The effect of cultural modelling on leadership profiling of the Cambodian manager

Abstract

Management research has predominantly focused on national studies of large nations, while smaller nations have been largely ignored. In addition, although Confucian Asia has been extensively studied, dharmic Asia and the Mekong region have not. This study, therefore, considers Cambodia, using the conceptual framework of Selvarajah et al. (Selvarajah, C., Duignan, P., Nuttman, C. and Suppiah, C., 1995. In search of the Asian leader: An exploratory study of dimensions that relates to excellence in leadership. Management international review: Journal of international business, 35 (1), 29–34), which has been previously used to understand a variety of eastern and western leadership behaviours. This study on Cambodia, similar to previous studies, has demonstrated the importance of cultural context when considering leadership behaviour. In Cambodia, the influence of religion and its turbulent past make this a particularly interesting study of managerial leadership and the implications to management and theory development are discussed.

Keywords:

• culture
• deference for authority
• individualism
• leadership
• pragmatism
• Theravada Buddhism

Acknowledgements

We thank the participating universities; Build Bright University and Swinburne University for their support in this research. We specifically thank Sok Chantha of Canadia Bank, Preap Seresophea of Technology and IT Solutions, Meng Srun of the Coca-Cola Company, Lim Socheat of Morison Kak and Associates, and Li Alix of the Sen Sok Co Ltd who agreed to provide cultural explanations to issues in the research. Without these people, the richness and quality of the insights into the Cambodian culture would not have been possible. We also thank the numerous people that the senior researcher met at the Cambodiana Hotel, the Royal Cambodian Museum, the Royal National Library and the many historical sites during his field trip visits. The audience and discussion regarding leadership in Cambodia with Kol Peng, senior Minister of Education, Youth and Sports and Pak Thavin, Director General of Education of the Royal Government of Cambodia is greatly appreciated. Without these people's support this research would not have been possible. We would also wish to thank Makara Meoung and Dy Davuth for helping with the back-translation of the questionnaire, supporting data collection and providing contextual interpretation. Special thanks also to Professor Robert Jones and Jerome Donovan for providing valuable feedback. Last but not least, we wish to add our appreciation to the editors and seven reviewers of the APBR journal who provided detailed feedback on the manuscript.

Notes

 1. Theravada Buddhist philosophies are based on the concept of dharma, which emphasizes duties in the pursuit of individual salvation through self-realization. Following a virtuous path or righteous duties remove or lessen the effect of karma where actions of past and present lives may either aid or prevent salvation. Bad karma could lead to reincarnation to a lesser being and good karma could lead to breaking the cycle of rebirths or being reborn into a higher-order being.

 2. Pali is a derivative of Sanskrit and became the language vehicle through which Theravada Buddhism went to Sri Lanka and countries in Southeast Asia.

 3. Mainly the Hindu traditions and values attached to Mahabharata and Ramayana. Mahabharata and Ramayana are legendary epics based on the adventures of Lord Rama, the Hindu deity of preservation. The epics are based on moral values that guide good conduct and honour and have guided the realms of Southeast Asia for the past two millennia.

 4. For a concise summary of the key concepts covering Buddhist philosophies, read Kumar (2002).

 5. The existence of the caste system in Hinduism is enshrined in the Manavadharmasastra, or Laws of Manu. The Laws of Manu became the standard source of authority from the start of the Common Era and during the British Colonial period in India, it became a tool with which to rule the people of the Hindu faith.

 6. Dharma is the central concept that explains the ‘ultimate truth’ or reality of the universe based not on a God-head but through reasoning. The symbol of Dharma is the wheel and is the central motif in the Indian national flag.

 7. Prajna in Sanskrit and panna in Pali. Pali is a derivative of Sanskrit and is the Buddhist script used in Cambodia and was brought to Cambodia from Sri Lanka in the thirteenth century.

 8. sila in both Sanskrit and in Pali.

 9. samadhi in Sanskrit and in Pali.

10. The Middle Path promotes a neutral stance, being upright and having an unbiased position when establishing relationships between thought and behaviour and between behaviour and its consequences. In the Buddhist tenets, based on human behaviour, the Middle Path provides (1) the process of human activity (The Law of Dependent Origination) and (2) how humans can overcome the consequences or effects of human activity (The Noble Eightfold Path).

11. Both these papers reported on the pilot studies carried out to test the conceptual framework and a pilot sample in five ASEAN countries.

12. May also mean community of Buddhist or the monastic community.

13. Atta (in Pali) and atman (in Sanskrit) refer to ‘self’.