https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/19914 2026-05-05T16:56:30Z https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/32063 Perceptions of Leadership and Culture in Private and Public Organisations: ASectoral Comparison Over FiveYears and 12 Independent Studies Grobler, Anton Leadership is regarded as essential in life, in society and in organisations. It is for this reason that this article studies leadership, in particular employees’ perceptions of leadership, with regard to social exchange and institutional (behavioural) isomorphism theories, acknowledging the contextual differences between the private and the public sectors. The purpose of the article is to compare the perceptions of employees from organisations in the private and the public sector based on 12 independent cross-sectional studies (conducted over five years). Eight leadership styles were examined, namely, authentic, empowering, ethical, servant, transformational, transactional, and ubuntu or Afrocentric leadership, and leader–member exchange. One of the studies included a measurement of organisational culture, to be brought in relation with leadership. The results of this study indicate that the employees in the private sector have a significantly better perception of leadership compared to those in the public sector (except for transactional leadership). It was further found that the two sectors differ significantly with regard to the perceived cultures, and that the cultural types are related to the perception of leadership. Recommendations are not only made in general, but also with regard to improving the perception of leadership (which has an impact on employee behaviour, attitudes and organisational performance) in the public sector, based on the findings of this study. 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/32062 The dynamics of ethical climate: mediating effects of ethical leadership and workplace pressures on organisational citizenship behaviour Sookdawoor, O; Grobler, Anton; Sookdawoor, O The world has been facing unprecedented challenges with various ethical issues within organisations, which is related to ethical leadership and decision making amongst other things. Subsequently, this paper is focused on the interrelationships between organisational culture, ethical organisational climate, ethical leadership, decision making and workplace pressures. The effect of these ethical related constructs on organisational citizenship behaviour, employee ethical behaviour, conduct, and perceived employee performance is further studied, from a macro-meso-micro perspective. This quantitative study used a cross-sectional design and survey strategy. The sample consisted of 526 participants of varying backgrounds working in “large” enterprises across diverse industries in Mauritius. The results of this study show that organisational culture and ethical organisation climate (as macro independent variables) jointly influence the dependent variables (organisational citizenship behaviour, employee ethical behaviour and conduct, and perceived employee performance) both directly and indirectly to varying degrees. It was also found that ethical leadership and decision making, and internal and external workplace pressures (as meso variables) have statistically significant mediating effects on organisational citizenship behaviour and perceived employee performance. The model proved to have a good fit and can be adopted as a guiding model for the business and research communities in fostering organisational citizenship behaviour. Lastly, recommendations were made to enhance the ethical and organisational citizenship behaviour within the corporate environment of Mauritius. 2022-09-01T00:00:00Z https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/32061 Spiritual leadership within the ambit of African Management philosophies using interactive qualitative analysis Sibanda, Khumbulani ; Grobler, Anton Orientation: This research is about a focus group of managers and their experiences relating to spiritual leadership in the South African context. Research purpose: To critically examine mainstream spiritual leadership, within the context of African management philosophies (AMP), towards describing and prosing a southern African spiritual leadership scale. Motivation for the study: A systematic literature review revealed a stark gap in empirical evidence of the existence of spiritual leadership as a harbinger of employee contentment, welfare, and organisational success in Africa. Research design, approach and method: Through the interactive qualitative analysis (IQA) process, data from eight managers were collected and analysed, and an interrogation of the existence of spiritual leadership via the African lens using AMP typologies was conducted. An exploratory qualitative study was conducted via a focus group of eight managers drawn using biased sampling based on ‘distance and power’ analysis to the phenomena of spiritual leadership. Main findings: Connection to nature principles (nurturing) are a primary driver to employee welfare. Life as a universal current’s elements (compassion and empathy) influence Ubuntu principles, national culture principles (a set of behaviours, customs, and beliefs) and Indigenous knowledge systems (unadulterated knowledge). Ubuntu also influences co-operative teamwork (togetherness) which is a circulator in the scale that triggers intrinsic motivation which is impacted by traditionalism (adherence to accepted customs and beliefs), and communalism principles (belonging to a community). Intrinsic motivation impacts employee turnover which is influenced by engagement, performance, productivity, and mythology (African myths and lore). Employee turnover ultimately influences employee welfare which is a primary outcome. Contribution or value add: This research helps undergird spiritual leadership in the South African context by equipping leaders with a new paradigm that uses local management principles that measures its enablers and inhibitors. 2023-03-01T00:00:00Z https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/32060 Measurement of transformational leadership in South Africa: Assessed from an etic perspective Grobler, Sonja; Grobler, Anton Orientation: It is scientifically questionable whether a predominantly Western construct and instrument could be used in the culturally diverse South African context. The sound measurement of transformational leadership in a multicultural context with the Transformational Leadership Questionnaire (TLQ), developed by Podsakoff et al. (1990), is studied from an etic perspective. Research purpose: Our study aimed to investigate the TLQ in terms of its construct validity. The instrument was developed outside the South African and the broader African and context; our study thus adopted an etic approach. Motivation for the study: The psychometric properties of the TLQs are examined through a contextual lens (the South African context), building on the previously conducted work of Podsakoff et al. (1990) and Podsakoff et al. (2012). Research approach/design and method: This research employed a typical empirical paradigm using a cross-sectional design and quantitative analysis. The sample comprised 3805 respondents. A multi-factorial model was explored and confirmed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The results support the original conceptualisation of the overall construct, but with an adjusted factorisation. Main findings: Two factors of transformational leadership were confirmed, namely leadership focused on organisational, group and individual transformation and leadership focused on creativity and innovation. Good psychometric properties, in terms of good fit and acceptable levels of convergent and discriminant validity were reported for a two-factor model. Practical/managerial implications: The adapted TLQ was found to be valid on structural (factorial) as well as external levels, and it was found to be reliable. The results suggest that transformational leadership could be used with confidence within the South African context. Contribution/value-add: Our study established a valid measure of transformational leadership from an etic approach. The necessity for our study originated from the diverse nature of the South African workforce. Participants from both the private and public sectors were included in our study. 2023-12-01T00:00:00Z