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“Leaders and decision making: a study of the drivers of courage”
AUTHORS Rasoava Rijamampianina
ARTICLE INFO
Rasoava Rijamampianina (2018). Leaders and decision making: a study of
the drivers of courage.
Problems and Perspectives in Management
,
16
(1), 320-329. doi:10.21511/ppm.16(1).2018.31
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.16(1).2018.31
RELEASED ON Tuesday, 20 March 2018
RECEIVED ON Tuesday, 01 August 2017
ACCEPTED ON Saturday, 23 September 2017
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JOURNAL "Problems and Perspectives in Management"
ISSN PRINT 1727-7051
ISSN ONLINE 1810-5467
PUBLISHER LLC “Consulting Publishing Company “Business Perspectives”
NUMBER OF REFERENCES
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Problems and Perspectives in Management, Volume 16, Issue 1, 2018
Abstract
Interest in leadership eectiveness and failure has led scholars to investigate the un-
derlying factors. Courage has been evoked as an essential component of character in
eective leaders. Kidder and Bracy (2001) posit that courage lays the foundation for
other virtues and values to emerge and develop in leaders. erefore, the purpose of
the study is to explore the drivers of courage in leaders at various decision making
moments in their career and life. To this aim, a qualitative narrative analysis of sixty
stories extracted from structured interviews of fourteen Mauritian leaders was carried
out. e principal results indicate leadership skills are not sucient for a leader to act
courageously, and that both internal and external drivers of courage are required for
courageous leadership. In addition, some of the internal drivers of courage such as
Values & Beliefs and Self-Consciousness are closely linked to dimensions of authen-
tic leadership. erefore, organizations or leadership programs that are interested in
developing and maintaining qualities of eective leadership should develop support
systems that further the internal and external drivers of courage. However, because it is
found to be the result of a continuous lifetime process, courage should be encouraged
and integrated early in educational curriculum.
Rasoava Rijamampianina (Botswana)
BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES
LLC “P “Business Perspectives”
Hryhorii Skovoroda lane, 10, Sumy,
40022, Ukraine
www.businessperspectives.org
Leaders and decision
making: a study
of the drivers of courage
Received on: 1 of August, 2017
Accepted on: 23 of September, 2017
INTRODUCTION
Post Enron era, the research of the determinants of leaders’ suc-
cesses and failures has attracted many scholars (Svensson & Wood,
2006; Burke, 2006). In particular, the presence of courage and char-
acter appears to be linked to eective leadership and positive follow-
ership (Tait, 1996; Mahoney, 2001; Bass & Steidlmeier, 1999; Barlow,
Jordan, & Hendrix, 2003; Sarros, Cooper, & Hartican, 2006). Similarly
to leadership, several denitions of courage exist (Schilpzand, 2008).
One denition states that courage corresponds to the sacrice of one’s
personal benet in the short term in order to achieve a higher order
goal for the organization despite fear due to risks, threat and potential
consequences.
Conducting an empirical study in the United States, Hannah, Avolio,
and Walumbwa (2011) evidenced that moral courage in leaders pre-
dicted ethical and pro-social behaviors amongst followers. However,
despite a growing interest (Amos & Klimoski, 2014; Koerner, 2014;
Schilpzand et al., 2014), a deeper understanding on the relationship
between leadership and courage is lacking.
erefore, this research aims to analyze the drivers of courage in lead-
ers at critical decision-making moments. In addition, the study aims
© Rasoava Rijamampianina, 2018
Rasoava Rijamampianina, Professor,
DBA, MBA (Japan), DESCA, DSSC
(Madagascar), African Graduate
Institute of Leadership & Entreprise,
Botswana.
is is an Open Access article,
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution-Non-
Commercial 4.0 International license,
which permits re-use, distribution,
and reproduction, provided the
materials aren’t used for commercial
purposes and the original work is
properly cited.
courage, decision-making, leadership, authentic
leadership, identity
Keywords
JEL Classification M10, Z00
321
Problems and Perspectives in Management, Volume 16, Issue 1, 2018
to determine whether the drivers of courage are innate, developed, or both amongst leaders. To this
aim, a narrative analysis of sixty stories extracted from structured interviews of fourteen leaders in
Mauritius was conducted.
is article is structured as follows: the rst section presents the current literature review on courage
and leadership and the drivers of courage. It is followed by the methodology used to determine the driv-
ers. Finally, the ndings of the research are presented and discussed.
1. LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. The concept of courage
Courage is derived from the French language and
signies “heart and spirit”. Philosophers such
as Plato, Aristotle and Aquinas viewed courage
as a cardinal virtue (Kateb, 2004). Similarly to
Socrates, scholars (Tilich, 1952; Walton, 1990) as-
similate courageous acts as the self-armation of
one’s values and ideals involving rationality and
discretion.
Although courage initially referred to physical
courage, various forms of courage have been iden-
tied. In psychology, physical, social, moral, cre-
ative and psychological courage co-exist (Putman,
2001). Various other forms have been dened such
as moral courage (Kidder et al., 2001), managerial
courage (Lombardo & Eichinger, 2004; Sekerka
et al., 2009), and vital courage (Snyder & Lopez,
2009). Individual courage is a complex construct
that occurs in a risky situation (Amos & Klimoski,
2014) and might be driven by internal and external
forces. In addition, it is interesting to determine
whether courage is innate in individuals or is so-
cially constructed (Walton, 1990).
1.2. Courage in leadership
theories and management
competencies
Many leadership theories such as servant leader-
ship, ethical leadership and responsible leadership
are rooted in values-based leadership (Reilly &
Ehlinger, 2007). erefore, courage is present in
these theories. In ethical leadership, moral cour-
age plays a role in long-term decision-making
(Voegtlin, 2016). e construct of courage is found
within Idealized inuence and Inspirational moti-
vation of transformational leadership (Bass, 1990)
because they both require for leaders to act in the
benet of the group, and to provide assurance
(Dionne et al., 2004). Authentic leadership holds
that authentic leaders being condent, hopeful,
optimistic, resilient and of high moral charac-
ter have a predisposition for displaying courage
(Avolio et al., 2004).
Scholars have linked leadership failure to lack of
character and moral bearings (Burke, 2006; Allen
& Klenke, 2009). Lack of courage in followers is
also evoked as a culprit for bad leadership (Allio,
2009). George and McLean (2007) argue that un-
successful leaders possess three destructive behav-
iors, namely rationalizing their failures and prob-
lems away, not admitting mistakes and avoiding
close relationships, which are behind the lack of
courage. Similarly Aprigliano (2000) argues that
courage is continuously developed from the inter-
action between the self and life experiences.
In business literature, courage nds its place as a
management virtue (Harris, 2013). e manage-
rial competency called professional moral courage
(PMC) encompasses moral agency, multiple val-
ues, endurance of threats, going beyond compli-
ance and moral goals (Sekerka et al., 2009).
Courage to challenge in leaders is found to cre-
ate cohesive and supporting groups in organiza-
tions (Wang et al., 2011). Furthermore, it leads to
an organizational culture that nurtures creativ-
ity and innovation. Jablin (2006) adds that cour-
age in leaders guarantees leadership commit-
ment as courage is linked to values and principles.
However, it should be noted that courage does not
necessarily result in moral acts or decisions.
1.3. The drivers of courage
Emotions are found to play a role in the display
of managerial courage (Harbour, 2007; Harbour
& Kisfalvi, 2014). Specically, Harbour evidenced
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Problems and Perspectives in Management, Volume 16, Issue 1, 2018
the importance of “emotion intensity and con-
trol” in enabling the shi from “courage to act” to
“courage to be”. Similarly to Schilpzand (2008), the
author also acknowledges the importance of expe-
rience to the emotions. Lerner, Li, Valdesolo and
Kassam (2015) argue that emotion and cognition
continuously interact during the decision-making
process. Harbour found that courageous decisions
are favored by self-condence which requires what
Schilpzand (2008) labels courage disposition.
In this model, Rate (2007) found that courage is
triggered by external factors, and internal fac-
tors such as a motivation towards excellence and
the capacity of a conscious decision. By contrast,
studying the military environment, Schilpzand
(2008) argues that a courage personality does
not exist but circumstances will lead to a cou-
rageous act. According to her findings, values
and personality could be similar, but courage
could be predicted in a leader who had a cour-
age predisposition.
Goud (2005) found that fear, appropriate action
and purpose resulted in courage. Pury Kowalski
and Spearman (2007) posit that by contrast with
personal courage, and despite greater diculty,
general courage was associated with more con-
dence, less fear and fewer limitations. April et al.
(2010) found several ethics external and internal
enablers in courage amongst such as conscience,
integrity or critical moments.
Koerner (2014) by emphasizing the role of identity
in courage development pinpoints the importance
of the context.
Courageous acts emerge in critical decision-mak-
ing situations also referred by as fateful, crucible
moments or turning points (omson et. al., 2002;
Bennis & omas, 2002). Courage is found to be a
subjective process resulting from internal and ex-
ternal forces such as traits, social forces, values, be-
liefs, positive states and risk perception (Hannah
et al., 2011). e risk perception triggers fear which
will be moderated by the various forces. is pro-
cess can be reective and iterative and results in a
courageous act or a courage predisposition.
Eight themes identied as courage drivers by
scholars are: (i)internal conditions such as traits
and individual characteristics, (ii)risk, (iii)worth-
while goal, (iv) disposition, (v) external condi-
tions, (v i)courage to be, (vii)courage to act, and
(viii)fear (Rate et al., 2007; Hannah et al., 2011;
Harbour, 2007; Goud, 2005).
Similarly to Hannah et al. (2011), this study focus-
es on the drivers of courage as reected upon by
the participant himself. e construct of courage
is organized around three dimensions: courage
disposition (internal traits, self-condence), com-
munity (group maintenance, values, norms, mo-
rality) and situation (risk, threat, uncertainty, fear,
consequences, worthwhile goals).
2. RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
e study aimed to determine the drivers of cour-
age from the story told and constructed by the
leader himself. is approach allowed the leaders
to form a meaning for their courageous act as they
would tell their experiences. erefore, a qualita-
tive method based on the paradigm of post-mod-
ernism was used (Hassard, 1994).
2.1. Participants
e study used purposive and theoretical sam-
pling coupled with a snowball strategy (Atkinson
& Flint, 2001). e selected leader participants
were all at the executive level, had extensive expe-
riences in leadership and courage, and had a de-
gree of trust with the researcher.
e nal selected participants were a homoge-
neous group (Polkinghorne, 2007). Fourteen lead-
ers in Mauritius were studied from an initial list of
y selected leaders. Seven of them were CEOs of
dierent types of companies, associations or NGO.
ree of them were former ministers. One partici-
pant was an entrepreneur. One participant was a
director and one participant was a chairman.
To assess the required number of interviews,
data saturation and variability were calculated
through an experiment similarly to Guest, Bunce
and Johnson (2006). Saturation was reached aer
twelve interviews. In total, sixty stories on cour-
age and leadership were obtained and analyzed.
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Problems and Perspectives in Management, Volume 16, Issue 1, 2018
2.2. Research tool
e instrument for data collection was unstruc-
tured in-depth interviews to allow exibility. e
story was co-constructed by the storyteller and
the researcher (Rogan & de Kock, 2005).
An interview protocol was prepared and two ques-
tions were asked:
1. Recall times when others have displayed cour-
age in their lives. Tell me about them.
2. Now recall a time when you displayed courage.
Each of the questions was then followed by further
inquiries. e whole interview was in conversa-
tional style. On average each interview lasted for
45 to 60 minutes.
2.3. Unit of analysis
In this study, every story is a unit of analysis.
Moen (2006) argues that narratives are good
units of analysis because of their completeness.
Specically, the leaders were allowed to delve into
their stories. In addition, this allowed to get a pic-
ture of the environment and the culture surround-
ing the courageous act.
3. DATA COLLECTION
AND DATA ANALYSIS
A narrative analysis approach was used to analyze
the data for the study as the meaning of the story
from the leader viewpoint was important for the
analysis.
e approach consisted of seven phases of analy-
sis (including cycles of coding) of the narratives
using Atlas Ti. e three dimensional space ap-
proach (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990; Ollerenshaw
& Creswell, 2002) was used to extract stories from
the transcriptions of the interviews. ese stories
were analyzed further using the dialogic/performa-
tive analysis (Riessman, 2008) including a number of
cycles-coding. emes emerged from the third-cycle
coding phase. Final cross-participant and cross-sto-
ry analysis was carried out. is was followed by the
emergence of the nal meta-stories.
4. RESULTS IN
A QUALITATIVE STUDY
e results are substantiated by trustworthiness
ensured by an analysis similar to Tobin and Begley
(2004). erefore, a particular attention was devot-
ed to the credibility, transferability, dependability,
conrmability and authenticity of the results.
e formulation of the research questions for the
study was conformed to the intention to use nar-
rative analysis. Regarding the analysis, this con-
sisted in the automatic transcription post-inter-
views. is allowed questions to be reviewed for
the next interviews. Whenever possible, the anal-
ysis of the dierent interviews was conducted si-
multaneously. An iterative process was, therefore,
set up during the analysis of the data requiring the
intellectual involvement of the researcher.
5. PRESENTATION
OF THE RESULTS
5.1. First cycle coding results
Table 1 displays the results found aer the rst-
cycle coding according to the participants.
e results of the rst-coding indicate that identity
tensions, change or response to challenge are the
most frequently cited as a driver of a courageous act.
Support is also mentioned recurrently as playing
a role in courageous act. One of the participants
resumed that support was needed because “the de-
cisions that they are going to make are decisions
which are extremely painful”.
However, the variety of codes found and their dis-
tribution amongst the participants shows that ma-
ny drivers of courage co-exist.
5.2. Results of the second and third
cycle coding
is process consisted in a second and third cycle
coding similarly to Riessman (2008) performance
analysis. First-cycle order codes were grouped un-
der a second-cycle order categories according to
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Problems and Perspectives in Management, Volume 16, Issue 1, 2018
commonalities which in turn were grouped un-
der themes identied as the drivers of courage.
e following four main drivers of courage were
found: (i)greater cause, (ii)support, (iii)internal
disposition enablers, and (iv) sacricing some-
thing. Table 2 presents the identied drivers of
courage detailed and their distribution per par-
ticipant in the study.
Internal disposition enablers were diverse and
comprised of calculated risk taking, emotional
balance and control, self-consciousness, values
and beliefs, spirituality, perseverance and focus,
ownership and independency, positive and for-
ward-looking and prior experience. Fear is includ-
ed in calculated risk-taking and emotional bal-
ance and control. Some participants explained the
need to be true to themselves. Some participants
viewed their acts of courage as a manifestation of
their deep self. Some participants evoked the ap-
peal of the act of courage. Other participants in-
dicate a spiritual or higher dimension in their act.
For instance, one participant evokes God. Self-
conviction, self-respect, self-realization about an
Table 1. Summary of the rst cycle coding
Codes after first-cycle coding 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Organizational change x x x
Change of career x x x
Response to challenges x x x x x x
Identity tensions xxxxxx xxxxxx
Support x x x x x x
Political instabilit y x
Presence of risk x x x
Internal values x x x
Ethical and moral stand x
Principles and conviction x
Interests of the larger community x x x x x
Identity clash x x x
Identity alignment x
Sense of sacrifice x x x x x
Living with consequences of risk-taking x x x x
Being focused with perseverance x x x x
Conflicts x
Change new terms contract x
Independency of institution x
Acting on principle x
Passion and enthusiasm x
Culture x
Upbringing x x x x
Prior preparation x
Luck x
Proactive vision x x x x x
Spirituality, God x x
Childhood experiences x
Prior courageous incident x
Intuition x
Thinking x
Problem-solving skills x
Being creative and innovative x
Communication x x
Negotiation skills x
Rational thought x
Independency x
Sticking to the law or rules x
Inspiration from others x
Having a purpose mission in life x
Conviction x
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Problems and Perspectives in Management, Volume 16, Issue 1, 2018
unfair system, fearlessness or control of the fear,
prior experience, tough experience are stated by
the participants in preparedness in performing
an act of courage. Self-control of emotions was
indicated to be a driver of courage. Some leaders
indicated they had a feeling of ownership in the
situation when acting courageously. Lastly, par-
ticipants admitted that they had qualities of focus
and perseverance. One of the participants indicat-
ed passion as a driver for courage.
Greater cause comprised of the interests of the
larger community, the focus on the organization
despite pressure, being a role model, having a pur-
pose in life, being fair to all and impacting life. A
participant who was a politician acted because he
was convinced it would be good for the country.
Another participant acted to defend the rights of
the people and to bring positive changes to society.
One participant stated, it was important for him to
be an example for his children and, therefore, he
acted accordingly. One participant argued that fo-
cusing on the bigger goal gave him courage to act.
Support was emphasized as being a signicant
and needed driver for the participants. It is di-
vided between support from remote stakehold-
ers such as peers, colleagues support, unexpected
individuals or even strangers, and support from
close stakeholders such as family, friends, or local
community.
Sacricing something was necessary to be able
to perform the courageous act according to some
of the participants. Some of them were conscious
about the consequences, while others were unable
to measure their extent. One participant indicated
that he did not take care of the consequences as
doing the right thing was more important. Some
participants reected that they had to live with the
consequences of their acts. Some added that act-
ing with courage in leadership involved a personal
sacrice.
6. DISCUSSION
OF THE RESULTS
6.1. Drivers of courage
in literature
Some of the drivers of courage in the study are
found in the literature on courage and leader-
ship. The internal driver Values and Beliefs is
close to the driver Foundational Attributes
which includes beliefs and principles of
Aprigliano study on transformational leadership
(2000). Moreover, calculated risk-taking and
prior experience are also similar to Aprigliano
Contemplative Actions and Life Experiences. In
addition, similarly to Harbour (2008) who stud-
ied courageous acts in leaders, this study found
that self-confidence and prior experience were
important elements for courage to emerge in de-
cision-making. This research found some exter-
nal drivers of courage, respectively Support and
Greater Cause, which are consistent with Rate et
Table 2. The drivers of courage
Drivers of courage Participants
12345678910 11 12 13 14
Internal disposition enablers
Positive & forward-looking X X X X
Prior experience X X X X X X X X
Self-consciousness X X X X X X X
Calculated risk-taking X X X X
Emotional balance & control X X X X
Values & belief X X X X X X X X X X X
Spirituality X X X
Perseverance & focus X X X X X X X
Ownership & independence X X X X X X X X X
External drivers of courage
Support X X X X X X X X X X X
Sacrificing something X X X X X X X X X X X X
Greater cause X X X X X X X X X
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Problems and Perspectives in Management, Volume 16, Issue 1, 2018
al. (2007) research who argue for the presence
of external circumstances for courage to mani-
fest. The Internal Disposition courage drivers
are also found in April et al. (2010) research on
ethics enablers in leadership such as upbringing,
spirituality, role models, integrity, self-control,
and conscience.
The study found Emotional Control & Balance
as a driver of courage. This is consistent with
Rate et al. (2007) who found the role of emo-
tions although they are relegated to a marginal
role in courage in his research. The results indi-
cated that fear and purpose are drivers of cour-
age similarly to two of Goud’s (2005) dimension
of courage. The importance of support in coura-
geous act is also found in Koerner (2014) study
which argues the importance of social forces.
Participants in the study emphasize the positive
importance of support from their family.
This study has revealed new drivers and
sub-drivers of courage such as Ownership
and Independence, Perseverance and focus,
Sacrificing, Self-consciousness and Spiritual
dimensions.
6.2. External and
internal drivers
e study evidenced the importance of both exter-
nal and internal drivers of courage for the partici-
pants as suggested by Table 2. For all of the par-
ticipants, internal and external drivers of courage
were simultaneously present. erefore, courage
cannot be considered as an internal construct.
Furthermore, neither external nor internal drivers
take precedence on the other type of driver.
In terms of distribution, there is not necessarily a
common/similar distribution of external or inter-
nal drivers among the participants.
e importance of the driver support suggests that
the existence of a supporting mechanism inside
the organization can help fostering courageous
acts similarly to what Harris (2003) suggested. In
addition, the results of the research might suggest
that shared organizational values or culture that
are directed towards a great or strong cause might
favor courage amongst leaders.
6.3. Courage and authentic
leadership theory
ree of the drivers of courage found in this study are
similar to characteristics that drive authentic lead-
ers namely Values & Beliefs, Self-consciousness, and
Emotional Balance & Control. Authentic leadership
is characterized by four components: self-awareness,
unbiased processing, authentic action and relational
transparency (Luthans et al., 2006).
One characteristic of authentic leaders is that they
are true to themselves and possess a strong self-
knowledge (Avolio et al., 2004; Steens et al., 2016).
As argued by Luthans et al. (2006) this strong self-
knowledge helps authentic leaders in decision-mak-
ing. ey are true to themselves (Michie & Gooty,
2005). In addition, authentic leaders adhere to their
values when making decisions. In this study, Values
& Beliefs is similar to internalized moral perspec-
tive (Walumbwa et al., 2007) which calls integrity in
behavior. One participant expressed that if he didn’t
demonstrate courage he wouldn’t feel at peace with
himself which is a characteristic of an authentic lead-
er. Emotions and values also play a signicant role in
authentic leadership (Michie et al., 2005). One of the
participants stated that decision-making was a mix
of intuition, thinking, integrity and values. Identity
is a component of self-awareness (Luthans et al.,
2006). e study found Identity Tensions was a re-
current code emerging in the stories of courageous
acts. is indicates that the leaders were self-con-
scious of their identities but also aware of the social
context. Luthans et al. (2006) argue that emotions
are also a component of authentic leaders. e study
found that self-awareness of emotions was a driver
of courage for the participants. Participants empha-
sized that their emotions were under control in or-
der to act courageously. One participant indicated he
had “to appeal to the brain”.
Being positive and forward-looking is a characteris-
tic of authentic leaders (Voetglin, 2015).
Despite courage being not explicit in authentic lead-
ership, the drivers found in this study conrm that
courage is a characteristic to be studied in authentic
leadership. is is an interesting nding for authen-
tic leadership theory as recent literature has shown
the positive benets of authentic leaders for organi-
zations (Steens et al., 2016).
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Problems and Perspectives in Management, Volume 16, Issue 1, 2018
CONCLUSION
e results of the study indicate that the drivers of courage have an important role in decision-making
for leaders. erefore, courage development has a place in leadership development programs.
More specically, fostering courage is found to help developing qualities associated with authentic lead-
ers. is is particularly relevant since growing research shows the importance of authentic leaders in
positively inspiring followership in organizations (Steens et al., 2016; Gardner & Carlson, 2015). is
fosters behaviors of trust, creativity and innovativeness.
However, given that both internal and external drivers have an important role in driving courageous
acts, a training program is insucient to develop courageous leaders. Courage development is a lifelong
journey that can start at an early age. Developing courage should be part of educational programs in
schools or educational programs as the study shows the importance of experience. Moreover, these pro-
grams should take into account the importance of realizing the self for individuals. But also the ability
to self-reect. In addition, support groups, coaching or mentoring programs can be set up to support
courage development. is support can be focused on internal and external drivers of courage. is is
particularly relevant for organizations that want to develop authentic leaders.
erefore, a developed organizational support and strong values in organizations can help create, en-
courage and should reward courageous leaders.
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