‐Foreign joint ventures. The final sample size was comprised of 82 Japanese and Taiwanese senior managers working in IJVs in China. Regression analysis was used to assess the relationship among these variables.

Regression results demonstrated that a tighter supervision style by Japanese managers positively influences role conflict and role overload. Surprisingly, centralized decision‐making by Japanese managers also positively effects role ambiguity in Japanese managers, but centralized decision‐making by Taiwanese managers negatively effects role ambiguity in Taiwanese managers.

While the sample size is relatively small, the findings in this study suggest that the effects of supervision style and decision‐making are different between the Japanese and Taiwanese groups. It is suggested that further research of management styles among eastern and western managers is required.

This study contributes to international business literature and provides insights to expatriates by investigating the relationships among supervision style, decision‐making, role stress, and satisfaction. It also provides some evidence that the impact of decision‐making on role ambiguity is different between national groups, which have been given limited attention in previous literature.