The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2014

Vol. 25, No. 7, 1024–1045, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2013.815250

The influence of follower cultural orientation on attitudinal responses

towards transformational leadership: evidence from the Chinese
hospitality industry
Alexander Newmana* and Christina Butlerb
a
Department of Management, Monash University, Caulfield East, Victoria, Australia; bKingston
Business School, Kingston University, Kingston-upon-Thames, UK
In addition to extending the empirical investigation of the relationship between
transformational leadership and follower affective commitment to the Chinese
hospitality industry, this study makes a theoretical contribution by investigating the
influence of individually held cultural values on this relationship. Building on previous
research which has examined whether collectivism moderates the transformational
leadership/affective commitment relationship, this study investigates the moderating
effects of two additional cultural value orientations, namely power distance and
uncertainty avoidance. Hierarchical regression analysis was utilized to analyse survey
data from 398 employees of four Chinese hotels in Zhejiang Province. In addition to
finding a positive relationship between transformational leadership and affective
commitment, data analysis revealed that followers low in power distance exhibited
higher levels of affective commitment when working under a transformational leader
than those high in power distance. In addition, followers high in uncertainty avoidance
and collectivism exhibited greater commitment when working under a transformational
leader than those low in uncertainty avoidance and collectivism. These findings clearly
indicate the importance of within-country cultural differences to the effectiveness of
leaders in the workplace.
Keywords: China; cultural values; organizational commitment; service sector;
transformational leadership

Introduction
Over the last two decades, the opening-up and reform policies introduced by the Chinese
government have led to an increase in foreign direct investment and the growth of the
domestic private sector (Yao and Wei 2007). Developments in the hospitality sector have
followed this trend with a huge increase in the number of domestic and foreign-owned
hotels (Kong and Cheung 2009). Hotel numbers are likely to continue to expand in this
manner for some time to come. As the World Trade Organization has predicted, it is likely
that China will become the number one tourist destination within the next decade (Li, Tse
and Xie 2007). Although economic reform has had a positive impact on economic growth,
it has resulted in high rates of employee turnover as a result of increased competition in the
labour market (Gamble and Huang 2008). As reported by Zhang et al. (Zhang and Lam
2004; Zhang and Wu 2004), hotels in China are facing shortages of qualified staff, high
turnover and the unwillingness of university graduates to seek employment in this sector.
Chinese companies have begun to recognize that in order to retain skilled employees, they
need to find effective means by which to secure their organizational commitment during
this period of rapid change. As a result, they are increasingly adopting those western

*Corresponding author. Email: alex.newman@monash.edu

q 2013 Taylor & Francis

 The International Journal of Human Resource Management 1025

management ideas and practices which have been found to lead to a highly committed
workforce (Huang, Shi, Zhang and Cheung 2006). Transformational leadership is one such
practice which has been found to enhance employee commitment in the West (Jung and
Avolio 1999; Bono and Judge 2003). It refers to the ability of leaders to change the
organizational status quo through the development of follower values, needs and
aspirations (Bass and Avolio 1994). Transformational leaders build a strategic vision,
communicate that vision to followers and foster commitment to that vision (Avolio 1999).
The findings of empirical work over the last two decades indicate that leaders ranking
high on transformational leadership are positively associated with a number of work-
related outcomes of benefit to organizations in a variety of organizational settings and
cultures (Lowe, Kroeck and Sivasubramaniam 1996; Howell and Hall-Merenda 1999;
Avolio, Zhu, Koh and Puja 2004; Walumbwa, Orwa, Wang and Lawler 2005). The social
exchange theory asserts that the provision of positive treatment by transformational
leaders should lead followers to reciprocate through the exhibition of greater effort,
commitment, satisfaction and job performance (Yammarino, Spangler and Bass 1993;
Jung and Sosik 2002; Bono and Judge 2003; Walumbwa and Lawler 2003).
In the past, researchers have been sceptical about the applicability of western social
science theories generally (Tsui 2004), and leadership theories more specifically (House,
Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman and Gupta 2004), to cultural contexts outside those in which
they were developed, especially to Asian societies, which have been characterized by
markedly different cultural values than those of the West (Hofstede 1980; Schwartz
1994b; Smith, Dugan and Trompenaars 1996). Recent empirical studies examining the
moderating effects of individual-level cultural values have revealed that transformational
leadership induces similar work-related attitudes, e.g. higher organizational commitment
and job satisfaction, amongst Chinese employees as it does amongst Western employees
(Walumbwa and Lawler 2003; Walumbwa et al. 2005).
Although much of the existing research on transformational leadership has examined
its effects on follower behaviour at the cross-cultural level (Bono and Judge 2003), there
has been limited examination as to how within-country individual-level cultural
differences impact on how transformational leadership is evaluated (Walumbwa and
Lawler 2003; Kirkman, Chen, Farh, Chen and Lowe 2009). At the same time, recent
reviews of the management literature suggest that the cultural value orientations of
individual employees may play an important role in determining how they react to
different aspects of their working environment, both across cultures and within a single
national culture (Kirkman, Lowe and Gibson 2006; Tsui, Nifadkar and Ou 2007). Findings
from recent empirical studies in the leadership literature provide support for such
assertions (Walumbwa and Lawler 2003; Spreitzer, Perttula and Xin 2005; Walumbwa,
Lawler and Avolio 2007; Kirkman et al. 2009). The effects of within-culture cultural
differences might be expected to be quite pronounced in the Chinese workplace due to its
vast geography and the phenomenon of significant migration of workers from rural areas
in the West to the more prosperous coastal areas in the East.
In this study, we contribute to the existing body of literature by examining how
individually held cultural values influence the relationship between transformational
leadership and follower affective organizational commitment in the context of the Chinese
hospitality services industry. Some previous work has found that the collectivism
orientation of individuals influences their attitudinal response to transformational
leadership in China (Walumbwa and Lawler 2003; Walumbwa et al. 2007). Whilst this
finding is important in so far as it goes, these studies do not demonstrate that collectivism
is the most influential cultural value moderator of the transformational leadership/affective
1026 A. Newman and C. Butler

commitment relationship. No empirical study has thus far examined the moderating
effects of other individual-level cultural values. Our study addresses this gap in the
literature by examining, in addition to collectivism, other individual-level cultural value
orientations which are predicted to have a theoretical relationship with the construct of
organizational commitment. For this purpose, we have selected the power distance and
uncertainty avoidance orientations for their expected direct frame of reference effects
(Schmit, Ryan, Stierwalt and Powell 1995; Hunthausen, Truxillo, Bauer and Hammer
2003).
The findings of this research have important managerial implications. They will
provide an insight into how transformational leadership may be utilized to better motivate
culturally diverse groups of employees both inside and outside the rapidly developing
service sector in fast-changing China. The findings will be of specific use to organizations
in the Chinese hospitality industry looking to foster high levels of commitment in
employees with different cultural orientations through the development and effective
deployment of transformational leaders. These findings will also help to inform our
understanding of how Chinese culture is evolving as a result of economic reforms within
the broader context of globalization, and so how these findings might generalize to other
sectors within the Chinese economy. More importantly, our focus on multiple individual-
level ‘etic’ cultural orientations will help to inform future thinking about the use of
transformational leadership in managing affective commitment across cultures more
generally.

Theoretical background and hypotheses

Transformational leadership
It has been stated that there are almost as many different theories of leadership as there are
persons who have attempted to define the concept of what a leader is (Bass 1998). Of
these, transformational leadership theory has turned out to be one of the most researched
over the last two decades (Bass 1998; Lowe and Gardner 2000). This theory was initially
developed and popularized by Bass (1985), based on work by Burns (1978) who
distinguished between transactional leadership (leadership largely based on the exchange
of rewards contingent on performance) and transformational leadership, which is outlined
below.
Bass (1985) conceptualizes transformational leadership as having four distinct
components: charisma (idealized influence), inspirational motivation, intellectual
stimulation and individualized consideration. The first component, charisma, refers to
the ability of a leader to excite and arouse the emotions of their followers (Bass 1998;
Walumbwa and Lawler 2003). Charismatic leaders gain the trust and respect of their
followers by generating a strong sense of vision (Gardner and Avolio 1998). This
component has also been labelled individualized influence due to the leader’s ability to
exert emotional influence over their followers. The second component, inspirational
motivation, has been defined as the ability of a leader to set an example to their followers,
thus becoming a point of reference (Bass 1985). Inspirational leaders inspire their
followers by showing a commitment to achieve objectives and self-determination in their
work (Walumbwa and Lawler 2003). The third component, intellectual stimulation, is
concerned with the ability of leaders to get their followers to question their own values,
beliefs and expectations, as well as those of the leader and the organization (Ergeneli,
Gohar and Temirbekova 2007). Transformational leaders encourage followers to develop
innovative new solutions to existing problems and rethink basis assumptions that have not
 The International Journal of Human Resource Management 1027

been questioned previously (Bass 1985). The final component is individualized

consideration which refers to the ability of leaders to develop their followers by acting
as coach or mentor (Bass 1985). A leader displaying individualized consideration shows
an ability to pay special attention to the individual needs, abilities and aspirations of each
follower (Avolio 1999). By doing this, leaders are able to motivate and develop the self-
confidence of their followers (Bass 1998).

Transformational leadership in the Chinese context

The extent to which Western management practices can be effectively utilized by Chinese
organizations, given the cultural differences between China and the West, has long been
questioned by management researchers (Tsui 2004; Tsui, Schoonhoven, Meyer, Lau and
Milkovich 2004). Traditional management practices, commonly adopted by state-owned
and family-run enterprises, were generally considered suitable in China due to the fact
that it is predominantly a collectivist and hierarchical society (Triandis 1995). For
example, autocratic, command-based leadership styles were typically viewed as being
more effective than leadership styles such as transformational and charismatic leadership
which stress participation (Hoppe 2004). However, researchers have begun to question the
extent to which traditional management practices can produce the desired results in the
light of changes in worker attitudes that have occurred as a consequence of the opening-
up to foreign direct investment and the drastic restructuring of state-owned enterprises
that has occurred in China during the last two decades (Ralston, Holt, Terpstra and Yu
1997). For example, the restructuring of the workforce in state-owned enterprises has led
to a significant increase in workplace disputes, resulting in a need for greater consultation
between the management and workers than in the past (Morris, Sheehan and Hassard
2001; Cai 2002). Recent research suggests that leaders of Chinese organizations are
becoming increasingly reliant on western human resource (HR) management practices
(Warner 1997; Ding, Goodall and Warner 2000; Lewis 2003; He, Chen and Zhang 2004;
Warner and Zhu 2004) that seek to gain and maintain the commitment of a younger
generation of employees, who are more individualistic and less respectful of seniority
than their peers (Fu and Tsui 2003). Recent empirical studies indicate that the
implementation of management philosophies that stress employee participation and
involvement, such as transformational leadership, lead to beneficial outcomes for Chinese
organizations, such as higher organizational commitment, job satisfaction and
psychological empowerment (Liu 2003; Walumbwa and Lawler 2003; King and Bu
2005; Walumbwa et al. 2005; Huang et al. 2006; Ralston et al. 1997). However, the
mechanisms by which these approaches work in the current Chinese context are not yet
fully understood.

Organizational commitment and transformational leadership

Commitment across cultures has been studied for more than two decades (Cole 1979), but
there is not as yet an overarching theory of cultural differences at the individual level of
organizational commitment (see Fischer and Mansell [2009] for a recent meta-analysis at
the country level). Commitment is a force, such as attachment, identification or loyalty,
which ties that individual into a particular course of action (Cohen 2003). Evidence is now
strong that the commitment of North Americans and Western Europeans can be
differentiated along three dimensions: affective, continuance and normative (Meyer,
Stanley, Herscovitch and Topolnytsky 2002). Of these, affective commitment has been the
1028 A. Newman and C. Butler

most researched (Porter, Steers, Mowday and Boulian 1974) and has been used most often
in cross-cultural research (Wasti 2003).
Affective organizational commitment refers to the employee’s emotional attachment
to, and identification with, the organization (Meyer, Allen and Smith 1993) and has been
more specifically defined by Porter et al. (1974) as a strong belief in and acceptance of the
goals and values of the organization. Recent reviews of the empirical literature highlight
the strong relationship between affective commitment and outcomes of benefit to
organizations, including turnover behaviour and job performance (Meyer et al. 2002;
Riketta 2002).
Social exchange theory (Blau 1964) has been used to explain why transformational
leadership influences the organizational commitment of followers (Zhu, Newman, Miao
and Hooke 2013). Through acting as a role model to their followers and providing support,
encouragement, respect and intellectual stimulation, transformational leaders should
enhance follower trust in leader (Jung and Avolio 2000; Zhu et al. 2013). This in turn
should lead followers to be more proud of working for their organization and reciprocate
in the form of enhanced job attitudes such as affective commitment (Bass and Avolio
1994). Prior empirical research demonstrates that transformational leadership is a key
antecedent of affective commitment in a variety of organizational and geographical
settings (Bono and Judge 2003; Walumbwa and Lawler 2003; Avolio et al. 2004;
Walumbwa et al. 2005, 2007). Using two distinct samples, Bono and Judge (2003) found
that transformational leadership was positively associated with affective commitment in
the USA. Avolio et al. (2004) reported a similar positive association between
transformational leadership and affective commitment using a sample of nurses and
their managers in Singapore. Work by Walumbwa et al. reveals positive relationships
between transformational leadership and follower affective commitment in samples of
Chinese, Indian, Kenyan and US bank employees (Walumbwa and Lawler 2003;
Walumbwa et al. 2005, 2007). More recent work has also highlighted the importance of
transformational leadership to the organizational commitment of workers in the Chinese
manufacturing sector (Miao, Newman and Lamb 2012; Zhu et al. 2013). Given that
employees in the Chinese hospitality sector are drawn from the same population of
migrant workers, we propose the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 1: Transformational leadership will be positively related to follower
affective commitment.

Moderating effects of individual-level cultural values

In recent years, researchers have shown a growing interest in examining how culture
impacts on organizational behaviour at an individual level (Walumbwa and Lawler 2003;
Tsui et al. 2007; Kirkman et al. 2009; Williamson, Burnett and Bartol 2009). Traditionally,
cultural frameworks have been used to explain differences in behaviour across national
boundaries (Hofstede 1980; Schwartz 1994b; Smith et al. 1996; House et al. 2004).
However, there is growing empirical evidence to suggest that there is considerable within-
country variability across cultural dimensions (Clugston, Howell and Dorfman 2000; Farh,
Hackett and Liang 2007; Williamson et al. 2009). In this study, we examine the
moderating effects of three individual-level cultural values on the relationship between
transformational leadership and follower affective commitment. We focus on power
distance and uncertainty avoidance for their expected more direct frame of reference
effects (Schmit et al. 1995; Hunthausen et al. 2003) on the relationship under
 The International Journal of Human Resource Management 1029

consideration, and collectivism, because it has previously been shown to be a significant

moderator of this relationship.

Power distance
Power distance, an ‘etic’ cultural value orientation, refers to the extent to which an
individual accepts the unequal distribution of power within institutions and organizations
(Hofstede 2001). It is conceptually related to Chinese individual traditionality (Farh et al.
2007), a diffuse ‘emic’ cultural value orientation (Yang, Yu and Yeh 1989) which includes
‘submission to authority’ as the most prominent of its five factors (Farh et al. 2007). Farh
et al. (2007), comparing the moderating effects of power distance and traditionality on
perceived organizational support – employee outcome relationships in China, found power
distance to have a more significant influence due to more direct frame of reference effects
(Schmit et al. 1995; Hunthausen et al. 2003). This leads us to focus on power distance in
this paper. Individuals high in power distance are typically submissive to authority and
show a greater readiness to accept differences in status (Bochner and Hesketh 1994; Adsit,
London, Crom and Jones 1997), with the relative positions of members within a group well
known to all members of the group (e.g. Farh, Earley and Lin 1997; Fischer and Smith
2006; Fischer 2008). They expect their leaders to provide solutions to work-related
problems and communicate strong directives with little input from their followers
(Javidan, Dorfman, de Luque and House 2006; Kirkman et al. 2009). As a result, whilst
normally those with high power distance orientations might unquestioningly follow
‘traditional’ leaders, transformational leadership might be met with suspicion by such
followers who expect specific guidance from their supervisor as to what to do in their work
(Javidan et al. 2006). In comparison, followers with a low power distance orientation, who
place a higher value on involvement and participation in decision-making, may respond
more positively to a transformational leader who tries to intellectually stimulate them to
devise new, innovative solutions in their work (Kirkman et al. 2006). Recent studies
provide support for such propositions. For example, Eylon and Au (1999) find evidence
that employees with a low, rather than a high, power distance orientation respond more
positively to empowerment, and Kirkman et al. (2009) demonstrate that the relationship
between transformational leadership and perceptions of procedural justice is stronger for
followers with a lower power distance orientation. On the basis of these findings, we
would expect followers with a low power distance orientation to respond more positively
to transformational leadership than those with a high power distance orientation, leading
us to the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2: The power distance orientation of the follower will negatively moderate
the relationship between transformational leadership and follower
affective commitment.

Uncertainty avoidance
Uncertainty avoidance, an ‘etic’ cultural value orientation, refers to the extent to which
individuals feel uncomfortable with unknown situations and ambiguity (Ergeneli et al.
2007). Those high in uncertainty avoidance tend to avoid risk, prefer formal rules and seek
greater career stability (Clugston et al. 2000). Schwartz’s (1992, 1994a) value of
conservation, which is theorized to include tradition, conformity and, of special interest
here, security for its concerns with the safety, harmony and stability of society,
1030 A. Newman and C. Butler

relationships and self, taps into concepts related to uncertainty avoidance. Individuals high
in conservation are likely to avoid disturbing the established order (Schwartz 1992,
1994a). Taking an intrinsic motivation perspective, Shin and Zhou (2003) found that
conservation had a moderating effect on the relationship between transformational
leadership and creativity in a study of employees in Korea. A high level of conservation
was found to enhance the relationship and a low level of conservation to neutralize it. We
argue that a similar process is at work on the relationship between transformational
leadership and affective commitment, but that this relationship is moderated more directly
by uncertainty avoidance, rather than conservation, owing to the more direct frame of
reference effects with the management of organizational goals and values (Schmit et al.
1995; Hunthausen et al. 2003), and so we focus on uncertainty avoidance in this paper.
Although no empirical work has examined the effect of follower uncertainty avoidance
orientation on their attitudinal responses to transformational leadership, we expect that
transformational leadership may be highly motivating to those high in uncertainty
avoidance, and so may lead to greater affective commitment. This leads us to the following
hypothesis:
Hypothesis 3: The uncertainty avoidance orientation of the follower will positively
moderate the relationship between transformational leadership and
follower affective commitment.

Collectivism
Collectivism refers to the extent to which individuals view themselves as being
interdependent with others in society. Collectivists typically emphasize the importance of
group over individual goals (Triandis, McCusker and Hui 1990; Triandis 1995; Wong and
Tjosvold 2006). They tend to demonstrate a greater willingness to sacrifice their self-
interest for group welfare compared to individualists, who show greater concern for
individual achievement (Triandis et al. 1990; Triandis 1995). Recent cross-cultural
studies report that collectivists not only report higher levels of affective commitment
(Kirkman and Shapiro 2001; Wasti 2003), but also respond more positively to
transformational leadership than individualists (Walumbwa and Lawler 2003; Walumbwa
et al. 2007). Transformational leadership may potentially have a greater positive impact
on the attitudinal responses of collectivists than individualists for several reasons.
Walumbwa et al. (2007) argue that collectivists may be more receptive to
transformational leadership because such leaders stress the importance of contribution
to the group, and group over individual outcomes. Jung, Bass and Sosik (1995) argue that
collectivists respond better to transformational leadership due to a greater willingness to
identify with their leader’s goals and the common vision of the organization. This may
result from a greater need to depend on others, and a stronger sense of belonging to the
group (Ergeneli et al. 2007). This result might be tempered in organizational contexts
where the primary in-group of family is not present (Fischer and Mansell 2009). Jung and
Avolio (1999) conducted laboratory experiments to examine the moderating effects of
collectivism on the responses of individuals to transformational leadership. They found
that those high in collectivism generate more ideas than those low in collectivism under a
transformational leader. These findings suggest that the cultural orientation of the
follower may not only impact on their attitudinal response to transformational leadership,
but also differently lead to improved organizational performance. The existing literature
leads us to the following hypothesis:
 The International Journal of Human Resource Management 1031

Hypothesis 4: Follower collectivism will positively moderate the relationship between

transformational leadership and follower affective commitment.

Methodology
Sample and procedure
Survey questionnaires were used to gather information from employees working in the
hospitality industry. The questionnaires were translated into Chinese prior to distribution,
using the back-translation procedure as recommended by Brislin (1993), and pilot tested on
a focus group of employees in the hospitality industry and academic colleagues. This
allowed the research team to determine the face validity of the questionnaire and double-
check the accuracy of the Chinese translation. On the basis of feedback provided by the
focus group, some minor changes were made to the ordering of questions and the Chinese
translation of the items. The questionnaire was then distributed to employees of four
unrelated privately owned domestic hotels operating in Wenzhou city of Zhejiang Province,
China. Given that the overwhelming proportion of employees were migrant workers who
came from provinces across China, we feel that the sample provided a high degree of
cultural diversity. In addition, the use of employees from a single industry in a single area of
the country allowed us to ensure that it was not industrial or labour market differences that
were driving our findings. Table 1 provides information on each of the participating
organizations, detailing the numbers of questionnaires distributed, returned and completed.
Respondents were all employed on a full-time basis in customer service positions in their
organizations. Respondents were accessed through the HR department of each organization.
Paper questionnaires were distributed to employees during their lunch break and collected
by the research team the following day to ensure that the individual responses of employees
would be kept confidential from the organization. The employees were guaranteed
anonymity and informed that their employing organization would only be provided with the
aggregate findings of the research. Out of a total of 500 questionnaires distributed, 474 were
returned, of which 398 were fully completed. This left us with a response rate of just less
than 80%. Subsequent analysis showed no difference in the demographic profile of
respondents who did and did not fully complete the questionnaires. The average age of
respondents was about 26 years, and average tenure approximately 2 years. Around 93% of
the respondents were women and only 10.3% of them were educated to university level.
Less than 6.8% of them held a managerial position in their organization.

Measures
Transformational leadership behaviour
Transformational leadership behaviour was measured using 25 items adapted from the
Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) form 5X. Employees were asked to rate

Table 1. Information on participating organizations.

Organization Copies distributed Copies returned Completed copies
A 260 247 211
B 100 94 71
C 100 93 81
D 40 40 35
Total 500 474 398
1032 A. Newman and C. Butler

their supervisors transformational leadership behaviour on a five-point Likert scale (1 ¼

‘Not at all’ and 5 ¼ ‘Very frequently, if not always’). Although data were collected using
all 39 MLQ items, only those which loaded onto the four dimensions of transformational
leadership at a value of more than 0.5 in exploratory factor analysis were included in
further analysis.
Our hypotheses did not distinguish between the different components of
transformational leadership, and so we combined the four dimensions of transformational
leadership measuring charisma (idealized influence), inspirational motivation, intellectual
stimulation and individualized consideration into one factor (Cronbach’s alpha ¼ 0.880).
This is consistent with recent empirical work on transformational leadership theory (Bass
1998). The alpha coefficients for the four sub-factors ranged from 0.729 to 0.859.
A second-order confirmatory factor analysis was conducted using LISREL 8.80 to assess
the goodness of fit of the one-factor model to the data (GFI ¼ 0.87; CFI ¼ 0.98; RMSEA
¼ 0.056).

Affective commitment
We employed a shortened version of the Meyer et al. (1993) affective commitment scale
comprising three of the original items. Employees were required to rate their commitment
using five-point Likert scales (from 1 ¼ strongly disagree to 5 ¼ strongly agree). Given
the reflective nature of the scale, omitted items should not affect the scale’s reliability. The
Cronbach’s alpha for the shortened scale was 0.725. Sample items included ‘I do not feel a
strong sense of belonging to my organisation’.

Individual-level cultural orientations

Three four-item scales taken from Donthu and Yoo’s (1998) cultural values scale (CVS)
were used to measure the collectivism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance

Table 2. Cultural values scales.

Collectivism values
C1: Individuals should stick with the group even through difficulties
C2: Group welfare is more important than individual rewards
C3: Group success is more important than individual success
C4: Individuals should only pursue their goals after considering the welfare of the group
Power distance values
P1. People in higher positions should make most decisions without consulting people in lower
positions
P2. People in higher positions should not ask the opinions of people in lower positions too frequently
P3. People in higher positions should avoid social interaction with people in lower positions
P4. People in lower positions should not disagree with decisions by people in higher positions
Uncertainty avoidance values
U1. It is important to have instructions spelled out in detail so that I always know what I am expected
to do
U2. It is important to closely follow instructions and procedures
U3. Rules and regulations are important because they inform me of what is expected of me
U4. Standardized work procedures are helpful
Table 3. Descriptive statistics and correlations amongst study variables.

Variable Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1. Age 25.82 6.17
2. Tenure 2.06 2.00 0.539**
3. Transformational leadership 2.91 0.68 0.058 0.008 (0.880)
4. Affective commitment 3.09 0.82 2 0.115* 2 0.086 0.128** (0.725)
5. Collectivism 3.40 0.70 2 0.003 2 0.088 0.247** 0.061 (0.704)
6. Power distance 2.59 0.78 0.170** 0.119* 0.226** 20.132** 20.046 (0.709)
7. Uncertainty avoidance 3.31 0.68 0.030 2 0.067 0.286** 0.040 0.495** 20.113* (0.734)
**
Note: Numbers in parentheses are the coefficient alphas. *Significance at the 5% level; significance at the 1% level.
The International Journal of Human Resource Management
1033
1034 A. Newman and C. Butler

orientations of respondents. This CVS scale has been widely used in the marketing and
international business literature, and has been proven to successfully capture Hofstede’s
(2001) cultural dimensions at the individual level (Yoo and Donthu 2002; Schoefer 2010).
The scales had alpha coefficients ranging from 0.704 to 0.734. Items used are shown in
Table 2. As previously, five-point Likert scales (from 1 ¼ strongly disagree to 5 ¼
strongly agree) were used to measure these items.

Control variables
Since previous research has shown that demographic factors including age, tenure,
position, gender and education may influence employee commitment (Chen and Francesco
2000), a number of control variables were included in this research study. Dummy
variables were used to measure position (0 ¼ non-manager, 1 ¼ manager), gender (0 ¼
female, 1 ¼ male) and educational level (0 ¼ non-university graduates, 1 ¼ university
graduates). Age and tenure were both measured in number of years. Dummy variables
were also used to control for differences in the commitment of employees between
organizations.
The means, standard deviations, reliability coefficients of each continuous variable
and correlations between all variables used in the study are presented in Table 3. The
demographic profile of the respondents is shown in Table 4.

Data analysis and results

Two sets of analysis were conducted on the data. First, as all measures in our study were
self-rated by respondents, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted using LISREL 8.80
to test for common method bias. The five-factor model (transformational leadership,
affective commitment, collectivism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance) was
compared to that of a one-factor model in which the items from each of the five factors
were combined into a single factor (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Yeon and Podsakoff 2003).
The results of the single-factor model (GFI ¼ 0.68; CFI ¼ 0.65; RMSEA ¼ 0.15) were
significantly poorer than those of the five-factor model (GFI ¼ 0.94; CFI ¼ 0.99;
RMSEA ¼ 0.026), indicating that common method bias is not a major problem in this
study.
Second, hierarchical regression analysis was undertaken to test the study hypotheses.
The results of analysis are presented in Table 5. Initially, the control variables (age,
gender, tenure, position, education and organization) were entered in the first step of the

Table 4. Demographic profile of the respondents.

Demographic variables N Per cent
Gender
Male 28 7
Female 370 93
Education
University 41 10.3
Non-university 357 89.7
Job level
Supervisors 27 6.8
Non-supervisors 371 93.2
Table 5. Hierarchical regression analysis (n ¼ 398).
Dependent variable: affective commitment
Regression 1 Regression 2 (H1) Regression 3 (H2) Regression 4 (H3) Regression 5 (H4) Regression 6
Step 1: control variables (organizational
controls are not presented)
Age 2 0.09 2 0.08 2 0.07 20.08 2 0.07 2 0.07
Gender 2 0.08 2 0.06 2 0.05 20.06 2 0.06 2 0.06
Tenure 2 0.04 2 0.04 2 0.04 20.03 2 0.05 2 0.03
Position 2 0.06 2 0.06 2 0.06 20.04 2 0.05 2 0.05
Education 0.12** 0.10** 0.10** 0.11** 0.11** 0.11**
DR 2 0.062 0.062 0.062 0.062 0.062 0.062
Step 2: independent variables
Transformational leadership 0.18*** 0.15** 0.15*** 0.17*** 0.12**
Power distance 2 0.18*** 2 0.16*** 20.14*** 2 0.16*** 2 0.13**
Uncertainty avoidance 2 0.10* 2 0.11* 20.08 2 0.08 2 0.08
Collectivism 0.04 0.04 0.06 0.03 0.05
DR 2 0.043 0.043 0.043 0.043 0.043
Step 3: interactive effects
Transformational leadership £ 2 0.11** 2 0.09*
power distance
Transformational leadership £ 0.18*** 0.12**
uncertainty avoidance
Transformational leadership £ 0.16*** 0.09*
collectivism
DR 2 0.010 0.030 0.025 0.043
The International Journal of Human Resource Management

Overall model
R2 0.105 0.115 0.135 0.130 0.148
** ***
*Significance at the 10% level; significance at the 5% level; significance at the 1% level.
1035
1036 A. Newman and C. Butler

regression (regression 1). Only education was found to be related to the employee
commitment to any degree of significance. Those respondents with a university education
exhibited higher levels of affective commitment than those without it.
The independent and moderating variables were then added in the second step of the
regression (regression 2). All variables to be used as a component of an interaction term in
subsequent analysis were mean-centred (Aiken and West 1991). Tests for normality
indicated no violations of assumptions underlying the regressions. In line with the findings
of previous work in Chinese and non-Chinese settings (Bono and Judge 2003; Walumbwa
and Lawler 2003; Avolio et al. 2004; Walumbwa et al. 2005, 2007), a highly significant
relationship was found between the followers’ ratings of their superior’s transformational
leadership and their affective commitment (b ¼ 0.18, p , 0.01). This provides support for
Hypothesis 1. In addition, one of the moderating variables, power distance, was found to
be negatively related to affective commitment to a high degree of significance
(b ¼ 2 0.18, p , 0.01).
The interactive terms were added in the third step of the regression in order to test the
main hypotheses of this study. Three hierarchical regressions (regressions 3 – 5) were
carried out to examine the individual moderating effects of follower cultural orientation on
the relationship between transformational leadership and affective commitment. As
predicted by Hypothesis 2, in regression 3, the relationship between transformational
leadership and affective commitment was negatively moderated by the power distance
orientation of followers. It was significant at the 5% level (b ¼ 2 0.11, p , 0.05). As
predicted by Hypothesis 3, in regression 4, the uncertainty avoidance of followers was
found to positively moderate the relationship between transformational leadership and
their affective commitment to a high degree of significance (b ¼ 0.18, p , 0.01). Lastly,
in line with Hypothesis 4, in regression 5, the collectivism orientation of followers
positively moderated the relationship between transformational leadership and their
affective commitment to a high degree of significance (b ¼ 0.16, p , 0.01). In regression
6, all interactive terms were entered into the analysis together. As predicted by Hypothesis
2, the relationship between transformational leadership and affective commitment was
negatively moderated by the power distance orientation of followers at the 10% level. Also
as predicted by Hypothesis 3, the relationship was positively moderated by uncertainty
avoidance at the 5% level. Likewise, as predicted by Hypothesis 4, collectivism positively
moderated the relationship between transformational leadership and affective commit-
ment at the 10% level of significance. As in the other regressions, education, power
distance and transformational leadership were all positively related to affective
commitment at the 5% level.
In order to interpret the moderating effects of the followers’ cultural orientations in
greater detail, regressions equations were plotted at different levels of collectivism, power
distance and uncertainty avoidance (i.e. one standard deviation above and these equations
are presented graphically in Figures 1 –3. Figure 1 illustrates the moderating effects of
followers’ power distance orientation on the relationship between transformational
leadership and their affective organizational commitment. When the transformational
leadership behaviour of leaders was rated low, all individuals irrespective of power
distance orientation demonstrated similar levels of commitment. When the transforma-
tional leadership behaviour of leaders was rated high, however, those low in power
distance exhibited significantly higher levels of organizational commitment than those
high in power distance.
Figure 2 illustrates the moderating effects of followers’ uncertainty avoidance
orientation on the relationship between transformational leadership and their affective
 The International Journal of Human Resource Management 1037

Figure 1. Moderating effects of power/distance.

commitment. When the transformational leadership behaviour of leaders was rated low,
those low in uncertainty avoidance exhibited greater commitment than those high in
uncertainty avoidance. In contrast, when the transformational leadership behaviour of
leaders was rated high, those high in uncertainty avoidance exhibited greater commitment.
Similar results can be seen for the moderating effects of the follower’s collectivism
orientation in Figure 3.
In addition to plotting the significant interactions, a simple slope analysis was
performed for each of the moderating variables. The findings showed that the relationship
between transformational leadership and affective commitment under conditions of low
power distance was different from zero (simple slope ¼ 0.25, t ¼ 3.88, p , 0.01).
In contrast, under conditions of high power distance, the relationship between
transformational leadership and affective commitment was not significant (simple slope
¼ 0.06, t ¼ 0.56, n.s.). Under conditions of high uncertainty avoidance, the relationship
between transformational leadership and affective commitment was different from zero
(simple slope ¼ 0.31, t ¼ 4.79, p , 0.01). In contrast, under conditions of low

Figure 2. Moderating effects of uncertainty avoidance.

1038 A. Newman and C. Butler

Figure 3. Moderating effects of collectivism.

uncertainty avoidance, the relationship between transformational leadership and affective

commitment was not significant (simple slope ¼ 2 0.03, t ¼ 2 0.32, n.s.). Similar results
were found for collectivism. Under conditions of high collectivism, the relationship
between transformational leadership and affective commitment was different from zero
(simple slope ¼ 0.31, t ¼ 4.62, p , 0.01). In contrast, under conditions of low
uncertainty avoidance, the relationship between transformational leadership and affective
commitment was not significant (simple slope ¼ 0.02, t ¼ 0.30, n.s.).

Discussion
The findings of the present study provide clear evidence that transformational leaders elicit
higher levels of affective commitment amongst employees in the Chinese hospitality sector.
This is supportive of the findings of previous work in the Chinese manufacturing sector
(Miao et al. 2012; Zhu et al. 2013), and suggests that organizations may benefit from the
training and development of transformational leaders. In addition, the results of this study
provide strong support for the proposition that the individual-level cultural value
orientations of followers moderate their response to transformational leadership behaviour.
First, power distance was found to moderate the relationship between transformational
leadership behaviour and affective commitment in such a way that the relationship was
stronger for individuals low in power distance. This result confirms the findings of previous
studies which demonstrate that those low in power distance tend to place a higher value on
participation and involvement in decision-making, values which are typically espoused by
transformational leaders (Kirkman et al. 2006). It also provides support for the work of
Eylon and Au (1999) who established that employees low in power distance respond more
positively to empowerment than those high in power distance. In addition to its moderating
effects on the relationship between transformational leadership and affective commitment,
followers’ power distance orientation was also found to be negatively related to affective
commitment. Our findings thus suggest that power distance may be the most influential
cultural value orientation where outcomes of affective commitment are concerned. This
makes intuitive sense given that power distance is intimately bound up with conceptions of
hierarchy, and so too transformational leadership.
Second, followers’ uncertainty avoidance orientation was found to positively moderate
their attitudinal response to transformational leadership. This finding supports similar work
 The International Journal of Human Resource Management 1039

on the moderating effects of conservation on the relationship between transformational

leadership and creativity (Shin and Zhou 2003). At the same time, as this is the first study
which has considered the moderating effects of uncertainty avoidance on relationships
involving transformational leadership, it is important to be cautious in the presentation of
these results. The distinct cultural make-up of our sample may have influenced the results,
and so it is important to conduct further studies. Those individuals in our sample who scored
low on power distance also typically scored high on uncertainty avoidance. For such high
uncertainty avoidance followers, transformational leaders might induce greater affective
commitment for some components of transformational leadership. For example,
individualized consideration in the form of coaching or mentoring might engender greater
confidence in those individuals not normally used to developing their own ideas. This
confidence should in turn lead to greater affective commitment.
In line with the results of previous work (Walumbwa and Lawler 2003; Walumbwa
et al. 2007), we find that individuals high in collectivism respond more positively to
transformational leaders than those low in collectivism. This may result from the fact that
transformational leaders tend to stress the importance of teamwork and the achievement of
group goals, values which collectivists typically identify with (Jung et al. 1995). The
collectivism orientation of followers becomes less of a significant influence, however,
when other cultural values are controlled for.

Theoretical implications
In addition to extending the empirical investigation of the relationship between
transformational leadership and affective commitment to the Chinese hospitality sector,
this present study makes a significant theoretical contribution by drawing together the
literature on individually held cultural values and transformational leadership. Although
previous work has examined the moderating effects of collectivism on the relationship
between transformational leadership and affective commitment (Walumbwa and Lawler
2003; Walumbwa et al. 2007), our study builds on this by examining the effects of two
additional cultural value orientations: power distance and uncertainty avoidance. Our
findings clearly indicate that although collectivism moderates the relationship between
transformational leadership and affective commitment, it is not the most influential
cultural value orientation in the study. This underline the problems inherent in interpreting
the results of previous studies in which collectivism has been the only cultural value
measured (Walumbwa and Lawler 2003; Walumbwa et al. 2007). This may be because
power distance and uncertainty avoidance have more direct frame of reference effects in
relation to transformational leadership than collectivism. Overall, our findings of
significant moderating effects of power distance, uncertainty avoidance and collectivism
on the relationship between transformational leadership and affective commitment
highlight the importance of within-country cultural differences to the effectiveness of
leaders in the workplace.

Managerial implications
From a practical point of view, our findings suggest that organizations operating in China
more generally, and the Chinese hospitality industry more specifically, can benefit from
investing in the development of transformational leaders in terms of engendering higher
levels of affective commitment amongst employees. As affective commitment has been
shown to lead to lower levels of employee turnover and job performance (Meyer et al.
1040 A. Newman and C. Butler

2002; Riketta 2002), transformational leadership should be an important tool for managers
looking to maximize their influence on employees. However, when exercising
transformational leadership, managers should realize that the response of followers to
their transformational leadership behaviour is dependent on their individually held cultural
values. Before matching employees with a supervisor, organizations should consider
measuring their cultural values as well as the transformational leadership behaviour of
potential supervisors within the organization. They might consider matching employees
low in power distance and high in uncertainty avoidance and collectivism to supervisors
who rank highly on transformational leadership. This should allow organizations to best
leverage transformational leadership to their advantage. Managers should also be prepared
to adjust their leadership behaviour to the cultural orientations of their subordinates. For
example, supervisors might provide subordinates low in power distance or high in
uncertainty avoidance/collectivism with more individual support, autonomy and
encouragement to think outside the box.
Drawing from our study, it seems that the economic reforms in China might be having
an effect on the cultural value of power distance resulting in lower mean scores in the
younger population than would have been the case prior to the reforms. Research in India,
another rapidly developing economy, has shown economic reforms to have a similar effect
on the cultural values of a society (Budhwar, Luthar and Bhatnagar 2006).
Transformational leadership might be particularly effective in Chinese organizations, or
subsets thereof, where the workforce is predominantly young. It seems also to be
particularly effective in workforces where the uncertainty avoidance orientation of
individuals is high, making it an even more powerful tool in the current Chinese context.
Managers should thus find that transformational leadership is effective in an increasingly
wide range of populations, industries and regions of the country. Transformational
leadership is, therefore, likely to be an important long-term tool in the kit of managers
dealing with the particular challenges of attracting and retaining staff in an increasingly
competitive Chinese economy. Managers in other developing economies, particularly
where power distance is decreasing, may also find similar benefits from the practice of
transformational leadership.

Limitations and recommendations for future research

The main weakness of this study was the use of a cross-sectional design which did not
allow for the testing of causality. This meant that we were unable to ascertain conclusively
whether transformational leadership led to higher levels of organizational commitment in
employees. In the present study, we cannot rule out the possibility that causality operates
in the opposite direction, i.e. those who feel greater commitment to their employing
organization might also rate their supervisor’s transformational leadership behaviour more
positively.
Another limitation of the study relates to the make-up of the sample. As this research
study was conducted in the context of a single industry, in a single city within China, the
extent to which the findings can be generalized to other industries or similar organizations
in different areas of the country may be brought into question. The sample used in the
present study was also quite uniform consisting of employees who were generally young,
female, not educated to university level and not in a managerial role. Future research may
address these limitations by extending this work to different geographical and industrial
settings where the workforce is more heterogeneous. In particular, the extent to which
 The International Journal of Human Resource Management 1041

these results generalize to populations of employees that are older, male, more educated
and in managerial positions should be ascertained.
That we chose to combine the underlying components of transformational leadership
into a single scale meant we were unable to ascertain how cultural values interacted with
individual components of transformational leadership. Further research in this area is
warranted, especially to develop a detailed understanding of the mechanisms by which
uncertainty avoidance moderates the relationship between transformational leadership and
commitment, and to understand more fully the relationship between uncertainty avoidance
and conservation particularly in China, and other Asian cultures where these concepts
might be understood differently. Similarly, we chose to focus only on affective
commitment, and so were unable to ascertain the relationship between the independent
variables and different types of commitment. Future research should address this issue too.
In addition, researchers should consider investigating the moderating effects of individual-
level cultural variables on the relationship between transformational leadership behaviour
and a wider variety of organizational outcomes which may include job performance,
turnover behaviour and job involvement.

Conclusion
This present study represents an important contribution to the literature on individual-level
cultural value orientations and transformational leadership. In line with previous research
(Miao et al. 2012; Zhu et al. 2013), we find that transformational leadership leads to higher
levels of affective commitment amongst employees in the Chinese hospitality sector. In
addition, our study contributes to the existing literature by investigating whether
individually held cultural values influence follower responses to the display of
transformational leadership. Although prior work has established that followers high in
collectivism respond more positively to transformational leadership than those low in
collectivism (Walumbwa and Lawler 2003; Walumbwa et al. 2007), we demonstrate that
the power distance and uncertainty avoidance orientations of followers also influence their
response to transformational leadership behaviour. Specifically, we find that followers low
in power distance and high in uncertainty avoidance exhibit higher levels of affective
commitment than those high in power distance and low in uncertainty avoidance when
working for a transformational leader. These findings clearly indicate the importance of
within-country cultural differences to the effectiveness of leaders in the workplace.

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