Excellence in leadership in the Arab world: Islamic principles and tribal values. Evidence from Jordan

Abstract

While leadership is one of the most studied areas among organisational scholars, research interests in the impact of cultural values on leadership perceptions and behaviours remains ongoing. In fact, most studies adopt a universal or rather Western viewpoint on leadership. As such, the literature is largely unaware of the cultural differences in leadership perceptions, such as those in the Arab World. Drawing on implicit leadership theories (ILTs), our study aims to develop and validate a research model in which Islamic leadership principles (shura, al-amanah, and itqan) and Arab tribal values (ayb, wasta and karam) are associated with leadership behaviours. Data were collected from 544 managers from Jordan and analysed using structural equation modelling. Based on our findings, we present empirical evidence detailing how cultural values are related to leadership behaviours. Results show that Islamic principles encourage relation and task leadership orientations, but negative practices derived from the Arab values of ayb and wasta provide obstacles.