Journal of Management Development

Leadership style desired by youth in Asia

Nurul Afiqah Nor Amin, Chin Han Wuen, Amiruddin Ismail,
Article information:
To cite this document:
Nurul Afiqah Nor Amin, Chin Han Wuen, Amiruddin Ismail, "Leadership style desired by youth in Asia", Journal of
Management Development, https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-01-2017-0028
Permanent link to this document:
https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-01-2017-0028
Downloaded on: 08 October 2017, At: 00:21 (PT)
References: this document contains references to 0 other documents.
To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com
The fulltext of this document has been downloaded 8 times since 2017*
Downloaded by Australian Catholic University At 00:21 08 October 2017 (PT)

Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by emerald-srm:401304 []
For Authors
If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service
information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please
visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information.
About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com
Emerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of
more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online
products and additional customer resources and services.
Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication
Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.

*Related content and download information correct at time of download.

 Leadership Style Desired by Youth in Asia

Abstract

Purpose
This paper investigates the styles that are desirable in a leader from the perspective of youth
in Asia, particularly Brunei Darussalam and South Korea. Thus, by investigating this using
the Path-Goal Theory, this study provides leaders with the desirable leadership style to
motivate and influence youth.

Methodology
Downloaded by Australian Catholic University At 00:21 08 October 2017 (PT)

The research used a quantitative method with Proportionate Stratified Sampling method
based on the age criteria of youth defined by UNESCO. The data were collected through
face-to-face distribution of questionnaires from February 2016 till June 2016.

Findings
The evidence depicts Brunei youth prefer directive leadership while South Korea youth prefer
supportive leadership. This finding is based on the selected styles that are desirable by the
youths due to cultural influence. This implies that culture has a large impact on the leadership
preference styles best suited to the environment.

Research limitations/implications
Since the research has limited sample sizes and geographical location, this can lead to future
research by considering more regions of different continents to determine whether different
leadership preference still persists. This study can also be used as a basis to consider other
factors in investigating leadership preference in Asian countries.

Originality/value
This paper identified and encourages the need to study leadership style that is desirable
among youths.
 Introduction

The relationship between leaders and youth have becoming crucial. As youth perceives
leaders as someone who ‘bring people together to get things done’ and someone who ‘stands
up for their beliefs and values’ (O’Connor, 2010), it is evident that leaders should engage
youth constructively to enhance future economic and social development of a country. For
leaders to be desired by the youth, they must adjust their behaviors and strategies based on
the current environment (Nahavandi, 2006). One of the environmental aspects for leadership
is culture as Jogulu and Wood (2008) described it to have influence over followers’ action.
Kamisah and Budin (2015) added such influences is based on the variety of backgrounds,
attitudes and mindset from different countries. While leadership has been studied extensively
in the Western world, empirical studies of Asian leadership are few, especially from youth
Downloaded by Australian Catholic University At 00:21 08 October 2017 (PT)

perspective. This demonstrates the importance of studying leadership style desired in Asian
regions due to the increasing demand of leadership in democratic governance, public
participation, individual privacy and social equality as a result of rapid development of
technology, economy and education (Berman and Haque, 2015). This research aims to
investigate leadership style preferences among youth in Asia, specifically Brunei Darussalam
and South Korea by applying the Path Goal Theory as the foundation. By using this
approach, it can identify the leadership style preferences among the youth as leadership style
are important for leaving either a positive or negative impression among the youth in a
working environment for motivation.

2.0 Literature Review

Leadership and Path-Goal Theory

Leadership is the process of influencing followers to gain mutual understanding and

agreement in order to achieve objectives (Yukl, 2002). Therefore, leaders must develop and
adjust their leadership styles to better suit their followers (Chuang, 2013). For this reason,
this paper is developed based on the Path Goal Theory to investigate leadership style that are
flexible and adaptive to the current situation. House (1971) identified directive, supportive,
participative and achievement-oriented as the four leadership style.

Directive leadership is when the leader commands the followers and expects their compliance
when the roles and tasks are clarified (Howell and Costley, 2001). It is practiced by leaders
because it starts with minimal performance, but eventually results in high performance due to
improve team learning, coordination, empowerment and mental mode of development
(Lorinkova et al., 2012). Directive leadership however is descending due to the changed in
the world’s current expectation because many people perceived their tasks as a mean of
personal fulfillments rather than paychecks (Manz and Sims, 2001). It also influence the
followers’ abilities to be overlooked by their leaders (Awan et al., 2008; Belas, 2013).
Supportive leadership depicts the leaders creating a pleasant working environment by
showing concern to their followers. Past studies have shown a positive relationship between
supportive leadership and its followers in terms of positive well-being (Newton and
 Maierhofer, 2005), job satisfaction (Awan et al, 2008) and team cohesiveness as the leaders
encourage their followers to discuss their personal problems (Hemakumara, 2011). However,
it can reduced challenges in the follower's task due to interference from their leaders (Awan
et al., 2008). Participative leadership is when leaders consult their followers before taking
actions. It creates efficient communication for decision making by involving the followers
(Buble et al., 2014; Mohamad et al., 2009. It also assists leaders in generating empowerment
and gaining trust over their followers (Huang, Iun, Liu and Gong, 2009). However, such
leadership is time consuming and creates overlapping decision making which can damage the
followers’ perception of their leaders (Nemaei, 2012). Lastly, achievement-oriented
leadership showcases the leaders setting goals for their followers to develop the capability
and performance. This is effective when the leaders set challenging goals, provide
clarification and reformation of performances to assure the followers are acting according to
Downloaded by Australian Catholic University At 00:21 08 October 2017 (PT)

standards (Yazdanpanah and Afrassiabi, 2014). However, achievement-oriented leadership is

only suitable for an environment where the tasks are simple and the authority is strong
(Lussier and Achua, 2010).

It has become evident that the theory investigates the fluidity of the four leadership styles
(Lumbasi et al., 2016). Although one leadership style may not be suitable in particular
situation, it can be applied in another specific favorable situation (Northouse, 2013). It is
apparent that from the Path Goal Theory, a certain type of leadership style is related to the
followers’ commitment (Yiing and Ahmad, 2009) and performance (Zabihi and Hashemzehi,
2012).

Culture and Leadership Styles Preferences

Preference towards leadership styles varies because it depends on the social constructs and
cultural aspects of the followers (House, Hanges and Javidan, 2004; Lord, Brown, Harvey
and Hall, 2001). It is a cultural phenomenon which influences leadership attributes (Shaw,
1990). As a result, leadership preferences differ due to cultural differences (House et al.,
2004; Schwartz et al., 2001) which lead to different leadership preference style across the
world (Gerstner and Day, 1994). According to Hofstede (1980), the value difference between
cultures are defined by one’s nationalities and organization membership. Bogdanic (2012)
added that the most crucial cultural aspect for predicting leadership variable within national
and organizational level are humane orientation whereby the followers need to adhere the
expectation of organization or society based on fairness, altruistic, friendliness, generosity,
and kindness for leaders to create incentives for encouraging followers’ participation.

Countries with similar political background was found to have significant differences in their
leadership style (Brodbeck et al., 2000). Thus, in Asia, even though the leadership are based
on social position, authority and seniority (Lok and Crawford, 2003), the leadership style still
varied across Asian regions (Swierczek, 1991). For instance, in Eastern Asia (China, Japan
and Korea), directive leadership is preferred for complex tasks while participative leadership
is suitable for simpler tasks. Meanwhile in Southern Asia (India, Nepal and Pakistan),
directive leadership is dominantly used for delegating tasks. The author further argued that
 authoritarian leadership is used to govern South-East Asia region. Based on these arguments,
it is apparent that a leadership preferences in one culture can be counterproductive in another
(Irawanto, 2009). Therefore, the following section will explain the leadership style within
South Korea and Brunei Darussalam based on the country's past leadership experiences in
terms of the leader’s influence over their followers in the expected norms.

Understanding leadership in South Korea and Brunei Darussalam

Since the 1980s, South Korea has transitioned from various stages which included 386
generations’ views and values during the democracy period. South Korea is currently a
country with regional power that demonstrates a powerful economic democratic society and
technologically advanced nation with cultural influences throughout the region. This
Downloaded by Australian Catholic University At 00:21 08 October 2017 (PT)

transition is strengthened by strong leadership capabilities (Dinerman, 2010; Larkin, 2001)

but the question remains to what kind of leadership stimulus such growth. Their culture
reflects South Korean leaders to be paternalistic and protective (Yoon, 2010). The perception
of the leaders being gentle, nurturing and caring has proved to be effective to the followers
(Cheng et al., 2014). The leaders are expected to maintain harmonious relationship, thus
contingent punishment by the leader is perceived as a drawback (Steers, Shin and Ungson
1989). The leaders are expected to evaluate followers leniently to avoid criticism and
undermine harmonious relationship (Chen, 1995). Moreover, their culture of showing
absolute loyalty to the rulers resulted in the followers becoming respectful and obedient
(Estes, 2012; Steers et al, 1989). Although the South Korean followers are obligated to
respect their leaders regardless of their negative feeling, this has resulted in the followers to
feel reluctance out of reverence to follow certain instructions. Kim (2016) emphasized the
importance for South Korean leaders to understand that the youth will eventually become the
future leaders. With this reason, the South Korean youth are craving for leaders to have the
same desire for changes and connection at a personal level (Estes, 2012).

Leadership style practiced in Brunei is fatherly leadership because the country is governed
under a monarch system (Low and Zain, 2008). Since Brunei is a small country, the leader is
can lead with a father and children relationship which depict a leader showing a caring
attitude towards the followers’ welfare and wellbeing, which in return, caused the population
to display their loyalty (Low and Zain, 2008). According to Low and Ang (2012) and Zain et
al. (2015), there are several key principles adopted by Bruneian leaders which are leading by
examples, leader’s capabilities, having trustworthy and nurturing attributes to achieve such
support and commitment. With these principles, the Bruneian followers desire a leadership
style that is proactive, interaction with the followers, consider followers’ perspective and
provide support and initiatives (Kifle and Low, 2009). Given the leadership importance, the
responsibility of future leaders should emphasize on the ability to initiate and lead changes in
the socioeconomic development of Brunei Darussalam. For instance, during the 30th
National celebration, the theme ‘Visionary Generation’ is to inspire the youth with vision by
becoming the country’s pillars for striving a better future for the next generation.
 Although culture has been embedded in the youth, it is apparent that they desire more than
the traditional leadership. Given the situation, both countries have acknowledge the youth as
the future generation, and hence, the leader has to consider and attain the leadership type
suitable for the youth’s preference.

Methodology

The data were obtained from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data provided
strong internal validity due to the clear data collection system while the secondary data
supported the primary data by strengthening the external validity (Baumard and Ibert, 2001).
This research used quantitative approach as the foundation of clear verification of path goal
theory to test on leadership preferences. With the lack of studies regarding the leadership
Downloaded by Australian Catholic University At 00:21 08 October 2017 (PT)

style desire by youth, a descriptive content-based research was used in this study. It hopes to
improve the understanding of the leadership phenomenon by describing them, especially in a
relatively unexplored area (Grenier and Josserand, 2001).

Traditional method for sample selection process was used which covered from defining the
population, sampling method choice and data collection method to reduce biases (Royer and
Zarlowski, 2001). Firstly, the samples of the study covered the youth aged between 15 - 24
years based on the international definition the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organizations (UNESCO, 2017) for statistical consistency across regions and
reducing any sample bias. The sample population is focused in South Korea and Brunei
Darussalam to investigate the leadership preferences. Next, the proportionate stratified
sampling was used as sampling method as it involved the age criteria of youth defined by the
UNESCO. Royer and Zarlowski (2001) explained that stratified sampling is used to find the
correlation between the criteria chosen and the phenomenon of the studies. This is suitable
for finding the leadership preferences among the youth. Index Mundi (2016) reported the
youth population for 2016 in Brunei Darussalam and South Korea are 0.07 million and 6.66
million respectively. The attempt on the collection of data were made based on the limited
timeframe allowed which garnered the response rate of 70% whereby 350 of the 500
questionnaires were responded from each country.

After the sample population and sizes were identified, the primary data were collected with
questionnaires as it was efficient and preserve the anonymity of data sources (Ibert, Baumard,
Donada and Xuereb, 2001). A pilot study was conducted among a small numbers of samples
to ensure the respondents understand the questions as leadership topic can be difficult to
understand, especially among the younger youth. Next, the face-to-face methodology was
conducted to administer the questionnaire to allow the interviewer to answer any queries by
the respondents. The data were collected during the period of February 2016 and June 2016.
This research allows for one year gap for the sample populations to take account of the
duration needed for processing the results to prevent listing errors by using the sample that no
longer fits the criteria.
 Findings

Reliability of Measure

Based on the reliability analysis conducted, after one of items is deleted from each supportive
and achievement-oriented leadership variables, all of the leadership styles scored more than
0.600 and thus is considered to have a reliable internal consistency. Table 4.1 indicates the
results from reliability analysis for each leadership style.

(Insert Table I here)

Differences between South Korea and Brunei leadership style preference

Downloaded by Australian Catholic University At 00:21 08 October 2017 (PT)

The result were analyzed by using comparative means and standard deviation. This procedure
investigates the pattern emerging from the data, in this case, the ‘mean’ to find the most
common used of central tendency as it provides the most common value. Table 4.2 reports
the results from the mean and standard deviation analysis. The table shows that most
Bruneian youth preferred directive leadership with the mean of 3.92 and least preferred
supportive leadership with the mean of 3.72. While most South Korean youth preferred
supportive leadership with the mean of 4.31 and least preferred achievement-oriented
leadership with the mean of 3.64. On the other hand, the standard deviation indicates the
values are either concentrated around the mean or scattered. All of the results from Brunei
shows high standard deviation in comparison to the data set from South Korea which depicts
the dataset are dispersed while directive leadership under South Korea has the lowest
standard deviation indicating that its dataset are clustered.

(Insert Table II here)

Discussion and Implications

The Path Goal Theory emphasized on the fluidity of leadership style that can employed by
leaders to best fits the followers within a given situation. As a result, the research approach
has identified the leadership style that is desired by youth. The research findings provide
important theoretical implications as it supports the Path Goal Theory approach, in which the
leaders can develop their style to influence their followers. It also supports the theory that
culture plays a major role in influencing leadership preference within a country, as different
Asian regions have different cultures (Schwartz et al., 2001). Based on the result, the future
leadership style desire by youth in Asia differs as Bruneian youth prefer directive leadership
over supportive leadership while South Korean youth prefer supportive leadership over
achievement-oriented leadership. Although Brunei and South Korea are Asian countries, the
result showed that both countries have different preferences. This means that our study
support the earlier researches conducted by Brodbeck et al.,(2000), Gerstner and Day (1994),
House et al. (2004) and Schwartz et al. (2001) which illustrates leadership styles differences
in Asian regions due to the various cultural values. Hence, it shows that one culture can be
 counterproductive in another (Irawanto, 2009). This implies culture has a large impact which
determines the leadership styles suitable for the current environment.

Since there was a lack of initial study with a similar approach for investigating the leadership
style preferences among Bruneian youth, it can be concluded that they prefer directive
leadership, in which, the leader directs and clarifies a task (Howell and Costley, 2001;
Lorinkova et al., 2012). This study also agrees with a research conducted by Swierczek
(1991) in South East Asia that observed the dominant leadership style is authoritarian
leadership that shows traits of directive leadership in terms of leaders giving directions and
followers obeying to perform their tasks. This reflects a fatherly leadership embedded in the
followers as this shows the leader provides for its follower and in return, the followers are
obliged to obey and be loyal (Low and Zain, 2008; Low and Ang, 2012). Since Brunei is
Downloaded by Australian Catholic University At 00:21 08 October 2017 (PT)

under a monarchy rule, the youth considered directive leadership as a norm in their society,
thus the preference towards directive leadership is supported. Although this type of
leadership is not agreeable with the current world’s expectation (Manz and Sims, 2001),
leaders can use this type of leadership style to their advantage by expecting high performance
of the followers (Lorinkova, Pearsall and Sims, 2012). For instance, there are numerous
policies that required Bruneian youth involvement, such as the introduction of National
Youth Policy which focused on the youth development through education and training
programs. The success of these policies requires the youth’s support and participation and
thus the organizers can implement the suitable leadership style to gain their supports and
commitment. The findings also have an impact towards education as Leithwood et al. (2004)
have identified that leadership is one of the important aspects for student’s education through
setting direction for the students as well as providing supports to ensure greater education
quality. It also strengthen the socialization of education by deciding the content and method
of teaching. In doing so, they can internalize the expected and appropriate behavior of
Bruneian society.

This study has identified South Korean youth preferring supportive leadership. Although
there was no initial study done with this approach, the literature has shown that their culture
of showing absolute loyalty to the rulers has influenced the followers’ preference for leaders
with similar desire as themselves, but difficult to connect with the leaders. Hence, it is
reasonable that South Korean youth prefer supportive leadership as they require leaders that
are approachable to strengthen the relationship between the followers and leader (Awan et al.,
2008; Hemakumara, 2011; Newton and Maierhofer, 2005). In this study, it is apparent that
South Korean leaders use this type of leadership to increase communication by involving
followers (Buble et al., 2014; Mohamad et al., 2009), which will generate empowerment and
trust among the followers (Huang et al. 2009). This can evidently seen where the newly
appointed president Moon Jae-In has gained the supports of youth with the promise of
alleviating unemployment issues, which further supports an argument by Estes (2012) that
South Korean youth craved for leaders that can relate to the followers at personal levels. This,
in turn, relates to economic development of the country as the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development on Local Economic and Employment Development (2015)
 explained that the leaders can engage with the youth stakeholders to gain economic support
by aligning their needs and interests for visioning and agenda building.

Limitation, Future Recommendation and Conclusion

This study is not without any limitation as the main focus of the leadership preference is
based heavily on cultural aspects. Although this study has shown that cultural aspects have
significant impacts towards leadership preference in Brunei Darussalam and South Korea,
there are other factors to consider for understanding leadership preference. Dg Kamisah and
Budin (2015) observed that power distance between the leaders and followers, level of job
uncertainty, collectivism/individualism society and masculinity/femininity society have
influence over the leadership preference. As a recommendation for future studies, these
Downloaded by Australian Catholic University At 00:21 08 October 2017 (PT)

factors can be considered to investigate leadership preference in Asian countries. Moreover,

this can leads to potential future research on leadership preferences within other regions
and/or countries to pinpoint the exact role of culture in leadership.

Another limitation found within this study is the uneven sample size for Brunei and South
Korea. The sample show a high population gap between these countries, this indicate that a
larger sample size for South Korea is needed to improve the accuracy of the result. Therefore,
a larger sample size is recommended to enhance the study of leadership preference.

However, despite the limitation, the explanation and theory built throughout this study has
provided a clear definition of leadership style needed by both countries in the future, hence
reducing the gap as the study aimed to identify the leadership style and skills needed that is
suitable for the by youth in South Korea and in Brunei. It can be concluded that South Korean
youth prefer supportive leadership style while Bruneian youth prefer directive leadership
style. These results, regardless of the fact that both are Asian countries, have shown that
different leadership style is desired. Moreover, such desire arises due to the cultural impact
towards the youth on leadership preferences at the current time and environment. The study
has also discovered various literal constructs using Path Goal Theory, based on the leadership
styles preferences, a leader can change the leadership style that is desired by the youth.

Acknowledgements
This research has been sponsored by Asean University Network and Korean Association of
South East Asia Studies, they will only publish my study in proceeding and even encourage
me to submit it for publication. This manuscript has not been published and is not under
consideration for publication elsewhere.
 References

Awan, R., Zaidi, N. and Bigger, S. (2008), “Relationships between higher education leaders
and subordinates in Pakistan: a path goal approach.” Bulletin of Education and
Research. December 2008, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 29-44

Belas, J. (2013), “The leadership style and the productiveness of employees in the banking
sector in Slovakia”, Journal of competitiveness, Vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 39-52, March 2013.

Bogdanic, D. (2012), “Expectations of participative leadership behavior in Bosnia and

Herzegovina”, Journal of Engineering Management and Competitiveness. Vol. 2,
No.2, pp. 64-68.
Downloaded by Australian Catholic University At 00:21 08 October 2017 (PT)

Brodbeck, F. C., Frese, M., Akerblom, S., Audia, G., Bakacsi, G., Bendova, H., and
Wunderer, R. (2000). “Cultural variation of leadership prototypes across 22 European
countries.” Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, vol. 73, no.1,
pp. 1-29.

Buble, M., Juras, A. and Matić, I. (2014), “The relationship between managers’ leadership
styles and motivation”, Management, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 161-193.

Cheng, B.S., Boer D., Chou, L., Huang, M., Yoneyama, S., Shim, D., Sun, J., Lin, T., Chou,
W. and Tsai, C. (2014), “Paternalistic leadership in four East Asian societies:
generalizability and cultural differences of the Triad Model”, Journal of cross-
cultural psychology. Vol. 45, No.1, pp. 82-90.

Chuang, S (2013).“Essential Skills for Leadership Effectiveness in Diverse Workplace

Development”. Online Journal for Workforce Education and Development. Vol 6,
no.1, pp. 1 - 24

Dinerman, T. (2010), The Korean Incident: Changing Dynamics in Asia?, New York:
Gatestone Institute.

Kamisah, A. B. and Syed A. W. (2015),"The relationship between culture and leadership

style preference among Malay-Brunei, Bajau and Kadazan-Dusun community in
Sabah, Malaysia", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 34 Iss 10 pp. 1202 –
1210

Estes, D. (2012), An analysis of Korean and American Leadership Styles in Business,

(Unpublished undergraduate thesis), Virginia, United States: Liberty University.

Grenier, C. and Josserand, E. (2001). Researching Content and Researching Process. In

Thietart, R. (Ed.), Doing management research: a comprehensive guide, London:
SAGE Publications, pp. 85-108.
 Gerstner, C. R., & Day, D. V. (1994). “Cross-cultural comparison of leadership prototypes”.
The Leadership Quarterly, vol.5, no.2, pp. 121-134.

Hemakumara, M.G.G. (2011), Leadership Styles and Team Cohesiveness: A Study Based On
Non Managerial Level Employees In Public Sector Organizations In Sri Lanka.
Retrieved from
http://archive.cmb.ac.lk/research/bitstream/70130/1631/1/HRM_%26_MOS_ by 11th
July 2016.

House, R.J. (1971), “A path-goal theory of leader effectiveness”, Administrative Science

Quarterly, Vol. 16, pp. 321-339.
Downloaded by Australian Catholic University At 00:21 08 October 2017 (PT)

House, R.J., Hanges, P.J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P.W. and Gupta, V. (2004), Culture,
leadership, and Organizations. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publication.

Howell, J.P. and Costley, D.L. (2001). Understanding Behaviors for Effective Leadership.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall

Huang, X., Iun, J., Liu, A. and Gong,Y. (2009), “Does participative leadership enhance work
performance by inducing empowerment or trust? The differential effects on
managerial and non-managerial subordinates”, Journal of Organizational Behavior,
Vol. 31, pp. 122–143.

Ibert, J., Baumard, P., Donada, C. and Xuereb, J. (2001). Data Collection and Managing the
Data Source. In Thietart, R. (Ed.), Doing management research: a comprehensive
guide, London: SAGE Publications, pp. 172-195.

IndexMundi (2007). World Population. [online] Available at:

http://www.indexmundi.com/world/population.html [Accessed 18 July, 2017]

Jogulu, U.D. and Wood G.J. (2008),"A cross-cultural study into peer evaluations of women's
leadership effectiveness", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 29
Iss 7 pp. 600 – 616.

Kifle, H. and Low K.C.P. (2009), “E-government implementation and leadership – the Brunei
Darussalam case study”, Electronic Journal of e-Government, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 271-
282

Kim, J (2016). South Korea Youth in Crisis – Implication for Political Leadership. Policy
Forum. [online] Available at:
https://asianstudies.georgetown.edu/sites/asianstudies/files/files/upload/gjaa._2.2_kim
.pdf [Accessed 5th May 2017]
 Larkin, J. (2001), “South Korea eyes regional power status”, in: Far Eastern Economic
Review, published on 5 June 2011.

Leithwood, K., Louis, K.S., Anderson, S. and Wahlstrom, K. (2004), How Leadership
influence student learning, United States of America: Wallace State Foundation

Lok, P. and Crawford, J. (2004). “The effect of organizational culture and leadership style on
job satisfaction and organizational commitment – A cross-national comparison.”
Journal of Management Development. Vol. 23, No. 4, PP. 321-338

Lord, R.G., Brown, D.J., Harvey, J.L. and Hall, R.J. (2001), “Contextual constraints on
prototype generation and their multi-level consequences for leadership perceptions”,
Downloaded by Australian Catholic University At 00:21 08 October 2017 (PT)

Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 12, pp. 311-338.

Lorinkova, N.M., Pearsall, M.J. and Sims Jr, H.P. (2012), “Examining the differential
longitudinal performance of directive versus empowering leadership in teams”,
Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 56, No. 2, pp. 573-596.

Low, K.C.P. and Zain, A.Y.M. (2008), “Creating the competitive edge, the father leadership
way”, Paper presented in the International Conference on Business and Management
in Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Brunei Darussalam on 8-9 January 2008, Universiti
Brunei Darussalam

Low, K.C.P. and Ang L.S. (2012), “The theory and practice of Confucian value of integrity:
the Brunei case study”, International Journal of Business and Management, Vol. 7,
No. 14, pp. 114 – 124.

Lumbasi, G. W., Aol, G. O. K. and Ouma, A. C. (2016). “The Effect of Achievement

Oriented leadership style on the performance of COYA Senior Managers in Kenya”.
International Journal of Novel Research in Marketing Management and Economics.
Vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 118-125

Lussier, R.N. and Achua, C.F. (2010), Leadership, Mason, Ohio: South-Western CENGAGE
Learning.

Manz, C. and Sims, H. (2001). The new Superleadership: Leading others to Lead
Themselves, California: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Mohamad, M., Silong, A.D. and Hassan, Z. (2009), “Participative and effective community
leadership practice in Malaysia”, The Journal of Human Resources and Adult
Learning, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 139 – 148.

Nahavandi, A. (2006).The art and science of leadership. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
:Pearson Education Inc
 Nemaei, B. (2012), The Impact of participative leadership on employee's motivation, job
satisfaction and innovation. (Unpublished master dissertation). Dubai: The British
University in Dubai

Newton, C.J. and Maierhofer, N.I. (2005), “Supportive leadership and well-being: the role of
team value congruence”, In Katsikitis, Mary, Eds. Proceedings 40th Australian
Psychological Society Annual Conference, pp. 208-212, Melbourne.

Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA:
SAGE Publications Inc .
Downloaded by Australian Catholic University At 00:21 08 October 2017 (PT)

O’Connor, K. (2010), Gender and Women’s Leadership: A Reference Handbook. Thousands

Oaks, California: Sage Publications Inc.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on Local Economic and

Employment Development (2015), Local Economic Leadership, Paris: the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Royer, I. and Zarlowski, P. (2001). Research Design. In Thietart, R. (Ed.), Doing

management research: a comprehensive guide, London: SAGE Publications, pp. 109-
131.

Schwartz, S.H., Melech, G., Lehmann, A., Burgess, S., Harris, M. and Owens, V. (2001),
“Extending the cross-cultural validity of the theory of basic human values with a
different method of measurement”, Journal of cross-cultural Psychology, Volume 32,
No. 5, pp. 519- 542.

Shaw, J.B. (1990), “A cognitive categorization model for the study of intercultural
management”, Academy of Management Review, vol.15 no.4, pp. 626-645.

Steers, R.M., Shin,Y.K. and Ungson, G.R. (1989), The Chaebol: Korea's new industrial
might, New York: Harper and Row.

Swierczek, F.W. (1991), “Leadership and culture: comparing Asian managers”, Leadership
and Organization Development Journal, Volume 12, No. 7, pp. 3–10.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations (2017). What do we mean
by “Youth”?.[Online]. Available at http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-
humansciences/themes/youth/youth-definition [Accessed 17 May 2017]

Van Linden, J.A. and Fertman, C.I. (1998), Youth leadership: A guide to understanding
leadership development in adolescents, San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass.
 Yazdanpanah, Z. and Afrassiabi, R. (2014), “The relationship between participative and
achievement-oriented management styles and time management”, International
Journal of Management and Humanity Sciences, Volume 3, No. 10, pp. 3143-3147.

Yiing, L. H., & Ahmad, K. Z. (2009). “The Moderating Effects of Organizational Culture on
the Relationships Between Leadership Behavior and Organizational Commitment and
Between Organizational Commitment and Job Satisfaction and Performance.”
Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 30, no.1, pp. 53-86.

Yoon, J. (2010), Leadership representations in South Korea and the US, (Unpublished
Master’s Degree), Georgia: Georgia Institute of Technology.
Downloaded by Australian Catholic University At 00:21 08 October 2017 (PT)

Yukl, G.A. (2002), Leadership in Organizations, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice
Hall

Zain A.Y.M., Othman, R., Lim, S.A. and Idris, D.S.R.P. (2015), “Attributes of effective
leadership from the perspectives of implicit leadership theory (ILT): a study in
Brunei”, International Journal of Science Commerce and Humanities, Vol. 3, No 6,
pp. 58 64.

Zabihi, M., & Hashemzehi, R. (2012). “The relationship between leadership styles and
organizational citizenship behavior”. African Journal of Business Management. Vol.
6, no. 9, pp. 3310-3319
 Variables Number of Number of Cronbach’s Alpha
Items Items Deleted
Directive 5 - 0.658
Supportive 5 1 0.615
Participative 5 - 0.683
Achievement Oriented 5 1 0.712
Table I: Validity and Reliability Test
Downloaded by Australian Catholic University At 00:21 08 October 2017 (PT)

Mean Standard
Deviation
Directive
South Korea 3.86 0.53
Brunei Darussalam 3.92 0.74
Supportive
South Korea 4.31 0.70
Brunei Darussalam 3.72 0.79
Participative
South Korea 4.18 0.57
Brunei Darussalam 3.80 0.79
Achievement-Oriented
South Korea 3.64 0.66
Brunei Darussalam 3.88 0.78
Table II: Mean and Standard Deviation
 Dear editor,
We appreciate the constructive comments from the reviewer for assisting us with the minor
revision in order to publish our research paper. We have addressed and resolved these comments
carefully and made adjustment which meets your expectation. We have response to both of your
questions and comments with great details in the following texts. Below are the detailed
responses to the minor revisions:
Suggestion(s) and comment(s) from
reviewer
1 The paper creates a strong link
Downloaded by Australian Catholic University At 00:21 08 October 2017 (PT)
between preferred leadership styles
and culture however this is not
fully explored, only a small section
in the paper is included around this
area
2 There is evidence of relevant
literature being used in the
paper. The literature review
section is fairly descriptive and
does not adequately link to the core
area of discussion but mainly acts
as a descriptive piece to describe
leadership styles.
3 The sample size is 350 it would be
good to see what % this is against
population in order to provide a
better level of perspective.
4 Results are clearly presented
however section 6 could have been
further explored as the link
between culture and leadership
preference is only lightly
discussed. Further to this it would
have been good to understand
exposure to cultural change among
the sample size.
5 There is clearly a link to culture
which is presented in the paper. It
would be good to see more in-depth
research into the impact of the
leadership preference on economy
and socialisation within the region
and what factors work to change
Response(s)
Thank you for the direction, we have made the revision by
improving the Culture and Leadership Styles Preferences
section with more literature review and references, which we
also connected with the Discussion section. We hope that you
will find these revision as an improvement.
Thank you for highlighting this issue. We have shortened the
description of the four leadership styles by emphasizing them as
a brief and short introduction. (page 2, last paragraph)
As an improvement, we have strengthened and linked the
preferred leadership styles of youth in each country based on the
description in the Discussion and Implication section.
We have included the response rate out of the total
questionnaires distributed to provide a better in-sight of the
research in the Methodology section. We also included the %
against the population as a limitation to the study.
Thank you for the comment, we have strengthened and linked
the preferred leadership styles with culture by including more
literatures in the Literature review and Discussion.
Furthermore, we have improved the implications for both
countries in the Discussion and Implications section.
We have included the practical implications towards economy
and socialization factors in term of education in South Korea
and Brunei Darussalam.
For the factors which can change the leadership preference, we
have recommended further studies to explore the role of
Hofstede’s cultural factors towards the changes of these
 that preference. preference in the Limitation, Future Recommendation and
Conclusion section.
6 The paper reads like a dissertation Thank you for the comment. We have already changed the
and is clearly structured in that structure by following the format of past papers published by
format. This does not always make JMD.
it easy to understand the core
message of the research paper.
Downloaded by Australian Catholic University At 00:21 08 October 2017 (PT)
 About the Authors

Nurul Afiqah Nor Amin received her Master in Management in Corporate Management from
University of Brunei Darussalam in 2015. In 2014, she received a second upper class degree and
was awarded the prestigious Dean’s list in 2011. She is also a part time tutor at a local institution
since 2011. She is currently a PhD student that is active in conducting research activities in
strategic management and leadership.

Chin Han Wuen has completed his Master in Management under the Universiti Brunei
Darussalam in 2015. In 2012, he completed his Bachelor of Arts and Social Science (Major in
Downloaded by Australian Catholic University At 00:21 08 October 2017 (PT)

English Language Studies and Minor in Economics). Before his graduated studies, he was an
assistant manager under Archipelago Express Sdn Bhd and legal secretary for Ibrahim Chee Teo
and Ho Advocates and Solicitors. He is currently a PhD student that is active in conducting
research activities in strategic performance in SMEs.

Muhammad Amiruddin Haji Ismail received his Master in Manager in Public Management
from Universiti Brunri Darussalam in 2015. His current research interests and activities are in the
area of New Public Management, accountability in the public sector and the work life balance of
public sector’s employees. He is currently a part time tutor at local institution since 2014.