MINISTRY OF EDUCATION HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS ------------------------- LE HUU MINH QUAN RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEADERSHIP STYLE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION: MODERATING EFFECTS OF POWER DISTANCE ORIENTATION AND TIME WITH LEADER MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION THESIS HoChiMinh City – 2012 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com MINISTRY OF EDUCATION HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS -------------------------------- LE HUU MINH QUAN RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEADERSHIP STYLE AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION: MODERATING EFFECTS OF POWER DISTANCE ORIENTATION AND TIME WITH LEADER Major: Business Administration Major Code: 60.05 MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION THESIS Supervisor: DR. PHAM QUOC HUNG HoChiMinh City – 2012 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Without the significant support and contributions made by other people, I would have not been able to make this thesis a reality. I am especially grateful to Dr. Pham Quoc Hung, my mentor.
This thesis could never been completed without his help and guidance. He inspired me to explore the topic from different viewpoints. He guided me throughout the process of formulating the ideas to establish my research on a sound foundation. While my study was in progress, Dr.
Hung timely pointed out my mistakes and assisted me with insightful comments by his wisdom, remarkable professional knowledge, wealth of experience and passion. I am fortunate to have great friends and colleagues who have supported me throughout the entire period of my studies until accomplishing this thesis, especially to those who helped me with my data collection. I have many other people at Ho Chi Minh University of Economics to thank for helping me along my scholastic journey. I deeply appreciate my wife and my expectant baby, for their endless love and always wholeheartedly supporting me throughout my most difficult time.
She gave me time to be a student when she needed a husband to share with her and take care of her during her very first hard trimester of her pregnancy. I cannot list down everyone who helped me but I extend my thanks to each of them. Truly, without you, it would never have turned out this well. TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ii ABSTRACT Using 253 followers in HoChiMinh city – the biggest city in Vietnam – the author found that part of the transformational and transactional leadership behaviours were related to follower’s intrinsic motivation.
In detail, core transformational leadership and high performance expectation positively affected follower’s intrinsic motivation while contingent punishment posed negative impact. Providing individualized support, intellectual stimulation, and contingent reward were not found to be related to intrinsic motivation. Assumptions were provided to back up the findings. Results of the study did not prove the moderating role of power distance orientation on the relationship between leadership behaviors and follower’s intrinsic motivation.
However, time with leader showed to be the moderator for the relationship: the relationship between core transformational leadership behaviors and follower’s intrinsic motivation was more positive when follower had shorter working relationship time with leader. Along the study, results also showed that there was significant effect of age on follower’s intrinsic motivation, both males and females. However, difference magnitudes of effects between males and females were observed at different age groups. Key words: transformational leadership, transactional leadership, intrinsic motivation, time with manger TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com iii TABLE OF CONTENT Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .ii LIST OF TABLES .vii LIST OF FIGURES.
viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY. Research scope and approach. 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW, THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK, AND HYPOTHESES. Transactional leadership behaviors.
Transformational leadership behaviors. Leadership and intrinsic motivation. Transformational leadership and intrinsic motivation. Core transformational leadership behaviors and intrinsic motivation 7 2.
High performance expectation and intrinsic motivation. Providing individualized support and intrinsic motivation. 8 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com iv TABLE OF CONTENT Continued 2. Intellectual stimulation and intrinsic motivation.
Transactional leadership and intrinsic motivation. Contingent reward and intrinsic motivation. Contingent punishment and intrinsic motivation. Power distance orientation as a moderator of the leader behavior- follower’s intrinsic motivation relationship.
Cultural values as moderators of the leader behavior-follower’s intrinsic motivation relationship. Power distance orientation as the moderator of the leader behavior- follower’s intrinsic motivation relationship. Time with leader as a moderator of the leader behavior-follower’s intrinsic motivation relationship. 11 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.
Power distance orientation. Translation of the questionnaire. The pilot study. 21 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com v TABLE OF CONTENT Continued 3.
Pilot study phase 1. Pilot study phase 2. Selecting the sample and collecting data. Methods of data analysis.
Confirmatory factor analysis. Analysis of Variance (one-way and two-way ANOVA). 28 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS. Profiles of qualified respondents.
Reliability of the measurements. Confirmatory factor analysis. Analysis of variance. 43 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com vi TABLE OF CONTENT Continued 4.
Effects of leadership behaviors on follower’s intrinsic motivation (H1a, H1b, H1c, H1d, H2a, H2b). Moderating effects of power distance orientation on the leadership behaviors-follower’s intrinsic motivation relationship (H3a, H3b). Moderating effects of Time with Manager on the leadership behaviors- follower’s intrinsic motivation relationship (H4a, H4b). Discussions of findings.
Contribution of the current study. Limitations and future research. 63 Appendix A: Vietnamese Questionnaire. 63 Appendix B: Reliability Test Results.
66 Appendix C: Testing Regression Assumptions. 72 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com vii LIST OF TABLES Number Page 3-1 Survey Item Used in the Study. 23 3-2 Assessing Fit Indices. 28 4-1 Variables Included in the Analyses.
30 4-2 Socio-demographic Characteristics of the Qualified Samples. 31 4-3 Assessment of Normality. 32 4-4 Summary of Cronbach Alpha Measures Across Variables. 34 4-5 Assessing Fit Indices – Hypothesized Model.
35 4-6 Standardized Regression Weights – Hypothesized Model. 35 4-7 Assessing Fit Indices – Modified Model. 37 4-8 Analysis of Variance. 38 4-9 2-Way ANOVA of Age and Sex.
40 4-10 Descriptive Statistics and Correlations. 42 4-11 Multi Linear Regression: Model summary, ANOVA & Coefficients. 44 4-12 Power Distance Orientation Moderates the Relationship between Core Transformational Leadership and Subordinate Intrinsic Motivation. 46 4-13 Power Distance Orientation Moderates the Relationship between High Performance Expectation and Subordinate Intrinsic Motivation.
46 4-14 Power Distance Orientation Moderates the Relationship between Contingent Punishment and Subordinate Intrinsic Motivation. 47 4-15 Time with Manager Moderates the Relationship between Core Transformational Leadership Behaviours and Subordinate Intrinsic Motivation. 48 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com viii LIST OF FIGURES Number Page 2-1 The Hypothesized Model. 15 3-1 The Research Process.
18 4-1 Hypothesized First-order 32-items CFA Model. 36 4-2 2-Way ANOVA of Age and Sex – Plot of Means. 41 5-1 Building Blocks for the Four Types of Intrinsic Rewards. 53 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY 1.
Research background Increasing globalization and technological revolution have been identified as the two primary factors that make for a new competitive landscape (Hitt, Keats, & DeMarie, 1998). In that competition climate, organizations are facing many challenges. One of those challenges is under the field of human resource development. It is the fact that the workforce has become increasingly more diverse, and the trend toward diversity will continue (Werner & DeSimone, 2009).
Vietnam is on the quest of globalization and modernization. Along with this is the irresistible trend of urbanization and domestic labor migration where people relocate themselves from rural to urban areas and move from one region to another. This trend unostentatiously makes an organization workforce more diverse in terms of cultural values, beliefs, practices and behaviors (Vance & Paik, 2011). Further, it is obvious that young Vietnamese people now have more chances to expose to and inherit from overseas educations and cultures, which bring them a long-lasting impact on their set of values and behaviors throughout their future career.
In the so- called information age, with surprisingly high Internet accessibility, to get access to world is easier than ever. This is, undoubtedly, an influential factor on their cultural value shape-up. As such, at micro level, organizations are to deal with a diverse workforce with multi cultural values. Effectively managing workforce diversity has been identified as one of five distinguishing features of organizations that make it onto Fortune magazines’ list of 100 Best Companies (Werner & DeSimone, 2009).
Cultural values are defined as a consciously and subconsciously held set of beliefs and norms - often anchored in the morals, laws, customs, and practices of a society – that define what is right and wrong and specify general preferences (Adler, 2002) (as cited in Kirkman, Chen, Farh, & Lowe, 2009). Among those TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 2 cultural values is individually held power distance orientation. Power distance is defined as the extent to which one accepts that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally (Hofstede, G. House et al.
(2004) referred to high power distance as “hierarchy” and low power distance as “egalitarianism” (cited in Kirkman et al. To differentiate individually-held and country power distance orientation, Kirkman et al. (2009) used the term power distance orientation to indicate an individual-level construct. In the leadership domain, such as implicit leadership theory, cultural value orientations can shape beliefs about what behaviours, styles, skills, and personality traits characterize effective leadership (Javidan, Dorfman, de Luque, & House 2006).
Followers with different cultural values may react differently to the same leadership behaviors. Hence, to be effective in managing a culturally diverse workforce, leaders need to understand how individually held cultural value orientations affect reactions to leadership, as well as how various leadership behaviors interact with follower’s cultural value orientations to influence follower’s affective, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes (Kirkman et al., 2009), and thereby influencing his/ her intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the extent to which an individual is inner-directed, interested in or fascinated with a task, and engages in it for the sake of the task itself (Utman, 1997). When intrinsically motivated, employees spend more effort based on interest, curiosity, and a desire to learn (Ryan & Deci, 2000) (cited in Grant & Berry, 2011).
Intrinsic motivation may help reinforce creativity, cognitive flexibility, risk taking, and persistence (Grant & Berry, 2011). Research objectives: In this study, the author examines the effects of leadership behaviors on followers’ intrinsic motivation, while also taking into account possible moderating roles of individual differences (i. individual level power distance orientation) and time a follower spends with his/ her leader. Accordingly, the study aims at answering the below 4 research questions: TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 3 Question 1: Is there any difference in intrinsic motivation among groups of followers with different socio-demographic characteristics (age and gender)? Question 2: How do different leadership behaviors (transformational leadership behaviors, transactional leadership behavior) influence follower’s intrinsic motivation? Question 3: How does follower’s power distance orientation interact with different leadership behaviors to influence follower’s intrinsic motivation? Question 4: How does follower’s time with leader moderate the relationship between leadership behaviors and follower’s intrinsic motivation? 1.
Research scope and approach: First, this study is conducted in HoChiMinh city, the biggest city in Vietnam. The choice of HoChiMinh city is mainly led by the increasing diversified workforce, due to which cultural value difference is possibly clearer as compared to other cities. Second, the research only focuses on highly educated employees who at least have a university degree. This choice of population and sample frame makes the study feasible (given time and resource limitation) by facilitating online survey method and helps address the research questions in the simplest way possible.
Third, the research only includes into the analysis those respondents who have been working with their leaders for at least 3 months. This is to ensure that followers have enough time to observe and to be influenced by their leaders’ leadership behaviors. Forth, the study is conducted in 2 main phases: pilot study (comprising of 2 sub-phases) and main study.