An explorative-descriptive qualitative-constructivist study of three African leaders’ experiences and perceptions regarding the translation of shared African human values into leadership and business practice

Vilakati, Vusi M.; Schurink, Willem

doi:10.4102/sajhrm.v19i0.1433

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…So, it does make sense that the relationship between authentic leadership and PDM is significant, because it talks to the relational transparency and balanced processing that encourage employees to offer their ideas and suggestions, that is, to participate in decision-making. The current study therefore shows that the call to humanise business (Vilakati and Schurink, 2021) by adhering to the Ubuntu philosophy (Mangaliso, 2001) needs to be answered, as this would contribute to a climate of PDM. In the South African environment, this climate of PDM is particularly important to build trust, as business relationships are sometimes strained with low trust levels (Giokos, 2016).…”

Section: Authentic Leadershipmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…There is, however, no valid and reliable measurement scale available for measuring Ubuntu leadership. West (2014) nonetheless offers an extensive explanation of the relationship between Ubuntu and business ethics, by emphasising specific virtues, including humanness, caring, sharing, respect and compassion.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the African context, companies could consider answering the call to humanise business by adhering to Ubuntu, the philosophy indigenous to various tribes on the continent (Mangaliso, 2001). The focus on Ubuntu’s virtue ethics (West, 2014) could assist organisations in South Africa to focus on both internal and external, as well as primary and secondary stakeholders, as the humane approach is applicable to all stakeholders.…”

Section: Implications For Theory and Practical Business Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Authentic leadership’s influence on strategic corporate social responsibility in South Africa: mediated by participative decision-making

Nqumba

Scheepers

2023

EBR

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of authentic leadership on strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) in a less researched environment. This study set out to fill that gap in researching the direct influence of employees’ perceptions about the authenticity of their leaders as well as indirect effect through participative decision-making on strategic CSR which means the genuine intention to benefit society. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative research approach was followed, with an online survey to employees in large South African corporations across various industries that were mostly more than 10 years old. There were 1,417 useable questionnaires. Structural equation modelling was used to test proposed hypotheses of mediation effects. Findings The results revealed that authentic leadership has a significant indirect effect through participative decision-making on employees’ perceptions around strategic CSR – that is, whether their corporations are genuinely socially and environmentally responsible. Research limitations/implications The data collected were cross-sectional, and survey-based in the South African corporate environment; therefore, limited generalisations can be made, and causality could not be claimed. Practical implications Authentic leadership and participative decision-making are required to significantly influence employees’ perceptions about companies’ genuine interest in benefiting external stakeholders. Consistency between leaders’ words and deeds is important for employees, and therefore, companies must be socially responsible towards employees. Originality/value The main contribution of this research lies in showing that perception of leaders’ authenticity was enhanced when employees were allowed to participate in decision-making, which then increased positive perceptions about the organisation’s CSR focus. The study highlights similarities between authentic leadership and the African humanism philosophy of Ubuntu.

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Section: Authentic Leadershipmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Implications For Theory and Practical Business Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Authentic leadership’s influence on strategic corporate social responsibility in South Africa: mediated by participative decision-making

Nqumba

Scheepers

2023

EBR

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“…In the contemporary South African workplace, the notion of "Africanisation" is increasingly emphasised as a sociocultural approach to relational connections at work. Africanisation alludes to a philosophy of African-cultural humanism that are emphasised in the post-apartheid democracy (Vilakati & Schurink, 2021). Africanised views on the work world may cultivate an awareness of collectivist human values that enrich the meaning of work in the multicultural digital-era workspace (Veldsman, 2020)…”

Section: Meaningful Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pathways to meaningful work in the digital workspace: A qualitative exploration

Coetzee,

Ferreira,

Potgieter

2023

SA Journal of Industrial Psychology

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Orientation: The way people view and experience their work and workplaces is fundamental to the extent to which employees find meaning in work. Research that examines individuals’ views about the more turbulent and disruptive technology-enhanced work world seems to be scant.Research purpose: The present study sheds light on the extent to which individuals’ personal philosophy and Africanisation views on the work world inform pathways to meaningful work in the digital-era workspace.Research approach/design and method: The study applied a qualitative, grounded-theory research approach to inductively gain deeper insight into participants’ views of the digital era work world from their responses on an open-ended research questionnaire. A randomly chosen sample of (N = 486) undergraduate students participated in the study.Main findings: The findings illuminated four psychosocial pathways and their resources toward meaningful work in the digital-era workspace: Self-agency, other-agency, self-communion and other-communion.Practical/managerial implications: Employers and practitioners should explore strategies for enhancing work meaningfulness in today’s more turbulent technology-driven work world.Contribution/value-add: The study contributed an integrative model of psychosocial pathways and resources toward meaningful work in the digital workspace. The model informs practices for fostering meaningful work in technology-enhanced workspaces.

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“…We applied the study by Carsten et al (2017) in a South African environment to offer evidence of followership in this unique cultural context that differs from that in China in terms of China having higher power distance than the general South African population (See GLOBE study in House et al, 2004;Hofstede, 2011). In conducting this research on the African continent, we wish to contribute to the growing body of knowledge by African scholars, in accordance with the observations of Nkomo (2011), Lerutla and Steyn (2021), Vilakati and Schurink (2021) and Sanda (2017) that leadership studies were predominantly conducted in Europe and the Americas, which raise arguments as to whether their assumptions hold true for those leaders (and followers) operating in the African firm environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The influence of follower orientation on follower behaviour in the leadership process

Inderjeet

Scheepers

2022

SA Journal of Human Resource Management

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Orientation: Whilst extensive literature is available on leadership, followership is under-researched. This study, therefore, pays attention to specific follower behaviours that can influence the leadership process and follower behaviours that are passive.Research purpose: This study offers deeper insights into followership behaviours and their influence on the leadership process.Motivation for the study: By extending the original research in China of Carsten, Uhl-Bien and Huang on followership, the current study endeavours to apply these existing scales in a different cultural setting. The study investigated the relationship between followers’ orientation, namely proactively identifying problems or passive role orientation and their voice behaviour and upward delegation.Research approach/design and method: Primary data on followership orientation and behaviour were gathered from 287 surveyed respondents across different industries in South Africa, correlation tests and multiple regression methods were used.Main findings: The results show that the perception of followers that they need to proactively identify problems (co-production orientation) is positively associated with the tendency of followers to communicate their opinions on work issues. The perception of followers that they do not need to be involved in decision-making is negatively associated with voice behaviour.Practical/managerial implications: Managers and human resources professionals should consider assessing employees’ followership orientation during recruitment and selection. Employee development programmes should also focus on reorienting employees towards constructive followership, characterised by co-creation of solutions, which actively contributes towards effective leadership processes.Contribution/value addition: This study spanned across industries and uniquely shows the importance of role orientation of followers and how the traditional approach of focusing on leadership development might have negatively influenced followers’ perception of their roles.

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An explorative-descriptive qualitative-constructivist study of three African leaders’ experiences and perceptions regarding the translation of shared African human values into leadership and business practice

Cited by 4 publications

References 29 publications

Authentic leadership’s influence on strategic corporate social responsibility in South Africa: mediated by participative decision-making

Authentic leadership’s influence on strategic corporate social responsibility in South Africa: mediated by participative decision-making

Pathways to meaningful work in the digital workspace: A qualitative exploration

The influence of follower orientation on follower behaviour in the leadership process

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