Differences in leadership behaviour between expatriate and local bosses as perceived by their host country national subordinates

Abstract

Presents an investigation of how host country national subordinates perceive the leadership behaviour of their expatriate bosses in foreign assignments. From a sample of 240 middle managers in Hong Kong with experience of both local Chinese bosses and expatriate bosses from a broad spectrum of Western and Asian countries, finds that the subordinate managers assessed the leadership behaviour of their expatriate bosses to be significantly different from that of their Hong Kong Chinese bosses. US bosses were perceived as the most different and Japanese bosses, as well as bosses from other Asian countries, were seen as the least different, while British bosses and bosses from other Western countries constituted a middle group. Discusses the implications of these findings for international business and future academic research.

Citation

Selmer, J. (1997), "Differences in leadership behaviour between expatriate and local bosses as perceived by their host country national subordinates", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 13-22. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437739710156240