Business Managers/Executives/Administrators
OBJECTIVE This study compares managerial leadership practices in Southern California with those in Southern China for males and females.
METHODOLOGY A commercial sampling organization in the U.S. and another in China were used to acquire data for this study with managers in both countries contracted by email and invited to participate in the study by completing the Leadership Practices Inventory (Self) and providing some demographic data. The LPI was administered in Chinese for that population; and both language versions used a five-point Likert scale. A total of 250 managers from Southern California participated; 57 percent were male, 49 percent were first-line managers, and 28 percent had 5-12 years of work experience, 27 percent had 13-20 years, 30 percent had 21-30 years and 15 percent had 30 years or more of work experience. From Southern China 215 managers participated; 61 percent were male, 43 percent were first-line managers, and 81 percent had 5-12 years of work experience, 14 percent had 13-20 years, and 5 percent had 21 years or more of work experience.
KEY FINDINGS No statistically significant differences were found between female managers in Southern California and those in Southern China, nor were differences found between male managers in these two geographical regions. No statistically significant differences were found between male and female managers in Southern California, nor on the basis of gender in Southern China. The author concludes that the leadership practices are “independent from gender and the two regions in which they are observed” (p. 147).