Leadership Behaviour and Organizational Effectiveness in The African Airline Industry: An Empirical and Theoretical Investigation

This study investigates the leadership behaviours that drive organizational performance within the African airline sector. Drawing on Yukl's (2012) taxonomy of behaviour, which separates leadership as task-oriented, relations-oriented, change-oriented, and external-oriented behaviours, the study aims to understand how these aspects of behaviour influence performance in a highly dangerous industry subject to strict regulations. Qualitative methodology was employed through 14 in-depth semi-structured interviews with senior executives and managers of public and private airlines operating throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Thematic data analysis revealed that while all types of leadership behaviour contribute to effectiveness, the extent to which they do so is highly dependent on organizational context. Leaders who demonstrated dynamic balance in the four behavioural dimensions were more successful at addressing the complex operating and environmental challenges characteristic of the African airline environment. In addition, other behaviours outside the original model of Yukl such as empathy, tolerance and approachability were revealed to be critical to effective leadership within the environment. These findings contribute to existing leadership theory and offer beneficial practical recommendations on how to build context-sensitive models of leadership. The study emphasizes the imperative of designing leadership training programs that are sensitive to the unique regulatory, cultural, and operating environments of the African aviation sector in a bid to enhance leadership capacity in this strategically critical industry.