Context, self-regulation and developmental foci. A mixed-method study analyzing self-development of leadership competencies in China
| Date | 06 November 2017 |
| Published date | 06 November 2017 |
| Pages | 1977-1996 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-10-2015-0273 |
| Author | Shuang Ren,Ying Zhu |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
Context, self-regulation and
developmental foci
A mixed-method study analyzing
self-development of leadership competencies
in China
Shuang Ren
Deakin Business School, Deakin University, Burwood, Australia, and
Ying Zhu
Australian Centre for Asian Business, University of South Australia,
Adelaide, Australia
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to investigate why managerial leaders engage in leader
self-development (SD) vis-à-vis China’s transition process and what domains of leadership competencies are
enhanced. It aims to investigate leader SD as an interaction between self-regulation and the confluence of
multiple contexts experienced simultaneously by these managerial leaders within China’s transition.
Design/methodology/approach –This paper adopts a two-phase exploratory sequential mixed-method
design. The absence of empirical research on leader SD in China led to a qualitative approach in the initial
stage. Focus groups were first conducted to establish the relevance of the focal construct in a holistic and
elaborative way. In-depth interviews were then undertaken to capture the richness of the phenomenon
through meaningful contextualization and to identify themes as representative of issues faced by
participants. Seven themes emerged from this process, which, through consultation with the relevant
literature, were operationalized in the second stage to generate a survey for hypothesis testing.
Findings –The combination of insights from qualitative and quantitative studies highlights the dynamic
and interactive nature of leader SD as a product of contextual and personal influences in China.
The influential mechanisms connecting personal and contextual enablers and SD are in the cognitive
processing of developmental needs and personal responsibility. Chinese managerial leaders who take the
initiative to assess their own developmental needs and assume responsibility for their development are more
likely to undertake SD. The developmental activities focus primarily on technical leadership competencies.
Research limitations/implications –A competency perspective to development may not address fully
complexities involved in leader development. Also developing leadership competencies is an ongoing process.
Due to limited time and fund, this paper did not take a time perspective to investigate both the immediate and
long-term outcomes of leader SD.
Practical implications –SD is an emerging strategy that has the potential to address the shortage of
managerial leadership competencies. The analysis of the self-regulatory process explains the mediating
dynamism underlying different domains of leader SD. Recruitment focusing on people with a relatively higher
degree of self-regulation thus increases the potential for organizations to staff themselves with employees
aware of, and prepared for, SD organization would like to take place. It is also advisable that organizations
make efforts to create a learning environment in general.
Originality/value –This mixed-method approach provides a multi-layered investigation that ultimately
adds rigor and relevance to the research findings. It is this analysis of the complex web of economic, social
and cultural contexts existing in China, and applying them to social cognitive theory as an explanatory
platform, that underpins the originality of the study.
Keywords Mixed methodologies, Competence, Leader development
Paper type Research paper
This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on managerial leader development
(e.g. Khoreva and Vaiman, 2015; Kohonen, 2005), in particular non-traditional
developmental activities (e.g. Suutari and Viitala, 2008), published by this journal,
by adding a self-development (SD) component of learning and development in a transitional
Personnel Review
Vol. 46 No. 8, 2017
pp. 1977-1996
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-10-2015-0273
Received 18 December 2015
Revised 17 September 2016
3 November 2016
Accepted 2 December 2016
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
1977
A mixed-method
study of leader
self-development
in China
economy, namely, China. The country’s burgeoning economy and continuing industrial
transformation have produced a demand for managerial leadership competencies that far
exceeds the supply in all company types (Benson, Gospel and Zhu, 2013; Chen and Lee, 2008;
Wang and Wang, 2006). This shortage presents a challenge to HRM practices aimed at
enhancing human capital and human resource development (HRD) practices, as available
formal training programs, however, cannot satisfy the shortfall in a timely manner
(Warner and Goodall, 2009 ). Meanwhile, Chinese man agerial leaders increas ingly
acknowledge the end of the ideologically driven “social contact”with their employers
and, like their counterparts in the west, recognize that they must adopt greater personal
responsibility for the level of their leadership competencies (Ren et al., 2015; Warner, 2011).
Vis-à-vis the changing nature of work and employment, a timely, flexible and cost-effective
form of leader development is therefore needed (see Garavan et al., 2004).
Research in western developed countries has suggested that SD can be a major source of
skill formation (Day et al., 2004). Managerial SD of leadership competencies refers to
self-initiated, deliberate and goal-oriented leader developmental activities in which
individuals align their career goals with learning objectives to improve leadership
competencies (Boyce et al., 2010; Orvis and Langkamer, 2010; Reichard and Johnson, 2011).
Based on this concept, we adopt the term “leader SD”for this research. The rationale is that
learning in today’s workplace, as HRD scholars observe, occurs more frequently outside
formal training (Billett, 2014) and becomes more learner controlled (Noe et al., 2014).
Leader development differs from leadership development in which the former concerns
developing intrapersonal capacity to be effective in leadership roles (Van Velsor and
McCauley, 2004) whereas the latter concerns building group capacity through people at
different levels who display leadership (Day, 2000).
So far, however, leader SD is not a well-understood construct or practice in China.
The paucity of theorizing on SD in China is contextualized by a backdrop of fragmented and
sparse literature, including non-Chinese literature, on leader development, including SD
(Hrivnak et al., 2009). The challenge is that SD manifests at the surface level as individual
behaviors, which makes its association with the context implicit, or its benefits taken for
granted. Therefore, prior investigations in the leader development literature focus
primarily on personal traits, detached from context, as enablers of self-initiated learning
and development (Tokar et al., 2007). The impacts of context beyond the immediate task
and work environment on learning and development remain substantially under-
researched (Steinberg, 2001). This limitation risks disconnecting leader development
theory from managerial practice and might lead to largely ineffective developmental
programs promoted by organizations, as has been reported widely in the industry
(e.g. Avolio et al., 2003; Moody et al., 2011).
Similarly, the applicability to China of existing findings in prior studies conducted mainly
in the USA (e.g. Boyce et al., 2010; Orvis and Langkamer, 2010; Orvis and Leffler, 2011;
Reichard and Johnson, 2011) is unknown. China’s current economic transition creates
paradoxes and complexities that are less evident in established economies (Ren et al., 2015).
The diverse economic background increases pressure for leaders to cope with multiple
demands from western-imported cultures that advocate individualism and market-oriented
competition, and China’s traditional ingrained values of Confucianism and Communist
ideology (Chen and Lee, 2008). The context for self-directed action and personal development
is likely to be different from the context of SD in the US and other western countries
(Warner et al., 2005). Advancing the field of leader SD therefore requires theoretical and
empiricaldevelopments that are, on the one hand, meaningfuland relevant to the field, and,on
the other hand, robust and rigorous in order to be validated across empirical settings.
Given this is a nascent topic in China, we aim to add detail and nuance as well as
addressing the above-mentioned literature gaps related to antecedents and conditions that
1978
PR
46,8
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