A cross-cultural comparison of leadership skills across the United States, the United Kingdom and Italy: a quantitative design using internet technology

摘要

This study focused on cross-cultural leadership styles between the United States,the United Kingdom and the Republic of Italy to determine if any significant statisticaldifferences in leadership style exist. It is a common belief that leadership styles varyaccording to cultural filters and expectations. Yet, this study failed to find support forthis position.Perceived Leadership Scales and the Leadership Needs Assessment survey wereadapted and modified to create a single online research instrument. The results, whiletentative, found no significant differences between leadership styles in the United States,the United Kingdom and Italy.Utilizing online electronic surveys and internet related technologies theinstruments were mailed to leaders of consulting firms engaged in poverty alleviationefforts in their homeland as well as in third world areas. Utilizing basic descriptivestatistics the results were analyzed using SPSS. The conclusions from this study are drawn tentatively due to the small samplesize and poor response rate as well as some methodological issues. Notwithstandingthese concerns, however, the central conclusion of the study is that while it may bepolitically correct to assume there is a significant difference between leadership stylesbased on cultural norms and expectations filters, the data, at least in this limited study,does not support this assumption.