Cultural prototypes? Or leaders’ behaviors? A study on workers’ perceptions of leadership in an electronics industry

Examines the manner in which followers’ cultural background affects their perception of leadership. Being common in many comparative cultural studies, the full range model was chosen as the theoretical framework for investigating the research questions. The model includes nine leadership dimensions measured by the multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ). The main hypothesis was that managers’ behaviors measured by the MLQ will be assessed differently by followers who represent different cultures. Compares workers from two different cultural backgrounds who referred to the same leader. The results of the research supported the hypothesis. The research supports the possibility that leadership is, a to great extent, in the eyes of the beholders. Discusses theoretical explanations deriving from social cognition models.