1. Are the elements of male leadership and female leadership the same or are they different? Are any elements unique to female leadership?
2. Are the leadership styles in Western societies (eg. Australia) and Eastern societies (eg. Taiwan) the same or different? Are the main components of Western (Australia) leadership and Eastern (Taiwan) leadership the same?
3. Are male/female differences responsible for any differences in style evident between business leadership in East and West?
4. Are the female leadership roles in formerly feudal societies (eg Taiwan) and democratic societies (eg.
Australia) the same?
5. Are there any definite distinguishing characteristics within the leadership style of Taiwanese/Australian Chinese women?
We offer a tentative model linking possible antecedents with leadership styles. I propose a number of hypotheses for testing, derived from the model.
1). Managerial Characteristics
Thomas et al. (1991) focuses on education, age and experience as managerial characteristics.
Education Level: Studies which researched the relationship between education levels and leadership qualities found that managers with higher education levels showed more understanding of the employees and generally were more receptive to new ideas (Becker, 1970; Kimberly and Evansiko, 1981; Williams et al., 1995; and Awamleh, 1994).
Hypothesis 1
If higher education level leaders have more understanding and are more receptive to new ideas, then the leaders tend to employ the Coaching leadership styles.
Age: Research on leadership qualities found that older managers were more apt to defend the status quo, and were
less likely to take risks and generally made more conservative decisions than the younger ones (Stevens et al. 1978, Awamleh 1994).
Hypothesis 2
If older leaders are more apt to defend the status quo and less likely to take risks and made conservative decisions, the leadership style tends to be task-oriented. Younger generations who have a higher level of education are more apt to be innovative and implement structural changes, and therefore assume more Supporting styles.
Experience: Gupta in his research on managerial qualities found that personnel with longer work experience in the same firm were more familiar with the firm’s structure, systems, people and processes (Gupta, 1984).
Hypothesis 3
If people with more experience and familiarity with structure, systems, processes will be more apt to be successful as leaders, then leadership tends to be more autocratic and task-oriented in style.
2). Male vs Female
According to Olsson (2000) masculine images of leadership still continue to influence the way people perceive their own and others’ leadership. Chow (2005), in similarly directed research, found that women managers tended to be more inspiring, decisive, integrity-conscious and self-sacrificial than males. He pointed out that there are more successful female leaders working as nurses, teachers, scholars and similar than males. On the other hand, according to Chow (2005), males tend to be higher on performance orientation, vision and diplomacy.
Hypothesis 4
If women are more inspiring, decisive, integrity-conscious and self-sacrificial, then women are more democratic, Supporting in style, while men have a tendency towards a more autocratic approach.
3). East vs West
Blunt and Jones (1997) argue that the leadership styles practiced in the West are not really suitable for the East because of the different way of thinking regarding authority, loyalty and interpersonal relations (Blunt and Jones, 1997). Traditionally the Chinese have been regarded as closed, conservative and undemocratic, while the Westerners have been seen as democratic, free, and open. The latter encourage exploratory and independent thinking, while the former opt for preservation of traditional values.
Hypothesis 5
If the Chinese way of thinking tends to more authority, loyalty and interpersonal relations, an is closed, conservative and undemocratic, then Chinese leadership tends to be autocratic and coaching leadership in style, while Westerners are supporting and delegative in their style of leadership.
4). Size of Company
Small business characteristics are different to those of large firms. Some small businesses are owner managed, and therefore tend to be more independent and the environment is more conducive to multi-tasking and the development of personal relationships between employees and owners (Spence 1999).
Hypothesis 6
Small business leaders adopt more delegative leadership style than leaders in large firms.
From the above discussion it can be seen that different genders in the same situations (e.g. managerial characteristics, east, west, and size of companies) have different leadership styles.
My initial hypothesis for testing is to try to find out if there are any definite distinguishing characteristics within leadership styles, and differences between genders
Methodology
In order to search for answers to the research questions, the following methodology will be used:
1). The initial research to be undertaken will be exploratory. This research will be undertaken by critical examination of current literature as well as interviews with 25 female business leaders in each of the two countries examined from a wide range of ages (25-60) and 25 male business leaders from the same age groups (Qualitative research ).
2). Questionnaires: in order to clarify the elements of female leadership, a survey instrument, i.e. Leadership Questionnaire will be conducted with women in leadership roles in Taiwan and Australia (Quantitative research).
3). Case Studies: in order to identify the elements of female leadership, case studies of female leaders will be conducted. (Qualitative/quantitative research).
Hence I propose to apply methodological triangulation (Oppermannt 2000), as indicated above which is a combination of quantitative, qualitative and case study research methods, to support my findings. Begley (1996) indicated that Triangulation is a reliable and practical research tool, which can result in an improvement in both quality and quantity of data collected. Miles and Huberman (1994:267) state that:
‘Triangulation is a way to get to the finding in the first place - by seeing or hearing multiple instances of it from different sources by using different methods and by squaring the finding with others it needs to be squared with…’(Miles and Huberman, p. 267).
The methods (case studies, quantitative research, qualitative research) relate to each other.
Traditionally in both Western and Eastern societies, ‘leadership’ has been thought to be male’s role, which means that only men could assume leader positions. Perhaps this is because men were seen as physically stronger than women and have been thought to be more aggressive and of more warlike nature (Stefanson 2004). Also men have been thought to be able to handle affairs in a decisive manner and to have a wider outlook on life. Hence in the ancient ‘primitive’ situations they have been considered more suitable to be leaders. However, in today’s world and especially in current business leadership, ‘physical power’ is no longer necessary, and thus the need for ‘power-central’ or ‘masculine’ leadership has lessened. The ‘intelligence-central or feminine’ situations require a different type of leadership. In this study this new concept of leadership is examined from a specific cross cultural perspective.
Globalization has brought the diverse cultures of the world together and with it greater equality to men and women.
Today women do not face the restricted work conditions of yesteryear. They are able to give full play to their abilities and a female’s work place is no more limited to the inside of the house. Women enter a great variety of professions in a great variety of fields. It is obvious that traditional ‘female’ characteristics such as kindness, friendliness, soft communication skills and calmness would be a valuable contribution to the atmosphere of a work place.
However, these qualities are rarely mentioned as pertinent to women’s leadership. They, as well as the differences (or similarities) between leadership by Western and Eastern women have not been researched as yet. Therefore, it can only be assumed that, especially in the Eastern male dominant society, the elements of female leadership are not simply kindness or friendliness but some other characteristics. However, they await exploration.
Women’s advance in society has been progressing at a remarkable pace. Both in education and business fields a huge number of women play an active part. However, proportionally, not many women have become leaders. What are the reasons for such a phenomenon? Does this result from women’s lack of leadership elements, or male despotism? Until today no answer has come forth.
Today we live in the so-called equal opportunity age. Society seeks powerful leaders regardless of gender. It is important to know, therefore, what characteristics make a successful business leader. Even in feudal, male-dominated Asian societies, today there are quite a few women leaders in politics, business, information systems, construction, police and the military e.g. the former president of Indonesia – Megawati Sukarnoputri, the president of the Philippines – Gloria Arroyo, Chinese Vice-premier Wu Yi, Vice president in Taiwan – Lu Xiu Lian,
Myanmar opposition leader - Aung San Suu Kyi. Former CEO and Chairman of Hewlett-Packard – Carly Fiorina, Founder and CEO, IMAN cosmetics – IMAN. These are magnificent female leaders.
Rather than expand at this stage into a set of as yet unformulated conclusions, I would like to ask you to ponder over some of these questions:
1. Do these women have some special characteristics related to their gender that has made them successful leaders?
2. Are these characteristics common to all women?
3. Are these characteristics the property of a definite type of people of both genders?
4. Can these characteristics be isolated and defined?
I shall leave you to think about these questions
This study is still in progress. I would appreciate any comments and suggestions.
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INFLUENTIAL FACTORS FOR MEDIA SELECTION IN BANKING TRANSACTIONS: KOREAN MARKET
Namjae Cho, Hanyang University, Rep. of Korea Kiho Park, Hoseo University, Rep. of Korea and Haekyung Lim, LG-CNS, Rep. of Korea
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this research, based on the Media Selection Theory, the Technology Acceptance Model, and the Social Influence Theory, is to investigate the influential factors that affect media selection in banking transactions. Analyses showed that for location sensitive bank windows and ATMs (automatic teller machines), defined as offline-based transaction channels, convenience was the variable affecting media selection. However, in the case of online media not related to location, (phone banking, internet banking, and mobile banking) reliability was the significant variable influencing use. The findings show that banking organizations may benefit from identifying traits of media affecting use, and should differentiate customer services for competitive advantage.
INTRODUCTION
The advent of information technologies, most notably internet technology, allows for a variety of bank transaction channels. Consequently, many banking channels frequently present market and differential service opportunities to bank organizations and provide customers with options for media selection. Thus, if finance organizations successfully adopt electronic banking channels based on characteristics of the channels, they may greatly increase customer satisfactory strategies in many types of transactions. In the Korean finance industry, the ratio of use of internet banking increased to 41.5% at the end of 2006 compared with 36.7% at the end of 2005. Contrarily, use of banking windows decreased from 24.7% to 22.7%, and the use of ATMs decreased from 27.0% to 24.6% at the same period (JoongAng, 2006).
According to the development and expansion of internet finance, mobile banking may be a new driver and crucial issue. Therefore, mobile banking can be considered as an expander of financial transaction channels. Many people who have been engaged in the finance industry predict that mobile banking will grow faster than internet banking.
Thus, the advent of new technologies may play an important role, not in replicating or evicting existing technologies, but in expanding choices. Namely, internet and mobile technologies used in financial transactions can be new channels. According to the Media Selection Theory that explains media choice behaviors of users, influential factors may be social, official, individual, and technological. Because each channel has its own inherited characteristics, users usually ask themselves which media fits their specific purposes. Thus, based on the fitness of task, media is selected (Park & Cho, 2004; Daft & Lengel, 1986; Rice, 1992). Hence, the present research focused on influential factors that affect the use of media in banking processes. In addition to traditional banking channels, this study also investigates influential factors on new internet and mobile banking selections.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
In the Media Selection Theory, fitness of task can influence media selection. In general, a variety of media can be classified by two intrinsic traits: one, to solve the uncertainty from the lack of information and the other is to settle the equivocality in communication (Daft and Lengel, 1986). Uncertainty comes from lack of information. Thus, the
more information obtained, the less uncertain one is generally (Galbraith, 1973). Equivocality implies lack of understanding and confusion. Consequently, uncertainty is associated with the volume of information and equivocality with the quality of information. Moreover, media richness is one of various media traits.
In the TAM, which depicts the acceptance process of information technology (IT), a user’s intention, associated with the acceptance of IT, may be affected by perceived usability and perceived convenience (Venkatesh & Davis, 2000). The easy-to-use factor is especially influential in technology acceptance (Venkatesh, 1996). According to literature, compared with complex systems, simple information systems can get high rates of selection (Davis, 1989;
Venkatesh, 2000). Rogers (1995) asserted that the faster that users are accustomed to using a system, the more rapidly new technologies are diffused into the market. In offline transaction situations, immersion and reliability may be the crucial factors in relationships (Morgan and Hunt, 1994), and confidence among organizations or persons may affect purchasing behaviors or interactivity (Doney and Cannon, 1997). However, trust in online transactions is dependent upon a guarantee of security, brand perception, easy locating, system performance, and technologies (Cheskin Research, 1999).
Social influence can be considered one of the crucial environmental or surrounding factors that affect people. This study focused on dealing with traits influencing personal media cognition in society and surroundings. The theoretical bases of this theory were the Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger, 1954), the Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977), and the Social Information Processing Theory (Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978).
Recently, in accordance with the rapid development of IT, the financial industry has been confronted with necessities of change, that is, a variety of customer’s needs, M&A, subsidiary businesses, and informatization of financial organizations. Moreover, many firms not related with finance, such as telecommunication or manufacturing companies, have aggressively entered the financial business area. In finance industry, the demand for changes originated with electronic finance. Banking firms followed in transactions dealing with remittance money and gradually also in insurance tasks. Thus, new financial transaction channels have evolved and these have given firms a number of opportunities in order to hold competitive advantage and differentiate financial services.