Leader Election Research Articles

“If you work alone on this project, you can’t reach your target”: unpacking the leader’s role in well-performing teams in a maternal and neonatal quality improvement programme in South Africa, before and during COVID-19

The South African National Department of Health developed a quality improvement (QI) programme to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality and still births. The programme was implemented between 2018 and 2022 in 21 purposively selected public health facilities. We conducted a process evaluation to describe the characteristics and skills of the QI team leaders of well-performing teams. The evaluation was conducted in 15 of the 21 facilities. Facilities were purposively selected and comprised semi-structured interviews with leaders at three time points; reviewing of QI documentation; and 37 intermittently conducted semi-structured interviews with the QI advisors, being QI technical experts who supported the teams. These interviews focused on participants’ experiences and perceptions of how the teams performed, and performance barriers and enablers. Thematic data analysis was conducted using Atlas.ti. Variation in team performance was associated with leaders’ attributes and skills. However, the COVID-19 pandemic also affected team functioning. Well-performing teams had leaders who effectively navigated COVID-19 and other challenges, who embraced QI and had sound QI skills. These leaders cultivated trust by taking responsibility for failures, correcting members’ mistakes in encouraging ways, and setting high standards of care. Moreover, they promoted programme ownership among members by delegating tasks. Given the critical role leaders play in team performance and thus in the outcomes of QI programmes, efforts should focus on leader selection, training, and support.

Leader age and international conflict: A regression discontinuity analysis

Does leader age matter for the likelihood of interstate conflict? Many studies in biology, psychology, and physiology have found that aggression tends to decline with age throughout the adult lifespan, particularly in males. Moreover, a number of major international conflicts have been attributed to young leaders, including the conquests of Alexander the Great and the ambitious military campaigns of Napoleon. However, the exact nature of the relationship between leader age and international conflict has been difficult to study because of the endogeneity problem. Leaders do not come to power randomly. Rather, many domestic and international factors influence who becomes the leader of a country, and some of these factors could correlate with the chances of interstate conflict. For instance, wary democratic publics might favor older leaders when future international conflict seems likely, inducing a relationship between older leaders and interstate conflict. This article overcomes such confounding by using a regression discontinuity design. Specifically, it looks at close elections of national leaders who had large differences in age. It finds that when older candidates barely defeated younger ones, countries were much less likely to engage in military conflict. Its sample is also fairly representative of democracies more broadly, meaning that the findings likely hold true for cases outside the sample. The results demonstrate the important role that individuals play in shaping world politics. They also illustrate the value of design-based inference for learning about important questions in the study of international relations and peace science.

Reducing gender bias in the evaluation and selection of future leaders: The role of decision-makers' mindsets about the universality of leadership potential.

Extensive research has documented organizational decision-makers' preference for men over women when they evaluate and select candidates for leadership positions. We conceptualize a novel construct-mindsets about the universality of leadership potential-that can help reduce this bias. People can believe either that only some individuals have high leadership potential (i.e., a nonuniversal mindset) or that most individuals have high leadership potential (i.e., a universal mindset). Five studies investigated the relationship between these mindsets and decision-makers' gender biases in leader evaluation and selection decisions. The more senior government officials in China held a universal mindset, the less they showed gender bias when rating their subordinates' leadership capability (Study 1). Working adults in the United Kingdom who held a more universal mindset exhibited less gender bias when evaluating and selecting job candidates for a leadership position (Study 2). In an experiment, Singaporean students exposed to a universal mindset exhibited less gender bias when evaluating and selecting candidates than those exposed to a nonuniversal mindset (Study 3). Another experiment with working adults in China replicated this pattern and added a control condition to confirm the directionality of the effect (Study 4). Last, Study 5 showed that a more universal mindset was associated with less gender bias particularly among decision-makers with stronger gender stereotypes in the domain of leadership. This research demonstrates that, although they are seemingly unrelated to gender, mindsets about the universality of leadership potential can influence the extent to which people express gender bias in the leadership context. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The effect of humble leadership on the success of international development projects: the mediating role of organizational learning

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of humble leadership on project success. In addition, we examine the mediating effect of organisational learning on the relationship between humble leadership and the success of international development projects.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a quantitative research methodology based on questionnaire data collected from 80 international development project managers from different sectors in Senegal (West Africa). The variance-based structural equation method, following the partial least squares approach, was used to test the research hypotheses.FindingsThe results showed that humble leadership is positively related to project success. Furthermore, organizational learning mediates the relationship between humble leadership and project success.Research limitations/implicationsThis research has several limitations. The authors did not examine the role of organizational culture as a moderating variable. However, the authors believe that the cultural variable can have an impact on project success and team building, and future studies should consider this aspect as well. In the African context, each country has its own culture, which may affect the behaviour of the project manager. Also, the authors admit that the sample size is relatively small, which greatly reduces the generalizability of the results.Practical implicationsThese findings have important implications. First, because a project leader’s humility enhances project success, it is critical for development projects to select leaders who demonstrate modest conduct in the workplace. The perfect selection of a humble leader depends heavily on judgements about the characteristics of a humble leader from new project manager candidates.Originality/valueDrawing on conservation of resources theory, this study found that humble leadership is important for project success, thus extending the utility of the concept of humble leadership to the project literature.

Corruption and its Impact on Socio-Economic Development in Selected Countries of Africa

Africa is indeed a continent blessed with an abundance of natural resources, ranging from valuable minerals like gold, diamonds, copper, and oil. These resources hold immense potential for fostering economic growth and development across the continent. However, Africa continues to grapple with extreme poverty and underdevelopment, with corruption being identified as a major impediment to progress. This paper focuses on the pervasive issue of corruption in Africa, with Nigeria, Uganda, and Zimbabwe as case studies. The research employs a descriptive and analytical method of historical research, grounded in the Prebendal Theory as its theoretical framework. The findings of this study reveal the staggering impact of corruption on Africa's development, with annual losses of approximately $60 to $100 billion due to illicit financial flows. These flows divert resources away from political and socio-economic advancement, exacerbating widespread impoverishment. In conclusion, the paper underscores the corrosive effect of corruption on Africa's development and offers several recommendations to address this issue. These include promoting merit-based leadership selection, enforcing stronger legal actions against corruption, empowering anti-corruption agencies, engaging citizens and civil society in the fight against corruption, and strengthening the rule of law and judicial independence. These recommendations aim to pave the way for a more transparent and accountable future in Africa.

The Mechanisms of Applying Open Book ‎Management Approach at Shaqra University ‎in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The study aimed to identify the reality of applying the open-‎book management approach at Shaqra University, determine ‎whether there are statistically significant differences for ‎variables (gender-type of work); and define the difficulties of ‎applying the open-book management approach at Shaqra ‎University to develop proposed mechanisms for applying the ‎open-book management approach based on the results of the ‎study. The researcher used the descriptive survey approach and ‎the questionnaire as the tool for data collection. The study ‎population included the college's deans and deputies of the ‎university who are (51). The study mainly revealed the ‎following results: the reality of applying the open-book ‎management approach at Shaqra University is moderate as ‎follows (education and training - organizational environment - ‎support and motivation), and there are no statistically significant ‎differences in the gender and type of work.. The most ‎prominent difficulties limiting the application of the open-book ‎management approach at Shaqra University are: bureaucracy in ‎work performance and the ambiguity of the criteria for ‎nominating leadership selection. In addition, the study ‎concluded with the development of the most important ‎measures that help to apply the open-book management ‎approach at Shaqra University, including creating a favorable ‎environment for spreading out the open-book management ‎approach and empowering employees by delegating greater ‎powers to the middle and lower levels according to the abilities ‎and skills of workers.‎ ‎(Keywords: Application Mechanisms, Open-book ‎Management, Shaqra University)‎

Political Decentralization and the Emergence of the Local State Capture: Lessons from Bengkulu, Indonesia

The local state capture phenomenon becomes very interesting if it is associated with the macro state capture framework that has begun to develop in the last two decades. A more multifaceted political approach is needed because state erosion is a political problem, not just an economic one. By referring to the political ethnographic tradition, this study describes how the complexity of relations between local economic, political, and ruling elites leads to the emergence of local state capture and the scope of its power. This study concludes that the weathering or weakening of formal government functions is not the source of the emergence of the local capture phenomenon. The growth of local state capture is more owing to the one-of-a-kind interaction between local political and economic actors and the ruling elite since the direct election of regional leaders takes place. This elite collaboration results from the emergence of a local oligarchic pole controlling local resources. The initiation of relations between the economic and political elite and the ruling elite is not only because of economic spheres but because they want to be part of the rulers' closest political circle of power.

Are African academic women more emotionally intelligent than men? Exploring emotional intelligence, gender, and leadership in higher education

In recent years, organizational and management research has been reporting the presence of a systematic link between emotional intelligence (EI) and leadership effectiveness. Notwithstanding the practical significance, however, scholarly attention is far from adequate especially in the context of African higher education. Thus, taking Ethiopia as an example, this study investigates (a) gender differences in EI and (b) the relationship between EI and leadership style among leaders in selected higher education institutions. The study was conducted on 210 random samples of academic leaders (135 men and 75 women). Data was generated using an adapted measure Emotional and Social Competence Inventory (ESCI) to assess leaders' emotional intelligence (EI), while the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-5x) was used to measure leadership styles. The findings show a strong positive relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership, but no relationship was found between EI and transactional leadership. On the other hand, a significant negative correlation was found between laissez-faire leadership and leaders’ total EI scores. Furthermore, the study finds significant gender differences in emotional intelligence, with female leaders scoring higher in overall emotional intelligence and most of the EI components. These findings suggest that EI is the female leadership advantage. We strongly advise university administrators and policymakers to incorporate EI as a criterion for the recruitment, selection, and promotion of academic leaders to close the gender gap in higher education leadership.

Personal branding of Dra. Hj. Kustini Sri Purnomo in local leaders election of Sleman District 2020

Personal branding of Dra. Hj. Kustini Sri Purnomo in local leaders election of Sleman District 2020

Persepsi Mahasiswa Terhadap Politik Identitas Islam Dalam Pemilihan Umum 2024

Islamic identity politics is often used as a means of struggle used by a group to support the campaign period. Not a few end up choosing leaders because of the doctrine of religious equality. Students in identity politics have a big role and participation in carrying out the struggle to help resolve cases of intolerance and discrimination that occur. This study uses a qualitative method. Based on the research results, it can be understood that the existence of Islamic identity politics in general elections will have the potential to create conflict and division in society. If Islamic identity politics is allowed to grow and develop in the daily lives of community groups and bring down one another, then the big impact can damage diversity. The general election is a good opportunity for all Indonesian people, especially for students. It is not only the election of wise leaders, but the success of democracy is the hope to look forward to. This role is not only borne by students, but also for all Indonesian people. The importance of cooperation in creating the perception and implementation of politics that is free from group interests and realizing quality general elections.

Editorial: Party leader selection in Europe: concepts, processes and outcomes

Editorial: Party leader selection in Europe: concepts, processes and outcomes

Trust-Preserving Mechanism for Blockchain Assisted Mobile Crowdsensing

Blockchain is envisioned as one of the promising technologies to address trust concern brought by mobile crowdsensing (MCS), due to its auditability, immutability and decentralization. Nevertheless, blockchain cannot fundamentally guarantee that the valuable sensed data outside the chain can enter the chain, although data integrity and consistency can be ensured once it is confirmed inside the chain. In addition, simply applying blockchain in MCS while ignoring possible abnormal saboteurs hidden in numerous devices may mislead the normal operation of blockchain, resulting in untrustworthy interactions. Consequently, it is highly desirable to build a trust-preserving mechanism (TPM) to fully enjoy the benefits of using blockchain in MCS. To this end, we first resort to a probabilistic trust assessment inferred from the interaction outcomes in blockchain, to incentivize participants to maintain the trustworthiness of interactions. By inferring trust to aid decision-making, trust decision is further made, including leader election and transaction data generation, to filter untrusted nodes from participating in blockchain process. Finally, extensive simulations are conducted to validate the effectiveness and efficiency of TPM, and improve the performance in terms of contribution rate, consensus accuracy and system stability.

Unethical practices and the role of traditional ruler-ship institutions in modern conflict resolution in Tivland, Nigeria

ABSTRACT In the past decade, there has been a surge in deadly internal conflicts in Nigeria. The state’s failure to decisively address violent skirmishes through its modern conflict-resolution mechanisms has resuscitated the debate on the role of traditional rulers in conflict resolution. Although the relevance of traditional institutions in conflict contexts has been well acknowledged in many studies, their complicity in the onset and preponderance of conflict remains understudied. Using a mixed qualitative research design, this paper interrogates the nexus between unethical practices of traditional rulers and conflict in Tivland, north central Nigeria. It hypothesises that in the examined case study, the quest for personal aggrandizement unwittingly heightened corrupt behaviour among traditional rulers, leading to conflict emergence and protraction. To curb the impunity that currently undergirds conflict in Tivland, we recommend that traditional rulers found culpable in conflicts should be dethroned and prosecuted as deterrent to others. Also, traditional leadership selection processes should be merit-based, as opposed to the current practice of offering stools to cronies of state authorities.

Factors Affecting Public Sector Investment in the Livestock Industry in Malaw

The dominant narrative is that public financing and investment in the public sector depend on the political leadership of the government executive because of the incentives gained in public finance management. The executive arm of the government includes elected political leaders and technocrats. Using the case of the agricultural sector, this paper examines the role of technocrats and elected leadership in investment choices. This paper uses, in support of quantitative findings, qualitative evidence from a case study designed in the Department of Animal Health and Livestock Development in Malawi. The variables were used to analyze the quantitative data, and content analysis was used for qualitative data. The finding reveals that seniority, authority, political affiliation, and technical expertise of civil servant leadership significantly influence public investment choices in the livestock sector in Malawi. Both elected political executives and technocrats had self-interests in delivering goods with swift and visible returns. The study concludes that Malawi's public sector investment arena is a ‘war zone’ with various actors vying for dominance. The paper recommends a critical review of the reforms in the livestock sector to bring the investment culture on course in Malawi. More studies are needed to resolve issues around privatization models of services in the livestock sector and the role of government and transactional actors.

Crowding-based multi-objective artificial gorilla troops optimizer for brushless direct current motor design optimization

PurposeThis paper aims to present a novel multi-objective version of the Gorilla Troops optimizer (GTO), based on crowding distance, to achieve the optimal design of a brushless direct current motor.Design/methodology/approachIn the proposed algorithm, the crowding distance technique was integrated into the GTO to perform the leader selection and also for the external archive refinement from extra non-dominated solutions. Furthermore, with a view to improving the diversity of non-dominated solutions in the external archive, mutation operator was used. For constrained problems, an efficient strategy was adopted. The proposed algorithm is referred to as CD-MOGTO.FindingsTo validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, it was initially tested on three constrained multi-objective problems; thereafter, it was applied to optimize the design variables of brushless direct current motor to concurrently fulfill six inequality constraints, maximize efficiency and minimize total mass.Originality/valueThe results revealed the high potential of the proposed algorithm over different recognized algorithms in solving constrained multi-objective issues and the brushless direct current motors.

Strategy Implementation Practices and Performance of National Government Constituency Development Fund Projects in Marsabit County, Kenya

Effective strategy implementation practices are fundamental drivers to organizational project performance. This study seeks to determine the effects of strategy implementation practices on the performance of National Government constituency development projects in Moyale. The specific objectives guiding the study included strategic leadership, organizational culture, employee development and communication on the performance of consistency development projects in Moyale. The study is guided by the resource-based view theory, Leadership theory and Balance Scorecard Model. The study will employ and make use of descriptive design. In this study, the target population will be made up of the household heads and the NG- CDF Committee members who have the mandate of overseeing project performance in Moyale Constituency. According to the Kenyan National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS, 2021), there is a total of 17,777 households in Moyale Constituency. Besides, there are 10 NG-CDF committee members who oversee education and security projects within Moyale Constituency. This study made use of stratified sampling technique since the population has two key strata including NG-CDF Committee members and Household heads in Moyale Constituency. This technique was quite useful since it ensured the presence of the key subgroup within the sample. This study made use of Yamane’s formula to determine the sample size with 95% confidence level. Ten percent of the total sample for the study was considered during piloting. Ten percent was not included in the final research. Content validity was used in testing the validity of the questions within the questionnaire whereas reliability was obtained following a test on Cronbach Alpha. Quantitative data obtained by the researcher were presented in the form of mean averages. Besides, statistical analysis software version 25 was considered achieving data analysis. Analysis of the qualitative data was done through content analysis. This method was helpful in coming up with the study inferences. Presentation of the study findings was in the form of tables. The results highlighted that effective leadership in Moyale Constituency plays a crucial role in guiding operations toward desired objectives, significantly influencing the performance of development activities. The findings underline the pivotal role of strategic leadership in shaping the performance of constituency development projects in Moyale, contingent upon effective strategy implementation and evaluation of leaders' actions. The findings further highlighted a direct correlation between employees' job satisfaction and the performance of development projects in Moyale Constituency. It is recommended by the study that policy makers in Moyale Constituency need to establish guidelines for the training and development of leaders in Moyale Constituency to enhance their strategic leadership skills. Besides, the policy makers should integrate strategic leadership principles into the leadership selection process to ensure that leaders possess the necessary qualities to drive positive change.

Direct and Indirect Effects of Emotions towards Party Leaders on Voting: Evidence from the 2018 Andalusian Regional Election

Party leaders are increasingly relevant to voters’ choices in parliamentary systems. However, most studies addressing the electoral impact of leaders have largely ignored voters’ emotional responses to party leaders. Additionally, little is known about the effect of party leaders in subnational or regional elections. Using data from a specific election survey, this article examines the effect of emotions towards party leaders on regional voting. It assesses whether emotional responses to party leaders not only have direct effects, but whether they also have indirect effects through partisanship on voting. We found evidence that emotions towards party leaders have both direct and indirect effects through partisanship on vote choice.

Smart Agriculture Application Using Secured and Energy-Efficient IoT-Based WSN Framework

The use of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), in several sectors, including communication, agriculture, manufacturing, smart health, monitoring and surveillance is increasing in R&D. An IoT-based WSN in agricultural production has been effective in detecting yield conditions and automating agriculture precision by using multiple sensors. To collect data on crops, plants, temperature estimates and stickiness as well as to boost yields by making smart agriculture decisions, they are deployed in rural regions. Sensors, on the other hand, are constrained by their inability to handle, store, communicate, and process large amounts of data due to a lack of available resources. Additionally, the safety and security of the IoT-based agricultural sensors against damaging competitors are crucial factors, as is their efficacy. One idea put up in this article is to employ a WSN structure based on the Internet of Things (IoT) for smart agriculture. The selection of group leaders is also based on data collected by rural sensors and multi-rules choice capacity. A transmission link’s SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) is used to gauge the intensity of signals being sent over it in order to guarantee accurate and timely data transfer. In addition, the direct congruential generator is repeated in order to enable data flow from agricultural sensors to central stations (BS). Compared with previous arrangements, smart agriculture obtained an average of 13.5 percent in the organisation throughput, 38.5 percent in the parcel drop percentage, 13.5 percent in the organisation inactivity, and 16 percent in energy usage. Comparatively speaking, this is a huge step forward.

Causes and Consequences of Post-Election Violence in Kenya

The election of leaders by the people is the aim of democratic procedures. An electoral system is intended to ensure that the outcomes reflect the preferences of the majority of voters, providing elected officials’ legitimacy, and that the results are unchallenged in any form. The aim of this study was to identify the causes of the post-election violence. Voting theory served as the foundation for this work. A descriptive study approach using both qualitative and quantitative methods was used by the researcher. The research was carried out from July 2022 to December 2022. Political parties, political analysts, IEBC members, legislators, and voters made up the study's target population. The researcher employed the stratified random sampling technique. The target population established the strata, and a random sample was taken from each stratum. The researcher used interview guide techniques to collect data, using items that were developed from the study objectives and research questions. Questionnaires and interviews were the two main ways that data were gathered. Voters were handed questionnaires, and interview guidelines were provided for political experts, electoral experts, and IEBC officials. The information gathered through the use of questionnaires was statistically analyzed using descriptive methods. According to the findings, disputed election results, tribalism, inadequate electoral conflict resolution mechanisms, the "winner-takes-it-all" election system, perceived bias of the electoral management body, and voter incitement by politicians are among the main causes of post-election violence in Kenya since 1963. Casualties, internally displaced people, the damage to private and public property, economic instability, and emotional and psychological suffering are only a few of the key effects of the post-election violence in Kenya. The report recommends, among other things, looking at alternative choices, including mixed-member and proportional representation models, since they are more inclusive and produce fair representation, as a remedy for the existing polarizing plurality voting system.

Near-Optimal Time–Energy Tradeoffs for Deterministic Leader Election

We consider the energy complexity of the leader election problem in the single-hop radio network model, where each device v has a unique identifier ID ( v ) ∈{ 1, 2, ⋖ , N } . Energy is a scarce resource for small battery-powered devices. For such devices, most of the energy is often spent on communication, not on computation. To approximate the actual energy cost, the energy complexity of an algorithm is defined as the maximum over all devices of the number of time slots where the device transmits or listens. Much progress has been made in understanding the energy complexity of leader election in radio networks, but very little is known about the tradeoff between time and energy. Chang et al. [STOC 2017] showed that the optimal deterministic energy complexity of leader election is Θ (log log N ) if each device can simultaneously transmit and listen but still leaving the problem of determining the optimal time complexity under any given energy constraint. Time–energy tradeoff: For any k ≥ log log N , we show that a leader among at most n devices can be elected deterministically in O ( k ċ n 1+ε ) + O ( k ċ N 1/k ) time and O ( k ) energy if each device can simultaneously transmit and listen, where ε > 0 is any small constant. This improves upon the previous O ( N )-time O (log log N )-energy algorithm by Chang et al. [STOC 2017]. We provide lower bounds to show that the time–energy tradeoff of our algorithm is near-optimal. Dense instances: For the dense instances where the number of devices is n = Θ ( N ), we design a deterministic leader election algorithm using only O (1) energy. This improves upon the O (log* N )-energy algorithm by Jurdziński, Kutyłowski, and Zatopiański [PODC 2002] and the O (α ( N ))-energy algorithm by Chang et al. [STOC 2017]. More specifically, we show that the optimal deterministic energy complexity of leader election is \(\Theta (\max \lbrace 1, \log \tfrac{N}{n}\rbrace)\) if each device cannot simultaneously transmit and listen, and it is \(Θ (\max \lbrace 1, \log \log \tfrac{N}{n}\rbrace)\) if each device can simultaneously transmit and listen.