Purpose The purpose of this paper is to enhance the understanding of paternalistic leadership behaviour in the Finnish organisational context by investigating its relationship with Chinese immigrant employees’ occupational well-being.

Design/methodology/approach This research was based on a survey of 117 Chinese immigrants working in Finland. The snowball sampling method was adopted in the present research.

Findings The findings show that the dimensions of paternalistic leadership, specifically benevolent leadership behaviour, can be influential in Chinese immigrant knowledge workers’ occupational well-being in the Finnish organisational context.

Research limitations/implications Paternalistic leadership style can also make sense in a Western organisational context, especially when dealing with well-being among immigrant employees from China or other Asian countries.

Originality/value Some misunderstanding of paternalistic leadership behaviour in Western societies may impede the theory’s further development. The study enhanced the understanding of paternalism in the Finnish organisational context by illuminating the effect of paternalistic leadership on Chinese immigrant employees’ occupational well-being.