The relationship between culture and leadership style preference among Malay-Brunei, Bajau and Kadazan-Dusun community in Sabah, Malaysia

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between culture and leadership style preference among Sabahans, namely Malay-Brunei, Bajau and Kadazan-Dusun.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample of this research was selected based on purposive convenient sampling whereby all respondents are located in Kota Kinabalu. A questionnaire was administered for data collection with a sample of 219 employees from both the public and the private sectors. The data were analyzed using linear regression.

Findings

The evidence was found on the relationship between culture and leadership style preference among Sabahans, namely Malay-Brunei, Bajau and Kadazan-Dusun.

Research limitations/implications

Understanding on what is preferred by employees and what is practiced by the leaders will lead to better and improved performance among the employees. Better understanding on the influence of culture will help a leader to be more effective and successful in their role. Therefore, it provide implication that leader should understand the culture in order for them to be accepted by the followers.

Originality/value

This paper fulfils an identified need to study what leadership style preferred by the employees among Sabah ethnicity.

Citation

Ag Budin, D.K. and Wafa, S.A. (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 No. 10, pp. 1202-1210. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-02-2015-0019