IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v13y2023i10p1976-d1257948.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Empirical Test of the Influence of Rural Leadership on the Willingness to Participate in Public Affairs from the Perspective of Leadership Identification

Author

Listed:
  • Mengjuan Zhang

    (School of Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
    Center for Competitive Creative Design, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK)

  • Hongwei Shi

    (School of Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China)

  • Leon Williams

    (Center for Competitive Creative Design, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK)

  • Paul Lighterness

    (Center for Competitive Creative Design, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK)

  • Mingxing Li

    (School of Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China)

  • Asad Ullah Khan

    (School of Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China)

Abstract

The participation of villagers in rural public affairs is vital for the sustainable development of rural communities and the improvement of villagers’ quality of life. Various factors, including individual characteristics, village environment, social forces, and national policies, influence villagers’ willingness to participate. However, empirical research on the determinants of villagers’ participation in public affairs often overlooks the role of grassroots leadership. To address this gap, this study proposes a theoretical model examining the relationship between transformational leadership and villagers’ willingness to participate in public affairs. Using a sample of 438 villagers from Jiangsu Province in eastern China, structural equation modeling and regression are employed to analyze the data. The findings indicate that moral modeling, leadership charm, and personalized care directly impact villagers’ willingness to participate in public affairs or indirectly influence it through leadership identification, which acts as a mediator. Furthermore, shared vision enhances the positive relationship between leadership identification and villagers’ awareness of public affairs participation. These findings provide valuable insights for village cadres seeking to promote active participation in public affairs among villagers. Specifically, gaining recognition through virtuous conduct, capabilities, and strong cadre–villager relationships serves as a foundation for influencing villagers’ willingness to participate in public affairs, while shared vision plays a strategic role in mobilizing villagers based on their identification with leaders.

Suggested Citation

  • Mengjuan Zhang & Hongwei Shi & Leon Williams & Paul Lighterness & Mingxing Li & Asad Ullah Khan, 2023. "An Empirical Test of the Influence of Rural Leadership on the Willingness to Participate in Public Affairs from the Perspective of Leadership Identification," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-21, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:13:y:2023:i:10:p:1976-:d:1257948
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/10/1976/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/10/1976/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bandura, Albert & Cervone, Daniel, 1986. "Differential engagement of self-reactive influences in cognitive motivation," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 92-113, August.
    2. Qinxuan Gu & Thomas Tang & Wan Jiang, 2015. "Does Moral Leadership Enhance Employee Creativity? Employee Identification with Leader and Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) in the Chinese Context," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(3), pages 513-529, February.
    3. Jensen, Maika & Potočnik, Kristina & Chaudhry, Sara, 2020. "A mixed-methods study of CEO transformational leadership and firm performance," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 836-845.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Little, Cedric & Felzensztein, Christian & Gimmon, Eli & Muñoz, Pablo, 2015. "The business management of the Chilean salmon farming industry," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 108-117.
    2. Mohammad H. Pakravan & Nordica MacCarty, 2020. "What Motivates Behavior Change? Analyzing User Intentions to Adopt Clean Technologies in Low-Resource Settings Using the Theory of Planned Behavior," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-32, June.
    3. Delphine Lacaze, 2005. "Towards A Better Understanding Of Integration Processes: Validation Of A Model Of Newcomers’ Proactive Behaviors [Vers Une Meilleure Comprehension Des Processus D'Integration : Validation D'Un Mode," Post-Print hal-04321292, HAL.
    4. David Tjahjana & Diena Dwidienawati & Teti Rohayati & Kenziro Kenziro & Ferry Wijaya & Sharren Nathania & Dyah Gandasari, 2024. "The Role of Family Responsibility, Assertiveness, and Networking in Building Female Leadership Aspirations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-16, June.
    5. Dalton, P.S. & Gonzalez Jimenez, V.H. & Noussair, C.N., 2015. "Paying with Self-Chosen Goals : Incentives and Gender Differences," Discussion Paper 2015-021, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    6. Islam, Asad & Kwon, Sungoh & Masood, Eema & Prakash, Nishith & Sabarwal, Shwetlena & Saraswat, Deepak, 2020. "When Goal-Setting Forges Ahead but Stops Short," GLO Discussion Paper Series 526, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    7. Daniel R Clark & Dan Li & Dean A Shepherd, 2018. "Country familiarity in the initial stage of foreign market selection," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(4), pages 442-472, May.
    8. Ghulam Mustafa & Richard Glavee-Geo & Kjell Gronhaug & Hanan Saber Almazrouei, 2019. "Structural Impacts on Formation of Self-Efficacy and Its Performance Effects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-24, February.
    9. Christopher Winchester & Kelsey E. Medeiros, 2023. "In Bounds but Out of the Box: A Meta-Analysis Clarifying the Effect of Ethicality on Creativity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(3), pages 713-743, March.
    10. Muhammad Arshad & Ghulam Abid & Francoise Venezia Contreras Torres, 2021. "Impact of prosocial motivation on organizational citizenship behavior: the mediating role of ethical leadership and leader–member exchange," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 133-150, February.
    11. Moore, Alexander K. & Lewis, Joshua & Levine, Emma E. & Schweitzer, Maurice E., 2023. "Benevolent friends and high integrity leaders: How preferences for benevolence and integrity change across relationships," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    12. Sana Mumtaz & Chris Rowley, 2020. "The relationship between leader–member exchange and employee outcomes: review of past themes and future potential," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 70(1), pages 165-189, February.
    13. Yogesh Upadhyay & Dharmendra Kumar, 2020. "Leader–Member Exchange, Psychological Capital and Employees’ Creativity," Vision, , vol. 24(4), pages 406-418, December.
    14. Wan Jiang & Qinxuan Gu & Thomas Li-Ping Tang, 2019. "Do Victims of Supervisor Bullying Suffer from Poor Creativity? Social Cognitive and Social Comparison Perspectives," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 865-884, July.
    15. Charlene Tan, 2024. "Integrating Moral Personhood and Moral Management: A Confucian Approach to Ethical Leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 191(1), pages 167-177, April.
    16. Mohr, Lois A. & Bitner, Mary Jo, 1995. "The role of employee effort in satisfaction with service transactions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 239-252, March.
    17. Elodie Gentina & Thomas Li-Ping Tang & Qinxuan Gu, 2017. "Does Bad Company Corrupt Good Morals? Social Bonding and Academic Cheating among French and Chinese Teens," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(3), pages 639-667, December.
    18. Alisher Tohirovich Dedahanov & Faridun Bozorov & Sanghyun Sung, 2019. "Paternalistic Leadership and Innovative Behavior: Psychological Empowerment as a Mediator," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-14, March.
    19. Mohamed Laid Ouakouak & Noufou Ouedraogo, 2017. "Antecedents Of Employee Creativity And Organisational Innovation: An Empirical Study," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 21(07), pages 1-26, October.
    20. Lord, Robert G. & Brown, Douglas J. & Freiberg, Steven J., 1999. "Understanding the Dynamics of Leadership: The Role of Follower Self-Concepts in the Leader/Follower Relationship," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 78(3), pages 167-203, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:13:y:2023:i:10:p:1976-:d:1257948. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.