The Chinese connection: perception of leadership behavioural dimensions among overseas Chinese managers in Malaysia and Chinese managers in China

China is the world's fastest growing economy while the Overseas Chinese are the most dominant economic group in Southeast Asia. Understanding managerial behaviour of these two populations are important when having commercial dealings with Asia. This paper explores the leadership behaviours of managers in China and compares these behaviours with leadership behaviours of Chinese managers domiciled in Malaysia. Scales are developed for measuring the importance of personal qualities, managerial behaviour, environmental influences and organizational demands in a leader and then the paper investigates and compares the effect of gender and age on these scales. A structural model was constructed to explain excellence in leadership in both groups. A total of 867 managers participated in this study and the results suggests that the Overseas Chinese managers in Malaysia and in China have similar cultural values and any difference observed can be attributed to societal developmental differences in the two countries rather than culture