The relationship between paternalistic leadership, perceived employment discrimination and nepotism

While paternalism is a cultural characteristic of Turkish society, this study intended to clarify some of its reflections within the organizational context. The previous research has mostly studied "paternalistic leadership (PL)" together with its positive work outcomes. However, the present study approached to the topic from a different perspective. It specifically concentrated on its potential drawbacks. Based on the literature review, it was assumed that "perceived discrimination" and "nepotism" might be undesirable organizational outcomes of PL. The object of this study was to assess the relationship between "PL", "perceived employment discrimination" and "nepotism". The findings were supposed to throw light on how paternalism can damage employment relation through the employer's differential conduct towards his/her subordinates. This research is a hypothesis-testing study with regard to its purpose. It is a correlational study and field study was employed with respect to the research setting. The data were collected from 183 employees working at some family-owned, private sector organizations of Turkey. The survey instrument consisted of four sections including demographic questions and the scales of PL, perceived employment discrimination and nepotism. According to the results; those employees who are not extended 'benevolence' or 'morality' of their paternalist manager are more likely to perceive "discrimination" in human resources applications and "nepotism" in the after-hiring processes. The results also revealed that those employees who are subject to their manager's 'authoritative' treatments are more likely to perceive "nepotism" in the hiring process. Key words: paternalistic leadership, perceived employment discrimination, nepotism