This research study examines two recent conceptualisations of leadership that have evolved
from previous leadership research. They are the Level 5 leadership theory and the romance of
leadership theory. These concepts have been chosen as they represent conflicting
perspectives of leadership. The aim of this research study is to investigate whether a recent
historical profile of publicity given to a prominent Level 5 leader lends itself to a romance of
leadership interpretation.
The present study addressed this aim by adopting a research methodology that is qualitative
in nature and by utilising archival case history research and theory-based sampling. The two
measuring instruments that were used are the items comprising the romance of leadership
scale (RLS-C) and archival data. An exemplar of a Level 5 leader that has received ample
press coverage, Bill Gates, was chosen. 201 articles from the following five sources and four
years were collected and their content analysed: the Wall Street Journal, the Economist,
Forbes, Fortune and Business Week in 1990, 1995, 1998 and 2006. The positive period
included 1990 and 2006, and negative period 1995 and 1998. Once the 201 newspaper
articles were randomly selected, the researcher analysed the content via 17 sub-categories.
The eight sub-categories from the principles of Level 5 leadership were used as a criterion to
find supportive evidence in the data for the Level 5 leadership theory. The researcher
concurrently used the nine items from the RLS-C, which comprised nine sub-categories as a
criterion to find supportive evidence in the data for romance of leadership theory.
This research study resulted in a follower-centric, non-traditional recognition of leadership as
it provided clear support for the romance of leadership theory. In the positive period, subcategory
1 and 5 dominated. Four trends were extracted: Ability, Image, Philanthropy and
Innovation, constituting altogether 82 percent of the total propositions. Ability was the most
salient trend. In the negative period, sub-categories 1 and 5 dominated. Five trends were
extracted: Power, Image, Ability, Innovation and Competition constituting altogether, 85
percent of the total propositions. Power and Image were the most salient trends. Conceptual
and methodological reasons for the findings were offered, followed by a discussion of the
limitations and some theoretical and practical implications. Finally, future considerations for
research were suggested.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/4888 |
| Date | 26 May 2008 |
| Creators | Liccardo, Sabrina |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1022830 bytes, application/pdf, application/pdf |
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