Leadership and Intercultural Competence: A Narrative of Transformational Leadership in the 21st Century

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how leaders use transformational leadership and intercultural competence in a corporate environment and in the classroom. Although a vast amount of scholarship exists on transformational leadership, previous studies have been predominantly quantitative in nature. Likewise, recent communication studies have utilized intercultural competence to better comprehend how crucial it is for leaders to effectively communicate with followers from different cultural backgrounds. Hence, this study employed a narrative approach to offer a new perspective of transformational leadership in the 21st century. By using interviews to collect data among three leaders, findings were categorized into three main themes: Leadership Means Communicating Clarity and Knowledge, Understanding and Encouraging Followers, and Empathy and Intercultural Competence. These themes generated consequent subthemes, which offered an in-depth understanding about leaders’ experiences. Finally, the implications of this study reveal the necessity to broaden the scope of transformational leadership to new research areas and possibilities