dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this article is to explore the meaning of followership from leader’s perspective in Chinese society, provide a systematic framework for the concepts associated with followership, and also compare the differences of followership between Chinese culture and Western culture.
This study adopts a qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 participants in Taiwan working in a variety of industries and all of the participants are supervisors across every management level. Qualitative coding of interview data was conducted using the inductive analysis method. 36 categories of statement and 8 dimensions were obtained from the analyses. Furthermore, we used “task versus relationship” and “action versus belief” as two axes, and developed a model of followership consisting of four quadrants in order to provide a clear and systematic framework of followership. Lastly, we compared the meaning of followership between Chinese culture and Western culture. The results showed that both of these two cultures emphasized that followers should be proactive, initiative taking, providing constructive advices, willing to take responsibility and self-driven. But Chinese leaders put more emphasis on interpersonal-related dimensions, such as promoting teamwork, building up social network, empathy and loyalty to the leaders.
The results of this study could be a role model for the followers/subordinators to help them know which parts can be a room for improvement and make them become a transcendent follower. For the leaders/supervisors, this study will be also helpful to identify talents who were effective to the leaders. | en_US |