Can leadership branding work in theory and practice to resolve the integration-responsiveness problems facing multinational enterprises?

Abstract

Leadership branding has been proposed as a new approach for transforming the impact of leaders in organizations by developing a shared leadership identity. There has, however, been little empirical evidence to support the concept. In this paper, we combine new theories of leadership identity construction with dialogue theory to provide a more adequate explanation of why leadership branding might offer multinational enterprises (MNEs) with a useful conceptual framework and a set of practices to help resolve the integration-responsiveness problems they face. We do this by using data from a longitudinal case study of a UK-based MNE. Our findings support the claims that successful identity construction and dialogue help explain the process of leadership branding. They also show that a leadership-structure schema emphasizing shared values and dialogue can assist in resolving integration-responsiveness problems in MNEs, although strong corporate leadership brands are difficult to establish and may not be beneficial in the long term.

Keywords:

• branding
• dialogue theory
• identity theory
• leadership
• multinationals