Title: A cross-cultural study of leadership styles among executives in Bulgaria and Finland

Authors: Nadezhda Gotcheva

Addresses: Department of Industrial Management, Tampere University of Technology, P.O. Box 541, FI-33101, Tampere, Finland

Abstract: This study assesses and compares the leadership styles of executives from two socioeconomically and culturally different European settings, Bulgaria as a postsocialist transition society and Finland as a knowledge-based society. The Achieving Styles/Connective Leadership Model was used as a theoretical framework for this quantitative study, while the L-BL Achieving Styles Inventory (ASI) was utilised to assess the goal-directed behaviour of Bulgarian and Finnish managers. The results revealed that there are significant differences in the ways Bulgarian and Finnish managers accomplished their objectives in five out of nine achieving styles. Finally, we discuss the findings and implications.

Keywords: achieving styles; cross-cultural leadership; connective leadership; leadership styles; Bulgaria; transitional economy; Finland; knowledge economy; goal-directed behaviour.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHRDM.2008.018789

International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management, 2008 Vol.8 No.3, pp.246 - 258

Published online: 18 Jun 2008 *

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