Comparing perceptions of leadership, innovation and performance in Asian SMEs

ABSTRACT

Having a clear understanding of how leaders perceive their leadership behaviours and firms’ situation is critical to help SMEs grasp their strengths and weaknesses. The current paper, therefore, aims to examine the perception towards leadership behaviours, innovation and organizational performance among Asian SMEs. SMEs in China, Japan, Vietnam and Thailand, responded to a survey that revealed their perceptions on four behaviours associated with Design Leadership, four levels of Workplace Innovation, and two types of organizational performance; Profitability and Growth. The analysis of variance was conducted to provide a complete picture of the comparison among the countries. The results revealed that there was a significant difference between Thailand and Japan, Vietnam and Japan, China and Japan on Design Leadership. With relations to Workplace Innovation, there was a negative variance of score between Vietnam and Thailand, and China and Thailand. Finally, significant differences were found amongst most of the countries on Profitability and Growth. The study would assist researchers in understanding how Asian SMEs perceive their leadership behaviours; stages of innovation, and assess their performance. With an accurate perception and understanding, it would lead to the creation of proper strategies and training programs that would contribute to the development of Asian SMEs.

KEYWORDS:

• SMEs
• Asian
• leadership
• innovation
• performance
• China
• Japan
• Thailand
• Vietnam

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nuttawuth Muenjohn

Nuttawuth Muenjohn is a Senior Lecturer at School of Management, RMIT University, Australia. His research areas include leadership and innovation.

Jun Ishikawa

Jun Ishikawa is a Professor of Management at College of Business, Rikkyo University, Japan. He is also the Head of the Institute for Leadership Studies.

Navatasn Kongsamutr

Navatasn Kongsamutr is a Lecturer and Director, Air Transport Research and Consulting Centre, Kasetsart University, Thailand.

Peamawat Muenjohn

Peamawat Muenjohn is a researcher at Faculty of Health, Art and Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia.

Alan Montague

Alan Montague is a Senior Lecturer and researcher at School of Management, RMIT University, Australia. He is a specialist in human resource management, industry and leadership, with extensive experience in mixed methodologies.

Yusuke Suzumura

Yusuke Suzumura is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Foreign Studies, Meijo University, Japan. He is also Visiting Researcher of the Hosei University Research Center for International Japanese Studies.