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Strategic leadership and organizational performance in small and medium enterprises in Zimbabwe: developing a strategic leadership model.

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2020

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Abstract

The main aim of this study is to develop a strategic leadership model that suites the operations of small and medium enterprises in Zimbabwe. Small and medium enterprises, like other organisations, must perform. The study explores the awareness of strategic leadership by SMEs leaders in Zimbabwe, its acceptance, and effectiveness as factors impacting organisational performance. SMEs are engines of economic growth, and in Zimbabwe, they are crucial sources of employment. However, due to a lack of managerial skills, their owners/managers hardly have business plans. As a result, managers make strategic decisions haphazardly. The theory of strategic leadership highlights top organisational leaders as makers of strategic decisions to enhance organisational performance. This study followed the parallel convergent mixed methods approach, collecting separately quantitative and qualitative data using the survey and multiple case study methods. The researcher used the multistage cluster sampling method to recruit 768 respondents from five provinces in Zimbabwe. Data collection involved distributing a delivery and collection questionnaire in person to the respondents with the assistance of third parties. Qualitatively, 21 participants were selected from 7 cases using the purposeful sampling method. Data collection using semi-structured interviews was approximately 30-60 minutes per interview. Quantitative data analysis followed the EFA-SEM process, using the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to confirm exploratory factor analysis results (EFA) before employing the structural equation modeling (SEM) to test relations among factors. Themes development involved using Nvivo12 pro software to analyse qualitative data. Quantitative findings reveal that awareness of strategic leadership, its acceptance, role, and effectiveness are all factors that positively impact organisational performance. Qualitative results also show that SMEs owners/leaders have a good awareness of strategic leadership, its role, and effectiveness as crucial factors that impact organisational performance. A comparison of results shows a high degree of compatibility, giving room for the development of a model. The model will guide SMEs leaders in their strategy-making programmes and assist policymakers in designing programmes necessary to stimulate the performance and growth of SMEs in Zimbabwe.

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Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.

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