One nation, three cultures: exploring dimensions that relate to leadership in Malaysia

Purpose – Malaysia is a multicultural country with a distinct mix of three major races; Chinese Indians, and Malays. This paper sets out to explore the contribution of the three main ethnic groups to leadership in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – Summated scales for the importance of Excellent Leader (EL), Personal Qualities (PQ), Managerial Behaviours (MB), Organisational Demands (OD) and Environmental Influences (EI) were developed using most of the items categorised by Selvarajah et al. and several other items rated highly in the study. A structural model was constructed to explain the relationship in excellence in leadership. Findings – From the three ethnic groups, 512 managers participated in the research. The findings suggest that Malaysian managers maintain distinctive leadership behaviour along ethnic lines and a Malaysian leadership identity is still in its infant stage. Practical implications – Malaysia is a country with three distinct ethnic population groups and is yet to forge a single Malaysian identity. The findings are important for managers on foreign assignment in Malaysia and for others who engage with Malaysia. Originality/value – Most literature discusses Malaysian culture from a national perspective. The paper contextualises leadership of an Asian Tiger economy, which has since independence in 1957 politically developed the nation within three Asian national cultural frameworks.