Culturally-shaped Mindsets of Authoritarian Leadership: Power Motivation and Effectiveness Belief Promoted by Power Distance

Two studies were conducted in China and the US. The results demonstrated that leaders’ power distance boosts their belief in the effectiveness of discipline-focused authoritarian leadership and need for power, resulting in the manifestation of discipline- or dominance-focused authoritarian leadership, respectively. In addition, Chinese leaders exhibited higher power distance scores and stronger beliefs in the effectiveness of authoritarian leadership than US leaders.