Reinventing Leadership for Sustainable Development in Africa: Student Perceptions of Leadership in Selected African Countries
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: In Africa,1 new forms of leadership have emerged at various social levels to drive a development agenda based on peer learning and knowledge sharing. Despite this, Africa remains confronted with many challenges on its path to sustained growth and development. This research sought to characterise leadership for sustainable development using students’ lenses. It is a multiple-case study informed by a purposive sample of 30 mba students from five business schools. The findings reveal, among other things, that rather than leadership that is embodied in a sole heroic individual, Africa needs diffuse, pluralistic, collective and facilitative leadership that promotes sustainable development. Leaders should demonstrate attributes of cooperation, understanding, pluralistic knowing and seeking union, as this aligns more closely with the work required to develop more sophisticated, encompassing and collaborative efforts. Leaders should have intimate knowledge of sustainable development, creating and sustaining relations, and accommodating the heterogeneity and diversity of localities and regions. The paper argues that the foundational building block for leaders is the ability to make decisions from a long-term perspective that leads Africa towards economic prosperity, social cohesion and environmental sustainability.
Source: AVRUG-bulletin/Afrika Focus
Author: Chrispen Chiome
Language: English
Subfield: Strategy and Management
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4405761464