In search of Chinese paternalistic leadership conflicting evidence from samples of mainland China and Hong Kong’s small family businesses

Extant empirical research fails to support the popular belief that paternalistic leadership (PL) style is a basic characteristic in Chinese organizations. In search of empirical evidence of PL as a practicing style, surveys were conducted with employees from small Chinese family businesses (CFBs) in mainland China (n = 275) and Hong Kong (n = 251). In the China sample, PL’s three dimensions (authoritarianism, benevolence, and morality) were internally convergent, managers exhibited reasonably high levels of PL, and PL as a whole predicted positive employee-perceived outcomes. In the Hong Kong sample, however, PL’s three dimensions showed inconsistent correlations, greatly similar to the extant findings. Consequently, PL as a whole could not be analyzed for that sample. Findings suggest that PL may be restricted only to CFBs in China. Management communication implications are discussed.