The Effects of Work Environment and In-Group Membership on the Leadership Preferences of Anglo-Australians and Chinese Australians:

The effects of in-group membership and work environment on the leadership preferences of Anglo-Australians and Chinese Australians were examined. Leadership styles were based on Misumi's PM theory. Subjects were sixty Anglo-Australian and sixty Chinese Australian males, all of whom were full-time white-collar employees in large organizations. Leadership profiles, vignettes describing different work environments, and in-group/out-group membership scenarios were constructed. Although PM-type leadership was clearly the most popular style of leadership with both cultural groups, the leadership preferences of the Chinese Australians were more affected by the work environment than were those of the Anglo-Australians. The in-group/out-group effect on leadership preferences was not significant for both cultural groups. There were cultural differences in the rank orderings of the four leadership styles. A significant in-group/out-group effect was found for the rank orderings of both cultural groups. Despite clear ...