Improving IT professionals job skills development: The use of management styles and indivi

Description
This study examines how the effectiveness of new management styles (authoritarian, participative) may
vary depending on individual cultural values of traditionality and contextual factors of innovative culture,
why they moderate the relationship between new management styles and information technology engineers'
professional skills. Hypotheses that assume such links are proposed and tested using the sample
drawn from 280 research and development employees in high-tech industry. A 3-way interaction
qualifies these main effects: in the environment of high innovative culture, new participative management
style relates positively to technical specialties and technology management knowledge of professional
skills for engineers low on traditionality. In the workplace of low innovative culture, new
authoritarian management style relates positively to business function knowledge of professional skills
for engineers high on traditionality.

Improving IT professionals job skills development: The use of management styles
and individual cultural value orientation
Pei-Li Yu
a, *
, Shih-Chieh Fang
b
, Yu-Lin Wang
b
a
Department of Business Administration and Institue of International Business, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, ROC
b
Department of Business Administration and Institue of International Business, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, ROC
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 15 May 2015
Accepted 13 July 2015
Available online xxx
Keywords:
New management styles
IT professional skills
Innovative culture
Traditionality
a b s t r a c t
This study examines how the effectiveness of new management styles (authoritarian, participative) may
vary depending on individual cultural values of traditionality and contextual factors of innovative culture,
why they moderate the relationship between new management styles and information technology en-
gineers' professional skills. Hypotheses that assume such links are proposed and tested using the sample
drawn from 280 research and development employees in high-tech industry. A 3-way interaction
quali?es these main effects: in the environment of high innovative culture, new participative manage-
ment style relates positively to technical specialties and technology management knowledge of pro-
fessional skills for engineers low on traditionality. In the workplace of low innovative culture, new
authoritarian management style relates positively to business function knowledge of professional skills
for engineers high on traditionality.
© 2015 College of Management, National Cheng Kung University. Production and hosting by Elsevier
Taiwan LLC. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Over the past few decades, the effectiveness of management
styles has emerged as a focus of attention in management studies.
Empirical evidence supporting a contingent theory has long
established that certain antecedents, such as management styles
and organizational culture, have the capability to direct employee
behavior (Luthans & Stajkovic, 1999). Walumbwa, Lawler, and
Avolio (2007) reported that individuals exhibited stronger posi-
tive attitudes than under other management conditions, such as
satisfaction with supervisors or organizational commitment, when
management styles involved a cultural value orientation. This
suggests that certain contextual factors may weaken or even
possibly reverse the effects of management styles on subordinate
performance and their development of professional skills (i.e.,
varied professional job knowledge based on Lee, Trauth, and
Farwell (1995) de?nition). Thus, examining whether the relation-
ship between management styles and professional skills are
affected by contextual factors, such as the level of individual held
cultural value orientation (i.e., traditionality and perceived
innovative culture), will be imperative. Meanwhile, social exchange
theory has provided the conceptual underpinning of research on
work attitudes and behaviors (Settoon, Bennett, & Liden, 1996).
Speci?cally, employees with a high degree of social exchange
perception will increase their prosocial motivation to reciprocate
their job training and development (Kuvaas, Buch, & Dysvik, 2012).
The impact of an innovative culture and traditionality on the rela-
tionship between management styles and professional skills has
not yet to be examined in a single study. In this line of inquiry,
applying the social exchange theoretical lens, we seek to gain a
better understanding of how traditionality and perceived innova-
tive culture impact the effectiveness of management styles on the
development of professional skills.
Prior studies have mentioned several kinds of management
styles. Speci?cally, participative management style and authori-
tarian management style are the two common yet opposing man-
agement styles found in businesses (e.g., Likert, 1967; Likert &
Likert, 1976). Participative management is a style in which leaders
empower and reward their subordinates and welcome employees'
participation in day-to-day operations (Nystrom, 1990). A more
traditional style is authoritarian management (Barrett & Bass,
1976), which is characterized by paternalistic leadership (Morris
& Pavett, 1992), collectivist orientation (Wright, Szeto, & Geory,
2000), and greater power distance between managers and em-
ployees (Hofstede, 1980). Previous research found ?rms that tend to
* Corresponding author. No.1, University Road, Tainan City 701, Taiwan, ROC.
E-mail address: [email protected] (P.-L. Yu).
Peer review under responsibility of College of Management, National Cheng
Kung University.
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Asia Paci?c Management Review xxx (2015) 1e11
Please cite this article in press as: Yu, P.-L., et al., Improving IT professionals job skills development: The use of management styles and
individual cultural value orientation, Asia Paci?c Management Review (2015),http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apmrv.2015.07.002
use the participative style foster experimentation and risk taking
(Dixon, Meyer, & Day, 2007) and allow workers to enhance their
professional skills (Cheng & Bolon, 1993) while authoritarian style
impedes individual creativity which may possibly reduce an em-
ployee's motivation to actively develop professional skills
(Karakitapo glu-Aygün & Gumusluoglu, 2013). However, the nega-
tive aspects that are assumed inherent in authoritarian manage-
ment could be alleviated if employees have cultural values aligned
with this management style. For example, individuals who rate
high in traditionality might prefer to be led by an authoritarian
system. This implies that a good ?t or an alignment between in-
dividuals' cultural value orientation, such as traditionality, and
organizational contexts, such as innovative culture, can improve
the development of professional skills. Yet, a further review of the
literature demonstrates that research exploring innovative culture
and individual's traditionality may play a limited role in how sub-
ordinates react to the relationship between management styles and
the employees' desire to improve their professional skills (e.g.,
Newman & Nollen, 1996). Employee professional skills are critical
for an organization, and they play a fundamental role in attaining
and maintaining a competitive advantage. Thus, it is important to
understand the extent to which the effectiveness of management
styles varies with a person's cultural values and contextual factors.
Additionally, innovative culture is a set of shared norms that
develop and establish the values, views, and attitudes necessary to
foster experimentation and creativity (Schein, 1996). It can drive
employees' way of thinking and encourage them to be more pro-
active in problem solving, thus it has a positive effect on human
capital motivation (Marquies, Simon, Jose, & Caranana, 2006).
Traditionality emphasizes a respect for hierarchy in relationships
and refers to hierarchical values in a broader societal context (e.g.,
Farh, Cheng, Chouand, & Chu, 2006). Previous studies have found it
affects an employee's reaction to employers in both Eastern and
Western contexts (Hui, Leeand, & Rousseau, 2004). Thus, tradi-
tionality focuses on issues of hierarchy and relationships, making it
relevant to this study for understanding management styles.
In a social exchange relationship within an organization, em-
ployers offer rewards and favorable job conditions in exchange for
the employees' loyalty and work effort (Blau, 1964). The suggested
reciprocal commitment, trust, and mutual in?uence between
managers and subordinates are positively related to management
styles and professional skills in the workplace. Previous studies
have found that social exchange theory is associated with higher
levels of work performance (e.g., Song, Tsui, & Law, 2009) and
employees will reciprocate the support from the organization by
engaging in behaviors that exceed the minimal requirements for
employment (e.g., Shore, Tetrick, Lynch, & Barksdale, 2006). Thus,
building on previous research on management styles, organiza-
tional culture, and social exchange theory, we seek to more fully
examine the unique and combined in?uences of individuals held
cultural value of traditionality, the context factor of innovative
culture, and the effectiveness of authoritarian and participative
management styles on employees' professional skills in the high-
tech IT sector.
The purpose of this study is to expand the existing un-
derstandings of social exchange theory by discussing how the
moderating effects of traditionality and innovative culture affect
the relationship between management styles and professional
skills. Therefore, this paper proposes three speci?c interaction ef-
fects. In particular, this study explores the in?uence of a new
management style (i.e., new authoritarian and participative man-
agement style), which is based on Likert's autocratic and partici-
patory management styles and has added in the concept of power
distance orientation, on development of professional skills. Second,
this study tests the relationships among innovative culture,
traditionality, management styles, and professional skills. Attention
is given to the roles of innovative culture and traditionality, with a
focus on the moderating effects to examine whether IT technical
engineers' professional skills are signi?cantly enhanced.
This current study contributes to the social exchange literature
by adding management style (authoritative and participative), and
individual held cultural value orientation, such as traditionality and
perceived innovative culture, for explaining the improvement of
professional skills. We set to understand how professional em-
ployees are likely to reciprocate in social exchange with their
manager. Understanding how professional employees are likely to
reciprocate will improve the accuracy and generalizability of
employee reciprocity models and provides insight into how to
manage these professional workers effectively. Meanwhile, in order
to acquire a more comprehensive understanding of management
style, we added the concept of power distance in the current
management style theory to be a new management style. We
further propose that the extent to which professional workers
reciprocate managerial treatment depends on the extent to which
individual cultural value orientation, such as perceived innovative
culture and traditionality. We anticipate a 3-way interactions effect
among new management styles, perceived innovative culture, and
traditionality will shape professional workers' frame of references,
which will more explicitly aid our understanding on the develop-
ment of professional skills, especially when understanding the
proportion of the workforce performing professional work has
dramatically increased (Barley & Orr, 1997). Our ?ndings are
consistent with prior advocates of reciprocity dynamics and pro-
fessionals workers (e.g., Hekman, Gregory, Steensma, & Hereford,
2009), the literature on traditionality (e.g., Farh, Hackettand, &
Liang, 2007) and management style (e.g., Likert, 1967; Likert &
Likert, 1976). Yet, they also extend these works.
2. Theoretical model and hypotheses
2.1. New authoritarian and participative management styles
Management style is a preferred way of managing people to
bind diverse operations and functions together, as well as to exer-
cise control over employees (Clear & Dickson, 2005). Management
style is “a recurring set of characteristics that are associated with
the decisional process of the ?rmor individual managers” (Albaum,
Herche, & Murphy, 1995; Tull & Albaum, 1971). Extensive research
has distinguished two broad types of management style: authori-
tarian (traditional) and participative (democratic) (Likert, 1967;
Likert & Likert, 1976). The authoritarian management style is
autocratic, directing, and deal-oriented with rigid hierarchies to
ensure that managers make centralized decisions (Wright et al.,
2000) while participative management style focuses on commu-
nication through interactions and emphasizes procedure (Fu, Peng,
Kennedy, & Yukl, 2004). Management styles and philosophies are
anchored in the cultural values of a ?rm's home country e for
instance, a higher power distance exists in the authoritarian style
and a lower power distance is associated with the participative
style (Hofstede, 1980; Pye, 1985; Whitley, 1997). Speci?cally, the
traditional, more authoritarian management concepts are common
in Asia or South America (Anwar & Chaker, 2003; Chen, 2001;
Hofstede, 1991, 2001; Newman & Nollen, 1996; Poon, Evangelista,
& Albaum, 2005). Firms that adopt these concepts have to accept
collective values and an unequal distribution of organizational
power. In line with this concept, we submit that Likert's four sys-
tems of management theory (Likert, 1967; Likert & Likert, 1976),
which distinguishes between autocratic and participatory style,
should consider the concept of power distance.
P.-L. Yu et al. / Asia Paci?c Management Review xxx (2015) 1e11 2
Please cite this article in press as: Yu, P.-L., et al., Improving IT professionals job skills development: The use of management styles and
individual cultural value orientation, Asia Paci?c Management Review (2015),http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apmrv.2015.07.002
Power distance re?ects how people view the societal differ-
ences of unequal power distribution between managers and sub-
ordinates (Hofstede, 2001). Power distance orientation of
employees may facilitate or hinder management styles. For
instance, some employees are likely to expect an assertive or
autocratic leadership under a high power distance cultural context.
Thus, in order to develop a more comprehensive perspective, this
study follows Likert's four systems of management theory and
adds the concept of power distance to the six management style
dimensions: decision-making, control, leadership, communication,
goal and motivation. We de?ne that a new management style is a
power distance oriented management philosophy and way of
managing people to bind diverse operations and functions
together, as well as to exercise control over employees. Moreover,
we propose that new authoritarian management style (hereinafter
new authoritarian style) is authoritarian with a high power dis-
tance as compared to new participative management style (here-
inafter new participative style), which is associated with a low
power distance management style. New authoritative style is
characterized by the following: The leaders are directive, deal-
oriented, and single-decision makers, in order to achieve har-
mony and collectivism. They ?t with a hierarchical authority
structure and a high power distance culture. The new participative
style is characterized by the following: The leaders are participa-
tive toward the workforce and are group-based decision makers.
They show function-oriented communication in order to attain
process-oriented goal and individualism. They ?t with a decen-
tralized control structure and a lower power distance culture (refer
Table 1 below).
2.2. Development of professional skills
The imperative of IT professional skills development as a
resource and competence for organizations has been progressively
noticed. IT professionals can exhibit a critical capability to propose
novel and pioneering improvements, thus achieving greater orga-
nizational effectiveness. The professional skills for IT professionals
are determined by the tasks that are required in their work envi-
ronment (Leitheiser, 1992), and as the complexity of technology
increases, the skills of related workers must also increase. Domain-
relevant skills, including programming, hardware expertise, and
the application ?eld of software, are essential for professionals to
take on an entrepreneurial role and focus on innovation. Yet, the
challenges of IT implementation faced by IT professionals go
beyond solving technical problems. Speci?cally, in addition to the
expected skill set that require a high degree of skill, there are now
more demanding job requirements, such as business functionality
and interpersonal skills, especially in an increasingly turbulent
business and technological environment (Bassellier & Benbasat,
2004).
2.3. New authoritarian and participative management styles and
development of professional skills
According to the norms of positive reciprocity of social exchange
theory, employees reciprocate the bene?cial treatment they receive
with positive attitudes and appropriate work-related behaviors to
their employers or organization (Gouldner, 1960). Employees tend
to perform better when they are supported by their managers.
Their professional performance improves when they are granted
the freedom to pursue organizational goals by whatever means
they decide. For instance, under a decentralized structure of new
participative style, employees are more willing to share their
opinions, which allow them to participate in the organization and
enjoy greater discretion or autonomy. Autonomy allows employees
to generate innovative ideas, new prospects and positive feedback
to achieve goals (Vecchio, 2003). Hence, the newparticipative style,
as perceived by existing employees, is expected to encourage pro-
fessionals to improve their skillseesuggesting a positive relation-
ship between participative style and professional skills.
H1. The new participative style, as perceived by existing employees,
will positively in?uence the development of professional skills.
Authoritarian leaders dominate decision-making without
asking for input from their employees (Hing, Bobocel, Zanna, &
McBride, 2007). They prefer social conformity instead of personal
autonomy. However, some employees may not obey authoritarian
leaders by not taking expected actions, such as pursuing alterna-
tives and new approaches, or executing their tasks when the
leaders demand absolute obedience. From the perspective of social
exchange theory, employees will reciprocate detrimental treatment
with negative work-related behaviors (e.g., lowlevel of helpfulness
toward those who have treated them poorly) (Cropanzano &
Mitchell, 2005). Employees' may feel disappointment when they
perceive a lack of support for fostering the development of their
professional skills. Thus, authoritarian leaders can be counterpro-
ductive by limiting employees' creativity and development of
abilities or skills.
H2. The new authoritarian style, as perceived by existing employees,
will negatively in?uence the development of professional skills.
2.4. Traditionality as a moderator of new management styles e
professional skills
Traditionality, which is de?ned as a commitment to, respect for,
and receipt of the customs and norms of a traditional societyee
Table 1
Summary of difference between new authoritarian and new participative styles.
New authoritarian style New participative style
Control Hierarchical authority structure (Clarke, 1998); social conformity
(Feldman, 2003)
Contracts and due diligence (Clarke, 1998); organization (?atter)
structure (Clarke, 1998); decentralized control (Wright et al., 2000);
personal autonomy (Feldman, 2003)
Decision-making Centralized and single-decision maker (centralized control adoption)
(Beehr & Gupta, 1987)
Corporate decision-making (Wright et al., 2000); group-based
decision-making (Poon et al., 2005)
Leadership Paternalistic (Morris & Pavett, 1992); relationship-based and authoritarian
leadership styles (Wright et al., 2000); directive (Wright et al., 2000)
Participative and consultative (Tixier, 1994)
Communication Focus on deal-oriented (Clarke, 1998); human side of a relationship
and personal behavior (Yan & Powell, 2004)
Function-oriented expression (Martinsons, 1996)
Goals Harmony fundamental (Clarke, 1998) Process-oriented (Clarke, 1998)
Motivation Collectivism (Wright et al., 2000) Individualism (Chen, 2001)
Power distance High power distance (Hofstede, 1980) Low power distance (Hofstede & Bond, 1988)
Summarized in this study.
P.-L. Yu et al. / Asia Paci?c Management Review xxx (2015) 1e11 3
Please cite this article in press as: Yu, P.-L., et al., Improving IT professionals job skills development: The use of management styles and
individual cultural value orientation, Asia Paci?c Management Review (2015),http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apmrv.2015.07.002
that are ruled by cardinal relations or traditional valuesee re?ects
a moral obligation to achieve the normative expectations of a
prescribed role to preserve social harmony and improve collective
interests (Schwartz, 1992). It captures the extent that individuals
adhere to traditional cultural values and endorse the traditional
hierarchical role relationships prescribed by Confucian social ethics
(Farh et al., 2007). Existing research often emphasis the dimension
of submission to authority, although traditionally there are ?ve
oblique factors (i.e., hierarchical orientation of wu lun), emperor-
subject, father-son, husband-wife, older brother-younger brother,
and friendefriend, used to categorize these relationship traits
manifest in values and beliefs (Farh, Earley, & Lin, 1997). In view of
the emergent trend of examining individual level orientations that
re?ect cultural values (Lam, Chen, &Schaubroeck, 2002), this study
examines traditionality as a moderator of the relationship between
newmanagement styles and the development of professional skills.
Employees who are culturally more traditional are likely to
transform their obedience and compliance into a strong commit-
ment toward their superiors than people lower in traditionality.
Traditionalists who strongly endorse traditional values are more
amenable to relational ties and comply with their managers' di-
rections (Hui et al., 2004). Authoritarianism has a positive rela-
tionship with the employees who are high in traditionality (Cheng,
Chou, Wu, Huang, & Farh, 2004). According to social exchange
theory, employees who receive a high degree of helpfulness, such
as trust, respect, protection, and support, from their superiors are
likely to reciprocate by showing high levels of work performance. In
other words, employees who rate high on traditionality may
continue to enhance their professional skills even when they are
working under authoritarian leaders.
H3. The negative association between new authoritarian manage-
ment style and professional skills is stronger for employees with higher
levels of traditionality.
According to social exchange theory, an employees' commit-
ment to their superiors represents their affective attachment to-
ward their superiors. Employees who are low in traditionality are
relatively self-reliant and open to new ideas and have character-
istics similar to individualists and pursue self-interests. They are
responsive to the quality of the work relationship they have built
with their supervisors. Thus, they are likely to be motivated to
enhance their professional skills when placed under a supervisor
who employs a participative style. In contrast, employees who rate
high on traditionality may regard the participative style as less
important. They are likely to expect their managers to make de-
cisions and tell them what to do. In some situations, these high-
traditionality employees may resist independence and re-
sponsibility that characterizes a high degree of self-management.
H4. The positive association between newparticipative management
style and professional skills is weaker for employees with higher levels
of traditionality.
2.5. Innovative culture as a moderator of new management styles e
development of professional skills relationship
An innovative culture, which provides autonomy and ?exibility,
encourages individuals to develop their inventiveness (Hood &
Koberg, 1991) and to determine the best way to accomplish tasks
and the discretion to take risks (Byrne, Stoner, Thompson, &
Hochwarter, 2005). According to social exchange theory, an em-
ployees' social exchange with an organization takes place largely
through leaders (Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002), thus, employees
attach importance to the reciprocity of their relationship with their
superior. This idea further extends the explanation of professional
skills improvement in terms of its association with ?rm speci?c
contexts, innovative culture and management styles. Thus, when
new management style that best suits the professionals is matched
with an innovative culture, there is a signi?cant effect on the link
between new management style and professional skills. Specif-
ically, employees in an innovative culture are likely to manifest
gestures of goodwill that will be reciprocated at some future time.
Innovative culture provides employees the ?exibility in deter-
mining the best way to accomplish tasks and gives them the
discretion to take risks (Scott & Bruce, 1994). Innovative culture
inspires employees to get involved in the complicated technologies
underlying new product development (Gatignon & Xuereb, 1997).
New participative style gives employees the freedom to conduct
and explore in innovations. Thus, when a high level of innovative
culture interacts with a new participative style, it will greatly
stimulate employee willingness and encourage their efforts to-
wards the development of professional skills.
H5. The positive association between new a participative manage-
ment style and professional skills is stronger for employees with higher
levels of perceived innovative culture.
In contrast, new authoritarian management styles favor tradi-
tional cultures (Barrett & Bass, 1976). Authoritarian managers
prefer stable and predictable social order (Feldman, 2003). Thus,
when a new authoritarian management style interacts with a high
degree of innovative culture, it may bring high situational uncer-
tainty and will correspond to con?ict in which it will lead managers
to exert more direct and strict managerial controls to supervise
their employees. As a result, it may affect the relationship between
employees' perceptions of supervisor mistreatment and their
engagement in workplace. Accordingly, employees' motivation to
enhance their professional skills will be impeded when a high level
of innovative culture interacts with a new authoritarian style.
H6. The negative association between a new authoritarian man-
agement style and professional skills is weaker for employees with
higher levels of perceived innovative culture.
2.6. Three-way interaction between new management styles,
innovative culture, and traditionality
The employees' propensity of engaging in job-related behavior
is strongly in?uenced by their work context, which may either
hinder or facilitate their behavior. A strong positive relationship
between new participative management practices and innovative
culture has been documented (Gudmunson, Tower, & Hartman,
2003; Ogbonna & Harris, 2000). Yet, these situations may con?ict
with the traditional values of employees. Meanwhile, new author-
itarian management style, which could encourage obedience and
dependence rather than initiative, might be incompatible with an
organizational need for innovation. Traditionalists in a low inno-
vative culture are likely to view a new participative style with fear
or distrust since they are accustomed to receiving orders fromtheir
supervisors. As such, an innovative culture may not be compatible
with a new authoritarian style. Moreover, innovative culture and
traditionality are fundamentally opposite and have the counter-
moderating effects in the relationship between new management
styles and professional skills. Therefore, there is reason to consider
a new discourse about how innovative culture and traditionality
will jointly affect managerial behavior and the development of
professional skills differently.
We propose that the moderating effect of an innovative culture
in the relationship between new management styles and profes-
sional skills is contingent upon a third variable etraditionality. This
distinction between direct and indirect managerial effects has
P.-L. Yu et al. / Asia Paci?c Management Review xxx (2015) 1e11 4
Please cite this article in press as: Yu, P.-L., et al., Improving IT professionals job skills development: The use of management styles and
individual cultural value orientation, Asia Paci?c Management Review (2015),http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apmrv.2015.07.002
conceptual linkages to recent theoretical propositions regarding
the role of traditionality in the in?uence process of new manage-
ment styles. Employees with low traditionality are less likely to
subscribe to their leader's values and beliefs. The key in?uence on
the improvement of professional skills in this study may not be
what the manager does in the context of their interactions with the
subordinate (direct effect), but may be related more strongly to the
feedback provided by the manager, or to the perceived likelihood of
receiving future rewards (indirect effect). In this case, a favorable
culture for improving professional skills may provide employees
with the information necessary to assess the appropriateness and
future consequences of professional skills, thus reducing their
dependence on the manager with respect to these indirect effects.
That is, when traditionality is low, the direct effects of the manager
will be limited, and a high innovative culture will act as a substitute
for the effects of the manager with respect to improving profes-
sional skills. Thus, the highest levels of employee professional skills
will occur when new management style and innovative culture are
high, and traditionality is low, since the employee in this case is
in?uenced by both the direct effects of the leader (as a result of low
traditionality) and the indirect effects of innovative culture. We
speculate that for employees with lowlevel of traditionality, a high
innovative culture has a positive moderating in?uence (i.e., the
stronger the innovative culture, the stronger positive new partici-
pative management styles e professional skills relationship; the
stronger the innovative culture, the least negative new authori-
tarian management styles e professional skills relationship).
H7. The association between new participative management style
and professional skills is (a) most positive when innovative culture is
high and traditionality is low (b) least positive when innovative cul-
ture is low and traditionality is high.
Employees with high traditionality are likely to be more strongly
in?uenced by their supervisor's behavior in and of itself (direct
effects), compared to employees with low traditionality. Thus, the
direct new management style effects associated with high tradi-
tionality rely on fundamentally different motivational sources than
those of an innovative culture, which focus on communication and
feedback mechanisms to the degree that creativity is valued within
the overall organization. The effects of a high innovative culture are
more related to indirect new management style effects, and are
unlikely to negate the desire of a subordinate with high tradition-
ality to obtain immediate satisfaction by responding to the direct
effects of the manager. Instead, when traditionality is high, this
study expects that a high innovative culture will not substitute for
new management style, but may work in concert with an innova-
tive culture to encourage the enhancement of professional skills,
since the two effects are conceptually distinct. Thus, for employees
with high traditionality, the lower the innovative culture, the
negative newauthoritarian management style e professional skills
relationship; the lower the innovative culture, the stronger nega-
tive new authoritarian management styles e professional skills
relationship).
H8. The association between new authoritarian management style
and professional skills is (a) most negative when innovative culture is
low and traditionality is high (b) least negative when innovative cul-
ture is high and traditionality is low.
3. Methods
3.1. Sample and procedure
The current study surveyed 280 Taiwanese high-tech employees
(engineers and supervisors) in electronics, semiconductors,
communications and electro-optical, information and software,
telecommunication, precision instrument, and biotechnology in-
dustries. Face-to-face, telephone and e-mail communications were
conducted with HR managers, R&D department assistants, R&D
department employees and line managers in each survey organi-
zation to explain the study and persuade them to participate. In
particular, except the engineers, we asked middle managers to be
our respondents. This is in line with the literature middle managers
should have direct in?uences for employee performance while
comparing to other level of managers (Yang, Zhang, &Tsui, 2010). A
cover letter indicated that participation was voluntary, the re-
sponses would be used for research purposes only, and con?den-
tiality was guaranteed. The employees completed the
questionnaire during breaks at work or at home and returned them
to an R&D department assistant or other coworker in a sealed en-
velope. Follow-up telephone calls and e-mails were made to in-
crease the response rate. From 500 distributed questionnaires, 292
were collected, and 280 were valid, giving a valid response rate of
56%. The sample respondents were 83.6% male, and 67.5% were
under 35 years of age; they were fairly highly educated (36.5% had
completed college or university while 59.3% had obtained a mas-
ter's degree), and 21.1% reported an organizational tenure of 3.1e5
years.
3.2. Measures
The original questionnaire was prepared in English. However,
because the conventional language of Taiwanese residents is
Mandarin Chinese, the surveys were translated and distributed in
Taiwan in Mandarin using the standard method of back-translation
with the aid of bilingual experts (Brislin, 1980). Next, a preliminary
questionnaire was given to ?ve high-tech professional workers
from three industries (electronics, communications and electro-
optics); after some minor changes, the translated version was
pretested with 50 employees who were asked to comment on the
items that they found ambiguous or dif?cult to understand. All
questions were answered on a 7-point Likert scale (1 ¼ strongly
disagree, 7 ¼ strongly agree).
3.2.1. New management styles
This was measured using a 26-item questionnaire adopted from
Likert and Likert (1976) and Earley and Erez (1997) that examines
the degree of the employees' recognition toward their manager's
management style. Speci?cally, this study adapted the 18 items
used in Likert and Likert's (1976) Pro?le of Organizational Char-
acteristics Questionnaire by replacing the original 20-point Likert-
type scale with the 7-point scale outlined above. The authors
changed some of the questionseefor example, this study replaced
“How free do employees feel about talking to superiors about the
job?” with “We can talk freely with our supervisor about matters
related to work.” This study also added a power distance ques-
tionnaire from Earley and Erez (1997), which included an 8-item
scale assessing the degree of employees' recognition of manage-
ment power distance. Previous studies that used this scale include
Earley (1999) (a ¼ 0.81) and Yang, Lee, and Lee (2007) (a ¼ 0.73). A
sample item from this scale is, “In most situations managers
should make decisions without consulting their subordinates.”
Firms may have both participative and authoritarian styles at the
same time, or leaders may exhibit different behaviors as the situ-
ation requires (Fiedler, 1978). Therefore, this study treats authori-
tarian and participative styles as separate dimensions of
management. In the current study, the coef?cient alpha of the
participative style was 0.91, while that of the authoritarian style
was 0.77.
P.-L. Yu et al. / Asia Paci?c Management Review xxx (2015) 1e11 5
Please cite this article in press as: Yu, P.-L., et al., Improving IT professionals job skills development: The use of management styles and
individual cultural value orientation, Asia Paci?c Management Review (2015),http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apmrv.2015.07.002
3.2.2. Perceived innovative culture
This was measured using seven items adopted from Menon,
Bharadwaj, Phani, and Edison (1999), where the reliability esti-
mate was greater than 0.60. A sample item states, “People feel that
their ideas and information are listened to by others.” Other studies
that have used this scale include Maltz, Menon, and Wilcox (2006),
with a coef?cient alpha of 0.75. In this study, the coef?cient alpha
was 0.88.
3.2.3. Development of professional skills
The development of professional skills was used as the
dependent variable. This study adopted the questionnaire from Lee
et al. (1995), which included technical specialties knowledge
(a ¼ 0.90); technology management knowledge (a ¼ 0.71); busi-
ness function knowledge (a ¼ 0.85), and interpersonal and man-
agement skills (a ¼ 0.91). The authors revised the questions on
technical specialties knowledge because the original dimension
was designed for IS rather than IT professionals. To determine
which types of technical specialties knowledge to include in this
survey, this study ?rst consulted the literature, as well as experts in
various IT R&D disciplines. New items such as “professional tech-
nical knowledge (software design knowledge; hardware design
knowledge); ” “software management knowledge; hardware
management knowledge; technical support management knowl-
edge”, and “specialized application techniques knowledge” were
included. A 21-item questionnaire was used to assess these four
variables and a description of “My current working environment
improves my ….” was added before the survey questions. Sample
items included: “ability to learn technical specialties knowl-
edge”,“ability to learn technological management knowledge”,
“ability to learn about business functions ” and “ability to work
cooperatively in a one-on-one and project teamenvironment”. The
coef?cient alpha of technical specialties knowledge was 0.89;
technology management knowledge was 0.85; business functional
knowledge was 0.94; and interpersonal and management skills
were 0.95.
3.2.4. Traditionality
This was measured using ?ve items from Farh et al. (2007); one
sample item was “The best way to avoid mistakes is to follow the
instructions of senior persons”. Other studies that have used this
scale include Farh et al. (1997) (a ¼ 0.76) and Farh et al. (2007)
(a ¼ 0.68). In this study, the coef?cient alpha was 0 0.74.
3.2.5. Control variables
Subordinate demographic characteristics such as age, educa-
tion, tenure, and ?rm characteristics including ?rm size comprised
the primary control variables. Age was split into seven categories:
25 or under, 25.1e30, 30.1e35, 35.1e40, 40.1e45, 45.1e50 and
over 50. High levels of education were found to be related to
traditionality (Farh et al., 1997); therefore, education was split into
?ve categories: high school/occupational school, university,
graduate school, and postgraduate. Organizational tenure was
split into eight categories: 1 year or less, 1.1e3, 3.1e5, 5.1e10,
10.1e15, 15.1e20, 20.1e25 and more than 25 years. A ?nal variable
involves ?rm size. Firms become less innovative as they become
larger and more bureaucratic (Robey, 1991), while most small to
medium-sized enterprises are more supportive of an innovative
culture (Chandler, Chalonand, & Lyon, 2000). In the current paper,
?rm size was operationalized as the number of people in the
company.
4. Results
4.1. Con?rmatory factor analyses
First, this study performed a series of con?rmatory factor ana-
lyses (CFAs) to verify construct distinctiveness before testing the
hypotheses. To assess whether the observed covariance matrix ?t
the hypothesized model, this study used the comparative ?t index
(CFI), goodness-of-?t index (GFI), and standardized root-mean-
square residual (SRMR). The results show that the CFA of the one-
factor innovative culture (7 items) base model yielded good ?t in-
dexes within an acceptable range (c
2
[11] ¼ 28.86, RMSEA ¼ 0.08,
CFI ¼ 0.98), the two-factor new management style yielded very
good ?t indexes (c
2
[108] ¼ 203.73, RMSEA ¼ 0.06, CFI ¼ 0.96), the
four-factor development of professional skills dimension base
model yielded very good ?t indexes (c
2
[161] ¼ 304.06,
RMSEA ¼ 0.06, CFI ¼ 0.97), and the one-factor traditionality (5
items) model also showed a very good ?t (c
2
[2] ¼ 3.088,
RMSEA ¼ 0.04, CFI ¼ 0.99). Second, this study also undertook the
procedure recommended by Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, and
Podsakoff (2003) to reduce and evaluate the magnitude of com-
mon method bias. Harman's one-factor test was conducted on all of
the items, extracting twelve distinct factors that accounted for 63
percent of the total variance, with the ?rst factor explaining 26
percent. Thus, no single factor emerged, nor did one factor account
for most of the variance. The results suggest that the common
method bias is not a major threat in this study and support the
validity of the measures. Third, to test for non-response bias, we
tested differences between respondents and non-respondents for
our ?nal sample. T-tests showed no signi?cant differences based on
the number of full-time employees of the ?rms.
4.2. Hypotheses tests
Descriptive statistics, bivariate correlations, and Cronbach's al-
phas for all the variables are presented in Table 2. In order to test
the interactions, all predictor variables were mean-centered to
reduce multicollinearity, as recommended by Aiken and West
(1991).
The six hypotheses were tested by a multiple hierarchical
regression analysis (Aiken &West, 1991). The results of the tests for
Hypotheses 1e4 and 5e8 are shown in Table 3 and Table 4,
respectively, under columns labeled with the relevant model.
To test H1 and H2 concerning the main effects of new man-
agement style, we regressed new management styles and profes-
sional skills while controlling for respondent's age, education,
tenure, and ?rmsize. The results showthat participative style had a
signi?cant and positive effect on technical specialties knowledge
(b ¼ 0.12, p < 0.05), technology management knowledge (b ¼ 0.17,
p < 0.01), business functional knowledge (b ¼ 0.19, p < 0.01) and
interpersonal and management knowledge (b ¼ 0.17, p < 0.01). H1
is therefore supported. Table 3 shows that new authoritarian style
is negatively related to employee professional skills (technical
specialties knowledge, technology management knowledge, busi-
ness functional knowledge, and interpersonal and management
knowledge). The effect of new authoritarian style was not signi?-
cant; therefore, the results provide limited support for H2. H3 and
H4 proposed that the moderating effects of traditionality on the
relationship between new authoritarian and new participative
management styles and professional skills. As shown in Model 2 of
Table 3, traditionality signi?cantly moderates the relationship be-
tween new authoritarian style and business function skills
(b ¼ 0.14, p < 0.05). Therefore, H3 was partly supported. We found
P.-L. Yu et al. / Asia Paci?c Management Review xxx (2015) 1e11 6
Please cite this article in press as: Yu, P.-L., et al., Improving IT professionals job skills development: The use of management styles and
individual cultural value orientation, Asia Paci?c Management Review (2015),http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apmrv.2015.07.002
the non-signi?cant moderating effect of traditionality on the rela-
tionship between a new participative style and professional skills.
H4, therefore, was not supported.
H5 and H6 proposed the moderating effects of innovative cul-
ture on the relationship between new management styles, such as
participative and authoritarian, and professional skills. As shown in
Model 3 of Table 4, the coef?cient of new participative style and
innovative culture shown that technical specialties knowledge
(b ¼ 0.16, p < 0.01) and technology management (b ¼ 0.1, p < 0.05)
were statistically signi?cant, while business function (b ¼ 0.06, ns)
and interpersonal and management (b ¼ À0.00, ns) were not. H5,
thus, was partly supported. The coef?cient of interaction term of
new authoritarian style and innovative culture was shown all non-
signi?cant, thus, H6 was not supported. H7 and H8 examine the
joint effects of innovative culture and traditionality on the rela-
tionship between new management styles (authoritarian and
participative) and professional skills. Model 4 in Table 4 shows a
signi?cant three-way interaction of newparticipative management
style, innovative culture, and traditionality for technical specialties
knowledge (b ¼ 0.12, p < 0.05); technology management knowl-
edge (b ¼ 0.16, p < 0.01), and business function
knowledge(b ¼ 0.09, p < 0.1), but not for interpersonal and man-
agement. H7, thus, partly supported. The coef?cient of the three-
way interaction term of new authoritarian style, innovative cul-
ture, and traditionality had a signi?cant and positive effect on
technical specialties knowledge (b ¼ 0.09, p < 0.1); technology
management knowledge (b ¼ 0.09, p < 0.1), and business function
knowledge(b ¼ 0.11, p < 0.05), but not for interpersonal and man-
agement knowledge. H8, thus, partly supported. To determine the
form of the three-way interaction, this study used the means of the
variables and cut values of one standard deviation above and below
the mean for each of the three relevant variables to obtain eight
Table 2
Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations, mean, standard deviation and correlation among the variables.
Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1. Age 3.055 1.097
2. Education 3.602 0.675 À0.031
3. Tenure 2.364 1.117 0.337
b
À0.161
b
4. Firm Size 7.949 3.280 0.082 À0.056 0.147
a
Management style
5. (New) Participative Management Style 4.836 0.954 0.102 À0.074 0.122 À0.074 (0.907)
6. (New) Authoritarian Management Style 3.807 0.975 À0.173
a
0.098 À0.106 À0.001 À0.010 (0.771)
Traditionality
7. Traditionality 3.947 1.014 À0.112 0.008 0.070 0.001 0.265
b
0.442
b
(0.737)
Innovative culture
8. Innovative Culture 5.113 0.965 0.193
b
À0.078 0.046 0.152
b
0.272
b
À0.117 À0.038 (0.876)
Professional skills
9. Technical specialties knowledge 5.127 0.993 0.205
b
À0.015 0.081 0.063 0.163
a
À0.082 À0.011 0.548
b
(0.887)
10. Technology management knowledge 5.031 1.009 0.151
a
À0.013 0.055 0.183
b
0.192
b
À0.139 À0.123 0.502
b
0.556
b
(0.848)
11. Business functional knowledge 4.593 1.230 0.091 À0.007 0.030 0.130 0.234
b
À0.163
a
À0.016 0.513
b
0.563
b
0.506
b
(0.940)
12. Interpersonal and management skills 5.135 0.943 0.181
b
0.110 0.033 0.115
a
0.213 À0.108 À0.037 0.584
b
0.515
b
0.572
b
0.519
b
(0.949)
Note. Figures in parentheses are Cronbach's alphas.
a
Correlation is signi?cant at the 0.05 level(2-tailed).
b
Correlation is signi?cant at the 0.01 level(2-tailed).
Table 3
Moderated regression analysis results.
Technical specialties Technology management Business functional Interpersonal and management
Independent variable Model 1 Model 2 Model 2 Model 1 Model 2 Model 2 Model 1 Model 2 Model 2 Model 1 Model 2 Model 2
Control variables
Age 0.188*** 0.164** 0.197 0.121*** 0.111þ 0.128 0.061 0.066 0.079 0.164 0.164** 0.178
Education 0.003 0.126 À0.001 0.012 0.012 0.004 0.016 0.010 0.011 0.129 0.126 0.124
Tenure À0.003 À0.035 0.007 À0.034 À0.020 À0.010 À0.036 À0.027 À0.015 À0.042 À0.035 À0.023
Firm Size 0.055 0.124 0.044 0.189 0.189*** 0.171 0.142 0.140* 0.116* 0.125 0.124 0.104
Main effects
(New) Participative style 0.118* 0.195*** 0.167*** 0.200*** 0.190*** 0.206*** 0.174*** 0.195***
(New) Authoritarian style À0.029 À0.038 À0.087 À0.053 À0.105 À0.123 À0.069 À0.075
Traditionality (M1) À0.070 0.016 À0.143* À0.076 À0.067 0.017 À0.070 À0.001
Innovative Culture (M2)
Interactions (two-way)
(New) Participative style ÂM1 0.008 À0.014 0.000 0.008
(New) Authoritarian style ÂM1 0.034 0.049 0.137* 0.096
(New) Participative style ÂM2
(New) Authoritarian style ÂM2
Traditionality (M1) x Innovative Culture (M2)
Interactions (three-way)
(New) Participative style ÂM1 ÂM2
(New) Authoritarian style ÂM1 ÂM2
R
2
0.059 0.091 0.047 0.086 0.099 0.065 0.069 0.062 0.053 0.092 0.091 0.071
Adj-R
2
0.039 0.069 0.023 0.067 0.076 0.042 0.049 0.039 0.029 0.073 0.069 0.048
df 6, 285 7, 284 7, 284 6, 285 7, 284 7, 284 6, 285 7, 284 7, 284 6,285 7, 284 7, 284
?F 2.118 3.502* 0.221 5.300*** 2.370þ 4.873*** 6.953*** 3.914** 2.919* 5.336*** 3.502* 1.335
Notes.***: p < 0.005; **: p < 0.01; *: p < 0.05; þ: p < 0.1 two-tailed tests.
P.-L. Yu et al. / Asia Paci?c Management Review xxx (2015) 1e11 7
Please cite this article in press as: Yu, P.-L., et al., Improving IT professionals job skills development: The use of management styles and
individual cultural value orientation, Asia Paci?c Management Review (2015),http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apmrv.2015.07.002
separate plotting points, following the approach recommended by
Aiken and West (1991). As shown in Fig. 1, the results indicate that
for employees low on traditionality, the relationship between new
participative style and technology management knowledge was
stronger under a high innovative culture than it was under a low
innovative culture. However, for employees high on traditionality,
the relationship between new authoritarian style and business
function knowledge was weaker under a high innovative culture
than it was under a low innovative culture. The form of the inter-
action is consistent with the prediction that traditionality has a
negative moderating in?uence when the innovative culture is low,
but has a positive moderating in?uence when the innovative cul-
ture is high, thus partially supporting H7.
5. Discussion and implication
The present study examines the relationship between new
management styles and IT technical engineers' professional skills in
a model that takes into account the effects of individual cultural
value orientation and organizational contextual factors. The results
indicate that new participative style has a signi?cant and positive
effect on IT technical workers' development of professional skills.
An innovative culture has a signi?cant moderating effect on the
relationship between new participative style and professional
skills. These ?ndings support the idea that highly industrialized
nations tend more towards a participative style (Yucelt, 1986);
while an authoritarian style is still found among Chinese leaders
(Tsui, Wang, Xin, Zhang, & Fu, 2004). New authoritarian style
positively in?uences business function skills for the professionals
who are high in traditionality. This speci?es that although the new
authoritarian style is rigid, dogmatic, and rule-bound, in some cases
it also emphasizes the human side of relationships and personal
behavior, such as on relationships or networks between people
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Fig. 1. Three-way interactions between new participative style, innovative culture, and
traditionality on technology management knowledge of professional skills.
P.-L. Yu et al. / Asia Paci?c Management Review xxx (2015) 1e11 8
Please cite this article in press as: Yu, P.-L., et al., Improving IT professionals job skills development: The use of management styles and
individual cultural value orientation, Asia Paci?c Management Review (2015),http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apmrv.2015.07.002
(Yan & Powell, 2004); therefore, it will encourage employees to
exert more effort in developing business function skills which are
seen as one type of interpersonal skill.
In a high innovative culture environment, the new participative
style positively relates to technical specialties and technology
management knowledge of professional skills for engineers lowon
traditionality. In contrast, the new authoritarian style positively
relates to business function knowledge of professional skills for
engineers high on traditionality in a workplace with a low inno-
vative culture. The results illustrate that the newauthoritarian style
positively relates to the business function knowledge of profes-
sional skills for engineers high on traditionality in a low innovative
culture. Traditionalists who tend to be collectivists are likely to
prefer maintaining longer-term relationships with their organiza-
tions and view interpersonal skills and relationships as being more
valuable than speci?c job knowledge and skills (Jung & Avolio,
1999). Traditionalists who tend to be individualistic are likely to
pursue self-interests and view technical specialties and technology
management knowledge of professional skills as being more critical
for their career development than interpersonal and business
knowledge of professional skills. Due to globalization, acculturation
from trade and immigration, these changes could lead more
collectivist cultures to become increasingly individualistic and vice
versa. This idea purports that Western culture may become more
collectivist and Asian culture that includes Taiwan and China is
becoming more individualistic (Parker, Haytko, & Hermans, 2009).
Previous research (e.g., Spreitzer, Perttula, &Xin, 2005) reported
that traditionality moderates the relationship between leaders'
transformational leadership and effectiveness in the Taiwanese
context. This study extends the existing research by illuminating
the contextual factor of innovative culture from the reciprocity
behavior of IT technical engineers. This research also contributes to
a better understanding of the innovative culture that currently
exists in the Taiwan high-tech sector, and how it acts as a link be-
tween a participative style and the development of professional
skills. Furthermore, Taiwan has a culture grounded in Confucian
ideology that emphasizes a strong respect for hierarchy (Chinese
Culture Connection, 1987). It also has a joint in the East-meets-
West network after ?fty years of Japanese colonization (Chen, Lin,
Lin, & McDonough, 2012). Taiwan society is coexisted the tradi-
tional and modem characteristics (Lu & Kao, 2002) and has a
relatively moderate level of power distance culture, which makes it
suitable to examine the constructs in this study. Meanwhile, as the
?rst exploration of the relationships among new management
styles, innovative culture, traditionality, and professional skills, the
study sheds light on the cultural value dynamics of professional
skills in a modest power distance society. It provides useful infor-
mation concerning the cross-cultural applicability of Western
theories of professional skills. More research is needed to test the
validity of the present ?ndings, not only in Taiwan but also in many
other parts of the world in which traditional values have a strong
hold on the psychologies of large portions of the population, such
as Africa, or Middle East, such as Kuwait, which has been docu-
mented that it exists a cultural tendency of highly toward collec-
tivism and weakly commitment to individualism (Ali, Taqi, &
Krishnan, 1997).
The results suggest that focusing only on a management style
without considering the wider organizational context may yield
disappointing results, and that at least one aspect of employee
cultural value orientation e traditionality e is an important
component of the relationship between new management styles
and employee professional skills. Thus, managers may be well
served to focus on behaviors thought to affect employee tradi-
tionality. Doing so may enable the managers to avoid the substi-
tution effects of a high innovative culture, and to instead realize the
bene?ts of the combined effects of both management styles and
innovative culture on employee professional skills. This study
concludes that organizations are able to facilitate the development
of professional skills by stimulating an innovative culture under a
new participative style, and under a new authoritarian style when
employees exhibit high scores of traditionality. These ?ndings
clearly indicate that such efforts can be complemented by attempts
to build an innovative culture within participative style environ-
ments, or by recruiting traditionalist employees within authori-
tarian style environments. As the new management styles are
shown to predict professional skills, organizations can in?uence
this process by promoting an authoritarian or participative style
among leaders through selection and leadership development
programs.
6. Limitations and extensions
The study is cross-sectional in nature. Inferences about causality
are therefore limited. Future studies should investigate these re-
lationships using longitudinal or experimental studies in order to
ascertain causality. In addition, support for the three-way interac-
tion between new management styles, innovative culture, tradi-
tionality and professional skills was limited. There are several
possible reasons why this study did not ?nd strong support for the
predicted three-way interaction. One possibility is the hierarchical
regression analysis provided a conservative test for high-order in-
teractions (Aiken & West, 1991). Second, it should be noted that
managers were asked to rate subordinate professional skills using a
general rating scale that did not take into account, among other
things, the type of work performed by the subordinate or organi-
zational norms regarding rating professional skills. While this
technique allowed for the comparison of professional skills across a
common measure, the extent to which the results may have been
impacted by perceptual biases is unclear. Third, this model is not
exhaustive and can be expanded to incorporate other important
variables including other forms of new management styles such as
consultative, benevolent, delegative, or paternalistic. This may help
to better understand the effects of new management styles from a
broader perspective. Future research should also examine the
manifestations of new management styles commensurate with
different managerial levels. Given that this study was conducted in
a limited context (high-tech companies in Taiwan), caution against
generalizing the ?ndings to other settings is advised.
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