Charismatic and Transformational Leadership Styles: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

Culture’s influence on leadership processes is generally accepted. However, differing leadership styles will be differentially impacted by the cultural context in which they seek to operate. The current paper examines two seemingly similar but distinct leadership styles, charismatic leadership and transformational leadership in the context of cultural dimensions of individualism-collectivism and tightness-looseness. A conceptual framework is presented to describe the interaction of these leadership styles and cultural dimensions. It is argued that charismatic leadership would be the preferred leadership style in individualistic and loose societies, whereas transformational leadership style would be more acceptable in collectivistic and tight societies. These insights have practical implications for design of leadership intervention programs for businesses spanning more than one culture.