A Cross-cultural Investigation of Leadership in the United States and Mexico

This study reports the administration of Kouzes and Posner's (1995) Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) to 28 graduate students in educational administration at a university in the Southwest of the USA and 28 graduate students at a university in Mexico. A rationale for the importance of cross-cultural study in educational administration is presented. The results of this study indicate that the US educators scored significantly higher than Mexican educators on all five of Kouzes and Posner's leadership practices. The rank order of the practices was quite different. The leadership practices appear to be quite firmly embedded in US culture but not Mexican culture. Questions are raised about whether the theory has universal application and how effective leadership may be defined differently across cultures.