The Dimensions of Marketing Leadership: Exploring Heterogeneity and Relationship with Perceived Effectiveness

There are various aspects of marketing that require top management support and influential leadership, such as customer orientation and product development, but the concept of leadership is rarely discussed in the marketing literature. As the number of new marketing vice-presidents and chief marketing officer positions continue to grow it is clear that developing effective leadership in the marketing organization is increasingly important. This dissertation project seeks to examine the dimensions of leadership that lead to perceptions of high performing leadership in marketing contrasted with other those in other business functions such as engineering, human resources, and R&D. We then explore how these dimensions of leadership relate to perceptions of effectiveness importance. The objective is to determine if heterogeneity exists in leadership perceptions across business functions in the organization. We collect data from seven business functions (Marketing, Engineering, Human Resource, Information Technology, Manufacturing, Research & Development, and Sales). The research uncovered eight dimensions of leadership across. Marketing is significantly different from other business functions on three of these dimensions (Vision, Drive, and Charisma). The results confirm that heterogeneity in leadership perceptions indeed differ across business function. Implications from these results may lead to improved leadership training programs for marketing organizations and management of cross-functional teams.