The teaching of leadership on UK MBA programmes : A critical analysis from an international perspective

This study investigates the compatibility of leadership values taught on MBA programmes in the United Kingdom (UK) and the expected, accepted and effective leadership values in three non‐western cultures. The study was conducted on 272 full‐time MBA graduates from Asian, Arab and African countries soon after obtaining an MBA from UK business schools. The analysis reveals that leadership curricula on MBA programmes is broadly conceived in the US corpus and assumes universality. The ethnocentric approach to the teaching of leadership is due to a large extent to the unavailability of alternative theories and published empirical evidence outside the USA and the low level of faculty expertise and interest in international dimensions of effective leadership styles. The research argues that there is a need for western management schools to adopt a more eclectic view of leadership teaching and to cast their perspective beyond western idiosyncrasies and include non‐western business perspectives.