Confucian Humanistic Leadership: Social Influence Processes and Trickle Effects

This chapter extends (Chou and Cheng, Cross Cultural & Strategic Management 27:567–587, 2020) work by further exploring how Confucian humanistic leaders influence their followers and stakeholders, as well as examining potential boundary conditions. Mr. C, the founder of S company, is a representative case of such a humanistic, Confucianism-inspired leader in Taiwan. As a Confucian humanistic leader, Mr. C serves as a behavioural role model, attracting followers to identify with and imitate his humanistic behaviours through direct or vicarious experiences (i.e., social learning). A Confucian humanistic leader authentically cares about the well-being of all stakeholders and treats followers with respect and fairness, which activates the “norms of reciprocity” (i.e., social exchange). The chapter introduces a social influence process model based on social learning theory, social exchange theory, and trickle effects to explain the underlying mechanisms of Confucian humanistic leadership. Incorporating trickle effects (trickle-down, trickle-out, and trickle-around effects) helps explain the “indirect” social influence that occurs via this cycle. Considering moderators that may influence trickle effects, the adapted elaboration likelihood model suggests that individuals who are highly involved or hold relevant prior beliefs are more likely to engage in elaboration, thereby utilizing central route processing. The trickle effects of humanistic leadership would thus be attenuated because humanistic leadership triggers elaborative cognitive processes such as social learning and social exchange. Accordingly, this chapter provides a comprehensive understanding of how a Confucian humanistic leader facilitates his/her flow of humanist virtues by trickle effects, along with social learning and social exchange perspectives, and incorporating a discussion of whether individuals are motivated and able to process information in an elaborative way to further explain trickle boundaries.