Democratic versus autocratic management style and national productivity: a cross-country analysis

Purpose The aims are to verify whether the transition from an autocratic to a democratic management style increases national productivity and which of the five characteristics of the management style contribute the most to the increase in national productivity. Design/methodology/approach We studied the impact of five management style features on national productivity in 105 countries in 2008–2020. The research methods were Pearson's linear correlation and log-linear regression analysis. Findings Higher investments in employee development, better cooperation between employees and employers, higher share of productivity in pay, greater reliance on professional management and higher willingness to delegate authority are accompanied by a statistically significant improvement in national productivity. This means that the more democratic the management style in a given country, the higher the national productivity and therefore the well-being of society. Research limitations/implications The main limitations are the availability of free data on larger groups of countries over a sufficiently long time. The results can be helpful in understanding that including these five management style features in a long-term human resources management strategy can increase productivity, as employees will be more motivated, engaged, appreciated and treated fairly. Originality/value It is difficult to find comprehensive studies on the impact of various management style features on productivity at the country level. Our research findings contribute to filling this gap.