When and how authoritarian leadership influences employee innovation behavior in the context of Chinese culture

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the mechanism and boundary conditions of authoritarian leadership that influence employee innovation behavior (EIB) in Chinese culture based on the leader–member exchange theory and state–trait theory. Design/methodology/approach: The authors used Mplus and SPSS to test the proposed model with data from 286 leader–employee dyads in Chinese companies. In this study, questionnaires were collected through commission and field investigation. Findings: The results indicate that authoritarian leadership can positively influence perceived insider status and EIB within a certain range in Chinese organizational culture, although this is counterintuitive. In addition, perceived insider status has a high level of explanatory power on EIB and can mediate the relationship between authoritarian leadership and EIB. Furthermore, proactive personality can moderate the positive influence of authoritarian leadership on perceived insider status. Originality/value: Innovation management is inseparable from the specific organizational cultural context. This paper argues that the relationship between authoritarian leadership and EIB in the context of organizational culture in China may differ from that in the west. This study constructs a unique research model and offers new insights into when and how EIB can be influenced by authoritarian leadership.