Leadership in the East: A Social Capital Perspective

Considerable effort has been devoted to understanding leadership in a cross-cultural context and a fair amount of work has focused on Asia. A significant part of the dialogue has focused on whether Western-oriented theories and concepts apply to the Asian experience, with considerable conversation devoted to understanding the hegemonic nature of Western leadership approaches. This chapter suggests an alternative focus rooted in social capital theory and grounded in a description of how leaders could operate rather than focusing on prescriptive formulations that might or might not be relevant to dynamic and constantly changing contexts. It reviews selected portions of the literature on situational leadership; it considers the applicability of Western theories and practices in state-society relationships and social capital creation as an approach to understanding how leadership works in context; and it concludes by offering touchstones for leader awareness and action. At a broader level, the chapter focuses on leadership conceived broadly as an activity designed to produce movement towards desirable goals and outcomes that benefit all stakeholders. It argues that effective leadership involves the creation, retention and utilization of social capital resources that provide the potential for sustainable and competitive goal attainment while recognizing that all leadership is fundamentally contextual in nature.