Article

The Impact of Charismatic Leadership on Cross-Border Apologies

An examination of communications issued by Apple, Amazon, Kingsoft, and Alibaba in response to perceived transgressions was undertaken to assess for potential cross-border differences in how organizations apologize to consumers. It was found that the transgression responses from all four organizations were structurally similar to each other, although the responses from Alibaba and Kingsoft appear to reflect a more hostile Chinese business environment. Longitudinal analysis suggests that the apologies issued by firms under the leadership of a highly charismatic CEO primarily reflect a Prospector strategy irrespective of national headquarters, while the apologies issued under the leadership of less charismatic CEO primarily reflect an Analyzer or Defender strategy, based on the Miles and Snow framework.

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