Leadership in “Confucian Asia”: a three-country study of justice, trust, and transformational leadership^†

Abstract

Increasing globalization and the economic uncertainty inherent in the recent financial crisis have strained the already tenuous commitment of many employees, making followers’ perceptions of justice and trust more critical now than ever before in retaining a loyal workforce. A model of leadership, organizational justice, trust, and work outcomes such as commitment and satisfaction, similar to the one tested in the US, was extended to three countries in the so-called “Confucian Asian Cluster” in the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) study. Data were collected from executives in: Mainland China (N=131), Singapore (N=246), and Taiwan (N=99). Results indicate that transformational leaders in the Mainland build trust through procedural justice and distributive justice; trust in the leader is, in turn, related to job satisfaction and commitment. Transformational leaders in Singapore work indirectly through both distributive and procedural justice mechanisms to build trust and work outcomes, and also directly through trust to influence satisfaction and commitment. Finally, leaders in Taiwan use transformational leadership to influence procedural justice, trust, commitment, and satisfaction. Implications are discussed for leaders attempting to foster committed and satisfied workers in light of challenging economic circumstances.

Keywords:

• transformational
• leadership
• justice
• trust
• cross-cultural
• Confucian Asia