Paternalistic Leadership in Kuwaiti Business Environment: Culturally Endorsed, but Largely Ineffective
Keywords:
Paternalistic Leadership, Kuwait, Culture, Leadership, Wasta.
Abstract
There is an assumption from the reviewed literature that Paternalistic Leadership (PL) is culturally endorsed as a leadership style in Kuwait. With many diverse perspectives on the effectiveness of paternalistic leadership, the research objectives of the current research are threefold. First, to examine if PL is recognized as a leadership style in Kuwait organizations, second, to test the effectiveness of that style if present, and third, to identify the specifics of the Kuwaiti leadership practice. The findings lead to the conclusion that PL is present in Kuwaiti leadership practices, culturally is endorsed, but otherwise is considered as an ineffective leadership style because of the influence of wasta.
References
Adžić, S. (2012). The Impact of Critical Realism on the Management Research Procedures. In D. Ristić (Ed.), Methodology of the Business Research: A monograph (pp. 15–36). Fakultet za menadžment.
Adžić, S. (2015). Business Leadership Challenges in Saudi Arabia. 3rd Annual Seminar on “Improving Organizational Performance by Effective Leadership,” University of Hafr Al-Batin, Saudi Arabia.
Adžić, S. (2017). Leadership in the High Performance Organizations. Lap Lambert Academic Publishing.
Al-Kawaz, A. (2008). Economic diversification: The case of Kuwait with reference to oil producing countries. Journal of Economic Cooperation Among Islamic Countries, 29(3).
Almutairi, S., & Yen, D. (2017). International Diffusion of Digital Innovations: Mapping the Mobile Telephony of the Arab States. The Bottom Line, 30, 00–00. https://doi.org/10.1108/BL-08-2017-0020
Almutairi, S., Yen, D., & Heller, M. (2018). The Many Facets of National Culture: A Critical Appraisal. Comparative Sociology, 17, 759–781. https://doi.org/10.1163/15691330-12341478
Arab Times. (2019, April 20). Kuwait’s GDP trends ‘downward.’ ARAB TIMES - KUWAIT NEWS. http://www.arabtimesonline.com/news/kuwaits-gdp-trends-downward/
Aycan, Z. (2006). Paternalism. In U. Kim, K.-S. Yang, & K.-K. Hwang (Eds.), Indigenous and Cultural Psychology: Understanding People in Context (pp. 445–466). Springer US. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-28662-4_20
Aycan, Z., Kanungo, R., Mendonca, M., Yu, K., Deller, J., Stahl, G., & Kurshid, A. (2000). Impact of Culture on Human Resource Management Practices: A 10‐Country Comparison. Applied Psychology, 49(1), 192–221. https://doi.org/10.1111/1464-0597.00010
Aycan, Z., Schyns, B., Sun, J.-M., Felfe, J., & Saher, N. (2013). Convergence and divergence of paternalistic leadership: A cross-cultural investigation of prototypes. Journal of International Business Studies, 44(9), 962–969. https://doi.org/10.1057/jibs.2013.48
Badawy, M. K. (1980). Styles of Mideastern Managers. California Management Review, 22(3), 51–58. https://doi.org/10.2307/41164876
Bauer, D. (2015). Successful leadership behaviours in Slovak organizations’ environment – an introduction to Slovak implicit leadership theories based on GLOBE study findings. Journal of East European Management Studies, 20(1), 9–35. https://doi.org/10.5771/0949-6181-2015-1-9
CIA. (2019). The World Factbook—Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2017). Research Methods in Education (8 edition). Routledge.
Dorfman, P., Javidan, M., Hanges, P., Dastmalchian, A., & House, R. (2012). GLOBE: A twenty year journey into the intriguing world of culture and leadership. Journal of World Business, 47(4), 504–518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2012.01.004
Easterby-Smith, M., Thorpe, R., Jackson, P. R., & Jaspersen, L. J. (2018). Management and Business Research (Sixth edition). SAGE Publications Ltd.
Ertenu Saracer, B., Karacay-Aydin, G., Asarkaya, Ç., & Kabasakal, H. (2012). Linking the Worldly Mindset with an Authentic Leadership Approach: An Exploratory Study in a Middle Eastern Context. In S. Turnbull, P. Case, G. Edwards, D. Schedlitzki, & P. Simpson (Eds.), Worldly Leadership: Alternative Wisdoms for a Complex World (pp. 206–222). Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230361720_12
Farh, J.-L., & Cheng, B.-S. (2000). A Cultural Analysis of Paternalistic Leadership in Chinese Organizations. In J. T. Li, A. S. Tsui, & E. Weldon (Eds.), Management and Organizations in the Chinese Context (pp. 84–127). Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230511590_5
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Aldine de Gruyter.
Hajjieh, A. (2011, April 20). Why has Kuwait failed to develop for the last 30 years? - Quora. Quora. https://www.quora.com/Why-has-Kuwait-failed-to-develop-for-the-last-30-years
Helmy, M. A. (2011). Investigating the critical success factors for PPP projects in Kuwait. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-77471
Herb, M. (2009). A nation of bureaucrats: Political participation and economic diversification in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 41(3), 375–395. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743809091119
Hofstede, G. (1983). The Cultural Relativity of Organizational Practices and Theories. Journal of International Business Studies, 14(2), 75–89. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8490867
House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. W., & Gupta, V. (2004). Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies. SAGE Publications.
House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Ruiz-Quintanilla, S. A., Dorfman, P. W., & Dickson, M. (1999). Cultural Influences on Leadership and Organizations: Project GLOBE.
House, R. J., Quigley, N. R., & Luque, M. S. de. (2010). Insights from Project GLOBE. International Journal of Advertising, 29(1), 111–139. https://doi.org/10.2501/S0265048709201051
Hutchings, K., & Weir, D. (2006). Guanxi and Wasta: A comparison. Thunderbird International Business Review, 48(1), 141–156. https://doi.org/10.1002/tie.20090
IMF. (2018, October). World Economic Outlook Database. https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2018/02/weodata/weoselagr.aspx#a110
Jankowicz, A. D. (2004). Business Research Projects (4th edition edition). Cengage Learning EMEA.
Kabasakal, H., & Bodur, M. (1998). Leadership, values and Institutions: The Case of Turkey: Research Papers. Istanbul: Bogazici University. http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1090951601000736
Kabasakal, H., & Bodur, M. (2002). Arabic cluster: A bridge between East and West. Journal of World Business, 37(1), 40–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1090-9516(01)00073-6
Kabasakal, H., Dastmalchian, A., Karacay, G., & Bayraktar, S. (2012). Leadership and culture in the MENA region: An analysis of the GLOBE project. Journal of World Business, 47(4), 519–529. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2012.01.005
Kuzulugil, S. (2009). Does One Size Fit All? Value-Based Subcultures and Leadership Preferences in Turkey. Bogazici.
Mansur, J., Sobral, F., & Goldszmidt, R. (2017). Shades of paternalistic leadership across cultures. Journal of World Business, 52(5), 702–713. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2017.06.003
McGivern, Y. (2008). The Practice of Market Research: An Introduction (3 edition). Financial Times/ Prentice Hall.
Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and Practice (Eighth edition). SAGE Publications, Inc.
O’Sullivan, K. (2016). Paternalistic University Leadership in the UAE – Its Impact on Management Behaviour. International Review of Social Sciences and Humanities, 11, 54–64.
Palermo, O. A., Carnaz, A. C., & Duarte, H. (2018). Favouritism: Exploring the ‘uncontrolled’ spaces of the leadership experience. Leadership, 1742715017749190. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715017749190
Pellegrini, E. K., & Scandura, T. A. (2008). Paternalistic Leadership: A Review and Agenda for Future Research. Journal of Management, 34(3), 566–593. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206308316063
Porter, M. E. (1990). The Competitive Advantage of Nations. Harvard Business Review, March-April 1990. https://hbr.org/1990/03/the-competitive-advantage-of-nations
Redding, G. (1990). The Spirit of Chinese Capitalism. Walter de Gruyter.
Redding, G., Norman, A., & Schlander, A. (1994). The nature of individual attachment to theory: A review of East Asian variations. In Handbook of industrial and organi-zational psychology (H. C. Triandis, M. D. Dunnett, L. M. Hough, pp. 674–688). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychology Press.
Saunders, M. N. K., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2015). Research Methods for Business Students. Pearson Education Limited.
Talib, A. A. (2017). Wasta: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Middle East Journal of Business, 12(2), 3–9. https://doi.org/10.5742/MEJB.2017.92942
Tang, C., & Naumann, S. E. (2015). Paternalistic leadership, subordinate perceived leader–member exchange and organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Management & Organization, 21(3), 291–306. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2014.84
The World Bank. (2016). World development indicators 2016 (No. 105051; pp. 1–180). The World Bank. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/805371467990952829/World-development-indicators-2016
Uhl-Bien, M., & Maslyn, M. (2005, August). Paternalism as a form of leadership: Differentiating paternalism from leader-member exchange. Meeting of the Academy of Management, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Weber, M. (1947). The Theory Of Social And Economic Organization. The Free Press.
Whiteoak, J. W., Crawford, N. G., & Mapstone, R. H. (2006). Impact of gender and generational differences in work values and attitudes in an Arab culture. Thunderbird International Business Review, 48(1), 77–91. https://doi.org/10.1002/tie.20086
Adžić, S. (2015). Business Leadership Challenges in Saudi Arabia. 3rd Annual Seminar on “Improving Organizational Performance by Effective Leadership,” University of Hafr Al-Batin, Saudi Arabia.
Adžić, S. (2017). Leadership in the High Performance Organizations. Lap Lambert Academic Publishing.
Al-Kawaz, A. (2008). Economic diversification: The case of Kuwait with reference to oil producing countries. Journal of Economic Cooperation Among Islamic Countries, 29(3).
Almutairi, S., & Yen, D. (2017). International Diffusion of Digital Innovations: Mapping the Mobile Telephony of the Arab States. The Bottom Line, 30, 00–00. https://doi.org/10.1108/BL-08-2017-0020
Almutairi, S., Yen, D., & Heller, M. (2018). The Many Facets of National Culture: A Critical Appraisal. Comparative Sociology, 17, 759–781. https://doi.org/10.1163/15691330-12341478
Arab Times. (2019, April 20). Kuwait’s GDP trends ‘downward.’ ARAB TIMES - KUWAIT NEWS. http://www.arabtimesonline.com/news/kuwaits-gdp-trends-downward/
Aycan, Z. (2006). Paternalism. In U. Kim, K.-S. Yang, & K.-K. Hwang (Eds.), Indigenous and Cultural Psychology: Understanding People in Context (pp. 445–466). Springer US. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-28662-4_20
Aycan, Z., Kanungo, R., Mendonca, M., Yu, K., Deller, J., Stahl, G., & Kurshid, A. (2000). Impact of Culture on Human Resource Management Practices: A 10‐Country Comparison. Applied Psychology, 49(1), 192–221. https://doi.org/10.1111/1464-0597.00010
Aycan, Z., Schyns, B., Sun, J.-M., Felfe, J., & Saher, N. (2013). Convergence and divergence of paternalistic leadership: A cross-cultural investigation of prototypes. Journal of International Business Studies, 44(9), 962–969. https://doi.org/10.1057/jibs.2013.48
Badawy, M. K. (1980). Styles of Mideastern Managers. California Management Review, 22(3), 51–58. https://doi.org/10.2307/41164876
Bauer, D. (2015). Successful leadership behaviours in Slovak organizations’ environment – an introduction to Slovak implicit leadership theories based on GLOBE study findings. Journal of East European Management Studies, 20(1), 9–35. https://doi.org/10.5771/0949-6181-2015-1-9
CIA. (2019). The World Factbook—Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2017). Research Methods in Education (8 edition). Routledge.
Dorfman, P., Javidan, M., Hanges, P., Dastmalchian, A., & House, R. (2012). GLOBE: A twenty year journey into the intriguing world of culture and leadership. Journal of World Business, 47(4), 504–518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2012.01.004
Easterby-Smith, M., Thorpe, R., Jackson, P. R., & Jaspersen, L. J. (2018). Management and Business Research (Sixth edition). SAGE Publications Ltd.
Ertenu Saracer, B., Karacay-Aydin, G., Asarkaya, Ç., & Kabasakal, H. (2012). Linking the Worldly Mindset with an Authentic Leadership Approach: An Exploratory Study in a Middle Eastern Context. In S. Turnbull, P. Case, G. Edwards, D. Schedlitzki, & P. Simpson (Eds.), Worldly Leadership: Alternative Wisdoms for a Complex World (pp. 206–222). Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230361720_12
Farh, J.-L., & Cheng, B.-S. (2000). A Cultural Analysis of Paternalistic Leadership in Chinese Organizations. In J. T. Li, A. S. Tsui, & E. Weldon (Eds.), Management and Organizations in the Chinese Context (pp. 84–127). Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230511590_5
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Aldine de Gruyter.
Hajjieh, A. (2011, April 20). Why has Kuwait failed to develop for the last 30 years? - Quora. Quora. https://www.quora.com/Why-has-Kuwait-failed-to-develop-for-the-last-30-years
Helmy, M. A. (2011). Investigating the critical success factors for PPP projects in Kuwait. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-77471
Herb, M. (2009). A nation of bureaucrats: Political participation and economic diversification in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 41(3), 375–395. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743809091119
Hofstede, G. (1983). The Cultural Relativity of Organizational Practices and Theories. Journal of International Business Studies, 14(2), 75–89. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8490867
House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. W., & Gupta, V. (2004). Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies. SAGE Publications.
House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Ruiz-Quintanilla, S. A., Dorfman, P. W., & Dickson, M. (1999). Cultural Influences on Leadership and Organizations: Project GLOBE.
House, R. J., Quigley, N. R., & Luque, M. S. de. (2010). Insights from Project GLOBE. International Journal of Advertising, 29(1), 111–139. https://doi.org/10.2501/S0265048709201051
Hutchings, K., & Weir, D. (2006). Guanxi and Wasta: A comparison. Thunderbird International Business Review, 48(1), 141–156. https://doi.org/10.1002/tie.20090
IMF. (2018, October). World Economic Outlook Database. https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2018/02/weodata/weoselagr.aspx#a110
Jankowicz, A. D. (2004). Business Research Projects (4th edition edition). Cengage Learning EMEA.
Kabasakal, H., & Bodur, M. (1998). Leadership, values and Institutions: The Case of Turkey: Research Papers. Istanbul: Bogazici University. http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1090951601000736
Kabasakal, H., & Bodur, M. (2002). Arabic cluster: A bridge between East and West. Journal of World Business, 37(1), 40–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1090-9516(01)00073-6
Kabasakal, H., Dastmalchian, A., Karacay, G., & Bayraktar, S. (2012). Leadership and culture in the MENA region: An analysis of the GLOBE project. Journal of World Business, 47(4), 519–529. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2012.01.005
Kuzulugil, S. (2009). Does One Size Fit All? Value-Based Subcultures and Leadership Preferences in Turkey. Bogazici.
Mansur, J., Sobral, F., & Goldszmidt, R. (2017). Shades of paternalistic leadership across cultures. Journal of World Business, 52(5), 702–713. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2017.06.003
McGivern, Y. (2008). The Practice of Market Research: An Introduction (3 edition). Financial Times/ Prentice Hall.
Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and Practice (Eighth edition). SAGE Publications, Inc.
O’Sullivan, K. (2016). Paternalistic University Leadership in the UAE – Its Impact on Management Behaviour. International Review of Social Sciences and Humanities, 11, 54–64.
Palermo, O. A., Carnaz, A. C., & Duarte, H. (2018). Favouritism: Exploring the ‘uncontrolled’ spaces of the leadership experience. Leadership, 1742715017749190. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715017749190
Pellegrini, E. K., & Scandura, T. A. (2008). Paternalistic Leadership: A Review and Agenda for Future Research. Journal of Management, 34(3), 566–593. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206308316063
Porter, M. E. (1990). The Competitive Advantage of Nations. Harvard Business Review, March-April 1990. https://hbr.org/1990/03/the-competitive-advantage-of-nations
Redding, G. (1990). The Spirit of Chinese Capitalism. Walter de Gruyter.
Redding, G., Norman, A., & Schlander, A. (1994). The nature of individual attachment to theory: A review of East Asian variations. In Handbook of industrial and organi-zational psychology (H. C. Triandis, M. D. Dunnett, L. M. Hough, pp. 674–688). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychology Press.
Saunders, M. N. K., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2015). Research Methods for Business Students. Pearson Education Limited.
Talib, A. A. (2017). Wasta: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Middle East Journal of Business, 12(2), 3–9. https://doi.org/10.5742/MEJB.2017.92942
Tang, C., & Naumann, S. E. (2015). Paternalistic leadership, subordinate perceived leader–member exchange and organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Management & Organization, 21(3), 291–306. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2014.84
The World Bank. (2016). World development indicators 2016 (No. 105051; pp. 1–180). The World Bank. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/805371467990952829/World-development-indicators-2016
Uhl-Bien, M., & Maslyn, M. (2005, August). Paternalism as a form of leadership: Differentiating paternalism from leader-member exchange. Meeting of the Academy of Management, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Weber, M. (1947). The Theory Of Social And Economic Organization. The Free Press.
Whiteoak, J. W., Crawford, N. G., & Mapstone, R. H. (2006). Impact of gender and generational differences in work values and attitudes in an Arab culture. Thunderbird International Business Review, 48(1), 77–91. https://doi.org/10.1002/tie.20086