Leadership Styles Adopted by Scottish Micro-businesses During the COVID-19 Pandemic
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Abstract
The current exploratory study investigated leadership styles adopted by Scottish micro-businesses during COVID-19. A qualitative research approach was employed on 20 owners/managers in Scotland, using semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis. The findings of the study revealed thematic variations across a range of leadership styles as the autocratic style was identified by businesses as the most common approach during the pandemic due to the influence of the external environment on rapid decision-making. In essence, the findings highlight the importance of recognizing the role of leadership approaches under uncertain and volatile market conditions. Based on the qualitative findings of the study, a novel framework presented as the “COVID-19 Leadership Framework” was proposed that addresses the contextualization of the findings to a specific and contemporary context. The results of the study presented theoretical and practical implications for micro-business, policymakers, and Small to Medium Enterprise support services. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.