Confucian ideal personality traits (Junzi personality) and leadership effectiveness: Why leaders with traditional traits can achieve career success in modern China

Abstract

The assumption of Confucian traditions being a handicap for East Asians when adapting to a modernizing world has been subject to challenge because of the rapid development of East Asian societies, which has prompted researchers to seek a culturally compatible perspective for understanding the foundations of East Asian modernization. This paper built a hypothetical model for indigenous theoretical resources. In The Analects, Confucius offered propositions on the links between leaders' Junzi personality (i.e., Confucian ideal personality traits) and leadership effectiveness, as well as the mediating roles of leadership styles. To test our hypotheses, we conducted two studies involving 513 supervisor–subordinate dyads in China. Study 1 indicated that Junzi personality had a significantly positive effect on leadership effectiveness and that such significance remained even after controlling for the Big Five personality traits. It also examined the incremental value and relative importance. Study 2 showed that ethical and transformational leadership mediated the effect of Junzi personality on leadership effectiveness measured two months later. In both datasets, leaders with higher Junzi personality scores assigned higher self-ratings on performance, and their subordinates perceived higher leadership effectiveness, felt higher job satisfaction, and displayed lower turnover intentions.