Cross-Cultural Leadership Studies

CHAPTER 7

Culture and Leadership in Developing Countries

Introduction

The field of “leadership studies” has long been primarily focused on Western leadership styles and practices. This occurred for various reasons including the location of the critical mass of researchers in the United States and the fact that most companies operated primarily in the United States with some cautious expansion into foreign markets with similar linguistic and cultural traditions. However, several factors—globalization of the workforce, expansion of operations into numerous markets around the world, and exposure to increased global competition—have forced leadership scholars to incorporate culture into their research and theories since leaders of businesses of all ...