**4. The dark side of service leadership and Confucian virtues**

Contemporary literature on organization and leadership has widely acknowledged the importance of social norms and cultures in understanding organization processes. In many Asian countries, Confucianism is considered the dominant ideology guiding organizational, managerial and leadership practice [38].

**4.3. Benevolence ("ren",** 仁**) and affection ("ai",** 爱**)**

This echoes Chung's work of care [10].

tions with distributed leadership in the service age.

them, offer bribes, practice nepotism and abuse authority [32].

**4.4. Trustworthiness ("xin",** 信**)**

**4.5. Righteousness ("yi",** 义**)**

Benevolence is often paired with affection in Confucianism [39]. Benevolence means "a feeling of humanity towards others and self-esteem for oneself" [39]. Its simplified interpretation is to love people, reflecting the core concept of affection. According to McDonald [42], benevolence can be understood as the integration of empathy and excellence. Guided by these two concepts, benevolent leaders do the very best for collective benefits [42]. In line with the virtue of piety, benevolent leaders act like parents of their followers and care for followers' welfare and development [43]. Reciprocally, their followers should obey, be loyal and show piety to the leaders. Similarly, people with affection treat one's interpersonal relationship with care, respect and humanity. Zhang et al. [44] stated that benevolent leaders allow followers to correct mistakes, teach and mentor them and promote their professional development.

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According to Chung and Elfassy [8], being caring means being able to be empathetic. As a leader in overseeing groups of people, it is important to care for the peers and organization. Moreover, it is also important that the leaders care about how people interact with others outside the organization. Being unable to care or lacking feeling is a viral trait that deeply violates Confucian values. The carelessness or indifference of leaders toward others will break the bonds between them, undermine the leaders' authority and trustworthiness, and jeopardize the achievement of organizational goals. Leaders without the quality of benevolence or affection would impair their followers' well-being, such as increasing their depression and stress [5, 30, 34]. Chung [11] suggested that uncaring leaders or organizations cannot sustain long-term health and survival of their tribe. He argued that these leaders are probably good in ordinary manufacturing organizations where the top-down model works instead of organiza-

Trustworthiness means honesty, reliability and faithfulness. Guided by Confucian virtues, leaders should win the trust from their followers first before governing their followers and acting as a role of leader [42]. On the contrary, the subordinates will not sincerely follow a reliable leader who cannot keep his or her words. As Chung has pointed out, a high degree of trust is required in organizations with distributed leadership, because it is the trust guiding the people but not the contract does in these organizations [10]. However, dishonesty is also a reality that every company has to take seriously, because dishonesty reflects a lack of character, and is considered a virus in people's POS [3]. Bass and Steidlmeier [32] discussed pseudo-transformational leaders, who see themselves honest and trustful, but are deceptive and unreliable in their behavior. Their behaviors are immoral because the leaders exhort their followers to trust them but deliberately conceal the information harmful to followers from

Righteousness means the ability to "fitting" or do the "right" things. The principle of righteousness guide people to abide social orders and moral principles, while law and punishment

With particular reference to the Chinese culture, Confucian virtues include different virtues, such as "ba de" (eight cardinal virtues) and "si wei" (four pillars of society). Shek and colleagues [39] have thoroughly discussed 11 virtues covered by "ba de" and "si wei" under the framework of leadership, including loyalty ("zhong", 忠), filial piety ("xiao", 孝), benevolence ("ren", 仁), affection ("ai", 爱), trustworthiness ("xin", 信), righteousness ("yi", 义), harmony ("he", 和), peace ("ping", 平), propriety ("li", 礼), integrity ("lian", 廉) and shame ("chi", 耻). These virtues cover the most important principles in Confucianism that one should follow to become a "jun zi" (superior man).

On the contrary, a person lacking these virtues will be regarded as "xiao ren" (inferior man) and should be avoided by people who want a healthy interpersonal relationship. For leaders or organizations, a lack of these virtues constitutes the dark side of leadership. As Chung and Elfassy [8] clearly pointed out, no one would sincerely like to follow a person who is disloyal, dishonest, unethical or shameless. In the following paragraphs, we will briefly introduce each virtue and the corresponding anti-virtue quality, as well as the undesirable outcomes.

#### **4.1. Loyalty ("zhong",** 忠**)**

Loyalty means "do one's utmost in keeping one's heart unbiased upon making a decision" [39]. Confucian leaders continuously reflect their loyalty and work to fulfill the whole organization's long-term interests [38]. Loyalty reflects the commitment to the organization and the followers. Wu and Wang [40] found that followers' loyalty was positively related to their perception of the leader's charismatic leadership and their own work performance. Chung and Bell [3] suggested that disloyalty is a "virus" to be avoided in one's conduct. Disloyal people refer to the ones who make fake promises, solely aim for the benefits without any fulfillment in action. This misbehavior is called "being disloyal in giving counsels to others" ("wei ren mou er bu zhong", 为人谋而不忠) [39]. Disloyal leaders or followers tend to misbehave in workplace, such as neglecting or undermining the achievement of organization goals [1].

## **4.2. Filial piety ("xiao",** 孝**)**

Filial piety originally refers to the respect toward one's parents, but it also includes key relationships outside the family, such as respect for authority. According to Confucian values, the followers are expected to show "filial love" to the leader [41]. Shek et al. [39] has pointed out that filial piety has a close relationship to loyalty. People are educated to be loyal to the authority, emperor and the country as the way they are filial to their parents and older people. In addition, as respecting rituals and obeying authority are critical virtues in Confucianism, people would like to follow the leaders who obey rituals and social norms regarding ancestor veneration [38]. In modern term, leaders having filial piety and taking care of the seniors are also role models for followers. However, leaders without filial piety may greatly challenge the followers' ethical standards, and gradually lose their respect, supports and commitment. These leaders may have a weak bond with their organizations, reflecting a low level of commitment.

#### **4.3. Benevolence ("ren",** 仁**) and affection ("ai",** 爱**)**

Asian countries, Confucianism is considered the dominant ideology guiding organizational,

With particular reference to the Chinese culture, Confucian virtues include different virtues, such as "ba de" (eight cardinal virtues) and "si wei" (four pillars of society). Shek and colleagues [39] have thoroughly discussed 11 virtues covered by "ba de" and "si wei" under the framework of leadership, including loyalty ("zhong", 忠), filial piety ("xiao", 孝), benevolence ("ren", 仁), affection ("ai", 爱), trustworthiness ("xin", 信), righteousness ("yi", 义), harmony ("he", 和), peace ("ping", 平), propriety ("li", 礼), integrity ("lian", 廉) and shame ("chi", 耻). These virtues cover the most important principles in Confucianism that one should follow to

On the contrary, a person lacking these virtues will be regarded as "xiao ren" (inferior man) and should be avoided by people who want a healthy interpersonal relationship. For leaders or organizations, a lack of these virtues constitutes the dark side of leadership. As Chung and Elfassy [8] clearly pointed out, no one would sincerely like to follow a person who is disloyal, dishonest, unethical or shameless. In the following paragraphs, we will briefly introduce each

Loyalty means "do one's utmost in keeping one's heart unbiased upon making a decision" [39]. Confucian leaders continuously reflect their loyalty and work to fulfill the whole organization's long-term interests [38]. Loyalty reflects the commitment to the organization and the followers. Wu and Wang [40] found that followers' loyalty was positively related to their perception of the leader's charismatic leadership and their own work performance. Chung and Bell [3] suggested that disloyalty is a "virus" to be avoided in one's conduct. Disloyal people refer to the ones who make fake promises, solely aim for the benefits without any fulfillment in action. This misbehavior is called "being disloyal in giving counsels to others" ("wei ren mou er bu zhong", 为人谋而不忠) [39]. Disloyal leaders or followers tend to misbehave in workplace, such as neglecting or undermining the achievement of organiza-

Filial piety originally refers to the respect toward one's parents, but it also includes key relationships outside the family, such as respect for authority. According to Confucian values, the followers are expected to show "filial love" to the leader [41]. Shek et al. [39] has pointed out that filial piety has a close relationship to loyalty. People are educated to be loyal to the authority, emperor and the country as the way they are filial to their parents and older people. In addition, as respecting rituals and obeying authority are critical virtues in Confucianism, people would like to follow the leaders who obey rituals and social norms regarding ancestor veneration [38]. In modern term, leaders having filial piety and taking care of the seniors are also role models for followers. However, leaders without filial piety may greatly challenge the followers' ethical standards, and gradually lose their respect, supports and commitment. These leaders may have a weak bond with their organizations, reflecting a low level of commitment.

virtue and the corresponding anti-virtue quality, as well as the undesirable outcomes.

managerial and leadership practice [38].

136 Dark Sides of Organizational Behavior and Leadership

become a "jun zi" (superior man).

**4.1. Loyalty ("zhong",** 忠**)**

tion goals [1].

**4.2. Filial piety ("xiao",** 孝**)**

Benevolence is often paired with affection in Confucianism [39]. Benevolence means "a feeling of humanity towards others and self-esteem for oneself" [39]. Its simplified interpretation is to love people, reflecting the core concept of affection. According to McDonald [42], benevolence can be understood as the integration of empathy and excellence. Guided by these two concepts, benevolent leaders do the very best for collective benefits [42]. In line with the virtue of piety, benevolent leaders act like parents of their followers and care for followers' welfare and development [43]. Reciprocally, their followers should obey, be loyal and show piety to the leaders. Similarly, people with affection treat one's interpersonal relationship with care, respect and humanity. Zhang et al. [44] stated that benevolent leaders allow followers to correct mistakes, teach and mentor them and promote their professional development. This echoes Chung's work of care [10].

According to Chung and Elfassy [8], being caring means being able to be empathetic. As a leader in overseeing groups of people, it is important to care for the peers and organization. Moreover, it is also important that the leaders care about how people interact with others outside the organization. Being unable to care or lacking feeling is a viral trait that deeply violates Confucian values. The carelessness or indifference of leaders toward others will break the bonds between them, undermine the leaders' authority and trustworthiness, and jeopardize the achievement of organizational goals. Leaders without the quality of benevolence or affection would impair their followers' well-being, such as increasing their depression and stress [5, 30, 34]. Chung [11] suggested that uncaring leaders or organizations cannot sustain long-term health and survival of their tribe. He argued that these leaders are probably good in ordinary manufacturing organizations where the top-down model works instead of organizations with distributed leadership in the service age.

#### **4.4. Trustworthiness ("xin",** 信**)**

Trustworthiness means honesty, reliability and faithfulness. Guided by Confucian virtues, leaders should win the trust from their followers first before governing their followers and acting as a role of leader [42]. On the contrary, the subordinates will not sincerely follow a reliable leader who cannot keep his or her words. As Chung has pointed out, a high degree of trust is required in organizations with distributed leadership, because it is the trust guiding the people but not the contract does in these organizations [10]. However, dishonesty is also a reality that every company has to take seriously, because dishonesty reflects a lack of character, and is considered a virus in people's POS [3]. Bass and Steidlmeier [32] discussed pseudo-transformational leaders, who see themselves honest and trustful, but are deceptive and unreliable in their behavior. Their behaviors are immoral because the leaders exhort their followers to trust them but deliberately conceal the information harmful to followers from them, offer bribes, practice nepotism and abuse authority [32].

#### **4.5. Righteousness ("yi",** 义**)**

Righteousness means the ability to "fitting" or do the "right" things. The principle of righteousness guide people to abide social orders and moral principles, while law and punishment shall only serve as secondary instruments in maintaining social stability [39]. McDonald [42] stated that righteousness underlies the moral capacity of Confucian leadership. This virtue requires leaders to adopt respectful approaches to lead the followers and facilitate their development. Leaders without the virtue of righteousness may chase short-term or personal benefits at the cost of others, lead the organization to the wrong directions, and eventually harm the organizational and the followers' long-term interests. Righteousness is related to social responsibility and justice in leadership [43].

corrupt reflects a lack of character, and should be taken as a virus according to Chung [3]. In the Chinese context, "guanxi" is defined as a special relationship or particularistic ties. The dark side of business "guanxi" leads to corruption or social loss [46]. Though corruption exists in all economic systems, "guanxi-related" corruption reflects unique Chinese characteristics [46].

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The sense of shame requires people to have self-awareness and self-reflection regarding unethical conducts. Confucianism suggests that even a sage makes mistakes. Therefore, the sense of shame is a critical virtue of a superior man. Without this virtue, leaders will not look back and learn their lessons. They may also tend to blame others for their own faults. Chung [11] suggested that to clean viruses in leadership need a sense of self-reflection. Self-reflection can raise leaders' moral perspectives through increasing their self-awareness and moral judgment exercises [47]. According to Chung, shame is the abstract platform of sins. Since the Chinese do not have god as Judeo-Christians do, the self-enforcement power comes from "shame", which can be regarded as a social sin. Some scholars suggested that shamelessness

Some researchers have adopted an integrative framework to analyze the relation between Confucian virtues and leadership behavior. For example, Chan [41] argued that Confucian ethics shares some core values with contemporary Western leadership ethics. Similarly, Ma and Tsui [38] concluded that Confucianism is one of the cultural-philosophical roots of con-

In the Chinese context, the judgments of leaders reflect some unique contextual and cultural characteristics. In general, the expectation of leaders is relatively high because Chinese people believe that "sage" can be cultivated. As suggested in Di Zi Gui (弟子规), neither be harsh on oneself, nor give up on oneself; to be a person of high ideals, moral standards and virtue can be gradually attained ("wu zi bao, wu zi qi; sheng yu xian, ke xun zhi", 勿自暴, 勿自弃;圣与贤, 可驯致). Leaders should serve as role models of their followers to promote virtues in the society. Second, leaders are expected to apply the doctrine of the mean ("zhong yong zhi dao", 中庸之道). In addition, Chinese people expect leaders to keep a good balance between law, reason and affect ("fa, li, qing", 法, 理, 情). Therefore, the importance of negotiation and compromise is widely acknowledged ("wan shi you shang liang", 万事有商量). As such, harmony and the dialogs between leaders and followers are highly emphasized in the Chinese context. In the Chinese culture, while people judge the quality of a leader in terms of his/her intention, it is more often to judge their qualities in terms of competence, character and care about the followers. Whether a leader is considered destructive or to have dark side greatly depends on social judgment, which is apparent in the hearts of people rather than solely rely on leader's and followers' perceptions ("gong dao zi zai ren xin", 公道自在人心). Chinese people also have a faith in justice ("gong li", 公理) and the truth of the sky ("tian dao", 天道), which a leader should not be against. In addition, extreme leadership behaviors (such as over-demanding or over-protective) are undesirable. Chinese people believe that there is no perfect person, just like there is no absolute pure gold ("jin wu zu chi, ren wu wan ren", 金无足赤, 人无完人).

**4.9. Shame ("chi",** 耻**)**

may contribute to an increase in unaccountability [48].

temporary leadership practices.

#### **4.6. Harmony ("he",** 和**) and peace ("ping",** 平**)**

Harmony means to keep balance in general. Peace refers to a quiet state of mind or a sense of calmness and peace. These two concepts are closely related to each other as they both emphasize the peaceful and balanced status in oneself or in the relationship. The virtue of harmony requires leaders to listen to different opinions of people and maintain a harmonious work environment [42]. Cheung and Chan [43] concluded that Chinese leaders are required to maintain harmony with their subordinates and peers because of the emphasis on conformity in the Chinese context. Leaders who are unable to keep a good balance would increase work conflicts. Moreover, Confucian leaders should control their emotion and mind well, show forgiveness to the followers, and educate them patiently to improve their virtues. If a leader is easily overwhelmed by extreme emotions and fails to keep calm, the leader may be driven by the burst of emotion, and consequently make biased decisions.

#### **4.7. Propriety ("li",** 礼**)**

Propriety means the rules of proper action, the guides to relationships and the principles of social and life order [39]. Propriety emphasizes the importance of ceremonial and ritualistic requirements. Confucian leaders should show reverence, respect, listening and consideration in interpersonal relationships, and to comply with social norms [42]. Chung and Bell [3] argued that for managers trying to build the team, the best first step is to show respect, including active listening, idea solicitation and appreciation for the individuals one supervises. Respect is one of the "hidden ingredients" that distinguish a successful service leader from an unsuccessful one [10]. However, irreverent leaders often use disrespectful approaches to lead their subordinates, which will reduce their motivation and efficacy, and increase their stress and dissatisfaction. Being inappropriate or rude is considered viruses in the POS according to Chung and Bell [3]. This kind of behavior will harm the social relationship with others. Chung and Elfassy [8] explained that the danger of not having a strong social relationship dimension is that leaders push people away or people will drift apart from leaders.

#### **4.8. Integrity ("lian",** 廉**)**

Integrity refers to a sense of moderation in material goods and in emotion, and also a frugal way of living [39]. The leader without the virtue of integrity would be extravagant and greedy, which may lead to deviant behaviors or corruption. González and Guillén [45] argued that ethical leaders with integrity can sustain a positive influence over their subordinates. Being corrupt reflects a lack of character, and should be taken as a virus according to Chung [3]. In the Chinese context, "guanxi" is defined as a special relationship or particularistic ties. The dark side of business "guanxi" leads to corruption or social loss [46]. Though corruption exists in all economic systems, "guanxi-related" corruption reflects unique Chinese characteristics [46].

#### **4.9. Shame ("chi",** 耻**)**

shall only serve as secondary instruments in maintaining social stability [39]. McDonald [42] stated that righteousness underlies the moral capacity of Confucian leadership. This virtue requires leaders to adopt respectful approaches to lead the followers and facilitate their development. Leaders without the virtue of righteousness may chase short-term or personal benefits at the cost of others, lead the organization to the wrong directions, and eventually harm the organizational and the followers' long-term interests. Righteousness is related to social

Harmony means to keep balance in general. Peace refers to a quiet state of mind or a sense of calmness and peace. These two concepts are closely related to each other as they both emphasize the peaceful and balanced status in oneself or in the relationship. The virtue of harmony requires leaders to listen to different opinions of people and maintain a harmonious work environment [42]. Cheung and Chan [43] concluded that Chinese leaders are required to maintain harmony with their subordinates and peers because of the emphasis on conformity in the Chinese context. Leaders who are unable to keep a good balance would increase work conflicts. Moreover, Confucian leaders should control their emotion and mind well, show forgiveness to the followers, and educate them patiently to improve their virtues. If a leader is easily overwhelmed by extreme emotions and fails to keep calm, the leader may be driven

Propriety means the rules of proper action, the guides to relationships and the principles of social and life order [39]. Propriety emphasizes the importance of ceremonial and ritualistic requirements. Confucian leaders should show reverence, respect, listening and consideration in interpersonal relationships, and to comply with social norms [42]. Chung and Bell [3] argued that for managers trying to build the team, the best first step is to show respect, including active listening, idea solicitation and appreciation for the individuals one supervises. Respect is one of the "hidden ingredients" that distinguish a successful service leader from an unsuccessful one [10]. However, irreverent leaders often use disrespectful approaches to lead their subordinates, which will reduce their motivation and efficacy, and increase their stress and dissatisfaction. Being inappropriate or rude is considered viruses in the POS according to Chung and Bell [3]. This kind of behavior will harm the social relationship with others. Chung and Elfassy [8] explained that the danger of not having a strong social relationship dimension

Integrity refers to a sense of moderation in material goods and in emotion, and also a frugal way of living [39]. The leader without the virtue of integrity would be extravagant and greedy, which may lead to deviant behaviors or corruption. González and Guillén [45] argued that ethical leaders with integrity can sustain a positive influence over their subordinates. Being

responsibility and justice in leadership [43].

138 Dark Sides of Organizational Behavior and Leadership

**4.7. Propriety ("li",** 礼**)**

**4.8. Integrity ("lian",** 廉**)**

**4.6. Harmony ("he",** 和**) and peace ("ping",** 平**)**

by the burst of emotion, and consequently make biased decisions.

is that leaders push people away or people will drift apart from leaders.

The sense of shame requires people to have self-awareness and self-reflection regarding unethical conducts. Confucianism suggests that even a sage makes mistakes. Therefore, the sense of shame is a critical virtue of a superior man. Without this virtue, leaders will not look back and learn their lessons. They may also tend to blame others for their own faults. Chung [11] suggested that to clean viruses in leadership need a sense of self-reflection. Self-reflection can raise leaders' moral perspectives through increasing their self-awareness and moral judgment exercises [47]. According to Chung, shame is the abstract platform of sins. Since the Chinese do not have god as Judeo-Christians do, the self-enforcement power comes from "shame", which can be regarded as a social sin. Some scholars suggested that shamelessness may contribute to an increase in unaccountability [48].

Some researchers have adopted an integrative framework to analyze the relation between Confucian virtues and leadership behavior. For example, Chan [41] argued that Confucian ethics shares some core values with contemporary Western leadership ethics. Similarly, Ma and Tsui [38] concluded that Confucianism is one of the cultural-philosophical roots of contemporary leadership practices.

In the Chinese context, the judgments of leaders reflect some unique contextual and cultural characteristics. In general, the expectation of leaders is relatively high because Chinese people believe that "sage" can be cultivated. As suggested in Di Zi Gui (弟子规), neither be harsh on oneself, nor give up on oneself; to be a person of high ideals, moral standards and virtue can be gradually attained ("wu zi bao, wu zi qi; sheng yu xian, ke xun zhi", 勿自暴, 勿自弃;圣与贤, 可驯致). Leaders should serve as role models of their followers to promote virtues in the society. Second, leaders are expected to apply the doctrine of the mean ("zhong yong zhi dao", 中庸之道). In addition, Chinese people expect leaders to keep a good balance between law, reason and affect ("fa, li, qing", 法, 理, 情). Therefore, the importance of negotiation and compromise is widely acknowledged ("wan shi you shang liang", 万事有商量). As such, harmony and the dialogs between leaders and followers are highly emphasized in the Chinese context.

In the Chinese culture, while people judge the quality of a leader in terms of his/her intention, it is more often to judge their qualities in terms of competence, character and care about the followers. Whether a leader is considered destructive or to have dark side greatly depends on social judgment, which is apparent in the hearts of people rather than solely rely on leader's and followers' perceptions ("gong dao zi zai ren xin", 公道自在人心). Chinese people also have a faith in justice ("gong li", 公理) and the truth of the sky ("tian dao", 天道), which a leader should not be against. In addition, extreme leadership behaviors (such as over-demanding or over-protective) are undesirable. Chinese people believe that there is no perfect person, just like there is no absolute pure gold ("jin wu zu chi, ren wu wan ren", 金无足赤, 人无完人). Chinese people believe that "sages" can be cultivated through self-reflection and deliberate practice if one strives for excellence.

**5. Conclusion**

to the dark side of leadership.

the importance of cultural values [56].

\*, Po Chung<sup>2</sup>

org/index.php?r=article&catid=2&aid=21

\*Address all correspondence to: daniel.shek@polyu.edu.hk

and Diya Dou1

conceptual model. The Leadership Quarterly. 2007;**18**(3):207-216

1 Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University,

2 Hong Kong Institute of Service Leadership and Management Limited, Hong Kong,

[1] Einarsen S, Aasland MS, Skogstad A. Destructive leadership behaviour: A definition and

[2] Chung PPY. Hong Kong Institute of Service Leadership & Management (HKI-SLAM) Curriculum Framework [Internet]. Hong Kong; 2011. Available from: http://hki-slam.

[3] Chung PPY, Bell AH. Service Reborn. Hong Kong: Lexingford Publishing; 2012

**Author details**

Daniel T.L. Shek<sup>1</sup>

PR China

**References**

Hong Kong, PR China

According to Chung and Bell [10], the Anna Karenina principle makes clear that no quantity of "good deeds" can make up for or prevent the consequences of one devastating error. Hence, a lack of any of the three fundamental qualities, namely competence, character and care, can constitute the dark side of leadership. Viruses arising from the POS also constitute

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In the scientific literature, there are different conceptions of the dark side of leadership. Interestingly, most of the conceptions are related to the lack of competencies, character and care, echoing the emphases of the Service Leadership Theory, which highlight the lack of these qualities as well as the emergence of viruses as the dark side of leadership. Empirically, the negative outcomes brought by the dark side of leadership have also been well discussed in research studies. Finally, through the lens of Confucian virtues, one can further understand the dark side of leadership. In particular, linking the dark side of leadership to Confucianism allows us to understand this issue in a specific cultural and social context. Sim [55] argued that Confucian ethics can supplement Aristotle's insufficient discussion on human relations. In addition, the framework of the Service Leadership Theory addresses the limitations of many contemporary leadership theories, which often neglect

Moreover, the dark side of leadership can be more harmful in Asian cultures than that in Western cultures. This is because how people react to the dark side of leadership differs across different cultures. A recent study by Zhuang et al. [49] revealed that Chinese tend to be unwilling to report the unethical behavior of leader than peers. The authors suggested that a low tolerance of the unethical acts of peers may be attributed to collective loyalty to the organization, while the unwilling to report the unethical behaviors of leaders may be due to the respect for authority [49]. As stated earlier, the respect for authority has been linked to paternalistic leadership, which is a legacy of Confucian values and prevalent in Chinese cultures [38]. More specifically, the norms of individual behaviors and relationships are ruled by five cardinal relationships of Confucianism, which include emperorminister, father-son, husband-wife, elder-young and friend-friend relationships. As such, Chinese followers seldom challenge their leaders. An extreme case is that Chinese would even tolerate the corrupted leaders in late Qing dynasty. We could argue that the absence of fatherly benevolence, authoritarian supervision and moral integrity will deeply disappoint the followers in a Confucian society. Meanwhile if the followers obey destructive leaders possessing authorities, they may experience strong moral conflicts [38]. In **Table 5**, we summarize the Confucian virtues with reference to the related work in the leadership literature.


**Table 5.** Summary of Confucian virtues with reference to the western scientific literature.
