The influence of national culture on charismatic leadership perceptions: An exploratory study of Mexico, Poland, and the United States of America

Harsh competition in today's global economy has motivated companies to expand beyond domestic markets, and extend operations into foreign countries. One of the biggest challenges they face is in implementing successfully their organizational and managerial practices in the new locations. In particular in the realm of leadership, very little is known about cultural differences in followers' perceptions of effective leadership behaviors. Frequently, leadership behaviors that are acceptable in one culture may be counterproductive or even unacceptable in another. This is the first study that examines followers' perception of charismatic leadership behaviors across Mexico, Poland, and the US. A sample of 297 employees representing the national cultures of Mexico, Poland, and the US completed the Conger and Kanungo (1998) Charismatic Leadership Questionnaire (C-K CLQ) which measures five dimensions of charismatic leadership. Six important conclusions have been derived from the findings. It was concluded that cultures differ in the perception of charismatic leadership behaviors, and that national cultural values are partially predictive of these perceptions. It was also concluded that other factors such as gender, age, years of work experience, and position in the organization also have an influence in the perception of leadership behaviors across cultures. Additionally, clustering of responses and a lack of significant difference between the followers from Mexico and US may lend support to the notion that these two countries are converging in their cultural values. The perception of uncharacteristic leadership behaviors in their national culture as salient of the leaders under observation is an important conclusion. And last, but not least, it was concluded that there was not a significant difference in the perception of personal risk as a charismatic leadership behavior across the countries under observation. This study contributes to the existing literature on leadership by providing empirical data on the significance of cultural differences in followers' perceptions of charismatic leadership in the workplace. Implications for the study and suggestions for future research are discussed.