Ways CEOs Deliver Their Personal Values and Follower Commitment: Comparison between Founders and Professional Managers

The current study identified three typical approaches leaders employ to deliver personal values to their followers and examined the corresponding psychological reactions the followers generate in response to the value-delivering attempts. Results showed that leaders using authoritarian way would result in followers’ compliance, indicating the lowest level of value alignment. When leaders use policy-driven and inspirational ways to transfer their personal values, they would achieve higher levels of value congruence, identification and internalization, from their followers. Additionally, the study investigated differences between CEOs who are founders of the companies and those who are not in the value delivery process. Interesting findings were discussed in terms of their implications for managerial practices. Limitation and suggestions for future research were also presented in the paper.