A hybrid approach to leadership, merging Western and African styles, may be key to business success in African markets, a new Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) Business School study has found.

Despite the significant differences, a combination of Western pragmatism and African humanism can form an “entirely new construct” that recognises the importance of fact, logic and the nature of reality, while promoting the recognition of human-focused and collectivist forms of leadership.

The study examined the leadership approaches of senior leaders and executives operating in multinational corporations in four sub-Saharan African countries.

“While African leadership approaches have often been criticised for being poorly adaptive to increasingly complex globalised economies, empirical data in this study presents an entirely different picture – one of confident, self-assured African leaders effectively heading businesses that are part of Western multinational corporations operating in emerging markets,” said NMMU Business School professor and researcher Paul Poisat.

“African way of Western leadership” practices show senior executives and leaders have moved towards a more humanistic culture without compromising their drive for results.

“It requires the adoption of certain African leadership characteristics which are used together with Western leadership approaches. The Western approach informs what needs to be done, while the African approach informs how to do it,” Poisat said of the so-called "crossvergence".

The study had led to the creation of a business leadership framework highlighting several elements that businesses need to consider, including risks, challenges, and skills and core competencies, when recruiting candidates for leadership positions in emerging markets.

“[It also reviewed] how candidates’ attachments to Western market culture, African clan culture, and Western and African traits and characteristics can be combined to create the crossvergence approach to leadership that African markets increasingly require,” he said.