Re‐examination of Hofstede's work value orientations on perceived leadership styles in Jordan

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of work values on leadership styles and to introduce new findings when Hofstede's work value orientations are applied to other different cultural domains (i.e. Jordan).

A survey of 235 Jordanian managers was undertaken using two instruments of measurement: the “Cultural Attitude Inventory” and the “T‐P Leadership Questionnaire: An Assessment of Style.”

Results confirmed the anticipated relation between “task” leadership style and Jordanian managers' values of power distance and uncertainty avoidance, but they did not confirm the anticipated relation between “people” leadership style and collectivist values of Jordanian managers.

The results have important implications for the management of international and transnational organizations who may need to consider whether promoting a consistent world‐wide leadership style would be more or less beneficial than adopting a style that matches the needs of different cultures. Main recommendations of the research were that theories of culture should be re‐evaluated and updated periodically and that increased awareness into the various characteristics of culture and leadership style may assist in understanding human resources behavior, identifying necessary organizational changes and developing a more efficient organization.