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Leadership Styles Adopted by Scottish Micro-businesses During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Digitalisation: Opportunities and Challenges for Business (ICBT 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems ((LNNS,volume 620))

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Abstract

The current exploratory study investigated leadership styles adopted by Scottish micro-businesses during COVID-19. A qualitative research approach was employed on 20 owners/managers in Scotland, using semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis. The findings of the study revealed thematic variations across a range of leadership styles as the autocratic style was identified by businesses as the most common approach during the pandemic due to the influence of the external environment on rapid decision-making. In essence, the findings highlight the importance of recognizing the role of leadership approaches under uncertain and volatile market conditions. Based on the qualitative findings of the study, a novel framework presented as the “COVID-19 Leadership Framework” was proposed that addresses the contextualization of the findings to a specific and contemporary context. The results of the study presented theoretical and practical implications for micro-business, policymakers, and Small to Medium Enterprise support services.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Canadian University, Dubai, UAE

    Sayed Gilani, Naveed Yasin & Rommel Sergio

  2. Westford University College, Sharjah, 50325, UAE

    Liza Gernal & Ansarullah Tantry

Authors
  1. Sayed Gilani
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  2. Liza Gernal
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  3. Ansarullah Tantry
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  4. Naveed Yasin
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  5. Rommel Sergio
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Liza Gernal or Ansarullah Tantry .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Northern Cyprus Campus, Middle East Technical University, Kalkanlı, Türkiye

    Bahaaeddin Alareeni

  2. College of Business and Finance, Ahlia University, Manama, Bahrain

    Allam Hamdan

  3. University College of Bahrain, Manama, Bahrain

    Reem Khamis

  4. Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon

    Rim El Khoury

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Gilani, S., Gernal, L., Tantry, A., Yasin, N., Sergio, R. (2023). Leadership Styles Adopted by Scottish Micro-businesses During the COVID-19 Pandemic. In: Alareeni, B., Hamdan, A., Khamis, R., Khoury, R.E. (eds) Digitalisation: Opportunities and Challenges for Business. ICBT 2022. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 620. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26953-0_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26953-0_15

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-26952-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-26953-0

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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