Leave or stay: The Double-Edged Sword Effects of Authoritarian Supervisor Leadership on Chinese PhD students’ Research Career Aspirations

• In Event: Improvement of Education and Instruction in Universities in China

Proposal

Chinese culture strongly emphasizes power and hierarchy, so both Chinese supervisors and PhD students are more likely to legitimize authoritarian supervisor leadership. The effect of authoritarian supervisor leadership on PhD students’ career aspirations and the related mechanisms have yet to be explained. This study applies a combined framework to test the structural relationships among the authoritarian supervisor leadership, perceptions of insider status, role overload and PhD students’ research career aspirations and to detect the moderating impacts of proactive career networking on the structural model. Data were collected from 934 PhD students at 12 universities in China through an online survey. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and latent moderated structural equation (LMS) were performed to examine the empirical model. The results reveal that (1) the direct effect of authoritarian supervisor leadership on PhD students’ research career aspirations is not significant, (2) perceptions of insider status and role overload fully mediate the relationship between the authoritarian supervisor leadership and students’ research career aspirations respectively, and (3) proactive career networking moderates the latter half of the mediating model. Theoretical and practical implications are offered, and recommendations for future research are outlined.

Authors

• Xianwei Liu, Beihang University

• Wenjing Yuan, Beihang University