Organisational leadership in South Africa: Explored through interactive qualitative analysis

Background: Organisational leadership (OL) as a construct faces challenges in being universally defined, especially in South Africa, because of its contextual diverse nature (historically, politically, socially and culturally). This is amplified by the limited availability of contextual (South African) leadership research, and an overreliance on international and universal leadership models. Aim: This study aimed to conceptualise OL from an emic perspective. Setting: The study was based on the South African workforce. Method: An exploratory qualitative design was employed. Interactive qualitative analysis (IQA), a systematic qualitative research methodology, was used. The inductive nature of IQA, combined with deductive analysis techniques (axial and theoretical coding), facilitated the identification of the elements of OL, as well as its inter-relational nature. Based on the participants’ lived experiences, this is established from a pragmatist and social constructivism perspective. Results: The outcome of the study is a system influence diagram (SID), indicating the relationship between the various elements of OL. The primary driver was the leader’s emotional awareness, with the secondary drivers including leadership style, characteristics, culture, communication and vision. These drivers resulted in secondary outcomes of leader support and team dynamics, ultimately culminating in the primary outcome of delivering strategy. Conclusion: Organisational leadership has relational, emotional and rational elements that should be navigated to reach the primary outcome, namely organisational success through strategy implementation. Contribution: Conceptualising OL is valuable as it advances our understanding, highlights the social and cultural dynamics that influence leadership effectiveness, and offers a foundation for future research and leadership development.