Future Business and Government Leaders of Asia: How Do They Differ and What Makes Them Tick?

Abstract

How do work motivations and sector perceptions differ between graduate students at prestigious Business Schools and Public Policy in Asia? Where do Asia’s future business and government leaders want to work, and why? To answer these questions, we compare Asian Master of Business Administration students (n = 71) with Master of Public Policy and Master of Public Administration students (n = 91) from three leading Schools based in Singapore through a survey study and a series of seven focus groups. Our findings indicate that work motivations, sector perceptions, and career preferences differ between both groups but slightly less so than between their Western counterparts. Moreover, future Asian leaders equally value being successful while many view government as bureaucratic and prone to cronyism regardless of degree program and employment preference. We discuss how our findings may advance a more robust management and leadership research agenda for Asia.