Paradoxical Leader Behaviors In Cross-Cultural Management:Conceptual Connotation,Structural Measurement And Mechanism Research

With the continuous advancement of the "Belt and Road" initiative,the leadership of Chinese overseas project team managers has gradually become one of the important factors affecting the international competitiveness of Chinese enterprises.Especially for overseas construction in the post-pandemic era,project managers dispatched by Chinese companies not only have to face traditional cross-cultural conflicts such as the conflict between Confucian civilization and Islamic civilization,as well as the conflict between Asian culture and African culture,but also must adapt to the dynamic,complex,and competitive environment.Cross-cultural organizational environments,paradoxes and contradictions are the current "new normal" in cross-cultural management.In cross-cultural management,expatriate project managers not only need to lead subordinates in different countries,flexibly respond to rapidly changing project environments,but also need to face the inherent paradox in cross-cultural management at all times.Therefore,as the "core personnel" for the successful delivery of overseas projects,expatriate project managers face unprecedented challenges in cross-cultural leadership.How to effectively deal with the contradictions and tensions brought about by cultural differences in the intercultural management of mutual competition and interrelationship requires that the expatriate project manager must timely adjust the leadership style according to the actual situation of the host country.Therefore,deciphering the cross-cultural leadership of Chinese expatriate project managers based on the paradoxical perspective of both sides of the contradiction can provide a theoretical basis for Chinese expatriate project managers to effectively assume the leadership role and improve their leadership capabilities.Paradoxical leadership behavior is the use of seemingly competing but interrelated behaviors by leaders aimed at simultaneously meeting competing needs at work.The two paradoxical leadership behaviors in existing research are: paradoxical leader behaviors in people management(PLB-PM)and paradoxical leader behaviors in long-term corporate development(PLB-CD).Firstly,the two existing paradoxical leadership behaviors do not provide a true picture of the paradoxes and contradictions in cross-cultural management,and scholars have called for further research on paradoxical leadership behaviors in cross-cultural management to be expanded.Secondly,most of the existing research on leadership and culture focuses on the ’developed world’,and the subjects of research are mostly focused on expatriate managers in developed countries,and there is a lack of research and application on the leadership behavior of Chinese expatriate managers.From the analysis of the few existing studies by domestic scholars on Chinese expatriate managers,most of them focus on cross-cultural adaptation,cross-cultural competency and cross-cultural capability.The few studies on cross-cultural leadership for expatriate managers also focus on leadership traits and competencies.Therefore,scholars have called for the further development of a cross-cultural leadership measurement tool for Chinese expatriate project managers to more accurately assess the level of cross-cultural leadership of expatriate project managers.In addition,due to the influence of traditional culture,the Chinese are more likely to adopt an interconnected and holistic view when dealing with conflicts.Therefore,Chinese expatriate managers are more likely to exhibit paradoxical leadership behavior in cross-cultural management.From a paradoxical perspective,exploring the connotation and structure of expatriate project managers’ cross-cultural leadership is a valuable breakthrough for exploring and developing cross-cultural leadership with Chinese local characteristics.Given the above practical and theoretical background,this study systematically discusses Paradoxical Leader Behaviors in cross cultural management(PLB-CM)to address the following core issues.(1)What are the conceptual connotations and specific behavioral manifestations of cross-cultural paradoxical leadership behavior? The discussion of this question contributes to our understanding of the existence and value of the basic assumptions of paradoxical leadership behavior in the cross-cultural field.(2)What are the causes of cross-cultural paradoxical leadership behavior and what are the results of the causal calibration test? By dissecting this question,this study will systematically answer why leaders exhibit paradoxical behavior in cross-cultural management;(3)What is the impact of paradoxical cross-cultural leadership behavior on team performance? What are the specific pathways that produce the impact? The discussion of this question will help expatriate project managers to grasp the governance pathways to improve team performance and paint a panoramic view of the topic of cross-cultural paradoxical leadership behavior research.To address the above questions,this thesis has designed four core chapters around the theme,in turn.Firstly,the third chapter is the conceptual generation of cross-cultural paradoxical leadership behavior.Based on practical research in Vietnam projects,a sequential-based indicator evaluation method is used.A conflict and paradox risk evaluation index system for Vietnam projects is sorted out and it is proposed that Chinese expatriate managers need to adopt a paradoxical leadership strategy of "both",linking the endogenous and complementary relationship between the contradictory risk opposites to resolve the paradox.Based on the Chinese philosophical theory of the middle ground,the concept of cross-cultural paradoxical leadership behavior and its characteristics are proposed on the basis of two existing paradoxical leadership behaviors(Zhang,2015;2019).Secondly,the fourth chapter is qualitative research,which adopts the methodology of construction theory-grounded theory,to explore the initial scale and structural dimensions of cross-cultural paradoxical leadership behavior.Through the review and sorting out of the research on paradoxical leadership behavior,on the basis of its theoretical basis,combined with the current cross-cultural situation under the background of "the Belt and Road Initiative",and combined with local employee questionnaires,monographs and literature,news forums,etc.to obtain examples of cross-cultural conflicts Conduct on-site discussions and records,and conduct on-site or remote interviews with 20 expatriate project managers to verify the data.After collecting,collating,coding,and iterating the data for data processing,the four-level coding of initial coding-focus coding-axis coding-theoretical coding forms the original scale of cross-cultural paradox leadership behavior with 25 items and 4 dimensions.Based on the establishment of the dimensions,the theoretical framework of the formation and function mechanism model of cross-cultural paradox leadership behavior is proposed.Again,the fifth chapter is devoted to scale development and causal effects testing.In order to effectively avoid the researcher’s subjective bias in the original scale developed by the rooted theory analysis,a rigorous scale development procedure was followed to develop a cross-cultural paradox leadership behavior prediction scale containing a total of 21 items,and a cross-cultural paradox index system consisting of 18 items in four dimensions was constructed on the basis of exploratory factor analysis CFA(N=297).The scale was further tested for good convergent and discriminant validity using the combined reliability and AVE method,and was subjected to a causal calibration test(N=366),indicating that the scale has a good predictive effect.The four dimensions of cross-cultural paradoxical leadership behavior based on the philosophical theory of the Middle Way include: risk and opportunity,profit and value,normativity and flexibility,local specificity and global universality.Finally,the sixth chapter empirically demonstrates the issue of the mechanism of action of cross-cultural paradoxical leadership behaviors on team performance and elucidates the chain mediated pathways of influence of cross-cultural paradoxical leadership behaviors on team performance.The research hypotheses were tested by collecting data from 476 expatriate managers and constructing a multilevel structural equation model(MSEM)using Mplus8.3.Based on social information processing theory,a chain mediating effect model of ’cross-cultural paradoxical leadership behavior-information elaboration-team performance’ was developed.A quantitative study was conducted to verify the mechanism of cross-cultural paradoxical leadership behavior(PLB-CM)on team performance and to propose governance pathways to address the low performance of Chinese overseas project teams,namely’cross-cultural paradoxical leadership behavior-information elaboration-team performance’ and’cross-cultural paradoxical leadership behavior-critical thinking-team performance’,which more comprehensively and precisely examine the pathways through which cross-cultural paradoxical leadership behavior affects team performance.This study explores the conceptual connotations,structural measurements and mechanisms of cross-cultural paradoxical leadership behavior through a combination of theoretical derivation and qualitative and quantitative research methods.The theoretical contributions are: firstly,it does not stop at the culturally specific phenomenological aspects of existing theoretical focus,but digs deeper into cross-cultural management paradoxes and adopts a local perspective to discuss universal issues,breaking through the limitations of established research.It provides a theoretical basis for Chinese expatriate project managers to effectively assume leadership roles and enhance their leadership capabilities.Secondly,it promotes the cross-fertilisation of cross-cultural leadership and paradoxical leadership behavior research,and provides an important measurement tool for advancing subsequent empirical research on cross-cultural paradoxical leadership behavior.Thirdly,it provides a more comprehensive and precise empirical evidence of the chain-mediated pathway mechanism of cross-cultural paradoxical leadership behavior on team performance,and the research results enrich the theory of paradoxical leadership behavior and develop an international leadership with Chinese local characteristics.This study focuses on Paradoxical Leadership Behavior(PLB-CM)in cross-cultural management and task performance as an important source of corporate development,and has the following practical implications for the continued promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative in the post-epidemic era: Firstly,it will help Chinese overseas project teams to select,train and dispatch better expatriate project managers,and help Firstly,it will help expatriate project managers to effectively identify paradoxes,develop a paradox mentality and paradox management skills in cross-cultural management.Secondly,a cognitive map of cross-cultural paradoxical leadership behavior is outlined to help managers and companies better grasp paradoxical management skills in cross-cultural management.Using a paradoxical perspective,expatriate project managers can better resolve conflicts in cross-cultural teams,integrate paradoxes to enhance the positive impact on individuals and teams,and target the negative impact of culture clashes.Thirdly,we explore the chain mediation path of cross-cultural paradoxical leadership behavior on team performance improvement and propose a governance path to address the low performance of Chinese overseas project teams.It helps expatriate project managers to better resolve conflicts in cross-cultural teams,engage in paradoxical integration,and thus effectively improve the performance level of multicultural teams.