Leadership and performance in Japanese R&D teams

Jun Ishikawa

Asia Pacific Business Review, 2012, vol. 18, issue 2, 241-258

Abstract: This study examined the relative influence of transformational and gatekeeping leadership on team performance in a study of researchers working in industrial R&D teams in Japan. Potential effects of both internal and external communication and group norms for consensus were studied as possible mediating influences on the leadership-performance relationship. Results found that, while both forms of leadership enhanced communication processes within and between groups, only gatekeeping leadership served to reduce group norms for consensus. As a result, team cultures became somewhat more accepting of expressions of divergent opinions and new ideas from various team members, an important factor in R&D innovation and performance. By contrast, transformational leadership served to create team cultures in which divergence from group norms by various members was discouraged, leading to fewer innovative ideas and no performance increment. Results are discussed both in the context of the unique Japanese work environment and in the larger context of leadership processes across regions and cultures.

Date: 2012
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/13602381.2010.532907 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:apbizr:v:18:y:2012:i:2:p:241-258

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/FAPB20

DOI: 10.1080/13602381.2010.532907

Access Statistics for this article

Asia Pacific Business Review is currently edited by Professor Chris Rowley and Malcolm Warner

More articles in Asia Pacific Business Review from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().