The impact of national culture on self-leadership

Abstract

The theory of self-leadership is gaining credibility and support in the era of globalisation and knowledge workers. As with many leadership theories, culture has been proposed to have a major impact on leadership processes. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent that self-leadership is correlated with national culture dimensions. Self-leadership was measured through the Revised Self-Leadership Questionnaire developed by Houghton and Neck (2002). The cultural values were measured through the use of Hofstede’s Value Survey Module 94 (VSM94). Hypotheses were formed regarding relationships between national culture background and Self-leadership practice. Pearson r, Chi-square test with cross tabulation and multiple regression were used to determine the associations. The results from the statistical tests showed associations between national culture values and self-leadership dimensions. PDI and UAI showed a positive relationship with visualising successful performance but a negative relationship with self-talk both aspects of constructive thought pattern strategies. MAS had a positive relationship with self-talk while negatively correlated to visualising successful performance. IDV had positive relationships with behaviour-focussed strategies, natural reward strategies and constructive thought pattern strategies. Long-term orientation had a strong negative relationship with behaviour-focussed and natural reward strategies and a very weak negative association with behaviour focussed strategies.