Action Leadership and Followers’ Attributes: A Study of Mexican MSMEs

Published 2025-04-22
Scientific articles

Abstract

Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are a key component of national economies, representing 99% of existing businesses worldwide. However, the average lifespan of these organizations is very short, often due to poor leadership from business managers and their inability to motivate adequate work performance. Therefore, the objective of this research is to investigate the impact of action-oriented leadership on the attributes of employees in MSMEs in the city of Durango, Mexico. To this end, two validated instruments measuring action-oriented leadership—the first by Rojero Jiménez et al. (2023) and the second, follower attributes, by Antelo et al. (2010)—were applied to a representative sample of 400 MSMEs with a 95% confidence level and a 5% margin of error. The results were subjected to reliability and validity tests, and linear regression models were used to determine the influence of this leadership style on employees. Statistically significant evidence was found of the positive impact of action leadership on the attributes of followers in these companies, highlighting the importance of the transparent and participatory construction of the leader, its influence on emotional intelligence and interpersonal and group relationships within organizations.

Similar Articles

1-10 of 900

Authors

References

Antelo, A., Prilipko, E. V. & Sheridan-Pereira, M. (2010). Assessing effective attributes of followers in a leadership process. Contemporary Issues in Education Research (CIER), 3(9), 33-44. https://doi.org/10.19030/cier.v3i9.233

Avolio, B. J. & Gardner, W. L. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 16(3), 315-338. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2005.03.001

Basha, M., Sucharitha, M., Lakshmi, M. & Kumar, J. (2023). Talent retention, job involvement satisfaction, and commitment towards the organization in the IT sector. AIP Conference Proceedings, 2888(1), Article 020023. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0164526

Bass, B. M. & Avolio, B. J. (1993). Improving organizational effectiveness through transformational leadership. Sage Publications.

Bolden, R., Gulati, A. & Edwards, G. (2020). Mobilizing change in public services: Insights from a systems leadership development intervention. International Journal of Public Administration, 43(1), 26-36. https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2019.1604748

Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. Harper & Row.

Chaleff, I. (1995). The courageous follower: Standing up to and for our leaders. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Chaudhry, M., Hameed, Z. & Ahmed, F. (2023). Effect of abusive supervision on organizational cynicism (cognitive, affective, behavioural): Mediating effect of playing dumb. PLOS One, 18(4), Article e0284884. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284884

Clemente-Almendros, J. A., Nicoara-Popescu, D. & Pastor-Sanz, I. (2024). Digital transformation in SMEs: Understanding its determinants and size heterogeneity. Technology in Society, 77, Article 102483. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2024.102483

Conger, J. A., Kanungo, R. N. & Menon, S. T. (2000). Charismatic leadership and follower effects. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21(7), 747-767. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3100311

Deng, J., Hao, X. & Yang, T. (2023). The increase of counterproductive work behaviour from organizational and individual level due to workplace conflict: A sequential moderated mediation model. International Journal of Conflict Management, 34(2), 213-233. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCMA-04-2022-0079

Gómez, J. G. I. (2016). El liderazgo de aprendizaje y su incidencia en la innovación y competitividad de las mipymes de la ciudad de Durango, México. Investigación Administrativa, 45(117).

Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., Anderson, R. E. & Tatham, R. L. (2005). Multivariate data analysis (6th ed.). Prentice Hall.

Hersey, P. & Blanchard, K. H. (1969). The life cycle theory of leadership. Training and Development Journal, 23(5), 26-34.

Ikhsanudin, I., Subali, B., Retnawati, H. & Istiyono, E. (2024). Estimation of Cronbach reliability based on sample size, gender, and the grades. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE), 13(2), 759-766. https://doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v13i2.24895

Imasuen, K. (2022). Sample size determination in test-retest and Cronbach alpha reliability estimates. British Journal of Contemporary Education (BJCE), 2(1), 17-29. https://doi.org/10.52589/BJCE-FY266HK9

Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI). (2015). Censos económicos 2014. https://www.inegi.org.mx/programas/ce/2014/

Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI). (2020). Comunicado de prensa número 617/20. https://www.inegi.org.mx/contenidos/saladeprensa/boletines/2020/OtrTemEcon/ECOVID-IE_DEMOGNEG.pdf

Kelley, R. E. (1998). Leadership secrets from exemplary followers. In G. R. Hickman (Ed.), Leading organizations: Perspectives for a new era (pp. 193-203). Sage Publications.

Koomson, S. (2022). Job commitment, total quality management, information communication technology adoption, toxic leadership and job demands: A conceptual framework for student retention. PSU Research Review, 8(2), 403-410. https://doi.org/10.1108/PRR-02-2022-0012

Kouzes, J. M. & Posner, B. Z. (1995). Credibility: How leaders gain and lose it, why people demand it. Jossey-Bass.

Kouzes, J. M. & Posner, B. Z. (2003). Las cinco prácticas del liderazgo ejemplar. John Wiley & Sons.

Kumar, R. (2024). Cronbach’s alpha: Genesis, issues and alternatives. IMIB Journal of Innovation and Management, 2(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/ijim.241234970

Lind, D. A., Marchal, W. G. & Wathen, S. A. (2012). Estadística aplicada a los negocios y la economía. McGraw-Hill.

Llanos-Reynoso, L. F. & Villarreal-Coindreau, M. J. (2022). Acuerdos y desacuerdos entre los jefes y los subordinados sobre la admiración del liderazgo. Revista Universidad y Empresa, 24(42), 1-28. https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/empresa/a.10845

Lorencova, H., Honsova, P., Pauknerova, D. & Jarosova, E. (2024). How are leadership discourses reflected in the leadership identity of young adults. Journal of Management Development, 43(1), 124-141. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-08-2023-0236

McIntyre, R. & Dallago, B. (2003). Small and medium enterprises in transitional economies. Palgrave Macmillan.

Oberer, B. J. & Erkollar, A. (2018). Leadership 4.0: Digital leaders in the age of Industry 4.0. International Journal of Organizational Leadership, 7, 404-412.

Omrani, N., Rejeb, N., Maalaoui, A., Dabic, M. & Kraus, S. (2022). Drivers of digital transformation in SMEs. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 71, 5030-5043. https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2022.3143817 (DOI corregido basado en formato estándar).

Monzani, L., Ripoll, P. & Peiró, J. M. (2014). Followers’ agreeableness and extraversion and their loyalty towards authentic leadership. Psicothema, 26(1), 69-75.

Mouazen, A. M., Hernández-Lara, A. B., Abdallah, F., Ramadan, M., Chahine, J., Baydoun, H. & Bou Zakhem, N. (2024). Transformational and transactional leaders and their role in implementing the Kotter change management model ensuring sustainable change: An empirical study. Sustainability, 16(1), Article 16. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16010016

Podsakoff, P. M., Bommer, W. H., Podsakoff, N. P. & MacKenzie, S. B. (2006). Relationships between leader reward and punishment behavior and subordinate attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors: A meta-analytic review of existing and new research. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 99(2), 113-142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2005.09.002

Rojero Jiménez, R., Gómez Romero, J. G. I. & Morán Soto, G. (2023). Action leadership: A new model for contemporary Micro, Small and Medium-sized enterprises. Lúmina, 24(2). https://doi.org/10.30554/lumina.v24.n2.4851.2023

Salessi, S. M. (2025). Renuncia silenciosa: Consideraciones conceptuales sobre un fenómeno emergente. Ciencias Administrativas, Revista Digital FCE – UNLP, 25, e148. https://doi.org/10.24215/23143738e148

Salicru, S. (2023). Leadership, group leadership, functional leadership. In L. Lunevich (Ed.), Handbook of engineering management: The digital economy (pp. 87-172). Taylor & Francis. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003374879-5

Syamsir, S., Saputra, N. & Afri Mulia, R. (2025). Leadership agility in a VUCA world: A systematic review, conceptual insights and research directions. Cogent Business & Management, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2025.2482022

Tariq, A. A. & Zehir, C. (2023). Examining the relationship among innovation competencies, management innovation, and organizational performance. International Journal of Business Ecosystem & Strategy, 5(4), 55-66. https://doi.org/10.36096/ijbes.v5i4.455

Wayne, S. J., Shore, L. M., Bommer, W.

Statistics

Abstract
0
PDF accesses
0

Dimensions

PlumX


Downloads

Download data is not yet available.