The Hidden Key Personality Traits of Effective Leadership in China

Effective leadership is essential for organizational development; however, it has been insufficiently examined in China. Thus, we explore what constitutes effective leadership in China by identifying the personality traits necessary for practicing effective leadership behaviors and developing an emp...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Xin Xiang, Hongzhi Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2025-03-01
Series:SAGE Open
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440251327533
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Summary:Effective leadership is essential for organizational development; however, it has been insufficiently examined in China. Thus, we explore what constitutes effective leadership in China by identifying the personality traits necessary for practicing effective leadership behaviors and developing an empirically-based personality trait framework. In-depth interviews were conducted with 132 executives identifying the initial item pool. Data were collected from 432 respondents and exploratory factor analysis was conducted to explore a possible model structure. Further data were collected from 513 respondents and confirmatory factor analysis was performed to assess the convergent and discriminant validities of the proposed model. A personality trait framework to practice effective leadership comprising 12 factors and 40 sub-items was developed. The findings expand our understanding of effective leadership in China by discovering individual characteristics; they offer an efficient benchmarking for assessing the discerning personality traits for effective leadership behaviors, and significant implications for Chinese leadership development practices.
ISSN:2158-2440