China is a highly attractive destination for foreign direct investment, especially to Australia with which it has a strong complementary commercial relationship. Although the need for cross-cultural leadership effectiveness presents a major challenge to Australian businesses operating in China, most extant studies emphasize cultural dimensions and cultural influences on expatriate leadership effectiveness. In contrast, this study investigates the importance and implementation of transformational leadership (TL), emotional intelligence (EQ) and cultural intelligence (CQ) as key components of cross-cultural leadership capabilities within the context of Australian-Chinese cultural differences. Specifically, it answers one overarching question: What key factors contribute significantly to cross-cultural leadership effectiveness in Australian businesses operating in China? Following an interpretivist research philosophy, this inductive study employed qualitative individual and focus group interviews with a final sample of 32 expatriate managers and 19 local Chinese managers working in 30 Australian organizations. The individual participants were top- and middle-level executives of Australian businesses operating in China in different industry sectors, including minerals and energy, manufacturing, consulting, building and construction, banking, legal services and education. Participants based their responses on their own experiences and observations. These perspectives were supplemented with equally important input from the focus group interviewees, who were Chinese local managers that work closely with the expatriates. Based upon the findings of the study, the researcher developed a holistic pragmatic heuristic model of cross-cultural leadership effectiveness for Australian businesses operating in China, which emphasizes the developmental process underlying the emergence of effective expatriate leadership. This model defined and categorized three sets of cognitive, attitudinal and behavioural characteristics of effective cross-cultural leaders: personal (intrapersonal) competencies, social (interpersonal) competencies and cross-cultural competencies. Because the model is pragmatic as well as heuristic, its framework provides practitioners (e.g. Western and especially Australian expatriate leaders) with an informed understanding of the complexity of cross-cultural leadership issues in China, the importance of having theoretical knowledge on this topic, and the need to be flexible and pragmatic in applying this knowledge in daily practice. Thus, the model offers Australian firms currently investing or intending to invest in China a specific strategy to assist expatriate selection and leadership development in that the competencies it contains can be used to recruit and develop suitable candidates and training criteria. Likewise, the model provides business coaches or business consultants serving Western organizations in China a comprehensive fundamental framework for developing competent global leaders. Hence, future research should concentrate on developing and validating cross-cultural leadership effectiveness in China model using diverse approaches.

The purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between the transformational leadership (TL) style of officers and their followers’ organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) in a South African military environment. TL was measured by means of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) (Form 5X) and OCB by means of the Organisational Citizenship Behaviour Scale (OCBS). A sample of 300 followers was identified at a military unit in the South African Army and the participants were requested to complete the two questionnaires. The MLQ produced a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.91 and the OCBS a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.79, which were both statistically significant and acceptable. The main hypothesis of the empirical study was accepted, which predicted a significant relationship between TL and OCB (r = 0.412, significant at the 0.001 level). The hypotheses predicting a significant relationship between TL the five sub-dimensions of OCB produced mixed results. These results are as follows; there was no significant relationship between TL and Civic Virtue (r = 0.180), between TL and Sportsmanship (r = 0.132) and between TL and Courtesy (r = 0.207). Additionally, the hypotheses predicting a significant relationship between TL and Altruism (r = 0.499) and between TL and Conscientiousness (r = 0.315) were accepted. / Industrial & Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

The purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between the transformational leadership (TL) style of officers and their followers’ organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) in a South African military environment. TL was measured by means of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) (Form 5X) and OCB by means of the Organisational Citizenship Behaviour Scale (OCBS). A sample of 300 followers was identified at a military unit in the South African Army and the participants were requested to complete the two questionnaires. The MLQ produced a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.91 and the OCBS a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.79, which were both statistically significant and acceptable. The main hypothesis of the empirical study was accepted, which predicted a significant relationship between TL and OCB (r = 0.412, significant at the 0.001 level). The hypotheses predicting a significant relationship between TL the five sub-dimensions of OCB produced mixed results. These results are as follows; there was no significant relationship between TL and Civic Virtue (r = 0.180), between TL and Sportsmanship (r = 0.132) and between TL and Courtesy (r = 0.207). Additionally, the hypotheses predicting a significant relationship between TL and Altruism (r = 0.499) and between TL and Conscientiousness (r = 0.315) were accepted. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)