Despite the increasing number of studies relating to leadership and culture, few have explored these concepts in the African airline sector. This study aims to explore prevalent leadership models in African airlines, the implications of cultural values on leadership and perceived outcomes through a cross-case analysis. It adopts a qualitative research approach through a multiple case study of five African airlines. Data collection was done through remote semi-structured interviews of a purposive sample of industry leaders and analysed through thematic analysis. Findings revealed that there is no one size fits all leadership approach to enhance performance outcomes. Effective leadership is contingent on situations and employees involved. However, participants were emphatical about participative and supportive leadership. Transactional leadership was also evident among the airlines. All Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness (GLOBE) values explored were perceived as important to leadership with the most emphasized being performance orientation and institutional collectivism. The study also extends the GLOBE values by identifying nine prevalent key values that impact leadership in the Sub Sahara African (SSA) context. The study’s contribution to the body of knowledge lies in a developed framework following the interaction between culture, leadership and secondarily, perceived outcomes for SSA leaders. It serves as a guideline for stakeholders and leaders to engage in a more effective adoption of values and implementation of practices that enhance leaders’ effectiveness. The outcome is expected to contribute to theories of leadership and culture, and leadership practice in the African airline sector. This research is divided into six chapters. The first chapter introduces the study, discusses its overall aim, rationale and contribution. Chapter two discusses literature review on leadership and culture while the third chapter explains and justifies the research methodology. Chapter four presents the study findings for each case and chapter five is a cross-case analysis and discussion of the findings. Chapter six concludes the study with a summary of main findings, implications and suggestions for future research.
| Date of Award | 9 Dec 2024 |
|---|
| Original language | English |
|---|
| Supervisor | Eric Tchouamou Njoya (Main Supervisor) & Dinuka Herath (Co-Supervisor) |
|---|