Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether or not cultural values(power distance, uncertainty avoidance) and demographic variables(nationality, gender, education level, work experience) are the determinants of personal implicit theory of ideal leadership. For a cross-cultural research, 227 Koreans and 143 Americans were surveyed. The present study has three research hypotheses : First, the demographic variables would influence the cultural values. Second, the demographic variables would influence a personal implicit theory of ideal leadership. Third, the cultural values, nationality and gender would influence a personal implicit theory of ideal leadership. The results showed that 1) an ideal leadership is different from culture to culture because culture, through the process of socialization, shape expectations and judgements about appropriate behaviors of leaders, and 2) within a culture, an implicit theory of ideal leadership is also different depending on an individual background. The present study developed measures for cultural values and an implicit theory of ideal leadership. The reliability coefficients were approximately .80.