1. Introduction
The world and current societies are undergoing major economic, social, cultural, political, and technological transformations (
Lambin 2008;
Barroso 2020) that present themselves as new challenges for organisations. Faced with this context of drastic, rapid and continuous changes, organisations must be able to adapt and reinvent themselves to face this new reality (
Lambin 2008;
Bochulia 2021;
Sascha et al. 2022). It is precisely in this more complex context that it is important to study leadership, communication, and motivation as the phenomena are related to the guidance and influence of people to achieve collective pre-established objectives (
Bass 1990b;
Weber 1991;
Lin et al. 2018;
Barroso 2020;
Sascha et al. 2022).
Leadership, communication, and motivation are outcomes of human resource management aimed at employee satisfaction and well-being (
Buil et al. 2019) based on the rewards and benefits offered to employees, whether monetary or non-monetary. The work of
Bennis (
1999) has shown that in successful companies, there is a significant impact of leadership on employees and the results obtained by the organisations. In fact, leaders incorporate the values and ideals of the organisation, seeking to mobilise the entire human structure in the sharing of these ideals, with obvious repercussions on the organisational culture (
Košičiarová et al. 2021), job performance
Cahyadi et al. (
2022), and economic and financial results (
Weick 1979;
Kankisingi and Dhliwayo 2022).
Leadership, communication, and motivation are themes that arouse interest at both academic and professional levels (
Bass 1990a,
1990b,
1990c;
Avolio and Bass 1995;
Bass and Riggio 2006;
Lan et al. 2019;
Akparep et al. 2019;
Košičiarová et al. 2021;
Choi 2021;
Cui et al. 2022;
Cahyadi et al. 2022;
Kankisingi and Dhliwayo 2022;
Wang and Huang 2022;
Gutu et al. 2022). Given the current organisational environment, the result of constant changes, namely market globalization, technological development, and increased competitiveness (
Bhavani 2006;
Lambin 2008;
Grabowska and Saniuk 2022;
Sascha et al. 2022), it is important to reflect on how Angolan organisations view leadership and its impact on the health and development of the organisation. In fact, to lead and guide companies in this complex, turbulent, and unpredictable context, managers and supervisors must play a leadership role capable of mobilizing their employees, guiding, motivating, communicating, and involving people in business tasks and objectives (
Lambin 2008). Due to the recent assimilation of market economy principles in Angola and because most of the authors have been teaching in post-graduate and master’s programs, the authors wanted to determine if the modern principles of organisational management are applied, as they are essential in the participation and involvement of employees in the planning and development process of the organisation. It is important to emphasize that the students of the study programs in which the authors participated in Angola were senior managers of companies and public administration, which stimulated the study by the authors because they could see a generalized desire for change in the country in loco.
In any sector of activity, leadership assumes itself as a fundamental element for organisations operating in more complex environments, marked by transformations due to competitiveness, market globalisation, and technological progress (
Lambin 2008;
Bochulia 2021;
Gutu et al. 2022;
Sascha et al. 2022). Its pertinence is visible in a set of circumstances, such as labour relations with probable interference in the efficiency of the organisation. In both the social and organisational contexts, the topic of leadership, which is usually associated with the concepts of “power”, “authority”, “influence”, and “persuasion” (
Cahyadi et al. 2022;
Kankisingi and Dhliwayo 2022), is of interest to this research work.
Katz and Kahn (
1985) explained that the effectiveness and development of organisations are based on the phenomenon of leadership. The same authors proposed four causes that support the need for the existence of leadership in any organisation, namely:
(a) imperfection of the organisational design (the actual interaction that develops in the organisation is sometimes much more complex than its own organisational design, and for that reason, it may be necessary for the leader to execute a fusion between the organisation and its design);
(b) changing environmental conditions (when faced with large-scale fluctuations in the company’s environment, the return to the system’s equilibrium requires great inventiveness and execution capacity, which requires good leadership skills);
(c) internal dynamics of the organisation (the difference between different subsystems associated with eventual new functions may make necessary a persistent modification that the leader must head as a result of the environmental adjustment); and
(d) the organisations’ human resources (the members of the organisations incorporate their extra-organisational relationship in the organisation, and the result of this situation should be managed by the leader). The same authors,
Katz and Kahn (
1985), stated that in addition to the four causes that support the need for leadership in any organisation, it is vital to understand its nature because it is the result of the intersection of a set of social factors and the peculiarities of the people who are part of it. In this sense, they propose three types of orientation in the leadership of organisations, that is, having the ability to: (a) introduce structural modifications (creative capacity), (b) integrate the existing formal structure in conjunctural situations (interpolation capacity), and (c) use the power of leadership to manage (use of the existing structure).
Although there are several studies on leadership and many different definitions result from them (
Bass 1990a), the truth is that not all studies and definitions coincide. However, the common denominator is the recognition that leadership involves leading people to influence them to achieve previously defined objectives. In
Weber’s (
1991) perspective, the leader is the source of influence over other individuals who acts in the historical, social and organisational contexts.
The concept of leadership is an open concept, which can be analysed from different approaches.
Sánchez and Alonso (
2005) distinguished several theoretical approaches in the study of leadership: those focused on the leader, those focused on the followers and the interaction between the leader and their followers, and, finally, the approach that tries to integrate all the previous aspects in a global way.
Chiavenato (
1987) considered that leadership is achieved through the interpersonal influence that is directed during a process of human communication tending to the pursuit of a certain goal.
Garner (
1990) stated that, through persuasion over people, one can induce one or a group of people to dedicate themselves to the objectives defended and shared by the leader. The work of
Bennis (
1999) showed that the impact of leadership on subordinates and the results obtained by the organisation is significant and is a relevant characteristic in successful companies. Leaders articulate and embody the values and ideals for which the organisation strives and therefore play an important role in the behaviour of organisations (
Akparep et al. 2019;
Cahyadi et al. 2022;
Wang and Huang 2022;
Kankisingi and Dhliwayo 2022). According to
Bolívar (
2003), stimulated leadership promotes sharing information and clarifying the subordinates’ objectives and expectations. The author advocates participative leadership where there is an interactive process and a true sharing of values, processes through which the leader regulates the mobilisation of individual wills converting them into collective action. From the different definitions of leadership, we can group them into different categories, namely (a) as the core of group processes, (b) the leader as an individual with an important personality, (c) as the art of inducing others into the process of submission;, (d) as a process of social and personal control, (e) as a power relationship, (f) as a particular mode of persuasion, (g) as an expression of certain behaviours, (h) as an instrument for the attainment of objectives, (i) as a process of influence, (j) as an effect of group interaction, (k) as differentiation of roles, and (l) as a process of leadership and direction (
Bass 1990c). It is precisely in this last category of definitions that we frame our study as in the context of organisations, leadership has been focused preferentially as a property associated with the structural hierarchy, the personality of the individual, and the set of conducts of the members of a given organisation. Leadership is a relationship between an individual and the group that becomes an essential tool for organisations for increasing the chances of achieving their objectives.
In this sense, the main objective of this research study was to identify the leadership styles that stand out in companies in Benguela province and their impact on the performance of organisations.
3. Methodology
The context of this research was the participation of the authors in a training course at the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro in Benguela (Angola) under an inter-institutional protocol with CESPU-Angola. This research work can be classified as exploratory, because it proposes to explore the characteristics of the population studied in addition to analysing the distribution of characteristics and assessing the causal relationships between the independent and dependent variables. This follows the definition of an as one that has the study of the characteristics and relationships between variables of a phenomenon as its main objective (
Gil 1999;
Pestana and Gageiro 2014;
Malhotra 2019).
This research was conducted between December 2019 to April 2020 through the application of a questionnaire to a sample of managers and senior staff of various public and private organisations in the province of Benguela (Angola), to collect and analyse their perception regarding the developed leadership styles, motivation, communication, and reward systems on the impact on the performance of organisations. This is field research because the empirical investigation is carried out in the place where the phenomenon occurs and has the elements to explain the functioning of the phenomenon (
Vergara 2000, p. 47).
Studying these management practices in Angola is a challenge that emerges in view of the new challenges of competitiveness that develop from the globalized world, where large international companies present a well-developed “know-how”, and management practices are clear and efficient.
3.1. Research Problem and Hypotheses
Based on the assumptions presented above, the main objective of this research study was to identify the leadership styles that stand out in companies in Benguela province and their impact on the performance of organisations. On this basis, the following specific objectives emerged:
- -
Evaluate the style and impact of leadership styles on the performance of companies;
- -
Evaluate the impact of communication, motivation, and reward systems on company performance and employee satisfaction;
- -
Analyse the perception of managers regarding their leadership role in achieving the organisation’s objectives;
- -
Evaluate the perception of leaders about the impact of the reward system on company and employee behaviour;
- -
Identify the factors that most contribute to the motivation of employees currently and in the future;
- -
Evaluate the perception of leaders regarding the performance of the company as compared to its competitors.
3.2. Sample
The population of the study is the managers, senior executives, and executives of public and private companies of small and medium size in the province of Benguela in Angola, which was constituted by indication of the local higher education institution and partner in training actions (CESPU-Angola), where many of the elements of the sample were former students of the institution. All members of this population were sent a letter introducing the study and the corresponding questionnaire. From this population, a non-probabilistic sample was constituted for convenience formed by 227 subjects surveyed with varied profiles related to the sectors of education, hospitality, accounting, industry, health, agriculture, public administration, and human resources.
The sample is made up of 173 Angolan and 54 Portuguese subjects, of which 154 are female and 73 are male, aged between 20 and 63. Around 56% of the sample have less than five years of service in the job, with a homogenous distribution for all the other time intervals up to 30 years of service. From the point of view of functions and percentages present in the sample, we have teachers/educators (26.9%), section heads (8.4%), purchasing technicians (9.7%), senior technicians (25.6%), administrative officers (14.1%), and labour inspectors (15.4%).
3.3. Data Collection Tools
Within the scope of the research, the questionnaire technique was used as a data collection instrument (
Pestana and Gageiro 2014;
Malhotra 2019) which considers independent variables such as gender, age, academic qualifications, nationality, type of company, length of service in the position and in the company, and the number of workers.
The dependent variables are those that are the object of measurement, those considered here include the people management programme considered strategic for the companies (13 items); leadership styles (transformational, transactional, laissez-faire) (10 items); impact of the leadership style (extra effort, effectiveness, satisfaction) (7 items); evaluation of the leader’s function (8 items); impact on the organisation’s activities (commercial impact, worker satisfaction, customer satisfaction) (7 items); impact of the reward system (8 items); factors responsible for the lack of skilled labour in the organisation (6 items); motivation factors (10 items); the importance of communication (6 items); impact of the organisation’s activities (7 items); company performance compared to competitors (8 items) (see
Table 2). Part of the scale designated as the “Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire” proposed by
Bass and Avolio (
2000) was used to measure the leadership style.
4. Analysis and Discussion of Results
Data analysis was performed. First, a univariate data analysis using descriptive statistics (absolute and relative frequencies, mean, and standard deviation). Then, we assessed the internal consistency of the research instrument through Cronbach’s alpha and factorial analysis through the principal component method (PCA). Subsequently, we resort to a bivariate analysis of data to identify whether there are differences between variables (t-test and ANOVA). Finally, multivariate data analysis was performed by determining correlations between variables.
4.1. Analysis of Absolute and Relative Frequencies
As presented in
Table 3, respondents consider that the people management programs considered strategic by their organisations are, firstly, the development of people (M = 4.73; SD = 0.475), followed by remuneration (M = 4.68; SD = 0.669), leadership (M = 4.52; SD = 0.779), training (M = 4.43; SD = 0.794), and the goals plan (M = 4.32; SD = 1.082). The items relationships between people (M = 4.32; SD = 0.082), the management of competencies (M = 4.15; SD = 0.430), and performance evaluation (M = 4.13; SD = 0.538) also stand out. However, it can be seen that remuneration was the item that obtained the highest score on the total agreement, as 167 respondents (73.6%) stated that this is a programme considered strategic in the organisations where they work. The items with lower values include research and management of the organisational climate (M = 2.41; SD = 0.880), the recruitment and selection of managers (M = 3.11; SD = 0.725), and the set of policies (M = 3.12; SD = 0.367).
Concerning transformational leadership style (
Table 4), it can be seen that 168 respondents (74%) completely agree with the preposition “I act in such a way that I get the respect of others” (M = 4.64; SD = 0.724), followed by 149 respondents (65.6%) who completely agree with the statement “I generate pride for them being by my side” (M = 4.44; SD = 0.928). The item “I suggest new alternatives, ways to carry out and complete the activities” obtained the lowest value (M = 3.57; SD = 0.735), with the majority of the respondents (125) opting for the answer “neither agree nor disagree”.
Taking into account the global results (
Table 5), it appears that the dominant style of management is the “transformational leader” (M = 4.19; SD = 0.775), followed by the “transactional leader” (M = 3.47; SD = 0.711) and, finally, the “laissez-faire leader” (M = 1.17; SD = 0.433).
In summary, as shown in the following table (
Table 6), respondents consider that effectiveness (M = 4.24) is the result of leadership most practised by leaders, followed by satisfaction (M = 4.03) and, finally, extra effort (M = 4.06)
As shown in
Table 7, the vast majority of respondents agreed (215 respondents) that the reward system has an impact on the organisation (M = 1.12; SD = 0.521). Thus, the areas of most significant impact of the reward system on the organisation are increased productivity (M = 4.78; SD = 0.512), improved quality (M = 4.59; SD = 0.606), and increased customer satisfaction (M = 4.47; SD = 0.790).
The perception of respondents regarding the reasons that contribute to the lack of skilled labour in organisations (
Table 8) is competition and other sectors with better pay (M = 4.77; SD = 0.497), low pay practised by companies (M = 4.51; SD = 0.575), and scarce opportunities for advancement (M = 4.51; SD = 0.518). The image of the sector obtained the disagreement of the respondents, with 123 (54.2%) stating that they disagree with this reason (M = 1.68; SD = 0.658). In addition, lower values were obtained for “inadequate training” (M = 3.31; SD = 0.866) and lack of service culture (M = 3.90; SD = 0.829).
Respondents consider that the areas with the most significant impact in terms of employee motivation (
Table 9) are currently remuneration (96%), the work environment (95.2%), and recognition (82.8%). In the future, respondents point to qualifications (69.6%), incentive programmes (55.5%), and training (55.1%).
In turn, the respondents consider that the importance of communication is relatively high both now and in the future, namely with regard to business performance (84.1% and 92.5%), employee commitment (80.1% and 88.1%), and professional performance (78.4% and 88.9%) (
Table 10). It is worth noting that the items that scored highest in the present were also the highest-scoring items for the importance of communication in the future.
The evaluation of the company’s performance compared to the average of the companies in the sector is positive (
Table 11) and is most significant at the level of social responsibility (M = 4.49; SD = 0.762), the quality of employees (M = 4.46; SD = 0.828), and the quality of management (M = 4.35; 0.763). The factors with the lowest scores were market share (M = 3.28; SD = 0.471) and sales volume (M = 3.29; SD = 0.473).
4.2. Reliability and Validity Analysis of the Data Collection Instrument
In order to assess the reliability of the various dimensions under analysis, Cronbach’s alpha value was calculated, in which the index under analysis estimates the extent to which the uniformity of the various items contributes to the unweighted sum of the instrument, which is known in the literature as “analysis of the internal consistency of the scale”. For the authors, an instrument has appropriate reliability when Cronbach’s alpha assumes a value of 0.7, although a value of 0.6 is acceptable in exploratory studies (
Pestana and Gageiro 2014). In this study, the analysis was based on the set of statements and prepositions that defined the theoretical constructs, notably the latent and multidimensional concepts: leadership styles (transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and laissez-faire leadership); results orientation (extra effort and effectiveness); and impact on organisational activities (commercial impact, employee satisfaction, and customer satisfaction). With regard to the set of items comprising the different dimensions, Cronbach’s alpha value was 0.879, which is considered very good (
Pestana and Gageiro 2014). In order to assess the convergent validity of the scale (in relation to the previously mentioned dimensions), a factor analysis through the PCA method (principal component analysis) was used.
4.3. Leadership Styles
Taking into account that we used partially the scale of
Bass and Avolio (
1994), which integrated the three leadership styles (transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and laissez-faire leadership) and the consequences of the styles (extra effort, effectiveness, and satisfaction), we initially opted to perform a global analysis and, subsequently, an analysis by each dimension. Thus, the reliability analysis for the totality of
Bass and Avolio’s (
1994) scale was 0.803 (
Table 12), which can therefore be considered a good result (
Pestana and Gageiro 2014).
As shown in the previous table (
Table 13), the deletion of the items “I suggest new alternatives, ways to perform and complete activities”, “I express satisfaction when others meet expectations”, and “I avoid making decisions” slightly increased Cronbach’s alpha value (0.809, 0.805, and 0.804), but given the reduced impact on the final score, we decided to keep all items. The correlations of each item with the total correlation varied between 0.281 (I suggest new alternatives and ways to perform and complete the activities) and 0.785 (I focus my attention on dealing with mistakes, complaints and failures), thus presenting, in general, positive values, although not very high. From the factor analysis, through the principal component extraction method (PCA), we retained three components that explain 87.3% of the total variance (
Table 12). The first factor explains 39.565, the second 37.997, and the third 9.735. Despite the existence of values lower than 0.5 in the correlation matrix, they do not cause problems in data interpretation because there is a correlation between the variables (Bartlett with sig. = 0.000) and the results obtained reflect a very good factor analysis (KMO = 0.723).
Therefore, managers’ perception of the leadership styles that have the highest frequencies—the transformational style, followed by the transactional style, and finally the laissez-faire style—is confirmed in this sample. These results confirm the theory of
Avolio and Bass (
1995), who stated that transformational leadership is the only leadership style that provides followers with higher performance, seeking to raise the awareness of the group and the organisation, promoting the evolution of people and aligning individual expectations with those of the organisation. According to the authors, this leadership style is capable of modifying the organisational culture itself, creating a collective feeling.
4.4. Result Orientation
The results orientation was composed of three dimensions (extra effort, effectiveness, and satisfaction). However, only the dimensions “extra effort” and “effectiveness” included more than one factor (item) and, therefore, it was possible to perform a reliability and factor analysis. The dimension “extra effort” contained three items that had obtained an internal consistency of α = 0.586 (insufficient), and the exclusion of items 2 (I raise the desire of others to succeed) and 3 (I increase the desire of others to work with greater dedication) allowed an improvement in the internal consistency to 0.664 and 0.662, respectively, making the value satisfactory (
Table 14); therefore, we chose to eliminate the item that increased Cronbach’s alpha the most (item 2). The correlations of each item with the total correlation ranged between 0.723 (item 1) and 0.273 (item 2).
From the factor analysis, one component is retained through the principal component extraction method (PCA) that explains 75.045% of the total variance (
Table 15).
Despite the existence of values lower than 0.5 in the correlation matrix, they do not cause problems in data interpretation because there is a correlation between the variables (Bartlett with sig. = 0.000), and the results that were obtained reflect a satisfactory factor analysis (KMO = 0.500).
The dimension “effectiveness” contained three items that obtain an internal consistency of α = 0.596, and the exclusion of item 2 (I am effective in meeting the organisation’s needs) allowed for an improvement in the internal consistency to 0.836, a value considered good (
Table 16). The correlations of each item with the total correlation ranged between 0.39 (item 2) and 0.747 (item 3).
From the factor analysis (FCA), a component that explains 85.963% of the total variance was retained (
Table 17). Despite the existence of values below 0.5 in the correlation matrix, they do not cause problems in data interpretation because there is a correlation between the variables (Bartlett’s with sig. = 0.000), and the results that were obtained reflect a satisfactory factor analysis (KMO = 0.500).
4.5. Impact of the Organisation’s Activities
Three dimensions were considered for the assessment of the impact of the organisation’s activities: commercial impact (three items), employee satisfaction (two items) and customer satisfaction (two items).
The result of Cronbach’s alpha for the totality of the seven items (impact of activities) was 0.745 (
Table 18), with the elimination of the item “This organisation has a significant impact on the local economy” improving the result to 0.829 (considered Good).
The correlations of each item with the total correlation vary between 0.203 (This organisation has a significant impact on the local economy) and 0.920 (Customers of this organisation are satisfied with the service they receive), presenting, therefore, and in general, positive and relatively high values. The factor analysis (FFA) revealed the existence of three factors that explain 89.171% (
Table 19) of the total variance (Bartlett with sig. = 0.000; KMO = 0.510).
“Business impact” integrated three items that obtained an internal consistency of α = 0.661, and the exclusion of item 2 (This organisation has a significant impact on the local economy) allowed for an improvement in the internal consistency to α = 0.747 (
Table 20). The correlations of each item with the total correlation range between 0.380 (item 1) and 0.831 (item 2).
From the factorial analysis (PCA), one component was retained (
Table 21), which explains 68.738% of the total variance (Bartlett with sig = 0.000; KMO = 0, 602).
In turn, the dimension “employee satisfaction” consisted of two factors with a low and insufficient Cronbach’s alpha (0.039) and low correlations between items (0.06). Factor analysis revealed the existence of a factor that explains 52.985% of the total variance (Bartlett with sig. = 0.372; KMO = 0.500) (
Table 22).
The impact of activities on “customer satisfaction” presented very good reliability (alpha = 0.92), and the item correction obtained a total of 0.890. The factor analysis revealed the existence of a factor that explains 94.507% (
Table 23) of the total variance (Bartlett with sig. = 0.000; KMO = 0.500).
4.6. Correlations
For the transformational leadership style, all correlations were positive and significant (
Table 24), extra effort (Pearson correlation = 0.319;
p = 0.000), effectiveness (Pearson correlation = 0.190;
p = 0.004), satisfaction (Pearson correlation = 0.727;
p = 0.000), business impact (Pearson correlation = 0.454;
p = 0.000), impact on employee satisfaction (Pearson correlation = 0.527;
p = 0.000), and impact on customer satisfaction (Pearson correlation = 0.469;
p = 0.000).
The transactional leadership style had two positive and significant correlations, one with “extra effort” (Pearson correlation = 0.136; p = 0.042) and another with satisfaction (Pearson correlation = 0.565; p = 0.000). In turn, it obtained a significant but negative correction with the commercial impact (Pearson correlation = −0.332; p = 0.000).
The laissez-fair leadership style has a negative and significant correlation with extra effort (Pearson correlation = −0.260; p = 0.000) and positive and significant correlations with satisfaction (Pearson correlation = 0.381; p = 0.000), impact on employee satisfaction employees (Pearson correlation = 0.292; p = 0.000), and impact on customer satisfaction (Pearson correlation = 0.141; p = 0.034).
5. Discussion of the Results
The research results show that the perception of most of the managers interviewed is that they develop transformational leadership styles, followed by the transactional style. With much lower values, they consider that they rarely or never use laissez-faire leadership. At this level, the conclusions drawn in this study are in line with the work of
Avolio and Bass (
1995), as well as with the studies identified in the literature (
Gonçalves 2008;
Góis 2011;
Dantas 2013;
Akparep et al. 2019;
Lan et al. 2019;
Cahyadi et al. 2022;
Cui et al. 2022), where the transformational style is dominant. Although the previously identified studies were conducted in Portugal (
Gonçalves 2008;
Góis 2011;
Dantas 2013) and the research contexts were different (health, education, and industry), the results show that the leaders of Angolan companies are aware that the transformational leadership style allows stimulating and inspiring an organisation’s employees to achieve better results, helping them to develop in the collective interest of everyone and the organisation (
Bass and Riggio 2006).
The results of the perceived leadership analyses show that effectiveness (M = 4.24), job satisfaction (M = 4.06), and extra effort (M = 4.03) are valued by the questioned supervisors, with mean values very close to and above 4, which means that the leaders of this sample have positive results regarding their leadership style. Thus, and as evidenced in the literature (
Avolio and Bass 1995;
Gonçalves 2008;
Góis 2011;
Dantas 2013), transformational leaders achieve higher levels of personal effectiveness and productivity among employees, as well as promote positive experiences and satisfaction, group unity, and collective spirit throughout the organisation (
Košičiarová et al. 2021;
Cahyadi et al. 2022;
Kankisingi and Dhliwayo 2022). Therefore, the results prove that an incentive and rewards programme has a strong impact on the organisation, particularly on increasing productivity, improving quality, and increasing customer satisfaction (
Akparep et al. 2019;
Choi 2021;
Kankisingi and Dhliwayo 2022;
Zeng et al. 2022;
Ross 2022). In fact, motivated employees become more involved with the organisation. Their work and effort are recognised and rewarded, making them more productive and more involved with their duties, achieving quality and customer satisfaction gains (
Kankisingi and Dhliwayo 2022). In the same line of thought, the respondents consider that remuneration, the work environment, and recognition are the factors that currently contribute the most to employees’ motivation (
Çakıt et al. 2020;
Davidescu et al. 2020;
Leitão et al. 2022;
Setiawan et al. 2022). However, they will value qualifications, incentive programmes, and training in the future (
Rodriguez and Walters 2017;
Coccia and Igor 2018;
Ashtalkoska et al. 2022;
Zeng et al. 2022). In terms of incentives, they state that these programmes will involve the distribution of profits and the distribution of shares in the future, which is curious, as most of the respondents work in public companies. In this sense, it is not surprising that respondents consider that an organisation’s activities have a positive and significant impact on the commercial level and employee and customer satisfaction. Compared to the average of companies in the sector, the majority of respondents consider, on the whole, that the performance of the company where they work is superior to the average of its rivals, particularly in terms of social responsibility, the quality of employees, and the quality of management.
7. Limitations and Future Research
Although the object of study is focused on investigations at a global scale, no studies related to the problems of business performance, leadership, communication, and motivation in Angola were found.
Based on the literature review, the results obtained and the limitations presented suggest some clues or recommendations for future research, of which we highlight the following:
- -
Use a larger sample size;
- -
Include organisations of different sizes, various sectors of activity, and from other provinces of Angola in the study;
- -
Additionally, evaluate the subordinates, seeking to determine their perception on the leadership styles of the managers and make comparisons with the perspective of the leaders;
- -
Integrate more foreign companies;
- -
Include leaders of other nationalities;
- -
Perform a longitudinal study because the analysed constructs are dynamic and conditions may change as a result of changes in organisational policies and the constraints or opportunities of the contextual and transactional environment;
- -
Resort to mixed methodologies, simultaneously using qualitative and quantitative methodologies, such as interviews and questionnaires, to explore some issues in depth and triangulate the results, or even perform case studies in particular sectors of activity or companies.
It should also be noted that the results obtained here cannot be generalised to the entire universe, because the study focused on Benguela province and only on the management of some organisations, not having assessed the employees. Therefore, we must continue to investigate and learn about the situation in order to have a more complete and accurate picture of the current situation. All of those suggestions can be performed to optimize the variables under study and improve the business performance of Angolan companies, both public and private.