Leading “us” towards greater commitment: the role of sharing decision-making power in collectivistic and individualistic cultures
Jérémy E. Wilson-Lemoine, David Izydorczyk, Felix Dübbers, Magdalena Hoszowska, Ralitsa Karakasheva, Aylin Köseoğlu, Mafalda F. Mascarenhas, Ayse B. TopalPurpose
Identity leadership describes the importance for leaders to create and represent a shared identity. In this paper, the pathways from identity leadership to affective commitment were investigated in both collectivistic and individualistic countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The importance of team identification and the perceived amount of participation in decision-making were investigated in an online cross-sectional study. We recruited 741 participants from 18 different countries.
Findings
Structural equation modelling showed that in individualistic countries, both team identification and participation in decision-making mediated the association between identity leadership and affective commitment, whereas in collectivistic countries, only team identification acted as a mediator.
Originality/value
This study adds to the growing literature on identity leadership by investigating its pathways to affective commitment. It also compares two country clusters based on the individualistic/collectivistic dimension. The results suggest that sharing the decision-making power is associated with higher levels of commitment in individualistic cultures, whilst it is not the case in collectivistic cultures.