An exploration of the influence of cultural predisposition on the situational leadership model

The research explored the influence of culture on leadership within the context of Situational Leadership Model (SLM). Current SLM measures follower maturity levels without consideration to the impact of the individual's cultural predisposition and how that could relate to their attitude towards assigned tasks. A comprehensive literature review revealed that cultural predisposition relates to the behavior and leadership perceptions of both leaders and followers. Using a mixed research design, qualitative and quantitative methods were used sequentially to explore the leadership perception followers have in relation to their leaders and vise versa and how this perception influence maturity assessment. Leadership perception refers to the mental image of another person's leadership abilities in a given situation. The qualitative analysis indicated a strong positive relationship between ethnicity and maturity assessment, which suggested that SLM did not adequately allow for cultural predisposition in assessing maturity level. The leader's perception of high maturity of the subordinate increased only as the leader's cultural predisposition awareness of the subordinate increased. The quantitative analysis, used Spearman's rank correlation coefficient which resulted in rho = 0.92 at n = 9, alpha = 0.10 and a critical value of 0.600. This reinforced the positive relationship. The result suggested that cultural perception disproportionately relate to the effectiveness of SLM. Understanding the importance of cultural predisposition could create a firmer foundation for the application of situational leadership on a global basis. The LEAD Other questionnaire should capture critical situational indicators that reflect the cultural predisposition of the leader and the follower.