Leadership in Uganda, Barbados,Canada and the USA:

exploratory perspectivesTerri R. Lituchy

John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada

David FordSchool of Management, University of Texas at Dallas,

Richardson, Texas, USA, and

Betty Jane PunnettDepartment of Management Studies, University of the West Indies,

Cave Hill, Barbados

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider effective leadership in Africa and the Africandiaspora. This paper reports the results of emic research in Uganda, Barbados, Canada and the USA.

Design/methodology/approach – A Delphi technique using open-ended questions solicited ideasregarding leadership from knowledgeable participants, avoiding researcher bias.

Findings – There were differences among the groups on several attributes that made leaders effective.Ugandans suggested a good leader was “honest and trustworthy”; Canadians and respondents from theUSA said “being inspirational/charismatic” Barbadians cited “being a visionary”.

Research limitations/implications – Having data for only one African country and the smallsample sizes from all countries limit the generalizability of the findings. The results do, however,provide a base of knowledge on which to build future studies on Africa and the diaspora.

Originality/value – The emic approach overcomes the western bias identified by scholars in mostAfrican research. Similarities and differences identified provide evidence of the importance of culturein effective leadership. The results provide a basis for developing further research studies.

Keywords Uganda, Africa, Leadership, National cultures, Management studies, Research work,Effective leadership, Diaspora, International human resource management

Paper type Research paper

1. IntroductionManagement scholars have pointed to the fact that management knowledge is severelybiased towards “Western” perspectives (Baruch, 2001; Bruton, 2010; Thomas, 1996;Thomas et al., 1994; Werner, 2002). This is not surprising, given that the overwhelmingproportion of active management researchers are from North America and WesternEurope, where a tradition of rigorous academic research in management has developedover the past 50 years (Thomas, 1996; Punnett, 2008). Management issues such asleadership and motivation have been studied only to a very limited degree in developingcountries, and both Africa and the Caribbean are noticeably absent from most research.

In contrast, developing countries are making their presence felt in the currentinternational business environment and are becoming increasingly important playersin the world economy; The Economist (2010, p. 3) says:

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

www.emeraldinsight.com/2040-0705.htm

Received 16 May 2012Revised 17 August 2012

12 November 2012Accepted 16 November 2012

African Journal of Economic andManagement Studies

Vol. 4 No. 2, 2013pp. 201-222

q Emerald Group Publishing Limited2040-0705

DOI 10.1108/AJEMS-May-2012-0030

Leadership

201

Emerging-market banks have raced ahead despite the financial crisis [. . .] not only are theywell capitalised and well funded, they are really big – and enjoying rapid growth [. . .] theynow account for a quarter to half of global banking industry.

From a management perspective, there has not been a similar shift in knowledge, andwe know little about effective management in developing countries. Das et al. (2009)found that research papers published in mainstream economic journals are linked tolevel of development. They found that countries with the lowest incomes and weakesteconomies receive the least attention in the literature; for example, over a 20-yearperiod they identified only four papers on Burundi and more than 37,000 on the USA.This unbalanced view of management and leadership needs to be addressed. Thisstudy, which is part of a larger research program, was designed with this concern inmind. Specifically, the objective is to examine and measure leadership in Africa andthe African diaspora who reside in countries outside of Africa. Hence, the researchprogram known as “leadership effectiveness in Africa and the diaspora” (LEAD).

1.1 Research questionsThe overall objective of this study is to look at leadership in four countries whichrepresent Africa and its diaspora – Uganda, Barbados, Canada and the USA. Althoughonly one African country is included in this exploratory study, subsequent phasesof the research will include other African countries throughout the African continentas the project progresses.

We address the following research questions in this paper:

RQ1. What are the similarities and differences in descriptions of culture among thefour countries?

RQ2. What are the similarities and differences in leadership among the fourcountries investigated?

The LEAD research program is in its early stages of execution, and this report providesresults for the initial phase of the project. That is why the scope of countries and regionsreported on here is rather limited. The theoretical base that guides our LEAD researchprogram is an integration of implicit leadership theory (ILT) (Lord and Maher, 1991) andvalue-belief theory of culture (Hofstede, 1980). Though not as extensive and ambitious asthe global leadership and organizational behavior effectiveness (GLOBE) project(House et al., 2004), the LEAD research program has comparable aims and draws on asimilar theoretical base as the GLOBE project (House et al., 2002). For the present study,the conceptual framework shown in Figure 1 “loosely” guides our inquiry and provides

Figure 1.Conceptual frameworkfor study

Societal CultureNorms & Practices

Leader Attributes& Behaviors

Culturally EndorsedImplicit Leadership

Theories (CLTs)

LeaderEffectiveness

P1

P3

P2

AJEMS4,2

202

the basis for the theoretical underpinnings of the research. The primary premise of theconceptual framework is that the attributes and entities that differentiate one culturefrom another culture are predictive of the leader attributes and behaviors that are mostfrequently enacted and are considered effective in that culture.

The methodology of the study is such that we avoid imposing Western-based viewson the project. We use an emic approach, which develops the definitions anddescriptions of the variables being considered, based on the responses from theparticipants in the research. Methodologically, we do not use standardized definitions,based on Western-originated literature. The research begins with a “blank page” andasks participants to develop the information themselves. Research of this kind isunusual and provides richer data than that provided by structured, quantitative,hypothesis-driven research, and it does not lend itself to the “traditional” statisticalanalysis that is typical of quantitative research studies. We believe that this emicapproach is most appropriate for a study such as the present one, where we want toavoid the Western-based biases of previous research. The results of this researchprovide insights into what our participants think about effective leadership from theirown perspectives and in their own contexts.

1.2 Implicit leadership theoryAccording to this theory, leadership perceptions are seen to form a number ofhierarchically organized cognitive categories, each of which is represented by aprototype. The prototypes are formed through exposure to interpersonal interactionsand social events. Therefore, individuals have implicit beliefs, convictions, andassumptions concerning attributes and behaviors that distinguish leaders fromfollowers, effective leaders from ineffective leaders, and moral leaders from evilleaders. These beliefs, convictions, and assumptions are referred to as individual ILTs.That is, an observer’s prior knowledge and understanding about human behavior andunderlying traits comprise her or his ILT, which is used to make a connection betweenthe observed leader’s characteristics and the prototypes of a leader in the observer’smind (Lord et al., 1984). For example, high intelligence, charisma, and decisiveness areoften thought to be key attributes or characteristics of effective leaders in the USA.These attributes are often associated with the prototype, “effective leader.” The ILTsheld by individuals thus influence the way they view the importance of leadership, thevalues they attribute to leadership, and the values they place on selected leaderbehaviors and attributes (House et al., 2004).

1.3 Value – belief theoryAccording to value-belief theory (Hofstede, 2001), the values and beliefs held bymembers of cultures influence the degree to which the behaviors of individuals, groupsand institutions within cultures are enacted, and the degree to which they are viewed aslegitimate, acceptable, and effective. Hofstede’s version of value/belief theory includesfour dimensions of cultural values and beliefs: individualism versus collectivism,masculinity versus femininity, tolerance versus intolerance of uncertainty, and powerdistance (stratification) versus power equalization. The GLOBE research projectsubstituted two cultural dimensions, labeled gender egalitarianism and assertiveness,for Hofstede’s masculinity-femininity dimension and also added three additionaldimensions: humane orientation, performance orientation, and future orientation,

Leadership

203

which are conceptually analogous to the affiliative, power, and achievement motives inMcClelland’s (1985) implicit motivation theory. Collectively, the GLOBE researchersbelieved that the nine core GLOBE cultural dimensions reflect important aspects of thehuman condition. Comparable dimensions were created by the GLOBE researchers torepresent dimensions of organizational culture. For leaders in the GLOBE countries, thegoal was to identify “universal” as well as culture-specific dimensions of culture thatcontributed to a leader being effective.

The following sections review the literature on leadership from an Africanperspective and highlight several ILTs that are operative in Uganda, Barbados, Canada,and the USA. We then offer three propositions based on our review that illustrate therelationships shown in Figure 1.

2. Leadership research in contextConsensus over one definition of leadership has not emerged among leadershipscholars (Grint, 2005; Yukl, 2005). It is however possible to trace common themes inmany of the leadership definitions that have been proposed over the years. The mostcommon definitions see leadership as a social influence process to achieve a commongoal (Shamir et al., 1993), the voluntary acceptance of this influence ( Jago, 1982; Kotter,1988), and change in the motivational state of the followers. One definition thatincorporates several common themes is:

Leadership is the process of diagnosing where the work group is now and where it needs to bein the future, and formulating a strategy for getting there. Leadership also involvesimplementing change through developing a base of influence with followers, motivating themto commit to and work hard in pursuit of change goals, and working with them to overcomeobstacles to change (Paglis and Green, 2002, p. 217).

This definition illustrates what is seen in the west as important in effective leadership, thatis, a future orientation, a strategic approach, valuing change, influencing, commitmentand hard work towards goals. We do not know that these same characteristics will be seenas important elsewhere. Rather than imposing such a definition, we want to develop adefinition from the perspective of our respondents and to see how that perspective issimilar to, or different from, the previous definition.

Comparative research has sought generally to identify similarities and differences inperceptions of leaders, the characteristics of leaders, and the fit between country/cultureand leadership behaviors. The GLOBE project (House et al., 2004), involving 62 societiesaround the world, asked, “How is culture related to societal, organizational, andleadership effectiveness?” (p. xv). The study found both cross-country similarities anddifferences. For example, “charismatic” leadership is universally seen as most desirable,and “self protective” leadership is universally seen as undesirable; other styles howeverare culturally contingent. While their research in Africa and the Caribbean is limited,based on the GLOBE findings, we expect to find both similarities and differences acrossthe countries in our study.

2.1 Leadership – an African perspectiveThe last two decades have seen increased interest in organizational and human resourcechallenges on the African continent (Wambu and Githongo, 2007). Scholars haveaddressed topics such as the suitability of Western-based management, as well asHR practices (Blunt and Jones, 1992; Horwitz et al., 2002; Kamoche et al., 2004), the role

AJEMS4,2

204

and impact of culture (Jackson, 2004), and the emergence of indigenous ideas like Ubuntuand Indaba (Mangaliso, 2001; Mbigi, 2000; Newenham-Kahindi, 2009). Yet, Africaremains relatively under-researched (Lituchy et al., 2009).

The approach of many management studies in Africa has been to test Western-basedmanagement theories in Africa (Blunt and Jones, 1997; Wheatley, 2001; James, 2008)often using previously established scales. This approach does not incorporate localissues or consider the specific cultural elements that may be important in the newcontext. Essentially, researchers see their own reflections in such studies. The good newsis that researchers are realizing the disadvantages of this approach and have highlightedthe need for a local aspect to African studies (Beugre and Offodile, 2001; Bewaji, 2003;Obiakor, 2005). This “contextualization” of the issues under investigation has beenadopted by other scholars recently, especially with respect to research on China (Tsui,2004, 2006).

In a study that focused on the leadership development process in three Africancountries, James (2008) noted that effective leadership development requiresunderstanding and application of local contextual and cultural issues. He pointedtoward severe poverty, economic and social problems, low credibility of leadership,resource constraints, high risk aversion and very high proportion of male leaders as thecontextual issues and cultural elements specific to African countries. He believes thatwithout taking these factors into consideration, the efforts to improve leadership inAfrica will not materialize. In his words, “most leadership development programs useimported Western models that at best pay only lip-service to the very different cultureand context in Africa.” McFarlin et al. (1999) also shared similar concerns that thechallenges of management development in Africa cannot be met successfully withoutembracing the “Leadership and training approaches that better reflect African values”(p. 63). Bolden and Kirk (2009) suggested that in order to have sustainable leadershipdevelopment in Africa, African managers, leaders, organizations and communitiesneed to develop or enhance their own approaches. This requires help to liberatethemselves from colonial and post-colonial thinking. An Afro-centric style ofleadership requires a reconnection with African indigenous knowledge. These authorscriticized the Western-based approach in African studies which focused on havingbusiness advantages and ignored African needs.

Obiakor (2005) also criticized the propagation of Western leadership theories inAfrican educational institutions. He suggested that the theories of Western-basedleadership should be replaced with theories of African leadership, and these should betaught to the African children from very early age. However, this shift, as noted byBolden and Kirk (2009), is not easy.

Those authors that address indigenous issues in an African context highlight thedifferences in findings, compared to Western-based theories. Blunt and Jones (1997)suggested that in Africa, the effective leadership styles are more paternalistic than theeffective leadership styles in the west and that in Africa, interpersonal relations areplaced higher than individual achievement. Mathauer and Imhoff (2006) had similarfindings. They found that non-financial motivational tools and a more paternalisticleadership style, reflecting “caring” on the part of management, were more effectivein African countries.

Hale (2004) thought that the transformational leadership model was not themost effective leadership model in the African perspective. He found West Africa high

Leadership

205

on hierarchy, with leaders expected to be powerful and to make decisions. He proposedan effective leadership model for Africa as a blending of transformational leadershiptheory with servant leadership, the components of which include egalitarianism, moralintegrity, empowering, empathy, and humility (Mittal and Dorfman, 2012; Spears,1998). Along somewhat different lines, Walumbwa et al. (2005) compared therelationship of transformational leadership to organizational commitment and jobsatisfaction in the USA and Kenya. They identified African leadership as authoritariandue to high power distance and hypothesized that this may negate the positive impactof transformational leadership. They found that respondents from the USA ratedtransformational leadership and satisfaction higher than Kenyan respondents;however, they found that in both cultures the relationship between transformationalleadership and commitment and satisfaction was positive.

In contrast to the studies that indicated the importance of the dimensions ofhierarchy and power in Africa, Smith (2003) looked at leadership roles and identifiedspirituality, time as eternal, importance of ancestors and connection of ancestors andland, strong relationships and communalism as important; he concluded that culturehas a significant impact on cultural styles and that, in Africa, leaders are expected to betough, but decisions are holistic and collective. McFarlin et al. (1999), Mangaliso (2001)and Newenham-Kahindi (2009) stressed indigenous leadership styles such as Ubuntuand Indaba – endorsing factors such as supportiveness, relationships, extendednetworks, as well as spiritualism and tribal destiny. They suggested that trust is basedon interpersonal relationships, open discussions involving participation from allemployees, and discipline based on how the individual affects the group. Mbigi andMaree (1995) also focused on the concept of Ubuntu, described as a sense ofbrotherhood among marginalized groups combined with spiritualism.

In a recent report on leadership in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA), Wanasika et al. (2011)provide the very first glimpse of data on Africa from the massive GLOBE project. Thecountries of Namibia, Zambia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and South Africa were represented.The object of the study was to determine which dimensions of culturally endorsedimplicit leadership theories (CLTs) were seen as contributing to outstandingleadership, as well as determine which societal culture dimensions were evidenced inthe countries. The SSA countries strongly endorsed the GLOBE leadership dimensionof charismatic/value-based leadership, which is often exhibited by African leadersthrough the art and skill of oratory (Wanasika et al., 2011).

Additionally, team-oriented leadership was strongly endorsed by the SSA countries,and the authors noted that this dimension reflects traditional elements of triballeadership. Human-oriented leadership, which has distinct similarities to Ubuntu,received a strong endorsement by the SSA countries as well. Former South AfricanPresident Nelson Mandela was cited as an example of a leader whose actions reflectedthe African cultural value of Ubuntu through respect and inclusion of all stakeholdersin negotiations and decision making (Wanasika et al., 2011).

Overall, there seem to be two streams of findings in this African research. One is thepowerful leader, who uses his place at the top of the hierarchy to accomplish hisobjectives, and the other is the communal, servant leader, who sees his role as leadingfor the good of others (note that the pronoun he is used intentionally here, because ofthe predominance of males in leadership positions in Africa).

AJEMS4,2

206

Furthermore, these studies suggest that effective leadership in Africanorganizations may be different from that found in a Western context. The studiesalso suggest that some behavior considered ineffective in Western countries could, infact, be effective and desired in the African context.

The African societal cultural values identified in the above-cited studies includehierarchy and power distance, importance of ancestors, strong relationships,communalism, and Ubuntu, with a focus on supportiveness, spiritualism, tribal destiny,and external networks (Mangaliso, 2001; Mbigi and Maree, 1995). These societal valuesbear a strong resemblance to the GLOBE project’s (House et al., 2004) cultural dimensionsof assertiveness, institutional collectivism, and humane orientation.

2.2 Leadership – the African diasporaFor this study, we define the diaspora broadly as anyone with roots going back toAfrica. A large number of people of African descent live in several different parts ofthe world. The number of African diaspora is approximated to be around 140 million(The World Bank, 2010). Despite this large number, the role of African diaspora hasgenerally been overlooked in the business and management literature. There are fewscholars that have studied the importance of African diaspora, in human resources orcross-cultural management for example, especially in developed countries such asthe USA and Canada. Gramby-Sobukwe (2005) highlighted the important role that theAfrican diaspora are playing through organizations such as churches, grassrootsorganizations, and the press for the improvement of leadership in the African countries.The author suggested that the African diaspora in the USA play an important andpositive role for the betterment of African countries through helping the democraticleaders in Africa. That is, African Americans most effectively contribute to democraticdevelopment in Africa when they encourage effective and responsive leadership byinteracting at the level of culture and civic organizations (Gramby-Sobukwe, 2005).Mohan and Zack-Williams (2002) also suggest that the diaspora has to play an importantrole in the social processes, both politically and economically. Thus, the African diasporaare important actors, which should not be ignored in any study focusing on thedevelopment of leadership practices in Africa.

In the Caribbean, a large percentage of the population has its roots in Africa, basedon the slave trade, and only a small number are new immigrants from Africa. In manyCaribbean countries the people of African origin make up over 90 percent of thepopulation. In the USA many African Americans also have their roots in Africabecause of the slave trade. African Americans, in contrast to the Caribbean, do notconstitute the majority of the population, and there are a larger percentage of newimmigrants who come to the USA from Africa. In Canada, African Canadians are morelikely to be new immigrants who have chosen to go to Canada for economic and socialreasons. African Canadians associated with the slave trade, are largely descended fromthose who escaped from the USA and found their way through the underground railwayto Canada. Because of these differences in background, motivation, and environment, weexpect to find both similarities and differences among participants from Barbados,Canada, and the USA. There are few studies that consider the African diaspora, from amanagement perspective. For the purposes of this study, we are focusing on the diasporain North America and the Caribbean; however, it would clearly be desirable to extendthis to other regions, including Europe and Latin America.

Leadership

207

The Caribbean presents an interesting case of African diaspora, who have lived inthe region for generations and the culture is a blend of African influences and thecolonial practices. People of Sub Saharan descent represent around 73 percent ofthe total Caribbean population (CIA, 2010). Though the research on African countries isscarce, management research in the Caribbean is even more limited. Punnett et al.(2006) have carried out a number of recent studies but these are only a beginning.Punnett and Nurse (2002) reviewed the literature on management in the Caribbean andconcluded that there was very little in the field. They pointed to literature on economicsand social issues but virtually none on management, leaving the field open fordevelopment. Punnett et al. (2006) examined some cultural factors in the Caribbean asthey relate to management issues and concluded that cultural factors were animportant consideration in effective management practices. Punnett and Greenidge(2009) reported on cultural measures from the Caribbean that indicated a mismatchbetween cultural values and management, and suggested a need to explore issues ofleadership and motivation in more depth. A small number of other studies in theCaribbean have explored specific aspects of management such as absenteeism(Punnett et al., 2007), occupational mental health (Baba et al., 1999; Baba et al., 2010),participation (Nurse and Devonish, 2008), goal setting and performance (Punnett et al.,2007) and leadership in cricket teams (Corbin, 2009), but these are essentially isolatedstudies which do not lead significantly to a more general understanding of leadershipeffectiveness. Rather, they point to the range of organizational issues on whicheffective leadership can have an impact. Further, we are not aware of any research inthe management field that attempts to examine issues across African countries andamong members of the African diaspora in countries outside of Africa.

The USA has the largest number of African diaspora living in any single country ofthe world. They are around 38 million, accounting for about 12 percent of the total USpopulation (CIA, 2010). Canada, on the other hand, has a relatively small population ofAfrican diaspora with around 800,000 people accounting for around 2.7 percent of thepopulation (Statistics Canada). Thus, Canada provides a contrast to the Caribbean andthe USA, where the population of African diaspora is high.

In terms of culture, the Caribbean people appear to be low on hierarchy/powerdistance, moderate on individualism, and high on uncertainty avoidance – preferringcertainty and avoiding risk (Punnett et al., 2006; Punnett and Greenidge, 2009); Canadaand the USA are generally seen as individualistic and relatively low on both powerdistance and uncertainty avoidance presenting a contrast to the Caribbean. People inthe Caribbean are also found to be high on cooperation, accommodation and socialcohesion, and their leadership style has been classified as transformational (Cole andBerengut, 2009).

The Canadian and American management literature is abundant; however, there islittle research focusing on the Africa diaspora, or comparing the diaspora with Africancountries. In the USA some studies have focused specifically on African Americans,but these studies have not compared African Americans with the African diasporaelsewhere, or with people from Africa.

The societal cultural norms and values identified in the diaspora studies includehigh uncertainty avoidance, high cooperation and social cohesion, moderate individualism,low hierarchy and low power distance. These societal values bear a resemblance to the

AJEMS4,2

208

GLOBE (House et al., 2004) cultural dimensions of uncertainty avoidance, humanorientation, power distance, and possibly in-group collectivism.

Further, dominant cultural norms that are endorsed by societal cultures give rise toleader behavior patterns (and organizational practices) that are differentially expectedand considered legitimate among cultures (House et al., 1997; Schein, 1992). Therefore,the attributes and behaviors of leaders are, in part and indirectly, a reflection of societalcultures (Kopelman et al., 1990).

Based on the literature reviewed, we offer the following propositions as initialguides for our study:

P1. Societal cultural values and practices affect leader attributes and behaviors.

P2. Societal cultural values and practices affect the process by which people cometo share ILTs.

P3. Leader effectiveness is a function of the interaction between CLTs and leaderattributes and behaviors.

We conclude, on the basis of our literature review, that:

. There is little research on leadership in Africa or the African diaspora; morework is required in almost every field to better understand the concept ofleadership within the African diaspora and Africa.

. Much of the management research on Africa is biased towards Western-basedtheories and concepts; only a few researchers have tried to understand theconcept of leadership from the perspective of African people.

. Studies that have focused on the cultural uniqueness of African countriessuggest that effective leadership styles and motivational tools in Africa aredifferent from Western countries; for example, a paternalistic leadershipstyle, tribal ties, non-financial rewards, spirituality, communalism,supportiveness and local concepts such as Ubnutu, all play important rolesin Africa but are not as important for leaders in Western countries such as theUSA and Canada.

. There is no management research on the African diaspora in Canada, theCaribbean or the USA in comparison to persons in Africa. Therefore, the presentexploratory study was undertaken.

3. Method3.1 Delphi processIn order to avoid the “Western” bias described as a flaw in many management studies(Baruch, 2001; Thomas, 1996; Thomas et al., 1994; Werner, 2002), an emic approachwas used. Emic research focuses on the intrinsic distinctions that are meaningful for agiven group. The research began with a “blank page”, by asking respondents to definethe concepts to be measured, rather than defining them ourselves. This was donethrough a Delphi process, which asks participants to define then refine the details ofthe variables to be investigated.

The Delphi technique has been described as a method for structuring a groupcommunication process so that the process is effective in allowing a group of individuals,as a whole, to deal with a complex problem (Linstone and Turoff, 1975). The process is

Leadership

209

used to establish as objectively as possible a consensus on a complex problem, incircumstances where accurate information does not exist or is impossible to obtaineconomically. Usually, a Delphi consists of a series of rounds in which information iscollected from panellists, analyzed and fed back to them as the basis for subsequentrounds; giving an opportunity for individuals to revise their judgments on the basis of thisfeedback (Linstone and Turoff, 1975).

The Delphi process traditionally begins with an open-ended questionnaire (Hsu andSandford, 2007). The open-ended questionnaire serves as the cornerstone of solicitingspecific information about a content area from the Delphi subjects (Custer et al., 1999).After receiving subjects’ responses, investigators convert the collected information intoa more structured format and each participant receives a summarized copy of theirindividual responses from the first round. Rounds continue until essential consensus isreached among the subjects.

The Delphi research questionnaire was developed through a relatively lengthyprocess. First the main researchers drafted an outline; this was discussed and refined ata workshop, which included participants from an African country (Nigeria), theCaribbean (Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines), Canada, and the USA(an African American). The refined version was circulated for additional commentsbefore a draft for use in Kenya was completed. In Kenya, two of the researchers fromthe workshop met with the Kenyan researcher, and revised the questionnaire. Onemajor outcome of this refinement was the addition of “in your community” to many ofthe questions as the Kenyan researcher felt this would make the questions moremeaningful in this context. The Kenyan researcher believed that many Kenyanrespondents would think of their tribe when responding to this question; however, theother researchers felt that the use of “tribe” would mislead respondents, so the word“community” was selected, as this allowed for respondents to raise the issue of tribe ifthis was important to them, but allowed for other interpretations as well.

3.2 ParticipantsKnowledgeable people were identified from the following groups:

. academics;

. private sector;

. public sector; and

. other – religious leaders, leaders in non-governmental and charitableorganizations, community leaders.

A minimum of seven experts was surveyed in each country. In countries with largerAfrican populations more knowledge people were included. For the present study,there were 11 participants from Uganda, 15 from the USA, seven from Canada, andeight from Barbados.

All individuals had leadership experience at their place of work and/or in theirrespective communities. In Uganda, two participants were female and nine were male;their ages ranged from 25 to 70 years with an average of 40.4 years. The highest level ofeducational attainment ranged from high school to post-graduate level. In Barbados, fiveparticipants were female and three were males. Their ages ranged from 26 to 51 years,with an average of 38.5 years. The highest level of education ranged from bachelor’s

AJEMS4,2

210

degree to doctoral level. In Canada, two participants were female and five were males; agesranged from 49 to 77 years with an average age of 60.8 years. Education levels includedone who was self-taught, six with at least some university-level education, and three whohad PhDs. In the USA, eight participants were female and seven were male; ages rangedfrom 44 to 70 years with an average age of 56. Education levels ranged from high school touniversity level education (three of the nine university educated persons held PhDs).

3.3 Procedure and analysisWe began by identifying people who fit the definition of knowledgeable people.We asked if they would participate in the project. If they agreed, questionnaires weresent to them in Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Uganda, Canada and theUSA. In all cases, the purpose of research was explained and confidentiality of individualresponses was assured. The Delphi questionnaire included seven open-ended questions:

(1) What words/terms come to mind when you are asked about your culture?

(2) What aspects of your culture (based on question 1) contribute to being aneffective leader in your community?

(3) What words/terms would you use to describe an effective leader in yourcommunity?

(4) What words/terms would you use to describe what effective leaders do?

(5) What words/terms would you use to describe what motivates leaders to succeed?

(6) Name three to five people, men or women, whom you consider to be, or to havebeen, effective leaders (they can be local, national or international), and severalwords/terms that explain why do you feel each person is effective?

(7) Give three to five words that describe your ethnic or cultural background.

This report is based primarily on data taken from questions 3, 4, and 6 of the Delphiquestionnaire. Data from questions 1 and 2 were combined to provide a cultural valuescontext for examining the data from questions 3 and 4.

In all countries, consensus was reached after two rounds of the Delphi process. Thereplies from the respondents were content analyzed using Nvivo software. Frequently,repeated words were identified and coded. Points of agreement and disagreement werenoted. Themes that are common were identified and frequency counts of agreementwere noted.

In Round 2, participants were asked to rate the importance of the indicatedresponses from Round 1 for each question using a five-point Likert scale, where1 equaled “relatively unimportant” and 5 equaled “very important”. Means for eachresponse were computed by summing the ratings for each item across all participantsand dividing by the number of respondents. The means for the five highest-ratedresponses are reported in the tables that follow.

4. Results4.1 Cultural attributes that contribute to leader effectivenessRespondents from the USA and Canada described being well educated as one of themost important cultural elements. Canadian respondents also felt social relationshipsand community building were important. Respondents from Barbados and Uganda

Leadership

211

gave responses such as values, beliefs, language, collaboration, and helping others.Ugandans gave specific examples such as clans and tribes, and Barbadians felt religionwas important. These and other aspects of culture that contribute to being an effectiveleader in their country are summarized in Table I. These aspects of culture will be usedas a benchmark against which to examine the responses to Delphi questions 3, 4, and 6.

4.2 Words/terms used to describe an effective leader in the communityTable II summarizes the results concerning how respondents described an effectiveleader and indicates the mean values for the descriptive terms given. Commonalities inrespondents’ descriptive terms included “inspirational/charisma”, which rankedamong the top three descriptive terms for all countries except Uganda, for which theterm was fourth in order of magnitude. “Honesty/integrity” was also used to describeeffective leaders by participants from all four countries, all of whom rated this termamong the top four descriptive terms in importance for describing an effective leader.

Other commonalities in respondents’ descriptive terms included being a visionary,which was deemed important for effectiveness by respondents from Uganda, the USA,and, to a lesser extent, Canada. Additionally, communication and listening skills wereimportant attributes of an effective leader for respondents from Uganda, the USA and,

Uganda USA Canada Barbados

Honesty/integrity (4.80) Good communicator andlistener (4.75)

Respectful (5.00) Visionary (4.88)

Knowledgeable (4.75) Honest and trustworthy(4.75)

Inspirational andcharismatic (4.88)

Able to inspire/charismatic (4.88)

Good communicator andlistener (4.69)

Motivating andinspirational (4.63)

Honesty/trustworthy(4.75)

Able to create aneffective team (4.88)

Inspirational andcharismatic (4.69)

Persuasive andinfluential (4.63)

Visionary (4.63) Honest/virtuous(4.75)

Understanding (4.63) Visionary (4.50) Good communicator andlistener (4.68)

Leads by example(4.75)

Table II.Words/terms used todescribe an effectiveleader in the community

Uganda USA Canada Barbados

Communities Being well educated Religious beliefs andbehavior

Religion

Beliefs/values Religious beliefs/values Social behavior,relationships andinteractions

Language

Different/unique Love of family Importance ofcommunity building

Values, attitudes, beliefs,honoring traditions

Languages, traditions,clans and tribes

Respect for elders andleaders

Being well educated Helping one another

Collaboration andgenerosity

Sense of community andgiving back to others

Morality/leading byexample

Accommodative,welcoming, politeness

Hard work/focus onmeritocracy

Biblical way of leadership

Table I.Cultural dimensionsrelated to leadereffectiveness

AJEMS4,2

212

to a lesser extent, Canada; respondents from Barbados felt communication andlistening skills were relatively unimportant for being an effective leader. Moreover, onecharacteristic that was relatively unimportant for being an effective leader thatrespondents from all four countries reported was being sensitive/caring/empathetic.

4.3 Words used to describe what effective leaders doThe results regarding how respondents described what an effective leader does aresummarized in Table III. The average ratings received for each response are indicatedin parentheses. The responses for this question exhibited more variance acrosscountries regarding which actions were rated higher than other actions, compared tothe responses summarized in Table II. Actions considered less important may or maynot appear in Table III depending on their average ratings.

As shown in Table III, each country had a different leader action that was rated mostimportant and indicative of what effective leaders do. For example, “inspires/empowersothers” and “creative/innovates” received the highest ratings for Uganda;“demonstrating competence” and “envisioning” were rated highest for the USA; being“trustworthy/dependable” and “inspiring and empowering others” were rated highestfor Canada; and “developing a vision and goals” was rated highest for Barbados. Of theresponses given by respondents across all four countries that were rated as less importantbased on their mean scores, “communicating well” and “showing concern and empathy”were seen as less important for American, Barbadian, and Ugandan leaders to be effective.“leading by example” and “building consensus” were less important actions for effectiveleaders in Canada.

4.4 Names of effective leaders (local, national/international)A broad range of local, national, and international leaders were mentioned byparticipants from each of the countries. The leaders that the participants mostfrequently mentioned (Table IV) were Nelson Mandela, Barak Obama, Martin LutherKing, and Mahatma Ghandi. The Ugandan list included non-Africans such as JackWelch, Pope John Paul II, and Margret Thatcher as well as local and tribal leaders.Respondents from Barbados, Canada and the USA identified leaders from theAmericas, such as Martin Luther King and Barak Obama, as well as local leaders: ErrolBarrow in Barbados, Pierre Elliott Trudeau in Canada, and Oprah Winfrey in the USA.

Uganda USA Canada Barbados

Inspires/influencesothers (4.75)

Inspires a shared vision(4.81)

Inspires/empowersothers (4.75)

Develops a vision andgoals (4.75)

Creative/innovates(4.75)

Demonstrates competence/leads by example (4.81)

Consults with people(4.71)

Motivates others toperform effectively (4.71)

Creates vision (4.69) Achieves results (4.75) Motivates/encourages(4.63)

Leads by example (4.63)

Takes action andachieves results (4.56)

Guides/leads by example(4.75)

Takes action andachieves results (4.50)

Provides direction (4.63)

Communicates well/listens (4.56)

Motivates others to achievesuccess (4.73)

Leads by example(4.25)

Inspires others to bebetter (4.50)

Table III.What effective leaders do

Leadership

213

The leaders who were named as effective provided another way to look at the questionof what makes a good leader. Nelson Mandela, an African, was clearly the favorite,named by 18 people across all countries. Barack Obama was a close second, named by15 people (note that this was shortly after his election, and he had been in the newsaround the world). The words used to describe these people, who one might classify as“great leaders” are both similar to, and different from, the previous descriptions ofleaders and their attributes.

The words used to describe why these leaders were effective are presented inTable V. Ugandan words included freedom fighter, principled, ability to bring peopletogether, and ability to give or inspire hope. In Barbados respondents said visionary,charismatic, balanced and fair, selflessness, and proactive. In Canada, ability to bringpeople together, ability to give hope, community advocate, great orator and nonviolentwere mentioned. For the USA, respondents said ability to mobilize and uplift people,use of non-violence, being principled, and being a servant leader accounted for theeffectiveness of the persons named.

These results are discussed further in the next section and implications formanagement and further research are also examined.

5. DiscussionIn summary, this study reports on an emic approach where participants defined theconcepts in their own terms. These results provided data about the similarities anddifferences in respondents’ mental maps regarding culture, leadership and motivation.On some points, the respondents from Barbados, Canada, and the USA differ from their

Uganda USA Canada Barbados

Nelson Mandela (4.83) Martin Luther King Jr(5.00)

Martin Luther King Jr(5.00)

Errol Walton Barrow(5.00)

Mahatma Ghandi (4.86) Barack Obama (4.93) Nelson Mandela (5.00) Nelson Mandela (5.00)Barack Obama (4.78) Nelson Mandela 4.69) Barack Obama (4.75) Mahatma Gandhi (5.00)Martin Luther King Jr(4.75)

Oprah Winfrey (4.64) Pierre Elliott Trudeau(4.75)

Barack Obama (4.75)

Pope John Paul II (4.67) Bill Clinton (4.00) Mahatma Ghandi (4.55) Owen Arthur (4.60)

Note: local/national/international

Table IV.Names of effectiveleaders

Uganda USA Canada Barbados

Freedom fighter Ability to mobilize anduplift people

Ability to bring people/groups together for a cause

Visionary

Principled individual Use of non-violence Ability to give (sow theseeds) of hope

Charismatic

Ability to bring peopletogether

A person of principles Community advocate Balanced and fair

Ability to give/inspirehope

A unifier Great orator Selflessness andcourageous

Fought for a cause Servant leader Non violent Proactive

Table V.Reasons leadersare effective

AJEMS4,2

214

Ugandan counterparts, while on others, Ugandan and Barbados respondents presentsimilar ideas to each other and the USA and Canadian respondents have a contrastingview. The similarities and differences support the idea that culture is an importantpredictor of effective leadership style. Using the approaches that are effective inWestern countries in Africa is not likely to be effective. These results support thecontention (Obiakor, 2005) that research needs to look at specific cultural elements andpreferences before developing motivational tools for African people.

The results of the questions regarding leadership suggest that there are aspects ofleadership that should be included in investigations of effective leaderships that are notobvious in the definition of leadership provided earlier in this paper. In Ugandanresponses, we see that honesty/integrity is important, as are understanding and caring,being inspirational, and being knowledgeable. In Canada and the USA responses,education and knowledge were emphasized, and helping others and working with thecommunity were also mentioned. In Barbados, helping others, setting an example andsupporting followers were important leadership aspects, but power and prestige wereseen as motivating leaders. Issues associated with community, helping others, humilityand power are some of contrasts that stand out. In order to get at these characteristicsin studies of leadership, survey instruments that include scales and items to measurethese variables are needed.

5.1 Contributions of the researchIn general, the results of this research are consistent with those of other studies thatexamined effective leadership in Africa, whereby the effective leader was seen asexhibiting qualities of caring, paternalistic, supportiveness and being interpersonallyappealing (Newenham-Kahindi, 2009). This study has only begun to “scratch thesurface” in uncovering similarities and differences in leader effectiveness acrossthe African diaspora and in Africa itself. The present researchers believe that turningthe spotlight on the African diaspora brings attention to particular groups that havebeen ignored in past research, and this represents one of the important contributions ofthe research project. Indeed, while there have been studies of other ethnic diaspora thatcompared cultures such as the Chinese diaspora (e.g. comparisons of MainlandChinese, American-born Chinese, Chinese in Singapore, Chinese in Hong Kong), thisstudy is one of only a few to specifically target the African diaspora in North Americaand the Caribbean for comparisons with a country from Africa.

Another contribution of the study is the uncovering of cultural attributes thatinfluence leader behaviors in the cultures of Uganda and the African diaspora inNorth America and the Caribbean – such as religion, beliefs, and values; morality andleading by example; value on education; and language and traditions – that go beyondthe cultural dimensions of the GLOBE project (House et al., 2004) or Hofstede’s (2001)work. Indeed, this point has been emphasized in a recently published article byDickson et al. (2012) that takes an in-depth look at how leadership across cultures isconceptualized. These authors noted that cross-cultural research often relies onpre-determined cultural dimensions such as those developed by Hofstede and theGLOBE project. Therefore, it is important to include other cultural dimensions beyondthose of Hofstede and GLOBE that could help clarify important leadershipcharacteristics. They note that “moving toward a more local understanding ofculture and by taking more of an emic approach to the study of leadership in different

Leadership

215

regions will yield results that are more practical for organizations” (Dickson et al., 2012,p. 489). The present authors could not agree more with Dickson and his colleagues. Thepresent study reflects the very approach that they advocate and also supports theconclusions of authors such as James (2008) and McFarlin et al. (1999) who suggestedthat effective African leadership, as well as training and development for leaders,needs to include local culture and values.

5.2 Implications for research and practiceThe research reported in this paper is preliminary and exploratory, which prevents usfrom drawing strong conclusions or generalizing beyond the present samples.Nonetheless, we believe it provides a contribution to the literature and a basis on whichwe and others can build further research. As preliminary and exploratory researchthere are a number of limitations which are important, and which we want to bring tothe readers’ attention.

The sample sizes for each of the countries in this project are small. Small sample sizesare not unusual in this type of qualitative research, especially using the Delphi approach.Nevertheless, the results are limited to the opinions of a small group of people, andcannot be generalized to a wider group. In future research, we intend to broaden thesample to include a wider range of participants, include a wider range of countries fromAfrica, and to include quantitative measures that will allow standardized comparisonsacross groups as well as provide the opportunity to have sufficient statistical power forstatistical analyses that will examine proposed relationships.

The Delphi process is based on soliciting responses from experts/knowledgeablepeople. This approach provides input that is based on expertise and knowledge, and, atthe same time, because of their expertise and knowledge, the respondents are likely tohave beliefs and viewpoints that may be different from the average person. Again, wecannot consider the responses here to be generalizable to the broader populations, or torepresent the thinking of the average person in the countries investigated.

The process used in this research is intentionally open ended, in order to tap into therespondents’ views, rather than imposing pre-determined ideas. This means that theresponses may vary substantially, and it may be difficult to reach a sense of consensus.In our responses, we found a large degree of agreement; thus, we are relativelycomfortable in reporting the results. At the same time, we recognize that open-endedresponses, such as these, can be influenced by a variety of factors, including even currentnews events.

We believe that the limitations identified here will be overcome in future research.We have now tested the Delphi process in six countries (Kenya, Uganda, Ghana,Barbados, Canada, and the USA) to make sure there is no misunderstanding of theprocedure and to be sure that participants understand the questions. Unfortunately,key aspects of the data from Kenya and Ghana were not available for the preparationof this paper. As noted previously, further Delphi investigations will broaden thesample. This emic approach will be supported by focus groups. Quantitative surveymeasures can then be developed to make large-scale comparisons among countries.

The research presented has several implications for leaders, organizations, andsociety. First, leaders who are engaged in managing global virtual teams thatmay include persons from the countries represented in this study now have abaseline of leader attributes and characteristics considered important in the team

AJEMS4,2

216

members’ home culture. Therefore, management of the team can be enhanced bybecoming familiar with the important societal cultural elements of the members’ homeculture. Second, organizational HRM practices such as training and development,designed to prepare persons who will interface with people from other cultures, can beinformed by the results of the present study. Third, for those organizations that targetcertain communities within the African diaspora for marketing and sales purposes,understanding some of the subtleties of the targeted communities’ culture can help tobetter tailor the organization’s message such that it will be received appropriately.Several unique cultural characteristics were uncovered in this study and these mightbe something that organizations and leaders need to pay attention to. Therefore, it ishoped that the current project provides the basis for further research, while alsoproviding practical guidance for managers.

5.3 SummaryThis paper describes an emic approach to define the concepts of culture, leadershipand motivation, by participants in their own terms. This is intended to overcome theWestern bias identified by other scholars in most research. Results provide interestingideas about the similarities and differences in respondents’ views. On some points, therespondents from Barbados, Canada, and the USA differed from their Africancounterparts, while on others, Ugandan and Barbadian respondents presented similarideas while the USA and Canadian respondents took a different position. The similaritiesand differences identified support the idea that culture is an important predictor ofeffective leadership style. These results also support other studies (Obiakor, 2005), whichconcluded that specific cultural elements and preferences were relevant forunderstanding leadership among African people.

We believe that the results of this study are important in two aspects. First, theyprovide empirical evidence, adopting the blank page approach, of the cultural influenceson leadership in an African country and among the African diaspora. Second, the resultsalso provide a basis for developing further research studies. Indeed, we believe this studypartially answers the critique of Takahashi et al. (2012) who observed that relatively fewqualitative studies of leadership exist in the international context. These authorssuggested that understanding leadership phenomena in an international context can beaided if researchers take a triangulation approach that employed qualitative interviews,surveys, experimental manipulations, and archival organizational records. The LEADresearch program intends such an approach. We anticipate that the results of furtherresearch will add substantially to the academic and managerial literature and knowledgebase. In particular, we believe this research is significant because it avoids the Westernbias of much research on Africa, through the use of the emic Delphi approach.

References

Baba, V.V., Galperin, B.L. and Lituchy, T.R. (1999), “Work and depression: a study of nurses inthe Caribbean”, International Journal of Nursing, Vol. 36, pp. 163-169.

Baba, V.V., Tourigny, L., Wang, X., Lituchy, T. and Monserrett, S.I. (2010), “Stress among nurses:a multi-nation test of the demand-control-support model”, unpublished manuscript,Concordia University, Montreal.

Baruch, L. (2001), Intangibles: Management, Measurement, and Reporting, Brookings InstitutionPress, Washington, DC, p. 150.

Leadership

217

Beugre, C.D. and Offodile, O.F. (2001), “Managing for organizational effectiveness in sub-SaharanAfrica: a culture-fit model”, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 12No. 4, pp. 535-550.

Bewaji, J.A.I. (2003), “Leadership – a philosophical exploration of perspectives in African,Caribbean and Diaspora polities”, Journal on African Philosophy, No. 2.

Blunt, P. and Jones, M.L. (1992), Managing Organizations in Africa, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin.

Blunt, P. and Jones, M.L. (1997), “Exploring the limits of Western leadership theory in East Asiaand Africa”, Personnel Review, Vol. 26 Nos 1/2, pp. 6-23.

Bolden, R. and Kirk, P. (2009), “African leadership – surfacing new understandings throughleadership development”, International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, Vol. 9 No. 1,pp. 69-86.

Bruton, G.D. (2010), “Business and the world’s poorest billion – the need for an expandedexamination by management scholars”, Academy of Management Perspectives, Vol. 24No. 3, pp. 6-10.

CIA (2010), The world factbook, available at: www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html

Cole, N.D. and Berengut, R.G. (2009), “Cultural mythology and global leadership in Canada”, inKessler, E.H. and Wong, D.J.M.J. (Eds), Cultural Mythology and Global Leadership, EdwardElgar, Northampton, MA.

Corbin, A. (2009), Leadership and Cricket in the Caribbean, University of the West Indies, CaveHill.

Custer, R.L., Scarcella, J.A. and Stewart, B.R. (1999), “The modified Delphi technique: a rotationalmodification”, Journal of Vocational and Technical Education, Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 1-10.

Das, J., Do, Q.T., Shaines, K. and Srinivasan, S. (2009), “US and them: the geography of academicresearch”, Policy Research Working Paper 5152, The World Bank, Washington, DC.

Dickson, M., Castano, N., Magomaeva, A. and Den Hartog, D. (2012), “Conceptualizing leadershipacross cultures”, Journal of World Business, Vol. 47 No. 4, pp. 483-492.

(The) Economist (2010), “They may be giants: a special report on banking in emerging markets”,The Economist, May, p. 3.

Gramby-Sobukwe, S. (2005), “Africa and US foreign policy: contributions of the diaspora todemocratic African leadership”, Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 35 No. 6, pp. 779-801.

Grint, K. (2005), Public Sector Leadership, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, NY.

Hale, J. (2004), “A contextualized model for cross-cultural leadership in West Africa”, paperpresented at the Servant Leadership Research Roundtable, Regent University.

Hofstede, G. (2001), Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, andOrganizations Across Nations, 2nd ed., The Free Press, New York, NY.

Horwitz, F., Kamoche, K. and Chew, I. (2002), “Looking east: diffusing high performance workpractices in the Southern Afro-Asian context”, International Journal of Human ResourceManagement, Vol. 13 No. 7, pp. 1019-1041.

House, R., Wright, N. and Aditya, R. (1997), “Cross-cultural research on organizationalleadership: a critical analysis and a proposed theory”, in Early, P.C. and Erez, M. (Eds),New Perspectives on International Industrial/Organizational Psychology, New LexingtonPress, San Francisco, CA.

House, R., Javidan, M., Hanges, P. and Dorfman, P. (2002), “Understanding cultures and implicitleadership theories across the globe: an introduction to project GLOBE”, Journal of WorldBusiness, Vol. 37, pp. 3-10.

AJEMS4,2

218

House, R., Hanges, P., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. and Gupta, V. (2004), Culture, Leadership andOrganizations, The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Hsu, C. and Sandford, B. (2007), “The Delphi technique: making sense of consensus”, PracticalAssessment, Research and Evaluation, Vol. 12 No. 10.

Jackson, T. (2004), Management and Change in Africa: A Cross Cultural Perspective, Routledge,London.

Jago, A.G. (1982), “Leadership: perspectives in theory and research”, Management Science, Vol. 28No. 3, pp. 315-336.

James, R. (2008), “Leadership development inside-out in Africa”, Nonprofit Management andLeadership, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 359-3753.

Kamoche, K., Debrah, Y., Horwitz, F. and Muuka, G.N. (2004), Managing Human Resources inAfrica, London, Routledge.

Kopelman, R., Brief, A. and Guzzo, R. (1990), “The role of climate and culture in productivity”, inSchneider, B. (Ed.), Organizational Climate and Culture, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA.

Kotter, J.P. (1988), The Leadership Factor, The Free Press, New York, NY.

Linstone, H.A. and Turoff, M. (Eds) (1975), The Delphi Method: Techniques and Applications,Addison-Wesley, Boston, MA.

Lituchy, T., Punnett, B.J., Ford, D. and Jonsson, C. (2009), “Leadership effectiveness in Africa andthe Diaspora”, paper presented at the Eastern Academy of Management InternationalProceedings, Rio, Brazil.

Lord, R. and Maher, K. (1991), Leadership and Information Processing: Linking Perceptions andPerformance, Unwin-Everyman, Boston, MA.

Lord, R., Foti, R. and De Vader, C. (1984), “A test of leadership categorization theory: internalstructure, information processing, and leadership perceptions”, Organizational Behaviorand Human Performance, Vol. 34, pp. 343-378.

McClelland, D. (1985), Human Motivation, Scott-Foresman, Glenview, IL.

McFarlin, D.B., Coste, E.A. and Mogale-Pretorius, C. (1999), “South African managementdevelopment in the twenty-first century: moving toward an Africanized model”, Journal ofManagement Development, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 63-78.

Mangaliso, M.P. (2001), “Building competitive advantage from Ubuntu: management lessonsfrom South Africa”, Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 23-32.

Mathauer, I. and Imhoff, I. (2006), “Health worker motivation in Africa: the role of non-financialincentives and human resource management tools”, Human Resources for Health, Vol. 4No. 24.

Mbigi, L. (2000), In Search of the African Business Renaissance, Knowledge Resources,Randburg.

Mbigi, L. and Maree, J. (1995), Ubuntu: The Spirit of African Transformation Management,Knowledge Resources, Randburg.

Mittal, R. and Dorfman, P. (2012), “Servant leadership across cultures”, Journal of WorldBusiness, Vol. 47 No. 4, pp. 555-570.

Mohan, G. and Zack-Williams, A.B. (2002), “Globalization from below: conceptualizing the role ofthe African diasporas in Africa’s development”, Review of African Political Economy,Vol. 29 No. 92, pp. 211-236.

Newenham-Kahindi, A. (2009), “The transfer of Ubuntu and Indaba business models abroad – acase of South African multinational banks and telecommunication services in Tanzania”,International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 87-108.

Leadership

219

Nurse, L. and Devonish, D. (2008), “Worker participation in Barbados: contemporary practice andprospects”, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 19 No. 10,pp. 1911-1928.

Obiakor, F.E. (2005), “Building patriotic African leadership through African-centered education”,Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 34 No. 3, pp. 402-420.

Paglis, L.L. and Green, S.G. (2002), “Leadership self-efficacy and managers’ motivation forleading change”, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 215-235.

Punnett, B.J. (2008), “Management in developing countries”, in Wankel, C. (Ed.), 21st CenturyManagement, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 190-199.

Punnett, B.J. and Greenidge, D. (2009), “Cultural mythology and global leadership in theCaribbean Islands”, in Kessler, E.H. and Wong-MingJi, D.J. (Eds), Cultural Mythology andGlobal Leadership, Edward Elgar, Northampton, MA.

Punnett, B.J. and Nurse, L. (2002), “Management research on the English-speaking Caribbean:toward a research agenda”, Journal of Eastern Caribbean Studies, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 1-37.

Punnett, B.J., Corbin, A. and Greenidge, D. (2007), “Assigned goals and task performance in aCaribbean context: extending management research to an emerging economy”,International Journal of Emerging Markets, Vol. 2 No. 3, pp. 215-235.

Punnett, B.J., Dick-Forde, E. and Robinson, J. (2006), “Effective management and culture: ananalysis of three English-speaking Caribbean countries”, Journal of Eastern CaribbeanStudies, Vol. 31 No. 2, pp. 44-71.

Schein, E. (1992), Organizational Culture and Leadership: A Dynamic View, 2nd ed., Jossey-Bass,San Francisco, CA.

Shamir, B., House, R.J. and Arthur, M.B. (1993), “The motivational effects of charismaticleadership: a self-concept based theory”, Organization Science, Vol. 4 No. 4, pp. 577-594.

Smith, B. (2003), “Worldview and culture: leadership in sub-Saharan Africa”, New EnglandJournal of Public Policy, Vol. 19 No. 1, p. 243.

Spears, L. (Ed.) (1998), Insights on Leadership: Service, Stewardship, Spirit, and ServantLeadership, Wiley, New York, NY.

Takahashi, K., Ishikawa, J. and Kanai, T. (2012), “Qualitative and quantitative studies ofleadership in multinational settings: meta-analytic and cross-cultural reviews”, Journal ofWorld Business, Vol. 47 No. 4, pp. 530-538.

Thomas, A. (1996), “A call for research in forgotten locations”, in Punnett, B.J. andShenkar, O. (Eds), Handbook for International Management Research, Blackwell,Cambridge, MA, pp. 485-506.

Thomas, A., Shenkar, O. and Clarke, L. (1994), “Globalization of our mental maps: evaluating thegeographic scope of JIBS coverage”, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 25 No. 4,pp. 675-686.

Tsui, A.S. (2004), “Contributing to global management knowledge: a case for high qualityindigenous research”, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 491-513.

Tsui, A.S. (2006), “Contextualization in Chinese management research”, Management andOrganization Review, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 1-13.

Walumbwa, F.O., Orwa, B., Wang, P. and Lawler, J.J. (2005), “Transformational leadership,organizational commitment, and job satisfaction: a comparative study of Kenyan and USfinancial firms”, Human Resource Development Quarterly, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 235-256.

Wambu, O. and Githongo, J. (2007), Under the Tree of Talking: Leadership for Change in Africa,Counterpoint (The Cultural Relations Think-Tank of the British Council), London.

AJEMS4,2

220

Wanasika, I., Howell, J., Littrell, R. and Dorfman, P. (2011), “Managerial leadership and culture insub-Saharan Africa”, Journal of World Business, Vol. 46, pp. 234-241.

Werner, S. (2002), “Recent developments in international management research: a review of20 top management journals”, Journal of Management, Vol. 28 No. 3, pp. 277-305.

Wheatley, M. (2001), “Restoring hope to the future through critical education of leaders”, Journalfor Quality and Participation, Vol. 24 No. 3, pp. 46-49.

(The) World Bank (2010), available at: http://ddp-ext.worldbank.org/ext/ddpreports/ViewSharedReport?&CF¼&REPORT_ID¼9147&REQUEST_TYPE¼VIEW ADVANCED&HF¼N/CPProfile.asp&WSP¼N (accessed 7 October 2010).

Yukl, G.A. (2005), Leadership in Organizations, 6th ed., Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Further reading

Amabile, T.M. (1993), “Motivational synergy: towards new conceptualizations of intrinsic andextrinsic motivation in the workplace”, Human Resource Management Review, Vol. 3 No. 3,pp. 185-201.

Punnett, B.J., Greenidge, D. and Ramsey, J. (2007), “Job attitudes and absenteeism: a study in theEnglish speaking Caribbean”, Journal of World Business, Vol. 42 No. 2, pp. 214-227.

About the authorsDr Terri R. Lituchy (PhD, University of Arizona) is an Associate Professor of InternationalManagement at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. She has taught at the undergraduateand graduate levels around the world including the USA, Mexico, Caribbean, Argentina, France,the UK, Czech Republic, Japan, China, Thailand and Malaysia. Her research interests are incross-cultural issues in organizations including cultures effect on work stress and absenteeism,negotiation and conflict; international issues of service firms, women in international businessand international entrepreneurship. In addition to the book Successful Professional Women of theAmericas (Elgar Publishing, 2006), recent articles appear in International Journal of CrossCultural Management, JET-M, The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and SmallBusiness, Leadership Quarterly, Career Development International, Women in ManagementReview, Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, Canadian Journal of Regional Sciences andJournal of Organizational Behavior. She is currently editing books on Management in Africa(Routledge Publisher, forthcoming) and Gender and Counterproductive Work Behaviors (ElgarPublishing, in press). Terri R. Lituchy is the corresponding author and can be contacted at:terrilituchy@yahoo.com

David Ford (PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison) is Professor of Organizational Studies,Strategy and International Management at the University of Texas at Dallas. His researchinterests include leadership development in transition economies; job insecurity, perceptions ofprocedural justice, and career attitudes during economic downturns; global team leadership andeffectiveness; and cross-cultural studies of job stress, coping, and perceived organizationalsupport. Dr Ford has also held academic appointments at UCLA, Purdue University, MichiganState University, and Yale University. Through his membership in the Society of InternationalBusiness Fellows, he continues to develop his research and business interests in internationalbusiness development. He has traveled extensively internationally and is engaged inseveral cross-cultural research projects involving Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia.He has received numerous awards, including Outstanding Alumnus Award from Iowa StateUniversity, Distinguished Service Citation from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and aCommission in the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels. His publications have appeared inacademic journals such as Academy of Management Review, Applied Psychology:An International Review, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Cross cultural Management:

Leadership

221

An International Journal, Eurasian Journal of Business and Economics, Group and OrganizationManagement, International Journal of Human Resource Management, International Journal ofIntercultural Relations, Journal of International Management Studies, Journal of AppliedBehavioral Science, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Asia Business Studies, Journal ofInternational Management, Journal of Management and Organizational Behavior and HumanPerformance.

Betty Jane Punnett is Professor of International Business and Management at Cave Hill,University of the West Indies. She has lived and worked in the Caribbean, Canada, Europe, Asia,and the USA. Her major research interests are culture and management and she is currentlyworking on several research projects in this field, including leadership and motivation in Africaand the diaspora. She holds a PhD in International Business (New York University), an MBA(Marist College) and a BA (McGill University). She has published over 50 academic papers ina wide array of international journals, and several books – including The Handbook forInternational Management Research, International Perspectives on Organizational Behavior andHuman Resource Management, Experiencing International Business and Management andSuccessful Professional Women of the Americas. She is currently working on a Routledge book,Managing in Developing Countries and co-editing a special issue of the International Journal ofCross Cultural Management on Caribbean metaphors and management. She has received anumber of awards and research grants, including a grant from the Ford Foundation and servingas a Fulbright Scholar.

AJEMS4,2

222

To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.comOr visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited withoutpermission.